A list of our curriculum picks for my eldest son who will be on Year 2 (or Grade 2) this year. This list is Classical + Charlotte Mason inspired.
A FEW NOTES BEFORE WE BEGIN:
The first question people ask when I share my curriculum picks was how did I come up with this list? Well, in a nutshell, lots of research and reading. This means, going back and forth reviews online.
But eventually, I’ve narrowed it down to trusting the recommendations of Ambleside Online and our current homeschool provider, Living Learning Homeschool. Both are CM inspired. But since we do Classical as well, I tweaked and added other books mostly from The Well Trained Mind. (See related post: How We Homeschool Classical + CM)
Take note that this list is custom made to fit my son’s current skills, interests and sensitivity. I placed notes on some of the categories to explain.
See previous years’ picks here: Kindergarten and Year 1
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BIBLE & THEOLOGY:
- Ambleside Online’s Bible Reading Plan for Y2
- Revisit previous material: The Ology, Wonderfull and Leading Little Ones to God
CHARACTER:
- Parables from Nature (Selected passages only, based on Ambleside’s plan)
- Book of Virtues
GRAMMAR:
*No reading or writing curriculum. Instead, these skills are honed through reading his books for literature and by doing copywork sheets daily.
LITERATURE:
- Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by E. Nesbit
- All’s Well that Ends Well
- Two Gentlemen of Verona
- King Lear
- The Winter’s Tale
- Little Pilgrim’s Progress
- Robin Hood
- Heidi
- The Happy Prince
Free Reading:
(Books he will need to read, but no narration is required)
- Owls in the Family
- Door in the Wall
- Mr. Popper’s Penguins
- Mary Poppins
- Doctor Doolittle
- Five Children and It
- A Wonderbook for Boys and Girls
- Understood Betsy * (Optional/standby: Depends if we have time!)
POETRY
- Christina Rossetti
- Walter de la Mare
- Eugene Field
MATH
- Dimensions Math Level 2 (2A and 2B)
SCIENCE & NATURE STUDY
- God’s Design: Heaven and Earth for Beginners (doing “Universe” and “Weather”)
- Birds of the Air by Arabella Buckley
- The Burgess Animal Book for Children
FILIPINO
- Apolinario Mabini (Tahanan Great Lives Series)
- Andres Bonifacio (Tahanan Great Lives Series)
- Wikahon A
CHINESE
- Chinese Language “Huanlehuoban” Level 1: This was also his book for last year, but I want to keep using it this year for mastery.
- Chinese Language “Huanlehuoban” Level 2: If I’m satisfied with his Level 1 progress, we’ll use the next one!
- Duolingo (I just leave him to do the lessons on his own!)
SOCIAL STUDIES
BIOGRAPHIES
- Trial and Triumph (select passages only)
- Joan of Arc by Dianne Stanley
- Good Queen Bess by Dianne Stanley
- 50 Famous People
GEOGRAPHY
- Home Geography by CC Long
- Charlotte Mason’s Elementary Geography (Supplement)
ART
- Jan Van Eyck
- Sandro Botticelli
- Van Gogh
- Raphael
MUSIC
- Frederic Chopin: Early Years by Opal Wheeler
- Franz Schubert by Opal Wheeler