One Room Schoolhouse: Kindergarten and Second Grade Materials
I will do this again this year because I love looking over what other people are doing in their schoolrooms so that I can find new and exciting materials. I will tell you we've done some switching up this year, not a whole lot though. I wrote this type of post last year for the boys, if you are interested in first grade materials and more kindergarten stuff go there.
This year we are going on a new adventure, we have joined a local Classical Conversations chapter and I am excited to see if it is a good fit for us. They cover a wide range of information and are heavy on memorization through little songs and poems. This year I'll just go off of what they are doing in that for science and see if I like that any better. Apologia Science is just not a good fit for us at this point.
As before I recommend these books as a general guideline, I find them very helpful and hope you will too:
General Homeschooling books:
Bible:
We read this at the breakfast table, both boys understand it and are challenged by it- I am as well, this is the best children's bible for this age by far.
Math:
We'll be finishing 2nd Grade math with Jackson and then I think we are headed for a leap over to Singapore Math for both boys. I just ordered Kindergarten Mathematics It is still up for debate, but saxon however spectacular it is supposed to be- it moves too slowly for both of the boys.
History:
Kindergarten and 2nd Grade together. We're doing Story of the World Volume 2: Middle Ages . I am going to buy the Who in the World? 4 biographies as well, they look excellent.
Science:
We will be checking out books from the library, using encyclopedias, and pretty much doing our own thing. I'd love to do animal sciences mostly this year- since that is what the boys are around at our home and on the ranch. We'll see. If you have suggestions I'd love to hear them!
Language:
Kindergarten: Oliver learned to read last year, now we will just be reading books together to improve the skills he already has. I have some language arts workbooks for him as well. Mostly I care about him just reading this year and working on writing a little. Singapore also has readers, I bought them (8 total) after looking them over at a friends house. I know he will love them.
Second Grade:
More homeschooling links on DG blog:
Some of our favourite read alouds for Kindergarten and Pre-K
Best EVER Parenting Book, You have to read it!
Classical Style Home Education Important Links
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September 23rd, 2011 - 16:30
Hi Bethany! I’ve taken the plunge and started homeschooling my kindergartner and second grader this year too. :) Thanks for the tip on the Singapore readers-we’re doing Singapore math, but I hadn’t thought to check out the readers.
One question: Are you doing anything at all formal to give your boys Spanish? That was the main thing holding me back from homeschooling–they were enrolled in a dual immersion Spanish program at the public school and really picking up Spanish well, and although my husband and I are both fluently bilingual, we haven’t been able to get the kids speaking Spanish much at home. Any suggestions? :)
September 28th, 2011 - 21:02
I am so sad to say we haven’t done anything yet. I would love to hear what you have done!!!! I just don’t even know where to start with a good book. I just keep thinking I should speak to them and then I feel guilty that I didn’t start much sooner and then the circle continues.
I’d love suggestions!! I guess that is what you were asking me for though…sorry to not be more helpful.
September 27th, 2011 - 06:08
What a great collection of books! We adore some of the CM philosophies like nature walks and studies. Story of the World is a favorite audio of ours to listen to when we feel like learning more about our history. We are doing more “unschooling” but nature walks and Story of the World are two of my kids favorites. Requested frequently!