My daughter is nearing the end of the first semester of second grade and it’s been a mixed bag of curriculum choices this year. Some unforeseen disappointments, a few nice surprises and a handful of solid standbys. Below are the subjects we’ve been studying this year. Theology, Maths, French and English all get done before lunch. Sometimes I’ll read or start reading the history lesson during lunch. After eating, the kids have a play break while I tidy up the kitchen and do some work. Then we finish up our school day with violin practice, science and whatever we have left to do in history. We’re usually wrapping things up on time by 3 pm.
- Theology
- Maths
- French
- English
- Music
- Science
- History
Theology
This is my daughter’s second year of Sparks (part of the international Bible club AWANAs), so we’ve been using her book as our theology course so far this semester. We’ve covered several different characters and stories in the Old Testament and she has memorized many verses. Despite AWANA lasting a full academic year, she finished her book at the end of October and already started on the limited extra credit work available. So I am currently in the market for a more thorough theology course for next semester.
Maths
I blame the Montessori Method for putting my daughter so far ahead in maths and I’m now trying to slow her down while not taking off time during the summer, which I believe is incredibly detrimental and a waste of effort. When I realized I wouldn’t be able to afford to continue with Montessori (thank you, bead cases), my research convinced me Singapore would be the closest and best fit. But we were flying through that as well, so I added Abeka’s colourful arithmetic textbooks. Since Abeka is a spiral approach and Singapore is a mastery approach, I think they work particularly well with each other.
- Arithmetic 3 (Abeka) 5/5
- Primary Mathematics U.S. Edition 2A (Singapore) 5/5
French
This was my biggest curriculum disappointment this semester, but I realize it was my fault. I had such faith in the publisher that I didn’t do enough research of my own. I *assumed* that Memoria Press, being a very reliable classical publisher would have had higher standards for their French curriculum, especially since it was targeted to elementary students.
The problem, unfortunately, is that it is a typical American foreign language textbook. Each unit consists of a vocabulary list and a bit of grammar. Absolutely no phonetic teaching at all. Yes, it comes with a CD so you can hear someone pronounce the words and sing the songs. It also has the standard intro pages that show each letter of the alphabet and the sound it makes in French. But as far as introducing kids to a new language, it’s your classic “repeat after me” and “just memorize this” with no instruction on learning to read and sounding out new words.
The only textbooks that take a serious approach to French language learning are Canadian and British textbook publishers. The most affordable way for me to get my hands on some of this material has been through Canadian teachers on the website Teachers Pay Teachers. My favourite French resources for this semester have been the Je Peux Lire worksheets that you can find here.
- First Start French I (Memoria Press) 1/5
- French Decodable Readers (La Classe de Mme Caroline) 5/5
English
I’ll be honest – I’m biased when it comes to English since my mother taught me how to read using Abeka. They are a solid option for this subject, so we’re using their grammar, spelling and penmanship books.
- Phonics and Language 2 (Abeka) 5/5
- Spelling and Poetry 2 (Abeka) 4/5
- Writing with Phonics 2 (Abeka) 4/5
The other part of our English curriculum is reading. In order to save some money, we skipped the Abeka readers and we’ve been making use of our library. We’ve had some hits and misses, so I’m going to do some more preparation for literature next semester. Try to put together a book list of better quality that I can find at my library and that will actually interest my daughter. But it’s difficult to find material for a student at an advanced reading level and strike the right balance between vocabulary level and content.
Music
My daughter’s violin teacher and I thought it was time to slowly introduce music theory to my daughter as we’re both aiming to have her in orchestra next academic year. So my daughter and I have worked through two books so far this semester, neither of which I’ve been very happy with. Music theory has always been a weak point for me, so I’ve been learning as we go through the books together. I’ve gotten every book my library has on the subject and skimmed through them and I’ve yet to find one that is very beginner friendly. I guess I’m looking for something that explains WHY things are the way they are – not just, this is what this is called.
- All for Strings Theory Workbook 1 (by Anderson and Frost) 1/5
- Workbook for Strings Book 2 (Highland Etling) 2/5
Science
My daughter says the only subject in school that she actually likes is science, so I tried really hard to lean into it this year. If it sparks her curiosity, I’m all about making that investment. And an investment it certainly has been. I ended up getting three separate science curricula this year, which keeps us busy learning, doing hands-on activities and legitimate experiments 5 days a week. She’s loving it, but unfortunately, I have calculated that at this rate, we will still run out of material before the end of second semester.
- Science in the Ancient World (Berean Science on Timberdoodle) 5/5
- Building Blocks of Science 2 (Real Science-4-Kids on Timberdoodle) 4/5
- Enjoying God’s World (Abeka) 2/5
History
We used The Mystery of History Vol I for first grade and enjoyed it. There are definitely things I don’t like about the textbooks, but they are easy enough to skim over and the activity suggestions make it really great for my daughter’s age. In fact, it’s almost doubling as an arts/crafts class a lot of the time. The reading passages seem to be quite a bit longer this year, so I sometimes have to break up the lessons. But overall, no major issues and I’m planning on finishing the series.
- The Mystery of History Vol II: The Early Church and the Middle Ages (by Linda Lacour Hobar) 3/5
In-Depth Reviews to Come
I’ll be doing a slightly more in-depth review of some of the curriculum mentioned, so check back soon for related blog posts!
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