By Janny Jackson
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My second grader has never been to a traditional public school. Her homeschool journey began during the pandemic and our move out of state, amongst a lot of chaos and confusion and reluctance on my part.
If you were to peer in on a day of me homeschooling with her you would never know. But it wasn’t always that way.
We have learned together how to navigate our teacher/student relationship. She was an eager reader, and learned really quickly, but the beginning of her homeschool journey was riddled with some big emotions, on both of our ends, which in turn would lead to an abrupt end to our school day, which was frustrating for both of us.
Over the past year my daughter has grown so much, I can’t emphasize that enough. Her confidence and discipline with her schooling has grown to the point that I can honestly say homeschooling with my daughter has become an absolute breeze. She, now, is the type of student that sits still, stays focused, doesn’t get distracted by (all) the noise around her, does what is asked of her in a quick and timely manner, is eager to learn, and is proud of her accomplishments. That’s not something I have taught her. That is innate in her. My job was to unlock that area (through encouragement and motivation) within her that was struggling with the ability to have the confidence she needed to get to where she is right now.
I am so proud of her and how far we have grown in our homeschool journey together, and I look forward to what this year holds for her, and the growth that will stem from it.
This is what she will be working on for second grade:
We have used these 180 Days of Spelling & Word Study workbooks for years. They focus on grouping words with the same sound blends together and using them in the proper context in different ways, such as fill in the blank, alphabetical order, analogies, synonyms and antonyms and so much more. These workbooks are great for extra practice and reinforcement.
Is there a such thing as too much writing practice? I don’t think so! My daughter has excellent handwriting, but we will still be working on perfecting her printing, and starting cursive this year using Handwriting Without Tears.
I changed my kid’s math curriculum last year to Math Mammoth and it has not disappointed. It is a no frills approach to math, with tons of practice and quick testing after each chapter to make sure the concepts learned have truly been grasped. The creator Maria Miller also has free YouTube videos of her actually teaching the math concepts, and links are provided for additional online help and practice.
At the beginning of the school year I was not sure if this was the right fit for her. I was so used to another curriculum that was more fun and colorful. I wanted her to have that experience with learning math, and said several times that I didn’t think we would continue with it, but she proved me wrong.
She didn’t have any expectations for her math experience, I was the one that wanted something different for her. After a couple months we had both fully adjusted to the curriculum and she excelled at it to the end. I’m excited to continue on with this curriculum with her.
This year we are trying something new for English, and I am pretty stoked about it! My second grader will be growing her knowledge on grammar and writing concepts this year and I wanted to make sure she was working with a curriculum that was intensive and complete, but also not dry and time consuming. It was recommended to me to look into BJU English, and after doing some research I decided to pull the trigger.
I love that it’s first and foremost objective is to teach from a biblical worldview, which is something that we value in our family. The teacher’s manual is very easy to read, the instructions are clear, and the workbook is easy to follow and colorful. It also comes with a CD in the back of the teacher’s manual that has additional content including instructional aids that are used with the lessons.
I am incredibly impressed with this curriculum so far and am praying it is a good fit for her.
I added another BJU curriculum to my daughter’s schooling this year- this reading curriculum. This curriculum comes with a teacher’s guide, worktext, and 4 books that are filled with beautifully illustrated stories. I decided to only purchase the four books, A-D, and the worktext. She will be using this curriculum with the main purpose of working on reading comprehension. She loves to read, so I think she will love this curriculum, and work through it quickly.
In case you didn’t know, BJU curriculum sets are pricey. Don’t be discouraged if this is a curriculum you want to use but think you can’t afford. I found all of these BJU books second hand through eBay, FB marketplace and even Amazon. I paid about a third of the original price for all of these books. We homeschool on a budget over here!
My second grader will be reading some fun chapter books this year! She is always reading and asking questions to understand what she has read. It’s been beautiful and impressive to see her progress over the past year. The first book she will read for the year is Hooray for Anna Hibiscus!
She will also be doing book reports for the first time this year after she completes each book. I look forward to her feedback on each of these books.
And last but not least, I will be signing her up for a FLVS (Florida Virtual School) art class, as we have done in previous years. I love outsourcing this class for her, as she is able to learn from a teacher live or watch the recorded class, and follow along with the assigned craft. We usually complete this class at the beginning of the school year, and she looks forward to it every year.
I am so excited for the growth that this year will bring, not just in knowledge, but also as we continue to learn how to grow our relationship as a team in homeschooling.
If you haven’t already, check out what my fourth grader will be working on for the 2022-2023 school year here, and what we are doing together as a group here!
As always, thanks for being here!