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Home > Homeschool > Our Favorite Curriculum (by grade level!) > Second Grade
(Ages 7-
Second Grade Curriculum (Ages 7-
Douglas Talks (Christian Puppet Videos for Kids)
Douglas Talks. We often watch these short episodes of Douglas Talks as part of our Christian devotion time in school, and I have to admit, this is one of the best puppet shows I’ve ever watched! The puppet, Douglas, talks in a way that is so relatable, that you sometimes forget he’s not real – he’s just a puppet!
I’m really thankful for this show, though. It brings up so many great topics for kids, and talks to them about some really deep spiritual truths in a way that kids can totally understand and relate to. My kids absolutely love watching Douglas. I let them do some coloring while we listen to an episode or two each morning in school. This show has been a huge part of our homeschool mornings!
Language 1 (Grammar, Creative Writing, Reading Comprehension)
Language 1 (Grammar, Creative Writing, Reading Comprehension). The biggest change I make in school with my second graders, is completely changing their reading/language program. Up until now, we’ve been primarily using the Reading Eggs program, but I found that the Reading Eggs program changes very drastically when it gets to second grade, and I just didn’t like their new approach for older students. So, even though we still do the Mathseeds program in second grade (made by the same company that makes Reading Eggs), when my kids get to second grade, we switch up our reading/language program and start using Abeka instead.
However, I’ve also noticed over the years that Abeka tends to be a grade ahead in a lot of the content it teaches, which may be really good for the extra “brainy” child, but can be a bit overwhelming for your average student. For this reason, even though the child is in 2nd grade, I find that this 1st grade book is actually more inline with what they should be learning in 2nd grade (their 2nd grade language book read more like a 3rd grade workbook), which is why we are using their 1st grade book here.
Mathseeds Second Grade Workbook
Mathseeds Second Grade Workbook. Just to be clear, we have moved away from the Reading Eggs program by second grade, but are still using the Mathseeds workbook.
Since this is a very familiar program for my kids (and they still want to use the online program for one more year), we keep on using this company for Math, but basically view second grade as a “transitional” period, where I begin to introduce other curriculum companies, and other workbook styles, to help transition my kids out of using this program (since we won’t be using any of the Reading Eggs or Mathseeds curriculum in any future grades).
Note: If you have a child you is especially good at math, you might consider this slightly more challenging Math book: Abeka Second Grade Arithmetic Workbook.
Mathseeds Online Program
Mathseeds Online Program. When my kids get to second grade, we start to “phase out” of using this online program. It’s been fun, but my experience has been that this program really excels more with the younger kids and hasn’t been as helpful when it comes to the higher elementary grades. I do still let my kids do the Mathseeds program online, and occasionally they still enjoy the Fast Phonics program (or the “Yeti Games” as they like to call it), but by second grade we aren’t doing the online Reading Eggs anymore, and we didn’t much like the Reading Express program, either.
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If it’s helpful at all, here’s the list of the Scholastic books we used (they certainly have lots more, but these are the ones we used), in the order we read them in:
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(Note: We skipped Buddy Readers Level C because it had ghosts in it)
Primary Phonics Storybooks. This series of early reader books are also really excellent. Very simple, black and white pictures, but excellent stories. I especially appreciate that this series actually uses phonetic words (as opposed to other early reader series that throw in a lot of “rule breaker” words before the kids have even mastered the basics of phonics). The books also do a really good job of helping kids progress through multiple skill levels in reading, as well. All in all, really excellent early reader books.
Handwriting Practice Book (Hippidoo)
Handwriting Practice Book. We have tried a lot of different handwriting books over the years, but the Hippidoo series has turned out to be our favorite. It’s just very simple and straight forward, but doesn’t overwhelm the kids with too much repetition, but does a really good job of mixing things up enough to keep handwriting interesting.
This particular book covers both the upper-
As far as school workbooks go, this is a rather small book (only about 100 pages), but it usually takes my kids anywhere from 1 to 2 years to complete this books, since I let them work at their own pace. So, even though they are starting this book in second grade, they will continue to use it in third grade as well.
Geography Kids Website. This is actually my website. I’ve been creating our own geography curriculum, of sorts, as we virtually travel the world and learn about many different countries and cultures.