For second grade, we continued using Abeka for our Language Arts (Link to Teacher Kit). This includes phonics, reading, cursive handwriting, and spelling. I personally recommend starting cursive in 2nd grade. I started in 1st grade with Lucy (my oldest) but I noticed that while she enjoyed cursive and did well with it, her print handwriting was suffering because she wasn’t focusing on it and/or we hadn’t practiced it enough yet. So I would recommend only moving onto cursive once you feel like their print handwriting is really solidified and neat. For Lucy, we took some time and went back to printing (manuscript) for a few months and that seemed to help. 

As for phonics and reading…no matter what your child has used to learn how to read, I don’t think it will ever hurt to move to a more phonics-based instruction (sounding out words using vowels and consonant combinations….) However, I would be careful when choosing which level to start at. Most curriculum have placement tests that you should do first to avoid discouraging your child with something different than what they are used to. I know that the Good and the Beautiful Language Arts program is also great and offers placement tests and so does All About Reading. The Good and the Beautiful offers free downloads of their curriculum, so your only cost is printing. Abeka offers a Scope and Sequence to see where your child fits. 

One thing I love about homeschooling is my child doesn’t have to be on the same grade level for each subject! For example, my oldest is young for her grade. Her birthday is in late June. So when she was a little behind in 2nd grade writing, I didn’t sweat it. We will just finish up the 2nd grade level in the beginning of 3rd grade and switch to 3rd grade level when we finish (probably a month or two into the school year). So don’t be concerned if your child has to be up or down a grade level from what they were before, the main thing is that they are consistently learning and growing in their skills. Also, you can modify as needed. We weren’t loving one of the readers assigned to us in 2nd grade, so we just switched it out for another book. We loved all the other readers though so we kept using the program. 

For Math, we continued with Math Mammoth. Again, we weren’t 100% on grade level, but I decided that was fine given that Lucy was so young for her grade. In the first semester we did the 2nd half of level 1 and some of level 2 and the next semester we almost completed level 2. I also supplemented with Liberty Math Drills for math facts practice. Math Mammoth is very user friendly, but also teaches math concepts in an easy to understand way and there are free Youtube videos to go with most topics. 

For Bible, we moved onto Grade 2 Abeka Bible, which was just a new batch of Bible Stories using large Flash-A-Card pictures. We really loved it and the younger kids joined us for this. Abeka is currently running a promotion where all of their Bible curriculum is only $25 for a year of streaming video lessons! I bought this for our family for next year. For Bible Verses, we mainly practiced the Bible passage that our Classical Conversations group was learning: Genesis 1. 

Our 2nd Grade year we also started going through the 24 Family Ways as a family after dinner – not nearly as consistently as we wanted to, but it was great for this age. There are coloring pages in the back to keep everyone busy while listening, and the lessons are very short and sweet with lots of questions. 

Science

For History, we continued with Story of the World. We did Volume 1 for 1st grade, so we moved onto Volume 2 for 2nd grade. This volume covers Medieval to Renaissance History. However, if you haven’t done volume 1 yet, start there even if you’re in 2nd grade, it is more important to do the volumes in order. I recommend getting the audio book so you can listen to it together. We used a coloring page from the activity book for almost every lesson and occasionally checked out recommended books from the library and did suggested projects. We didn’t do the tests. I still used the Usborne History Encyclopedia and displayed it on a book stand while we listened. 

Piano

For poetry, we memorized the poems from Level 1 of the Good and the Beautiful Language Arts. For Spanish, I finally found an elementary program that it so great! Calico Spanish is less than $100 for a year of streaming Spanish videos, songs, and flashcard printables, along with daily lessons plans!  

For Read Alouds, we mainly used books in an older Sonlight Core B Set and a few others I picked. Note: almost all of these I didn’t actually read but we all listened to the audio version found either on Audible, or from our library, or on Youtube. We listened mainly during lunch and in the car. 

That’s about it for now, I’ll be back with preschool next! 🙂