Second Grade Homeschool Snapshot, 2022-2023


Sylvia learns best when she learns on her own. I often wish she was more open to learning from me, but she has grown more open to it this year so progress is being made. I have gotten the best results by relaxing and encouraging her rather than trying to control her school day. 

I did require math and reading daily in small amounts, plus morning time. Before and after those were done Sylvia either played or crafted. Every day she would enroll her brothers in fort building, dress up, or some other kind of imaginative play for hours and hours inside and outside. When she tired of that, she worked on her many projects. 

Here is a fairly good picture of what Sylvia learned, read, and experienced this year.

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History / Social Studies
History and Geography
We read the following history books as part of our family morning time, focusing on the 1700s for American history:
We also visited some history museums and events including:
Sylvia also drew several detailed maps, which were a first for her.

English Language Arts
Grammar/Handwriting
During morning time we completed Mad Libs together as well as worked through the first half of  Intermediate Language Lessons by Emma Serl [already owned $4.69 from Thriftbooks]. 

She often enjoyed working on her cursive writing using a workbook. 

Reading and Literature
Sylvia was required to read for 10-15 minutes during the school day. Sometimes she reread books she had already read, often to her younger brothers. 

Her reading has improved a lot over the year and is now able to read beginner chapter books if she is motivated. She is slowly working through the Dragon Masters series which was also a big hit for big brother John.

She read the following books this year, although I'm sure there were more we didn't record:
  • Power of the Fire Dragon by Tracey West
  • Song of the Poison Dragon by Tracey West
  • Just Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer
  • George and Martha Encore by James Marshall
  • Henry and Mudge and the Snowman Plan by Cynthia Rylant
  • The Case of the Climbing Cat by Cynthia Rylant
  • The Case of the Puzzling Possum by Cynthia Rylant
  • Partners by Erica Silverman
  • Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Horse in the House by Erica Silverman
  • School Days by Erica Silverman
  • Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Spring Babies by Erica Silverman
  • The Mitten by Alvin Tresselt
  • Rain or Shine by Erica Silverman 
  • My Puppy Is Born by Joanna Cole
  • Mercy Watson: #1-2 by Kate DiCamillo
  • Mercy Watson Fights Crime by Kate DiCamillo
  • Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel
  • Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
  • Stone Soup by Marcia Brown
  • Just a Kite by Mercer Mayer
  • Just a Little Love by Mercer Mayer
  • National Geographic Readers: Llamas by Maya Myers
  • Over in the Meadow: A Counting-Out Rhyme by Olive A. Wadsworth
  • I'm a Big Brother by Joanna Cole
  • Annie and Snowball and the Pink Surprise by Cynthia Rylant
  • George and Martha by James Marshall
  • The Case of the Fidgety Fox by Cynthia Rylant
  • Henry and Mudge in the Green Time by Cynthia Rylant
  • Henry and Mudge Get the Cold Shivers by Cynthia Rylant
  • Henry and Mudge Take the Big Test by Cynthia Rylant
  • Henry and Mudge and the Tall Tree House by Cynthia Rylant
  • The Berenstain Bears: Gone Fishin'! by Mike Berenstain
  • Back in the Saddle by Catherine Hapka
Sylvia usually listened in and sometimes took a part while we read aloud two of Shakespeare's plays as a family: A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet, and were so happy to see a touring production of Julius Caesar and a community theater production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

She listened to many audiobooks on her own while working on her crafting, especially from the Wings of Fire Series. We also listened to the following read-alouds or audiobooks as a family:

Cottage on Bantry Bay by Hilda von Stockum [Kindle version for $2.05 after promo]
Children of the Longhouse by Joseph Bruhac [$4.77 from Amazon after discount]
Flight of the Doves by Walter Macken
Peppermints in the Parlour by Barbara Brooks Wallace 
Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry
The Children of Noisy Villiage by Astrid Lindgren
The Magic City by Edith Nesbit
Sarah Bishop by Scott O'Dell
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Saint George and the Dragon Retold by Margaret Hodges
The Red Cross Knight from Stories from the Faerie Queen by Mary MacLeod
The Best Halloween Ever by Barbara Robinson
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli
D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar d'Aulaire

Composition
Sylvia is able to orally compose easily. She enjoys writing signs, notes, labels, and letters. She will often ask me to help her spell words. She says that she wants to learn to spell so I plan to start All About Spelling level 1 with her next year. 

Poetry
We focused on a different poet each term reading works by Helen Hunt Jackson, Langston Hughes (using the book The Dream Keeper And Other Poems [$4.19 from Thriftbooks]), and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. I chose the majority of our poems from Ambleside's collection. 

Mathematics
In previous years, Sylvia was very disinterested in learning much about math. By the end of last year, I don't know that she could count to 20 or that she could recognize most two-digit numbers. This was a big reason why I decided to call this year second grade again. 

Beginning in the summer, we watched Numberblocks episodes in order. Sylvia thought we were watching them for her younger brother, but all of my kids enjoyed them and I really wanted them to help her learn things that she knew were straightforward but hadn't understood yet. Very quickly, her ability to count and recognize numbers improved.

Eventually, she started working on Math Seeds every day for at least 15 minutes, but usually more. She worked on that regularly through March and completed all but a couple of lessons of 1st-grade math. Sometimes for a change, she would work on pages from Math Confidence for First Grade or from Beast Academy Level 1A. By the end of March, however, she was getting very bored with Math Seeds so she started working on second-grade math on Khan Academy. 

Sylvia struggles sometimes because she doesn't want simple ideas explained to her. But then she gets frustrated that she doesn't already understand. For example, she still doesn't know her birthday or the days of the week in order even though we post a calendar, talk about dates, review the days of the week, and talk about her birthday often. I know she will learn it eventually when she finds it important enough. 

Sylvia participated in math-related games and activities at home, like crafting, cooking, baking, and games like Fraction Formula, Sleeping Queens, Pay Day, and Dragonwoods. She really enjoys games so much more than in past years. 

She also watched videos on TED-Ed about mathematics.

As a family, we read the following math-related books at morning time:
  • Zero is Something by Marnie Luce
  • Infinity: What is it? By Marnie Luce and A.B. Lerner
  • Infinity and Me by Kate Hosford
  • Blockhead: the life of Fibonacci by Joseph D'Agnese [archive.org]
We've also started watching the old Children's Television Workshop series Square One, which is a comedy math program for kids. I loved it when I was younger and everyone is really enjoying it when we find time to watch it a few times a week.

Science
Sylvia loves nature and spends a great deal of time observing insects, birds, and animals. She frequently drew animal pictures, including some for her nature journal. 

She also loves watching and participating, if possible, in any experiments that her brothers were doing. Despite her terror at getting shots, she let them help her do a finger prick in order to use a home blood-typing kit to find out her blood type. Yes, she regretted it, but they all learned a lot about blood types. 

She listened to the audiobook The Good Pig by Sy Montgomery and we had lots of good conversations about it. 

We also read or listened to the following books as a family (most were from the library or can be found online on my Best Free Nature Lore Books list):
Science Experiences
We watched science-related shows, especially when everyone caught the stomach flu, including Oddly Satisfying Science and British Garden: Life and Death on Your Lawn (via Curiosity Stream) as well as nature documentaries on Netflix and Disney.

Sylvia participated all year in our weekly, all-weather Wild + Free group. With the group, we often completed nature journal entries based on prompts from Exploring Nature Around the Year.

In June, she is signed up to attend an evening Environmental camp that she loved 2 years ago and will be attending a nature/stem skills day at a state park where she will do geocaching, rope tricks, natural cordage, and bottle rockets. 

Sylvia was able to attend several events or museums about science including:
  • Columbus Zoo
  • Family night at an Observatory
  • STEM day for kids at a local university
  • Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum
  • National Zoo
  • Smithsonian Natural History Museum
  • U.S. Botanic Gardens
  • Nature walk with a Naturalist
  • Cape Henlopen Nature Education Center
Art and Music
Composer Study
We studied the following composers using the guides from Tillberry Table, which I love and make composer study easy and enjoyable.
  • Term 1: Scarlatti
  • Term 2: Rachmaninoff
  • Term 3: Wagner
We also had the opportunity to see Itzalk Perlman perform which was an amazing experience.

Artist Study
We studied the following composers:
We were thrilled to finally make it to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. to see many familiar artists and works we have studied over the years. 

Folk Songs
We learned several new folk songs this year including The Wellerman (finally had to get on the bandwagon with this one loved by many of our friends), Waltzing Matilda, and The Mermaid. We also listened and sang along to a folk songs CD made by a friend who does Ambleside Online to practice old favorites and learn some new songs.

Handicrafts
Sylvia continues to be a huge creator and makes things on a daily basis. This year she did drawing, watercolor, acrylic painting on canvas, soap carving, embroidery, friendship bracelets, sewing, cross-stitch, fairy doll making, whittling, air dry clay creations, finger knitting, luceting, origami, and weaving with a potholder loom and a lap loom. Once again, I didn't take nearly enough pictures.

She finds inspiration in crafting books but ALWAYS likes to find her own way to do things and doesn't seem too bothered if it doesn't come out just right. She will just try again. She doesn't have the patience or desire to learn crocheting yet or to learn how to use the sewing machine by herself. She likes sitting up late with headphones on, hand-sewing her latest project!

Physical Education
This year we finally found an activity perfectly suited for Sylvia's love for climbing and swinging--ninja class! And overall, she has been so much more willing to try new things. She participated in the following:
  • Swimming lessons (summer)
  • Ninja Class (1 hour/week), August-May
  • Ice Skating Lessons, Jan-March
  • Spring AYSO Soccer 
She stays active playing, climbing, doing pull-ups, planks, and headstands, and also continues to attend our weekly, all-weather Wild + Free group where the kids love to play ga ga ball and tag, besides hiking and playing in the woods or by the pond. 

While she will be taking the summer off from her regular ninja class, she will be attending a morning day camp at the ninja gym for 1-week and plans to take swimming lessons again this July. 

Final Thoughts
I'm so glad Sylvia could have another low-key year as a second grader. She is so much happier and more flexible about life in general after this year. She also grew a lot academically and in her crafting abilities. She breathes so much excitement and energy into our family life. I never want to tamp that down. I still want to figure out to help her trust others to learn from them. But I think it will continue to come with time. 
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1 comment:

  1. AflyonmyhomeschoolwallMay 27, 2023 at 2:04 PM

    This kid of yours is an artist--a wild and free artist! I can see how challenging it would be to be her teacher, but reading about her sounds like the opening chapter of a biography of a famous artist. She doesn't fit the mold because she's gonna make her own mold. :)

    I wish you both joy in your (combined) learning journey!

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