What to do after OPGTR?

[TundraAcademy]

My DS will be a 2nd grader next year. We have finished OPGTR and I'm trying to decide what to do next. Should we just focus on spelling and reading? He has just flown through the book with no problems. My plan is for him to do Sonlight 2 Intermediate Readers schedule next year and Spelling Workout B.

 

I'm curious as to what others have done. Any ideas?

[LauraJ]

:lurk5:

[Old Dominion Heather]

When we finished OPG, I think we used the Pathways Readers for a bit. My middle guy wasn't ready to just jump into chapter books, though he COULD read at that level, he wasn't ready for the length yet.

 

It didn't take long for him to jump in and read whatever he wanted to read.

 

We started with the second and third grade Pathways Readers and then went on to short chapter books like The Bears on Hemlock Mountain and such.

[ElizabethB]

Webster's Speller! Teaches phonics through 12th grade reading level and some spelling at the same time.

[Sahamamama]

WTM recommends that you begin a spelling program half-way through the phonics primer. When you complete the phonics primer, your "Language Arts" program will include (1) structured reading, (2) the continued spelling program, (3) a grammar program, and (4) copywork/dictation/writing. WTM suggests that the structured reading materials correspond to your history studies, and that you require the student to read from selected materials according to the following time frames:

 

 

• 1st grader 20-30 minutes (PLUS 30-60 minutes at another time for fun reading) -- focus on ancient myths and legends
  
• 2nd grader 30 minutes (PLUS 30-60 minutes at another time for fun reading) -- focus on stories from the Middle Ages
  
• 3rd grader 30 minutes (PLUS 30-60 minutes at another time for fun reading) -- focus on literature from the late Renaissance to early modern times
  
• 4th grader 30-45 minutes (PLUS 60 minutes at another time for fun reading) -- focus on modern works
  

 

The SL2 Intermediate Readers are a good line-up for an advancing reader, but you might want to also look at your library for some of the SL2 Basic Readers. They are worth finding! :001_smile: We've enjoyed all the Frog & Toad books, Hill of Fire, Pompeii: Buried Alive! (what is this fascination with volcanoes?), and Wagon Wheels (as a parent, I was just amazed at the courage of these children. I still think of this story whenever my basement laundry room depresses me! :lol: We could be living in a soddy....)

 

There are many, many wonderful Reading/Read Aloud lists for second graders, and for young readers I wouldn't limit the structured selections to only history-related material. Poetry, Bible stories, missionary stories, easy biography, science/nature/field guides, classics, picture books (please don't stop these in second grade), historical fiction, and even modern fiction (with screening), are all appropriate for second grade readers.

 

You might also want to check your library for Five In a Row. Here in our home, we do NOT use the lesson plans as written, but we do use the book list for our "Literature" component. In other words, while I don't want to do a unit study, I feel that FIAR is a good guide to some of the best children's picture books -- and a second grade curriculum should certainly include some of these warm and snuggly books, IMO. How much longer will that growing boy of yours want to snuggle up to read you a truly sweet picture book? ;)

 

If you begin to feel that your student is beyond picture books, then move up to Beyond Five in a Row, which utilizes short beginner's chapter books, such as "Sarah Plain and Tall" and "Childhood of Famous Americans" series.

 

Also, this link has been so helpful to me:

 

http://classical-homeschooling.org/grammar/literature.html

 

HTH you, too!

[Sahamamama]

:bigear:

 

:lurk5: