2nd Grade Homeschool Curriculum – What We’re Using

I often get asked what curriculum we use for homeschool, so here’s a list of the learning resources I plan to use for 2nd grade. It’s a mixture of Christian and secular resources, some classical, some not, some open-and-go, others require prep. This is the mix that works for our family, and I hope parts of it help you too!

READING

All About Reading Level 3 is available from All About Learning Press or Rainbow Resource. The level your 2nd grader uses will depend on your child’s reading skills and experience. Our 2nd grader completed All About Reading Level 2 for first grade.

Lots of lots of story books, chapter books, and read aloud books will be additional reading resources.

This year I began to ask a few questions to practice reading comprehension. I ask the following questions and record her answers in a notebook:

Who was the book about (main characters)?
Where did the story take place (setting)?
What happened? What were the challenges the main character faced? How did the story end? (plot)

SPELLING

All About Spelling Level 2 (Teacher & Student Pack), plus the Basic Spelling Interactive kit. Our 2nd grader completed All About Spelling Level 1 in first grade.

MATH

Horizons Math, Grade 2 (Student Books & Teacher Book for the complete set). We tried a few math programs and have found Horizons fits the best with our 2nd grader and our family.

LANGUAGE

First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind, Level 2. We completed First Language Lessons Level 1 last year and T h e Well Trained Mind is a book that helped me discover the classical education approach and how it can be done at home.

HANDWRITING

Zaner Bloser Handwriting Grade 2C. Our second grader will be learning cursive this year, hence the C.

If you only want manuscript, choose 2M. This is the one we used last.

SCIENCE

Science for Little Hearts and Hands – Fields and Flowers by The Good and the Beautiful

Space Science by The Good and the Beautiful

Usborne Beginner Series Collection

Indescribable: 100 Devotions About God & Science

Wonder of Creation: 100 More Devotions About God & Science

BIBLE

More Than Words: Level 1 – Living Faith Bible Curriculum

Answers for Kids Box Set

The Ology: Ancient Truths, Ever New

CLASSICAL CONVERSATIONS

Classical Conversations (Foundations) is a Classical Christian Community program with a core curriculum that covers:

Geography
Timeline
History
Science
English
Latin
Math
Hands On Science Projects & Experiments
Fine Arts
Public Speaking

The two must-have resources for those new to CC (in my opinion) are:

Foundations Guide, 5th Edition

Tin Whistle – Key of D

The CDs or app to review weekly memory work, the Timeline Cards, and Geography Placemats are useful tools too but are not necessary. Click here to learn more about Classical Conversations (CC).

USBORNE BOOKS

Usborne has great books for homeschool, especially their encyclopedias. Here are four I’ve purchased and found will tie into our English, history, science, and geography this year for Classical Conversations:

Usborne Children’s Encyclopedia

Usborne B e g i n n e r S e r i e s Science Collection

The Usborne Book of Living Long Ago

Lift-the-flap Grammar & Punctuation

PIANO

Bastien Piano Basics, Primer Level

WORKBOOK

Brain Quest Workbook, Grade 2 for the days I’m not feeling well, I need to work, or we are on the go and I can’t provide our usual lessons.

Explode the Code also has good workbooks but I didn’t get one for this year since it already seems like we have enough. 🙂

More Elementary Homeschool Curriculum Recommendations

Grade 1 Homeschool Curriculum & Extra Learning Resources – I went more in-depth in this post, and I also noted curricula we tried but didn’t stick with.

Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum & Resources – What we used when we first started.

Easy Tips to Homeschool on Vacation – How we incorporated learning while on the road.