Welcome to my annual Homeschool Curriculum posts where I share all of the things we will be learning in our homeschool for the 2024-2025 school year!
This is my 15th year of homeschool, and I am schooling 4 of my 5 children. My oldest is away at college (sniff, sniff), so I have four left at home to educate.
My kiddos will be: 12th grade, 10th grade, 8th grade, and 2nd grade.
To get the curriculum posts rolling, I’ll start with my 2nd grader! I’ll have my other curriculum posts up over the next 2 weeks, so stay tuned for those.
For the most part, we are using Memoria Press 2nd Grade Curriculum with a few tweaks here and there.
Note: In years past, I was able to record videos for each of my child’s studies. Unfortunately, my time seems to get tighter and tighter as the years go on and I’m just not able to do that this year. I’m so sorry! I know that was a favorite there for awhile.
I teach my children a classical education, so you will see that my choices match that method of learning. I didn’t receive a classical education myself, so it has been a lot of self-education on my part. But it can be done!
➡️ Read more: How I Educate Myself as a Classical Homeschool Mom
➡️ Browse through all of the homeschool curriculum posts here at Mama’s Learning Corner.
Mama’s Learning Corner uses affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Aside from my affiliate links, I’m not presently affiliated with Memoria Press, BJU, or any other curriculum provider in any way. I’m just a very grateful and satisfied homeschool mama!
2nd Grade Spelling and Phonics
My primary academic goal for Kindergarten through 2nd grade is always the same no matter the child: to practice phonics and reading until my children are proficient readers.
The two ways I have found to achieve that goal are through a systematic, phonetic-based spelling and reading program. I have found 2 programs in the homeschool market that meet my goals beautifully: All About Learning and Memoria Press’ Phonics Program.
This year for 2nd grade, I am using Memoria Press since I already have most of the materials on hand. In my experience, you can’t go wrong with either of these two reading programs. I love and value both!
I didn’t start my son in Traditional Spelling I until January of his 1st Grade year. Reading has been more of a challenge for him, so my goal was better reading proficiency before introducing spelling.
He needed to master letter sounds and CVC and CVCe words before we could move along.
As a result of that decision, we will finish the second half of Traditional Spelling I and then move right into Traditional Spelling II.
I have used this program for years with my older girls, and it laid a very solid foundation in phonetics for them. The word lists are just right, the weekly work is predictable (but not boring!), and the supplemental activities are fun.
We love it!
➡️ Read Our Experience with Traditional Spelling I in my Homeschool. This post is several years old, but my method remains the same.
➡️ You can also take a look at How I Teach Spelling in Our Homeschool for some extra ideas.
2nd Grade Reading and Phonics
As I mentioned, my son has been a slower reader so I greatly modified his 1st grade year so we could master CVC words, CVCe words, and blends. We touched on vowel teams here and there, but he wasn’t quite ready for serious work with those by the end of the year.
At the beginning of 2nd grade, we will complete More Story Time Treasures, which is actually part of Memoria Press’ 1st grade curriculum.
Then we will move onto their 2nd grade reading and literature curriculum which starts with Amelia Bedelia and then the beloved Prairie School.
I do not expect to finish all of the 2nd grade reading and literature, of course, since we probably won’t start the actual 2nd grade portion until December. I’m okay with that. We will just finish over the summer or wait until 3rd grade. No big deal.
I am very excited that Memoria Press has tweaked the 2nd grade literature year to include Brambly Hedge! It was been a true joy and favorite to read with my son through the years, and we are both excited about reading it for literature in school.
We have the beautiful The Complete Brambly Hedge and I would encourage you to purchase that version if you’re interested in owning it for your personal library. It is just lovely and a delight to read!
2nd Grade Handwriting
My boy is not a huge fan of writing with a pencil, which is not a big surprise to me. He is wired like my #1 and #3 kiddos, which were quite pencil-phobic. While my 7 year old is more agreeable in regard to the physical act of writing than they were (are), he still needs much practice.
He will write his way through Handwriting Without Tears’ Printing Power this year.
I have used HWT many times over, and it is a successful program for my children.
Intermittently, he will also finish Copybook II: Scripture and Poems from 1st grade. Again, we didn’t start that until halfway through first grade, so we will finish that first and then move on to Copybook III if there is time left before summer break.
2nd Grade History
For history in 2nd grade, I usually keep it light and literature-heavy.
We will read through Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans, and I will pull other books from my shelf that correlates to the American we read about each week.
My 7 year old is pretty craft averse, so sadly for me, there are no history crafts planned! After having 3 very crafty girls enjoy every history craft imaginable, it will be hard to figure out how to supplement this very outside and active boy.
We will probably just read and discuss, which is plenty for this age.
2nd Grade Math
This year, my son will work his way through Grade 2 Math from BJU. My son certainly has a bent towards numbers, and that is fun to see! My four other children have not loved math, so this is a neat change of pace for me as the homeschool mama.
I have not used BJU in the elementary grades at all for math, but I feel confident this will be a good fit for my 7 year old. Because I have used BJU extensively in the middle and upper grades, I know what BJU’s math goals are and I know where this curriculum is headed.
While the pages are quite colorful in BJU’s Grade 2 Math, I do not think this will be a distraction to him as it was for my older girls. They needed all black and white pages, which is one of the many reasons Rod and Staff math was a great fit for them.
I know my son will enjoy that challenge that BJU math brings! He’s ready for it!
2nd Grade Science
The Memoria Press 2nd Grade curriculum includes Patterns of Nature from Rod and Staff, and we will read through portions of it and the accompanying activities.
My boy has also asked for an ant farm, so I will try to accommodate that request!
He spends much time outside, so nature is a great teacher for him as well.
In our homeschool, the elementary years are for exploration and exposure in science, and especially nature, so I don’t have much formal academics planned.
2nd Grade Art and Music
While I am not nearly as consistent as I would like to be, my children and I cycle through the Memoria Press Art cards throughout the year. I try to do one poster each week, but I often don’t make it! I just add them in as we are able.
I often add these in after our Bible time. You can watch how we do Bible Plus One for a better look at my overall vision for starting off our day with the Lord.
I also try to do the Music selection that is included with the Memoria Press 2nd Grade Curriculum set. There’s an easy-to-access Spotify list, plus a fun little blurb to read about each piece. I learn something new every time!
➡️ The information for the 2nd Grade art cards is contained in the 2nd Grade Enrichment Book. It makes learning about the artist so easy!
➡️ The information for each musical piece is in Music Enrichment: Kindergarten to Second Grade.
Because I am homeschooling 4 children, two of which are in high school, there are only so many hours in the day. Using Memoria Press’ art and music selections as I am able to fit them in adds a little bit of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness as we go about our studies.
Are you teaching 2nd grade this year? What are your early elementary kiddos studying? Please leave a note in the comments. I’d love to read what is going on in your homeschool this year! ❤️
Here’s a quickie list of our 2nd Grade Curriculum Choices for this year:
→ Memoria Press 2nd Grade Curriculum
→ Finish the second half of Traditional Spelling I and then on to Traditional Spelling II
→ Finish up More Story Time Treasures and then on to 2nd Grade Literature Set from Memoria Press
→ Printing Power from Handwriting Without Tears
→ Finish Copybook II and then move on to Copybook III if there is time before summer
→ Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans with history books from my shelf
→ Patterns of Nature from Rod and Staff plus an ant farm and plenty of time outside
→ Memoria Press Art Posters for 2nd Grade
→ Memoria Press Music Enrichment for 2nd Grade
Summer Learning 1st Grade Weekly Worksheet Packet #5
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