[What does 2nd grade look like to you?]

Has anyone used Memoria Press curriculum?  What are your thoughts?  I am thinking of starting Latin this next school year as well.  Their program looks easy to implement.

[What does 2nd grade look like to you?]

If your 1st grade choices are working well, then I would continue along with those. Sounds like you are unsure about math. If you can describe what you think your child needs, then you can get more specific suggestions. MUS is so far from a traditional scope and sequence that I would hesitate to use it unless you have reason to believe that traditional math is all wrong for your student. If you tried more mainstream programs in 1st and settled on MUS, then keep at it, but if your kid is bored and would benefit from more variety, then there are many good choices. Saxon is scripted, but Math in Focus is very clear even without a TM.

 

You've got history settled, and you seem to like your reading ... Maybe only buy a semester of the Pathway stuff in case you decide to switch to something else for literature. I really like reading classics that are either at my kid's level or a bit of a stretch, and we buddy read (taking turns reading every other page). Teacher Created Resources makes nice lit guides that include vocabulary, good comp questions, and extension activities. I like to keep lit/reading pretty organic and not too structured.

 

Grammar and writing can be individualized to what your kid needs. I surprised myself by really liking McGraw

Hill LA stuff because it's concise, efficient, effective, and limited to just grammar and mechanics. People who want all in one tend to like stuff like Christian Light LA. What do you want?

 

Are you stuck on science? Nancy Larson is very scripted and complete. If your kid likes online stuff, you can coordinate Brain Pop Jr. with a textbook or program. Real Science Odyssey stays on one topic for a year (which appeals to some but not others) and has fun activities. It's totally scripted.

 

Here's where I'm at right now:

 

I am split on my thoughts about Classical and Charlotte Mason approaches.  I do realize that Charlotte was a type of classical educator.  

 

I do think that mastery in math is a good way to go, however I am seeing that boredom is easy and quick to set in.  I also dont want a 100% spiral approach because the student never masters the subject.  I have been using MUS and my ds is bored.  He liked the math blocks at first but now he wants to try to do the math in his head without them.  I'm looking at the R&S because it has black and white pictures on the math page but it doesn't look too distracting.  I've looked at Horizons and Mathematical Reasoning but they seem like they'd just confuse him because of all the colors and different pictures on a single page.

 

I'm undecided on language arts.  Like I mentioned, we have been using the Pathway Readers and they really seem to keep his attention.  The problem I'm having is finding something to go along with them.  I ordered the workbooks along with "Climbing to Good English" from Milestonebooks.com and just received them in the mail yesterday.  The problem I'm already finding is that as I am reading the teaching information in the front, I guess I'm supposed to be using another workbook to go along with the other workbooks.  "You have got to be kidding me" was my response.  How many workbooks for one subject does a child need to work on at one sitting?!?  I'm ready to send them back now.  I'd really like to find something that doesn't require so much time working out of multiple workbooks.  I already own (and ds has completed part) Queen's Language Lessons for Little Ones 3 which is supposed to go through a full phonics course by the end of the book.  They take on the CM approach for LA.  The lessons are short (almost too short) and it's easy for me to teach/help him.  So I may just continue with that series.  Like I stated, I am split on the philosophies so I dont believe that phonics needs to be pressed so hard, but I also dont think that sight reading should be the only way to learn reading either. Also, ds just started trying to write cursive ON HIS OWN this last week!  So, I really need to find a cursive book for him.  We have been loosely using A Reason for Handwriting "A", but the next book doesnt move in to cursive yet.  Maybe its time to move to a different curriculum.  I've been looking at Memoria Press and see that they suggest "American Cursive".  Looks interesting.  I dont want to rely on the Pathway Readers for his only literature, just for learning reading.  I do plan on using a book list for literature from someone - maybe MP, AO, IEW, or SL.  They all have great book lists.  Choices, choices.  We can do narration from those books, etc.  

 

I think I am going to try the "Young Explorer Series" for him this next school year.  "Exploring creation with Astronomy" looks fun.  Nature studies is great, but I can't necessarily go out and walk through the woods easily with ds because I am in a wheelchair.  I do what I can, but it definitely cant be the only science for him because of this.  We need something we can use on a more regular basis that does not depend on me trekking through the mud or off the beaten path unfortunately.  DH works all the time so he isn't available to help with that much.  But sometimes he can.   

 

History with SOW is working great.  I love how the book is narrative and chronological.  I plan on moving on to MOH once we are done with the series.  We use the correlating workbook that gives lit suggestions, mapping, coloring pages, etc.  I plan on fully implementing this resource.  I did not like SOW at first.  But, I found that MOH is way over his head at 1st grade (we tried using it because of my older son).  I tried SL but we just dont care for the Usborne books they extensively use (I prefer the Kingfisher books instead).  Their curriculum jumped all over the place too which was really hard for me being more of a type-A personality needing a more systematic, organized approach.   So, I returned the SL.  I bought SOW, returned it, then picked it up again after finding how easy it really is for early elementary grades and it also keeps his attention.  We are sticking with it this time.

 

I hope this explains enough so that if you have suggestions, you can help.

 

Thanks!

[What does 2nd grade look like to you?]

My oldest just finished 2nd. It looked like this :

 

We followed AO closely. AO year 2 history, science, lit, geography, poetry, etc.

Math MEP 2, switched to Singapore 2.

Spelling copywork

Writing GD book C

Reading treadwell 3rd reader

Nature study

 

I like Ambleside a lot.  The only problems that I have with it is that their history seems to jump around.  I really want a chronological history.  

[What does 2nd grade look like to you?]

My oldest will start 2nd later this summer. It's looking like....

 

Math Mammoth 2A/2B

Singapore CWP 1

Language Lessons for the Very Young 1

Beautiful Feet Early American Primary (with little sis)

Nature Study and Various Science Unit Studies

Handicrafts, Composer Study, and Art Study

Lots of great readers

Spanish....maybe???

 

How is "Language Lessons..."  going for you?  I have LL for little ones 3 and we are part way through it.  

[What does 2nd grade look like to you?]

Hello Everyone,  Can you spell out the abbreviations to the curriculum names?  I'm new to a lot of this for younger students as my oldest was older when I chose to get away from traditional curriculum.. Thanks!

[What does 2nd grade look like to you?]

I am in the process of planning curriculum for my soon to be 2nd grade son.  I am planning on continuing SOW1 (since we started later in the year) and I am seriously looking at ordering R&S math. Pathway Readers are going well too.  I'm just not sure if I want to continue their workbooks or use a different curriculum to go along with the readers,  We also have the Rosetta Stone Homeschool edition of Latin American Spanish.  What curriculum have you found that works well for your son(s)?  I need hand holding teacher guides too.  I've been looking at Memoria Press and Timberdoodle but I'm not sure.  Timberdoodle seems like there are sooo many workbooks yet they really seem to get the critical thinking down.   I'm new to the classical approach - please help!

[Is what I'm using enough?]

The Pathway readers are *heavy* sight-reading. If your dc already knows how to read, I wouldn't bother with the workbooks; the stories are very cute and sweet. :-) If your isn't reading yet, you'd be better off using something phonics-based to teach, such as OPGTR or Phonics Pathways or Alpha Phonics, or Spalding or one of its spin-offs.

 

A little person his age doesn't really need formal grammar, IMHO. There are only 12 parts of speech and some thingummies like gerunds. I'm sure he'll be fine if you don't mess with grammar this year.

 

I originally started using SCM Delightful Reading to teach phonics but really didnt like it so we put it away.  He seems to be doing okay with reading.  I have wondered about how the Pathway readers stack up to other programs.  I tried the original McGuffey Readers that I downloaded for free but he hated them.  I honestly just dont know where to go from here.  I have thought about buying Phonics Pathways but just haven't known what exactly I need for him.  I do know that since I started him on the PR workbooks, he has really improved.  But teaching phonics just isn't there.  I wasn't taught phonics.  I was taught the look-see method (I believe) which presents challenges to me.  Language Lessons for Little Ones is one book that we have and it does cover some phonics .  But I do wish that there is more formal instruction for phonics.   Well, whatever I use, it has to be easy to implement with a very active 6/7 year old boy and not tedious.  Do you know anything about "The Three R's" by Ruth Beechick?

 

[Is what I'm using enough?]

I found a website that explains how the PR's work and its says it works on phonics, vocabulary, reading comprehension and SOME informal grammar.  It suggests using "Climbing to Good English" but I looked it over and it looks almost exactly the same as the reader workbooks except it will go more in to grammar.  I'm afraid it will be overkill with the reader workbooks that I think are necessary.  Does anyone use Language Lessons for Little Ones for teaching those concepts?  Maybe I'm just overthinking this.  Thanks.

[Starting SOW1 late]

You have a little bitty--it's perfectly OK to relax! 

 

Thank you!  I DO need to relax!  Sigh...  I think I have caused my own confusion as I started reading TWTM and others on Classical home-schooling methods which got me questioning my current methods.  I think the books were making so much sense to me that I was ready to jump in.  

[Starting SOW1 late]

SOTW1 does not mean 1st grade, it means the 1st book in that series. Read it whenever you like.

 

The WTM history rotation isn't law, or even the best way to approach history, or th ebest book son the subject. You don't even have to do Ancient history first. 

 

I think the rotations are more for scheduling purposes. 

 

My current 1st grader was trying to do Ancients, but I think he would show more interest in a dried out worm. He has enjoyed putting together a History Pocket, but other than that he could care less about Assyria or Egypt or Mesopotamia. It's nonsense talk to him. 

 

If you had a 1st grader who was interested I would go for it. To bore my kids in history is an unforgivable sin to me. LOL

 

Lol!  I SO understand where you are coming from! 

[Starting SOW1 late]

I assume by "behind" you mean you're worried about not being able to do  each rotation at each specific Trivium Stage individually.  Most people here don't care about the 3 stages, which is fine, but I think maybe you might be someone who does care about that? Your post isn't a lot to go on, so I know I might be wrong about that.

 

This is exactly what I'm concerned about.  I tend to be a bit of a "follow the rules" type gal.  I'm also new to the trivium and I'm doing what I can to get on track and move forward.  Thank you for your comments :)

[Starting SOW1 late]

I began the school year with hopes of using MOH1 for both my boys that are 10 years apart (1st and 11th grade).  They were both bored, one under challenged and the other over challenged, so I decided to jump over to Modern history since my 11th grader was needing it to fill in a gap.  That all worked out great until we decided to put my oldest in at the local community college for dual credit.  Now that he is not part of our home schooling, I decided to go back to where we left off with my 1st grader  (Ancients) using SOW1 and move on from there.  It's woking great.  What I'm wondering is if I need to be concerned about not getting through SOW1 this year.  I read through TWTM and loved it, but I also have another book called "All Through the Ages" that suggest that we only go through ancient Egypt this year.  Which one do I follow?  I'm confused.  I know that its my decision, but I also don't want him to fall behind according to his age group.  Any suggestions or thoughts?  

[Is what I'm using enough?]

I am using the first grade Pathway Readers set and the workbooks that go with the readers.  I'm not sure exactly what it's officially covering if that makes sense. I looked up the website and it doesn't really say.  My son is actually doing quite well with the PR program since we started it though.  Does anyone know what it all covers or it will cover?   I think it's just covering phonics and spelling???  I want to make sure that he gets his grammar in somewhere.  I had been using Language Lessons for Little Ones, but it seems too easy and the assignments take like 5 minutes.  I know it's heading towards the end of the official school year, but I'm just not sure I'm preparing my first grader for what's next.  I may just continue a light schedule through the summer.

I am moving more in to a classical method coming from a CM method as I have been learning more from reading TWTM.  If you can help, I'd really appreciate your thoughts.