When my oldest began second grade, I decided to buy a complete curriculum for the first time. We chose Sonlight that year. I love Sonlight because there are fantastic books to read aloud and learn from throughout the year, and the curriculum comes with complete lesson plans for 180 days (36 weeks) of school. I just had to open up the teacher’s manual to the week we were on, do each subject with my child for that day, and we were done for the day. I recall our work taking us between 3-4 hours per day, if we did everything.
Sonlight is a Christian curriculum. I love that the Bible is included in our learning, as well as missionary stories and biographies. Also, many of the read-aloud books correspond with the history or science being studied. The one thing I didn’t like about Sonlight was that there was SO MUCH to read aloud. My voice got tired before I finished most days. I could have omitted some of the reading, but at the time, I didn’t feel at liberty to do so (I’d only been homeschooling for 3 years at that point). My younger children caught some of what we were learning while my oldest was being taught (learning is contagious). It was a tricky year with a preschooler and a toddler. We were most successful doing independent work (things my oldest could do mostly on her own like math and handwriting and writing) in the mornings, and do “together stuff” (things I needed to teach or read aloud) after lunch while little siblings were napping.
When our second daughter was in 2nd grade, I drew from a number of resources. For reading, she independently read all kinds of library books. For writing, she kept a journal, sometimes with writing prompts from me. She did copywork of spelling words and Bible verses for handwriting practice. For math, she did Singapore Math 2a and 2b which worked well for us. (Singapore Math has been revised since we used it 5-7 years ago). We also belonged to a homeschool co-op that year which gave her enriching classes like kitchen chemistry, human anatomy, dance, and intro to the Spanish language. We also had a number of field trips and family vacations in Arizona and New Mexico that year where she completed several workbooks from the National Park Junior Ranger Program. Be sure to ask for these free resources at the visitor’s center whenever you visit a National Park or Monument.
By the time our third daughter was in 2nd grade, we settled on our favorite curriculum, My Father’s World (www.mfwbooks.com). I’ve used MFW to teach my oldest through high school, a 30 on the ACT, and college acceptance. The approach is similar to Sonlight, since it includes a complete year’s lesson plans, great books to learn from and read aloud, and integrates Bible education and literature which correspond with the history and science. I like MFW better because the amount of reading aloud is not overwhelming to me and their 5-year cycle–designed for 4th through 8th grade—combines all of your children grades 4 through 8 for Bible, History, Science, Geography, and Literature. Not only that, but your 3rd grader can also participate. I even fudged a little and included my third born, 2nd grade child in our 4th through 8th grade curriculum. The topic was “Exploring Countries and Cultures”. I don’t think she remembered much, but she participated, and we are going over that material again this coming year for her 8th grade. To understand more about how the MFW 5-year cycle works, go to their website.
All that said, the MFW 5-year cycle combines siblings for several subjects, but the students each have his/her own level for reading, writing and math. So, for math that year, my daughter did Singapore Math, 2a and 2b.
One fantastic resource for this age is the Draw, Write Now series. Eight books, each on different topics, show step-by-step how to draw something, encouraging background and foreground drawing. As a non-artist, it helps me inspire my children to draw and color.
Check out the rest of my series on “How I Homeschooled” for the following grade levels:
How I Homeschooled Preschool
How I Homeschooled Kindergarten
How I Homeschooled 1st grade
How I Homeschooled 3rd grade
How I Homeschooled 4th through 8th grade
How I Homeschooled High School
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