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Last updated on August 20th, 2024 at 12:30 pm
Homeschooling is a topic I usually share on Instagram. Since I often get a lot of questions about what resources we’re using, a blog post is a better resource for sharing this topic. Whether you’re in the midst of planning a new school year or you’re looking for ideas to freshen things up, you’ll find our 2nd-grade homeschool curriculum picks in this post.
Before diving in, however, here’s what you should know: I pick and choose from many different resources. I like using the free Mater Amabilis and Ambleside Online curricula as a guide, but I follow them very loosely and substitute resources to better fit our homeschool.
On that note, homeschooling is fairly inexpensive, when planned and done right. We buy many books second-hand, books that we can use through middle school and high school years, and we make use of our public library. Additionally, there are many free resources available online —many are mentioned in this post.
Here are our 2nd-grade homeschool curriculum picks, in review.
Language & Writing
This is the simplest thing we do, yet the most complicated to explain.
We use dictation as our primary lesson for writing, spelling, reading, and grammar. It takes less than 5 minutes, yet produces a lot of fruit. We simply choose a passage from a book, poem, or scripture that I dictate to my student, spelling out the words she doesn’t know. She reads it back, then we talk about the words or punctuation.
To support this, here are the resources I used this year:
- Favorite Poems Old & New
- The Harp & the Laurel Wreath
- The Elements of Style
- Webster’s New World Dictionary 2nd College Edition (old copy but 100 times better than new dictionaries)
- Learning Cursive with Anne of Green Gables
- Mad Libs
Additionally, we spend most of our time reading books aloud. (Here’s a post on finding great books to read with your kids.)
If you’re new to dictation, I recommend this podcast explaining how to use dictation.
Literature
We read books that relate to other subjects but also a lot of books simply for the joy of reading. Here’s a sample of some of the books we read this year (both aloud and as audiobooks):
- Heidi
- The Wayside School series
- The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street (if you like The Penderwicks,, you’ll love this series!)
- Pipi Longstocking
- Alice In Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass
We read more than just these titles (some are below in the history section). Some books, such as the Little House series, The Penderwicks, and more, we re-read. This isn’t a bad thing, as you can hear in this episode of Read Aloud Revival.
Most of the books we read are either thrifted, from the library, or already owned by us. I prefer to buy used books and older editions, especially since many new additions of classic books are being changed and censored.
Math
I’m moving very slowly in math with my student. Our curriculum is story based, and we read through it twice to make sure we understand the concepts.
- Life of Fred – check used book sites for these
- Bedtime Math (for fun when we need a break)
Science
My student and I really enjoy science from The Good & the Beautiful. It’s beautiful and engaging, and the experiments are doable. (As an anti-craft mom, I appreciate this so much.) This year we studied:
- Water & Our World
- Space Science
- Birds
Geography
Studying geography along with science opens up the world a lot for my little 2nd grader.
- World Book Encyclopedia 2019 (older editions can be used for many years and cost less than brand new)
- Draw the Natural Wonders of the USA
- Student Atlas
- Geography A-Z
By the end of the 2nd term, I created a “Travel Brochure” in Canva for her to fill in for the states we studied.
For more on geography, check out this post here.
Art & Music
In addition to art class and piano lessons, we do some study during our homeschool. We absolutely love the Art Masterpieces series from CHC!
- Classical Kids podcast
- Catholic Heritage Curricula Art Masterpieces
- Nature Collection
- Adventure Collection
- Childhood Collection
Foreign Language
To support our study of the English language and to prepare my student for future foreign language study, we study Latin. We love this program, especially since I figured out (5 lessons in) that there are online video lessons!
Typing
We found a simple, free (& fun) program online to learn typing skills.
History
With history, we skipped textbooks and went with living books. Let the Authors Speak, the resource I use for finding books is hard to find, but if you do find it, get it!
Here are the books we read for history this year:
- The Landing of the Pilgrims
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond
- Kateri Tekakwitha: Mowhawk Maid
- American Girl Series: Kaya
- Island of the Blue Dolphins
Faith & Catechism
My student will be making her First Reconciliation this year and First Communion next. Much of our study is in preparation for that by memorizing prayers, scripture, and catechism questions and answers. This year, I’m reading the daily readings from the Mass in our Morning Time.
- St Mary’s Press Children’s Catholic Bible
- The Baltimore Catechism
- Catholic Sprouts podcast
- A Little Book About Confession
Memory Work
Our memory work overlaps with all of the other subjects, in memorizing poetry, scripture, catechism, and civics (such as the national anthem, the Preamble to the Constitution, & the Pledge of Allegiance).
Wrapping up our 2nd-grade homeschool curriculum
Homeschooling isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. Now moving into our fourth year, I see this as absolutely true. But it’s fun to learn what other homeschoolers are doing. It sparks new ideas for inspiring my student …taking something I’ve seen and adjusting it to our own needs.
My hope is that this post will spark some new ideas that you can take and rework to fit your homeschool.
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