Eclectic Second Grade Homeschooling

I want to preface this post with my little spiel on homeschooling. No two homeschoolers are the same. What works for one kiddo may be disastrous for another. In fact, I can already tell that my younger son will need a very different approach than my older one, and he isn’t even 5 years old yet!

However, that’s the beauty of homeschooling! We are choosing a path that ALLOWS us to tailor the education to the student, NOT the other way around! Our kids are not clones of an “ideal”, and we’ve chosen a route that allows them to grow into their true, authentic selves rather than what society thinks they should be. Our world needs differences and individuality because our problems are evolving. They are going to require more creative thinking to solve, not a uniform education that teaches everyone the same facts and opinions.

Mind you, this is coming from a former public school educator. I can tell you, it’s usually not the teacher’s (or even the school’s) fault. I worked at a wonderful school with wonderful educators, but there are limits when you lead a class of 30 kids, all with different needs. It’s just not possible to meet all of those needs in a standard public classroom, let alone elevate all your students to discover their potential. Teachers can’t do it alone; they need parental involvement. Unfortunately, more often than not, that just doesn’t happen.

That being said, I also realize that not everyone can homeschool. Even if they want to, wholeheartedly. I feel blessed each day that we can make homeschooling work. That I get to work from home while taking on the education of my boys. What started as a solution to a problem (school’s shutting down due to COVID) blossomed into a realization that my son THRIVES in the homeschool environment. It certainly isn’t right for everyone, but I’m thankful that we discovered that it is exactly where we need to be.

What is Eclectic Homeschooling?

Okay, now on to what you came here for. This year will be our 3rd year of homeschooling (4th if you count pre-K), and while I’m no expert I think I’ve gotten a feel for what works well for my older son (at least for now). For one thing, a big-box curriculum would be a definite no-go for him. He is at different levels depending on the subject, and his interests generally fall outside the typical 2nd-grade curriculum.

Therefore, I tend to term us “eclectic” homeschoolers. What is that exactly? It means that I pick and choose from various resources and styles to create our own, unique homeschooling program. That means I choose a different resource for reading, math, science, and literature/history. I love the flexibility of choosing different curriculum options that work well for where he is and what he’s interested in.

I should probably note that we live in a state that has fairly easy homeschooling laws (Virginia), so we can switch things up as needed. As long as we turn in our Notice of Intent to Homeschool at the beginning and our Proof of Progress at the end of the school year, the state lets us do our thing. Some states are much stricter, so be sure to check your state’s requirements!

Our Eclectic 2nd Grade Homeschool

With it being the start of the school year, some of the resources I list here may change throughout the year. Again, that’s the beauty of homeschooling! I can tailor my son’s education to meet his needs along with mine. However, here is our plan, broken down by subject:

Reading

We are continuing with Logic of English Foundations this year. We just started the final book in their Foundations curriculum (Foundations Level D), which is exciting! While this program started slow and can be tedious at times, I have seen my son thrive with reading over the past few years! I really like their approach since it focuses on phonemic awareness rather than memorizing sight words.

He can decode just about any word now and is increasing in fluency faster than I was expecting. He is also more excited to read and loves our trips to the library and bookstore to pick out his own early readers and graphic novels. I think the key has been to break up the lessons over multiple days with plenty of reading practice thrown in. We also continued throughout the summer so that he wouldn’t experience the summer slide with his reading skills.

Math

We continue to use Math With Confidence this year since the approach works well for him. I like that it’s scripted and requires mainly materials we have on hand. They also throw in lots of games and practice without it feeling tedious or too slow. He is currently about 2/3 of the way through the 2nd-grade book, and we plan to start the 3rd-grade book after the holidays.

I like to give him “off” weeks following more advanced concepts. During these weeks, we practice the games and I create assignments for him on the Boddle Learning app that cover those concepts. He loves using the app because it turns math into a game where he can earn prizes and play fun mini-levels. It also allows me to choose the skills he works on by creating assignments, and I can use the parent portal to monitor the skills he still struggles with.

Literature/History

Last year, I decided to give Build Your Library a try, and we both really enjoyed it. I like how they link many of their literature selections to the history portion of the curriculum. We have started level 2 this year, and so far, we love it just as much as level 1. We use it mainly for literature and history, but I will also go over their art and poetry selections as well.

In level 2, we will cover medieval history, which my kiddo is pretty excited about. They use History Quest for their history reading with some fun activities and other books thrown in. I’m most excited about their literature selections this year. Read-alouds have always been a huge part of our homeschool, and their list of books looks amazing! They throw in some classics like The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White along with some fun fantasy selections like Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin and Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman. I love the variety!

Science

Science has always been a big part of our homeschool as well. It makes sense since I’m a former chemistry and life science teacher! My kiddo tends to grasp scientific concepts quickly, so I love that we get to follow his lead and curiosity here! This year, we are focusing on physics and engineering. We will be using Blossom and Root Science Level 4, spreading out the first 18 weeks throughout the year so we can dive deeper (the second 18 weeks cover the human body, which we completed last year).

I enjoy using this curriculum for science because they provide various options for labs and books along with tons of videos that dive deeper into the material. We also have a bunch of physics and engineering-inspired Kiwi Co boxes that I have been saving up over the past year to use for this unit. Physics and engineering were probably my weakest science subjects, so I’m excited to learn right along with my son this year!

Nature Study

This year, we will be using Exploring Nature With Children for nature study. We used it a few years ago, but I’m really looking forward to diving deeper into the weekly topics now that he’s older. The best part? We will be doing it with our amazing homeschool village! We met this incredible group of families about a year and a half ago through a local nature group, and we have become a pretty tight-knit group since then. We decided to branch out this year to add a more academic component to our nature group, and I’m so excited that our village is joining us!

We will meet once a week at different outdoor locations to discuss the week’s topic, do fun labs and activities, and go on hikes together. I will be using the free unit studies created by The Magic Homeschool Bus to go along with the Exploring Nature With Children Curriculum. The kids are keeping a nature binder to organize their work, which can be used in their portfolio to show proof of progress at the end of the school year. We also have some fun field trips and celebrations planned throughout the year that we are all looking forward to. I have a feeling our nature group will become a highlight of our homeschool year!

Art

While we are adding in the art component from Build Your Library Level 2, my son also requested to continue art classes this year. Since art is definitely not my strong point, I gladly outsourced it to a wonderful local art teacher. He absolutely loves going to her class each week, and I am always amazed at the art he produces each class! We also add in some “how-to-draw” videos from the YouTube channel “Art for Kids Hub” along with easy art projects at home when possible.

Extracurriculars

Whenever I hear the phrase “But aren’t you worried about your kids getting socialized”, I can’t help but laugh. I can’t really blame them, I’m sure I had the same question years ago before I ever considered homeschooling as an option. Thankfully, we are blessed to live in an area with a plethora of options for homeschoolers.

On top of our weekly nature group and his weekly art class, my son attends Cub Scouts, 4H Nature Explorers, and a Wild and Free group. I love that these groups allow him to interact with various groups of kids. While the kids in his Cub Scouts Den are all around his age, he spends time with kids aged 5-12 in his art class, a variety of ages in our Nature Group, mainly older kids in our 4H-Nature Explorers Group, and mainly younger kids in our Wild and Free group.

He has learned to interact with all of these other kiddos along with adults rather than sticking with mainly peers his own age. In fact, the other day he told me he thought it was weird for kids to only talk to kids their own age (after an interaction on the playground). I told him that was just what they were used to, and he thought that was sad. You know, he’s not wrong!

Planting Native Host and Nectar Plants With Our 4H Group

Excited for This Year!

This may seem like a lot, and it might be. It might turn out to be too much to handle, especially while trying to sneak in some pre-K lessons for my younger kiddo. But you know what? That’s okay! That’s the beauty of homeschooling! I will tweak where I need to and switch things up as I go. If we need a break, we take a break. If we go through material more quickly than anticipated, that’s fine too. As long as my kiddos continue to love learning and our relationships with each other and others stay strong, I am going to call it a win.

I am looking forward to seeing how this year progresses and learning and tweaking along the way. It may not always feel like it, but I love watching my kids grow, and I truly appreciate that we can make this homeschool thing work (shout out to my husband for working so hard so that we CAN do this!).

Are you homeschooling this year? If so, what curriculum or styles are you using? Let me know in the comments below!