After much prayer and discernment, my husband and I decided to hold Genevieve back a year and repeat the 2nd grade. The past year and a half have been difficult for us all and unfortunately, it reflects in Genevieve’s academic progress.
In the past, I have used Materi Amabilis as a guide in choosing her studies. Due to lack of consistency from various reasons it got to a point where we were only trying to get in the bare minimum; reading and math. She did All About Reading level 1 and she really enjoyed it but was still not where she needed to be. We recently decided to switch to The Good and the Beautiful. After just a couple of months, she has already shown a lot of progress in her reading and spelling. We first started using Math U See, then we switched to Seton grade 1, and now we are switching back to Math U See. Math isn’t clicking with her as naturally as Bradley and I love how Math U See explains the concepts.
Our 2nd-grade curriculum choices for 2019 – 2020
Religion
- Faith and Life 3 – We will read and narrate a chapter a week.
Language Arts
- The Good and Beautiful K & 1 – Includes spelling, reading, art
Like I said above, Genevieve was struggling with reading and since I wanted her to have a good foundation I decided to start her at the kindergarten level (which IMHO is way more advanced than All About Reading level 1) of the Good and the Beautiful. So far she has been doing great, loves doing the lessons, and is reading way beyond where we were a couple months ago. Lessons for the Good and Beautiful are to be done daily.
- Cursive
Genevieve will start writing cursive this year and I will be using Simply Charlotte Mason’s Print to Cursive Proverbs along with handwriting worksheets I will make throughout the year. Handwriting is done daily for only about 5-10 minutes.
- First Language Lessons Level 2
May seem redundant to so when we are also doing G&B but we really enjoy First Language Lessons. The plan is to do two to three lessons a week. I have created poem cards so that way we can have an easy visual for the poem memorization. You can download and print for free these poem cards too; both First Language Lessons level 1 and level 2 are available.
Along the Alphabet Path Religion
Once again we will be doing the Along the Alphabet Path studies. This includes a story written by Elizabeth Foss (you can find it here), the Alphabet of Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker, an Alphabet of Saints, and favorite childhood books and authors. You can read more about our Along the Alphabet plans here.
Literature
- Aesops for Children – 2 stories a week with narration
- Picture books from our Along the Alphabet Path studies
- we will read a few picture books every week. These will be books that go along the Alphabet Path letter of the week and I will keep these books in our morning basket/ tea time basket.
- Below are the books that are read alouds to simply enjoy; no narration will be required:
- A Little Princess
- The Secret Garden
- Little House in the Big Woods (& other Laura Ingalls Wilder)
Math
We are using Math U See Beta with the hope of finishing early and starting Gamma at least by the third term. Math will be done daily.
- Math drills – 5-10 minutes daily
Co-op
History:
Story of Civilization – Vol. 3
Science:
Art:
Thankfully we have a decently large Catholic homeschool group in our area. They have a co-op that covers history, science, art, and the Catechism of the Good Shepherd for little ones. My kids are excited to be part of the co-op and look forward to seeing their friends more often.
Although she is repeating 2nd grade, I am optimistic for this year. Our goal is to be more consistent and have more fun without the stress of being behind. Genevieve is a bright kid and I am confident that she will be caught up in the near future.
Check out our homeschool plans and planner for:
Pre-Kindergarten
1st Grade
5th Grade
homeschool bullet journal
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