Second Grade Plans

As time-consuming as the logic stage is becoming, I also have Big Girl to think of as she's starting second grade next fall.

This year she has come along nicely in her reading, writing, and math, which I feel are important skills to focus on along with the enrichment she gets from art, music, and history through discussions with her older brother.

Sometimes I think it's funny to be calling my eldest daughter Big Girl, as she's got close to zero percent fat on her 45-pound frame, but she is the Big Girl in our family as she has a younger sister, Little Girl, who's 3 years her junior. As for Son, he's my only Son. Basically I'm writing these for convenience and distinguishing one girl from the other. If I had two sons, they would have been Big Boy and Little Boy. But I digress.

Here is what I have planned for Big Girl so far:

Reading/Phonics: Noah Webster's Reading Handbook, Harriet Taylor Treadwell's Second and Third Readers. Many books after that depending on her level. She enjoys the Magic Treehouse series, so she'll probably be enjoying it next year.

English: Serl's Primary Language Lessons (PLL) and Natural Speller

Math: Math Mammoth 2A and 2B

Literature Read-Alouds: Little House in the Big Woods, The Blue Fairy Book, The Railway Children, Tikki Tikki Tembo, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, The Mouse and The Motorcycle, Stuart Little

Reading: Living books

Natural Science: Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (BFSU), Christian Liberty Nature Readers 1 and 2

Nature Study: Nature Connection and Nature Smart

History: Story of the World (SOTW) Volume I: Ancients plus Activity Guide ad relevant historical fiction and nonfiction

Spanish: Rosetta Stone Spanish, Muzzy Spanish, The Easy Spanish Jr. K-3, Duolingo

Penmanship: Penny Gardner's Italic: Beautiful Handwriting for Children and/or Getty Dubay Italic Character Italic

Poetry: Poetry for Young People Series: Edna St. Vincent Millay and Robert Frost (with Son)

Music: Piano, Usborne Introduction to Music

Art: The Usborne Introduction to Art, focus on Ancient Art

Sixth Grade Plans

Son is going to be 11 this fall! I can scarcely believe it. Here is our plan for next year, which will be sixth grade. I'm excited because we're cycling back to the study of the ancients after a little more than four years.

This is our list for next fall:

Mathematics: MM 5B and 6A
English: Serl's Intermediate Language Lessons (ILL), Wordsmith Apprentice, English From The Roots Up
History: Dorothy Mills' Book Of the Ancient World, Book of the Ancient Greeks, Book of the Ancient Romans using Kfamily's Mind in the Light curriculum, The Human Odyssey: Prehistory Through The Middle Ages, Landmark biographies, What Life Was Like, a great selection of living books
Literature Read-Alouds: A Christmas Carol, The Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Play: Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
Natural Science: Finish BFSU 2 Elementary Science Education, BFSU 3 Middle School Elementary, Behold and See 5 and 6, Exploring The Way Life Works, a nice selection of living books
Reading: Around the World in Eighty Days, Gentle Ben, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Incredible Journey, North to Freedom, A Wrinkle in Time, Cheaper by the Dozen
Geography: A Child's Geography: both Explore the Holy Land and Explore the Classical World, selections
Spanish: So You Really Want to Learn Spanish Book 1 (finish up) and Book 2; Duolingo Spanish, Rosetta Stone LatAm Spanish Homeschool Ed.
Latin: The Big Book of Latin Volume 1 - Lively Latin
Poetry: Millay, Tennyson, and Frost using Poetry for Young People series, Teaching Poetry Yes You Can
Art: Usborne Introduction to Art and for skills not sure yet. Daddy's in charge.
Music: Classics for Kids, Usborne Introduction to Music
Bible: The Children's Bible
Spelling: Natural Speller and Spelling City 

MM: Math Mammoth

BFSU: Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding

For history, I have created a reading schedule that coordinates each of Dorothy Mills' history books (Book of the Ancient World, Book of the Greeks, and Book of the Romans) with K12's The Human Odyssey. We're concentrating on Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome. Everything else we get to is gravy. I'm combining these with A Child's Geography: Explore The Holy Land and Explore The Classical World focusing on Egypt, Greece, and Italy. Big girl, who's six, will be joining us for the geography studies. She is going to be working on Story of the World Volume I: Ancients.