2nd Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices

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When I went to write out this blog post I kept wanting to type in 1st grade instead of 2nd grade homeschool curriculum because it just doesn’t feel real that we’re really here already.

To be truthful, grade level doesn’t mean an awful lot to me. I typically just place my kids wherever they fit into a curriculum.

I would say that my son is actually a bit between grade levels. He does some grade 1 work and some grade 2.

For the sake of this post though, I’m referring to it all as 2nd grade just to keep things simple.

As an eclectic homeschooler, we have a few different curriculums that we use. I don’t think I’ve ever used a full curriculum for every subject. Keep reading to find out what homeschool curriculum choices I made for this year.

2nd Grade Homeschool Curriculum for 2022

This year I feel as though we simplified things a lot with the curriculums that we’re using. For the past couple of years, we went back and forth a lot with curriculums for language arts.

This year we’re using just ht one and so far it’s working out really well.

Everything else seems to be working well too and it feels as though we’ve really found our homeschooling groove.

Of course, every child is unique which means not all curriculum is going to be appropriate for your child.

I’m sharing what we’re using as a sort of resource option, but don’t feel as though it’s the only or best curriculum to use.

Do your own research and make your decisions based on your child’s needs.

Language Arts

Previous to this year we have used Language Arts from The Good & The Beautiful, Masterbooks, and All About Reading.

Masterbooks was never really a hit for us. I didn’t love the curriculum and we didn’t really use it for long. I do know that it’s worked wonders for other homeschool families, though.

I do love The Good & The Beautiful but their Language Arts is very fast-paced in the early years. This meant that we took a couple of years to get through their Level K.

They’re currently updating levels k-2 and I’m very keen to see what the new versions look like when they’re released this summer.

All About Reading was perfect for us for a season. It gave him a really strong foundation in reading. My son completed level 1 last year and then he finished off level K from The Good & The Beautiful.

I was a little nervous about the decision to use The Good & The Beautiful Level 1 this year instead of moving to All About Reading level 2, but it has worked out well so far. Choosing the right Language Arts curriculum has proved a challenge before.

Their level 1 is less fast-paced and so far my son is doing really well with it.

All About Reading is definitely an investment but I would have made it if I felt strongly enough that he needed it. It is also incredibly difficult to source in the current climate as they’re not currently shipping internationally.

However, my son’s reading skills have really taken off this year and so The Good & The Beautiful level 1 is suiting him very well.

Whether we’ll switch to the new version later on this year is something I’m not sure about.

Math

Math has always been an easy decision for me. This year we’re using The Good & The Beautiful for 2nd-grade math.

It has a lot of things going for it not least of all the fact that they offer the PDFs for levels 1-5 completely free!

I download and print at home which saves us an abundance of money.

However, I certainly didn’t choose the curriculum based solely on price. It is a solid math curriculum that has been proven to work for us over the past couple of years.

My son started with their old version of level K before transitioning to their new level 1 last year.

I didn’t question whether we would use level 2 this year. It is beautiful, engaging, and so much fun.

Handwriting

Last year my son didn’t quite finish level 1 handwriting from The Good & The Beautiful. He’s starting the year finishing that up and then will move on to level 2.

Handwriting has been a point of contention for us in the past. I tried to solve the issue by switching curriculum but ultimately found that it wasn’t the curriculum that was the issue.

My son is a perfectionist and really struggles when he knows he’s not getting things 100% correct.

A tip that was passed onto me from another homeschool mom was to point out the letters and words he had written the best once he had completed the practice.

I took this a step further and had him also choose his favorite.

This changed things completely. Instead of focusing on what he was getting wrong, he focused on what he got right.

This resulted in a complete attitude shift as he felt like he was doing a good job. It also meant that he learned how to write better because he knew how to write correctly without constantly pointing out what he had done wrong.

If you have a struggling writer then I highly suggest this method!

Spelling

Spelling is not something I put a heavy focus on over the past two years. I knew that it wasn’t a big deal just yet and so I didn’t want to add busy work into our day.

Going into second grade I felt that it was time to focus on this subject a bit more.

I personally don’t care for the way that spelling is taught in the Language Arts program by The Good & The Beautiful so I needed to find something else.

I was homeschooled using Abeka and so am used to a very traditional way of teaching spelling. Personally, I enjoyed it but thought I would explore some other options.

I looked into All About Spelling which has fabulous reviews, but it was very difficult to source here in New Zealand and so I decided against it.

Ultimately, I ended up choosing the spelling curriculum from The Moffat Girls on Teachers Pay Teachers.

This seemed like a nice mixture of traditional vs interactive.

There are different ways to use the curriculum but what we do is a worksheet 4 days per week followed by an oral spelling test. The worksheets are a fun way of learning the words and seem to be the best way to keep him engaged.

This is working really well for us. It’s fairly self-directed so is something I can have him do while I work with his sister. I’m appreciating him having more independent work this year.

I also like that it’s a PDF so I can reuse the curriculum with my oldest daughter.

They do have different levels so we may use it next year as well.

Enrichment Studies

I’ve covered our 2nd grader core subjects but we are also doing a lot of other subjects this year.

I plan on writing a whole blog post on our family enrichment subjects but as an overview, we will be covering the following this year:

Picture Study
Composer Study
Art
History – Story of the World for world history
Science – we’re using The Good & The Beautiful science curriculum units
Scripture Memory
Habit Study
Hymn Study
Nature Study
Geography
Bible – The Oology

This looks like a lot but most lessons will be very short and therefore manageable. They’re full of fun activities and field trips.

Jack is also taking piano lessons. I’m a pianist myself but wanted one less thing on my plate and so I signed up for a premium subscription with Hoffman Academy.

So far he’s loving it and I’m happy with what he’s learning.

Our Daily Routine

I’m not sure if I’ll write up a whole post on our homeschool schedule for this year. It has changed a little from last year but we’ve kept a lot of the same.

We do school 4 days a week Mon-Thur but Tuesday is a light day as we are now meeting up with a local homeschool group on that morning. Having a 4-day school week means we have lots of time for additional activities and gives us the perfect opportunity to do things like visiting our local library.

Our group subjects are done first starting around 9:30 am. After that, we break for morning tea and then I work one-on-one with my older children.

Whoever isn’t working with me on their schoolwork is playing with my 3-year-old. I aim to be all finished up with formal schoolwork by 12 pm.

Conclusion

This year has definitely felt like a bit of a step up when it comes to workload.

Math lessons are a bit longer and so is Language Arts. However, it’s exciting to see my son stepping up to the challenge of it all and really taking on everything he is learning.

The preschool and kindergarten days are long gone now and it’s fun to be moving forward together.

I’m definitely seeing the fruits of our labor come through as so many of the skills he’s previously learned help him with the new skills that he’s learning. This homeschool year is going to be great!