2nd Grade Plans

Everything is, more or less, squared away and ready to start school in a few weeks. I've been sharing what Curly and Tiny Dancer will be doing this year, so I thought I would also share what Little Bear will be doing.

Little Bear is less enthusiastic about the slightly rigid approach of classical education. He likes to memorize, so we will definitely be learning verses for Awana as well as poems and such. But I also like to throw in some things purely for fun or that are more hands-on for him.

Here is the plan for what he will be doing:

Reading: Little Bear will be following the 2nd grade reading list in the Well Trained Mind. Some of these books include Beowulf: Grendel the Ghastly, Sainte George and the Dragon, and Knights of the Round Table. Some of the books on his list will be ones he can read by himself, but others we will do together. He loves literature pockets, so we are also going to work on a set of pockets having to do with Newberry winners. These are all books he can easily read on his own.

Writing/Grammar: Last year, he started English 2 part way through the year. We will finish it at the beginning of this year and then move on to English 3. This book is pretty solid, though not my favorite. After this year, he will move into Rod and Staff like his brother. I think they have a more thorough program. We did First Language Lessons 1 and 2 last year, though, and I wanted to keep grammar and writing, so we switched to something else in the interim.

Spelling: We're going to give Spelling Power a try this year. I've heard great things about it, so we'll see how it goes.

Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears. Little Bear has little boy handwriting, to say the least. He needs practice with the letters. We will also do copywork and then move into some dictation later in the year.

Math: We've been using Singapore. I still feel a little undecided. It's not exactly what I'm looking for, but it is a very solid math program. We'll also throw in some games, Life of Fred, and Primary Grade Challenge Math. Little Bear LOVES math and is really good at it. I'm hoping that a combination of things will keep him interested and challenged while still being sure he's mastering the basics.

History: We're on cycle 2 of the Story of the World. I'm looking forward to the Middle Ages! I picked up the volume on cd this year. We may be spending a good deal of time in the car taking Curly to his Latin class, so I thought we would listen to Jim Weiss tell us the story of the world. We'll be doing maps, timelines, and lots of projects.

Science: We're going to be studying biology this year. We don't have a curriculum or text for this. We're going to learn about animals, the human body, and end with plants. We will do experiments, research, take photographs, and have nature journals. Little Bear also loves science, so I will take this as far as he would like to go this year.

Music: Little Bear will take piano lessons and listen to a variety of music. I'm going to see what I might be able to find that represents the time period.

Art: Working with Curly, we'll start with drawing, move on to sculpting, and then finish with painting. Art is so not my strong suit, but there are lots of great books out there. For drawing, we'll start with Draw Write Now. We used this some last year, and Little Bear really loved it.

Bible: We're going to study the Bible together for the first time. We're going to use the blog Bible Road Trip as our starting point. She has some great ideas over there, and I love the extra books she recommends!

We'll take field trips to round out the year. And Little Bear will participate in a few extra-curricular activities. He'll do scouts, Awana, and swim team. 

I feel like I am forgetting something important!

We're looking forward to a great year!