2nd Grade Homeschool Recap, 2025-2026

Another year is in the books. Harry had a great year of learning and maturing. I finally have a verbose narrator and it is a lot of fun to hear his colorful descriptions and commentary on what he has read. He has gained so much confidence this year about trying new things and enjoying new experiences. 



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Language Arts

Reading
Harry was already reading at the beginning of the school year, so this year was all about building stamina and fluency.  Harry loves stories but he would rather listen to Redwall or Harry Potter than read easy readers. It is a good problem to have but I have to be very consistent about getting him enough reading practice. 

Some of the books we used this year:

Treadwell First Reader [already owned - free with gift card] 
Harry had started this book last year, but I had him reread the first part and complete the whole book this year.

Harry read this book with a lot of help from me but he was really proud to finish it.

Henry and Mudge books and other leveled readers [borrowed from the library]

Dragonmaster books [already owned]
After painstakingly reading book 1 with help in the middle of the year, he is easily reading book 2 with much enjoyment. It is a wonderful and relieving place to finish out the year. 

Handwriting


Then transitioned to copying passages from an old Spelling Wisdom curriculum from Simply Charlotte Mason.

Spelling
After Christmas, Harry and I started All About Spelling level 1 and he completed the level at the very end of the school year. 

Recitation
I love recitation as a practice and I have to streamline things as I add more kids so I slightly lowered the amount of pieces down from 15.  

This year, Harry memorized and recited 12 poems and passages, including 
  • Five Eyes by Walter de la Mare
  • The Cupboard by Walter de la Mare
  • Everytime I Climb a Tree by David Mccord 
  • I Toss Them to My Elephant by Jack Prelutsky
  • Homework Machine by Shel Silverstein
  • Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes
  • The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlow
  • Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening By Robert Frost
  • Isabel by Ogden Nash
  • Macbeth: Double Double Toil and Trouble 
  • She Dwelt Among Untrodden Ways by Williams Wordsworth
  • To a Butterfly by Williams Wordsworth
  • Bear Song by Kay Ryan
It is a delight to see him recite his poems. He really gives a performance!

Literature
Harry loves stories. He writes (dictates) stories and poems that are very creative for his young age. He is already talking about going to college and majoring in creative writing (hilarious!) and his only question is what to double major in!

To get him off of repetitively listening to Harry Potter and Redwall, I started him on the Mensa 4-6th grade reading list and he has been greatly enjoying afternoon audiobook time. 

We also read lots of folk tales and poetry including:
  • Aladdin and Other Favorite Arabian Nights Stories edited by Philip Smith
  • D'aulaire's Book of Norse Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire
  • A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
  • The Golden Songbook: A Collection o Favorite Songs and Singing Games for Children
  • The Ballad of Belle Dorcas by William H. Hooks
  • Buddha at Bedtime: Tales of Love and Wisdom for You to Read With Your Child to Enchant, Enlighten, and Inspire by Dharmachari Nagaraja
  • Princess Furball by Charlotte Huck
  • A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
  • Old Peter's Russian Tales by Aurthur Ransome
  • The Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems edited by Donald Hall
  • The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
Science / Nature
I did some of Harry's subjects as a "morning time" with his younger brother. Harry listened to me read from the following science and nature books. He narrated the starred titles:
  • The Atlantic Salmon by Bianca Lavies
  • Slugs and Snails by Terry Jennings
  • The Tree Book by Gina Ingoglia
  • Carnivorous Plants by Cynthia Overbeck
  • A First Look at Spiders by Millicent E. Selsam
  • Humpback Goes North by Darice Bailer
  • Starlings by Wilfrid Swancourt Bronson
  • How to Raise Butterflies by E. Jaediker Norsgaard
  • First Look at Fish by Selsam*
  • African Critters by Robert B. Haas*
  • Who Lives at the Seashore: Animal Life Along the Shore by Glenn O. Blough*
  • Brave Dogs, Gentle Dogs: How They Guard Sheep by Gat Urbigkit
  • Secrets from the Rocks: Dinosaur Hunting with Roy Chapman Andrews by Albert Marrin
  • Battle on the Rosebush: Insect Life in Your Backyard by Marian S. Edsall*
  • The Golden Book of Birds by Hazel Lockwood*
  • Amazing World of Spiders written by Janet Craig Illustrated by Jean Helmer
  • Come Back Salmon: How a Group of Dedicated Kids Adopted Pigeon Creek and Brought It Back to Life by Molly Cone
  • The Goat Lady by Jane Bregoli
  • Among the Forest People by Clara Dillingham Pierson*
  • Animal Camouflage by Dorothy Shuttlesworth
  • North: The Amazing Story of Arctic Migration by Nick Dowson illustrated by Patrick Benson*
  • Wild folk in the mountains by Carroll Lane Fenton*
Harry also enjoyed lots of free time in nature, including attending our local Wild + Free group which meets weekly in all weather. 

Social Studies
Harry listened to the following history titles. He narrated from the titles with stars:
For geography, he read and narrated from:
In our morning time, we read additional books about history, geography, and social studies including:

Math
Math has come easily to Harry so I just try to play it by ear and keep him working at a good level for him. We have used the following resources this year.
  • Beast Academy 2B, 2C and 2D [Entire level 2 set already owned purchased for $40 at a used curriculum sale] Last year, we stopped halfway through 2B so this year we picked up where we left off and completed level 2. 
  • Beast Academy 3A [already owned and on my 4th child of use, I put the worksheets in slip sheets and the kids have completed them with dry erase markers]

Arts and Handicrafts
I was not consistent about learning and practicing handicrafts with Harry at all. He did enjoy making origami, drawing, and learning string games. I hope to be more intentional about this for him and his younger brother next year. 

We studied three fine artists this year and I decided to reuse some materials from the beginning of my homeschool journey:
We studied three composers using Tillberry Table Guides plus her YouTube playlists bought during a 20% off black Friday sale. But we really only completed the first two. We will return to Beethoven next year. My discipline slips after Christmas in a big way and I need to plan better with that in mind. 
We studied three poets this year using Ambleside selections plus Poetry for Young People series for Shakespeare and Wordsworth because I bought a bundle of them for $5 as a used curriculum sale last year.
We followed the Ambleside Online folksong rotation this year using materials shared on the Ambleside Facebook page and a YouTube playlist. In past years, I would select our own folksongs but because two families at our Wild + Free group follow Ambleside it is nice to have the kids learning the the same songs. 

Harry started Hoffman Academy piano lessons and for some reason, practicing became something to struggle about. I really don't want to have lots of struggle and conflict in 2nd grade so it was more important to work on a positive attitude for regular lessons. Maybe he will come back to it because he seemed to like playing, just not practicing. 

Everything Else
Harry has been a bit more of a homebody than some of his siblings at this age. But he loves our weekly nature group.  This year he visited several museums and attended a handful of theatrical performances. He always enjoys the experiences, but he also seems perfectly happy to stay home an listen to audiobooks.

He was thrilled to learn to swim last summer and is looking forward to another week of swimming lessons this summer. He won 2nd place in a county fair poetry contest. He became a great bike rider and a talented stilt walker. He loved visiting a roller rink and has been practicing so he can skate next time without falling every 3 minutes. He recently set a goal to earn a 25-mile hiking award this year by the end of the summer. 

A perfectly happy day for him involves playing indoors and outdoors with his younger and older sibling, riding his bike around the block, listening to his new favorite audiobook, and getting mom or dad to write in his notebook where he is composing several fantasy stories.
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