Second grade curriculum plans

The first semester of homeschooling is nearly over, and I am preparing Big Bug’s very first grade report for the umbrella school (because it’s required, not because I think first graders should be assessed in that way). I’m also planning for the year ahead. Here are the plans for second grade so far.

Sewing project

Sorry, folks. I need to show this picture to my friend, who is going to sew a jacket for me . This is the easiest way!

Explode The Code 1 – how it’s going for us

Now that we have been using Explode The Code as our phonics program for a few weeks, I thought I’d share how it has been going for us. Explode The Code wasn’t my first choice at all – I had been eyeing All About Spelling for a good amount of time, but gave up once I found out that the shipping costs alone would be about half of the price of this, already pricey, program, I gave up. Explode The Code has been around for a long time and is very reasonably priced, so I decided to give it a go.

Tags: Explode The Code, Explode The Code review, first grade phonics

How The Well-Trained Mind is changing our homeschool

There are quite a few online message boards where parents discuss homeschooling, but I haven’t come across another one as sane and useful as the Well-Trained Mind forums yet. Whether one is looking for curriculum advice, help in teaching something very specific, to vent about something homeschool-related or totally personal or have a good (mostly!) religious discussion,  TWTM forums are excellent. (Unfortunately, political discussions are not allowed ).

With so many thinking people in one place, it only made sense to me that the Well-Trained Mind must be a great book. Big Bug is into her third month of the first grade now, and As I am making my way through the Well-Trained Mind, I already know there will be some changes.

Tags: classical homeschooling, Grammar stage curriculum, Well Trained Mind

We have a school room!

We have been doing all our sit-down school work in the living room since starting Kindergarten, and while it has worked perfectly fine, the thought of a separate school room applied to all of us. Big Bug can concentrate more easily when there are few distractions, and the living room always has plenty of stuff going on. I have been frustrated by the build-up of school supplies, which rarely get totally put away.

Little Bug’s trip to the dentist

Little Bug finally got his decaying front teeth drilled and filled this week! He was a courageous little guy, and I am very proud of him and his new, shiny teeth! Unfortunately, he’d been having problems for about a year already. Living in Eastern Europe, it was extremely difficult to find a dentist who would agree to drill and fill milk teeth, and absolutely none who practice giving total anesthesia or twilight sleep to toddlers who need extensive dental work. We made it in the end, though!

Update

We’ve been extremely busy, and are settling into our homeschooling routine. Homeschooling, my writing work, and socializing with friends has left little time for things like relaxation and browsing the internet – and the latter is probably a positive thing. Here are some updates on what we have been doing.