Second Grade: How to Simplify?

[lilamom]

Could anyone offer some advice for simplifying second grade?

I am reading The Well Trained Mind and *loving* the approach. However, when I printed out the curriculum planning worksheet, I counted between 10-12 separate subjects. Yikes!

Any advice for how to provide a quality education that is a bit more streamlined?

Thanks so much!

[EKS]

Don't look at the worksheet.  I looked at it for two seconds and felt ill.  Seriously, and I'm a seasoned homeschooler.

I know nothing about your situation, but assuming that your child is a typical learner, this is how I would approach it.

At a desk or table:

• Math: 20-30 min
• Grammar (only if your child is already reading well): 10 min
• Phonics/spelling: 10 min
• Handwriting: 5-10 min

Cuddling on the couch:

• Have child read aloud to you: 5-20 min (depending on child's ability/needs)
• Story of the World (or other history) with oral narration (very informal): 15 min
• Supplemental reading for history: 15 min
• Science reading: 15 min
• Supplemental reading for science: 15 min
• High quality literature (can be moved to bedtime)

Hands-on (1-2 times per week):

• Activity for either history or science instead of history/science reading

That's it.  Really.  I think that's eight subjects--math, reading, grammar, spelling, handwriting, literature, history, and science--but math, grammar, spelling, and handwriting are pretty open and go. It's just literature, history, and science that need more serious planning.

It really helps to think of WTM as a guide rather than a prescription.

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by EKS

[barnwife]

In our house, second grade is really simple. Read something (phonics or fluency practice), write something, and do something math-y. Everything else is gravy. We don't use a formal science or history. They are covered during morning time. I don't have a set schedule for morning time readings. I try to loosely read something historical and something science-y twice a week. But some weeks are heavy on history. Others are heavy on science. 

I'll even admit that this is more or less what third grade looks like around here. It's just the amount that changes. 

So I'd say to choose something for phonics/reading, math, and a handwriting (could also be copywork, if child is ready). Get in the habit of doing those. Then add in any extras from WTM or that work for your family. 

[fourisenough]

One reason I love CLE language arts is that it covers so much: grammar, writing, spelling, and penmanship. Check it out to decide if it would work for your student. The only other LA you would need is reading. 

I have not used 2nd grade, but for 3rd & 4th it was one-stop-shopping for language arts for my youngest during a very busy season in our lives. If all we accomplished in a day was LA & math, I felt like we were okay. She’ll continue with the CLE 5th grade curriculum this year.

[HomeAgain]

You can absolutely streamline 2nd grade!  Pick your core classes that you will do daily or nearly every day.  For us, it was:
English Lessons Through Literature - read alouds, copywork, grammar, writing, poetry, picture study in a rotating 3x/week format
Reading -4x week
Spelling - 4x a week
Math - 4x a week
Music lessons/practice - daily
History - 3-4x a week, rotating through a pattern of activity/reading, mapwork/narration, activity/reading, mapwork/narration

The rest were looped or single day:
Art - often woven into history or on its own 1 day a week
Science - 2x a week
P.E. - sports and park days

And it looks like a lot even there, but most of those subjects were 5-20 minutes or a lot of play, so it never felt heavy.  But even that can feel overwhelming to a new person, so I want you to sit down and think about what a quality education looks like.  To me, it's something that builds slowly but steadily on basic skills and offers opportunity to explore interests.  So if you have basic skills covered, you have a plan to move forward and continue building as slowly or quickly as needed, and you offer more in the way of life than just a textbook and then twiddling thumbs, you're good. 🙂 It's something to think about this summer - take your kids to go enjoy museums and nature hikes and anything else, or set up rube goldberg machines together or whatever, so that in the fall you can bring the same enthusiasm to introducing other opportunities either with a curriculum or without.

[lilamom]

10 hours ago, EKS said:

Don't look at the worksheet.  I looked at it for two seconds and felt ill.  Seriously, and I'm a seasoned homeschooler.

I know nothing about your situation, but assuming that your child is a typical learner, this is how I would approach it.

At a desk or table:

• Math: 20-30 min
• Grammar (only if your child is already reading well): 10 min
• Phonics/spelling: 10 min
• Handwriting: 5-10 min

Cuddling on the couch:

• Have child read aloud to you: 5-20 min (depending on child's ability/needs)
• Story of the World (or other history) with oral narration (very informal): 15 min
• Supplemental reading for history: 15 min
• Science reading: 15 min
• Supplemental reading for science: 15 min
• High quality literature (can be moved to bedtime)

Hands-on (1-2 times per week):

• Activity for either history or science instead of history/science reading

That's it.  Really.  I think that's eight subjects--math, reading, grammar, spelling, handwriting, literature, history, and science--but math, grammar, spelling, and handwriting are pretty open and go. It's just literature, history, and science that need more serious planning.

It really helps to think of WTM as a guide rather than a prescription.

 

 

Kai-- this is so very helpful! I love your distinction between tablework and "couch time." I love this! Thanks so much.

[CAtoVA]

This is what 2nd grade looked like for my DD last year:

Daily "sit down" subjects (took about 60-90 minutes): Math (Singapore Primary Standards 2 mixed with Beast Academy 2 and Math Seeds); Phonics/Reading/Spelling (Explode the Code 5 & 6 mixed with Swells and Shells, Rod & Staff Spelling 2, and Beyond the Code 2); Handwriting (Zaner Bloser Printing)

Reading on her own usually 1-2 chapters of a book

Science at homeschool co-op

History listening along with older sister; watching various videos

Art at homeschool co-op

Fine Arts: Ballet, Tap & Jazz; Chorus, piano lessons

Bedtime reading of quality literature

I wait to start formal grammar until 3rd grade

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by CAtoVA

[Mbelle]

We will be doing

Horizons Math-5 days

CLE LA-4-5 days

Apples and Pears. 10 min per day

Reading aloud to me..15 min day

Me reading to him daily..however much we want (History of the World, and some Sonlight readers)

Beginning cursive. 10 min day

Science at co op..1 day per week and whatever homework..this will be fun work only 

 

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

Language Arts subjects can really add up and take a lot of time - reading, writing, penmanship, phonics, grammar, spelling, literature, vocabulary...I use either an all-in-one program that covers all or most of these (Learning Language Arts Through Literature, English Lessons Through Literature, Logic of English, etc) OR choose 2-3 to focus on for each year and skip the rest. In the early years that meant reading, phonics, penmanship. Once those were good I’d move on to spelling and grammar. This year I’m back to using all-in-one curriculum for my younger two. My older two will be using a high school English that is supposed to cover all the subjects needed but  I will be supplementing a bit to work on areas they at weak in. 

[Susan in TX]

I have always kept 2nd grade very simple: math, phonics (or spelling if phonics has been mastered), penmanship, and lots of reading practice. That's it. 

Susan in TX

[Noreen Claire]

21 hours ago, EKS said:

At a desk or table:

• Math: 20-30 min
• Grammar (only if your child is already reading well): 10 min
• Phonics/spelling: 10 min
• Handwriting: 5-10 min

Cuddling on the couch:

• Have child read aloud to you: 5-20 min (depending on child's ability/needs)
• Story of the World (or other history) with oral narration (very informal): 15 min
• Supplemental reading for history: 15 min
• Science reading: 15 min
• Supplemental reading for science: 15 min
• High quality literature (can be moved to bedtime)

This is what we will do for 2nd, except that our grammar is done orally (FLL2). I am also going to include music appreciation (15 min), Portuguese vocab (5 min), and math facts (5 min) while on the couch with my crew (10, 7, 5, and 2). We do this 4x/wk, and will do art lessons and library visits on the 5th day. 

[Sarah0000]

My oldest is just beginning second grade and I've been getting a lot out of Dictation Day by Day. He does the sentences for spelling then I have him copy one sentence in cursive. I am also starting him parsing one sentence for grammar review. So ten minutes covers spelling, cursive, and grammar.

[Momto6inIN]

Agreeing that the WTM guidelines are very, very, very ambitious. Not necessary at all for a good solid 2nd grade education! Here's what my 2nd grader will be doing this year:

Phonics with AAR and reading out loud to me (20 min)
Spelling with AAS (10 min)
Writing/Composition with copywork (20 min about once a week) - she narrates to me about what she's learned in history or science, I write it down, she copies it
Math facts practice (10 min)
Reading to herself from a book list that includes historical fiction from the time period we are studying (30 min)
Handwriting (5 min)
Math with MM (30 min)
Grammar with Daily Grammar (5 min)
History with SotW (20 min) - we do the coloring pages and the maps, but not usually any of the activities
Science with Magic School Bus videos and experiment kits (30 min a couple times per week)
Music with Reading Music Activities book (10 min)
Art with Artistic Pursuits (30 min once a week)
PE with a private school class (40 min once a week)

It's a lot of "subjects" but none of them take a lot of time. The times I listed above are all on the maximum end of how long each should take. Usually we are done with a lesson before that time allotment.