Second Grade in Review

LAST DAY!!!  We made it!

Look at how much he's grown in a year!  Wow!

I cannot believe that we have completed our THIRD year of homeschooling.  And that this guy will be headed to THIRD grade in the fall...whew.  Some days the weeks drag on forever and then I blink and 180 days have passed us by.

This was probably our most trying year of school to date.  And here's why...
* I overextended myself on commitments, leading, and serving which in hindsight made some of our school days (weeks) unorganized, unprepared, and downright unfun (yep, made that one up on the fly).
* With my awful vertigo spell, dizziness while driving, and final diagnosis of vestibular hypo function, we couldn't keep our usual library, errand, grocery, etc. schedule which made for some added chaos and LOTS of extra time together at home.  Not all bad, just way out of routine.  I felt trapped most days which led to quick anger and impatience on my part.  Lots of apologizing and "I'm sorries" from Mommy.
* Lots of new curriculum this year which was FUN, but also led to learning new time management and making the most of our school mornings (see #1).
* Cade was at the in between age of wanting to do school with us, yet not truly able to do school with us.  Need I say more?

BUT...

Despite these setbacks, we pushed through, learned a lot about one another, grace, and God's strength when our own fails us.  Cole loved second grade and thrilled my heart day after day when he said that homeschooling is his favorite.  So thankful for the gift of this boy and his heart for learning.  He is such a JOY to teach and truly makes my 'job' easy as pie.  He picks up new skills easily, remembers facts like a beast, and his curiosity is off the charts.  His excitement for the classroom makes me want to do better.  Be better.  And for that, I am so grateful.  Here's a glimpse of what worked/didn't for us this year...

* We started school late August and finished late May.  Instead of taking formal spring and fall breaks, we took individual days here and there along with a weeks vacation in Sept. for Disney and in January for FL.  We may try to begin school early this summer (July) and go with a more year-round schedule.  Or I may get caught up in the summer sunshine and start after Sumner Co.  Again.

* Math - Continued on with Saxon.  He does so well with abstract concepts and enjoys the intermingling of manipulatives each day.  He also loves routine so the 'Morning Meeting' is one of his favorites.  We're still working on quick recall of basic addition and subtraction facts, but he is SO ready to go deep into multiplication and division.
* Language - We tried Shurley English 1 this year upon recommendation from a friend.  I was looking for something that specifically taught grammar/language arts without phonics, etc.  We started this in January and finished right on time.  I skipped the early lessons and jumped straight in to #7.   The beginning skills were pretty basic, but the Question and Answer flow that they teach has really helped Cole dissect a sentence and pick out each part of speech.  He has learned why they were used and how to make a sentence more meaningful or descriptive by the use of certain word choices.  It also veered from the introductory noun/verb/adjective to include adverbs, prepositions, objects of prepositions, contractions, possessives, and letter writing (friendly and thank-you).  We enjoyed this curriculum and will continue on with Levels 2 and 3 next year.
* Writing - An area that I hope to improve upon.  We did not do any formal handwriting practice this year, but will start cursive with A Reason For Handwriting in August.  I tried to maintain journal writing practice every Friday, but that didn't stay the norm.  We basically wrote after family adventures, outings, or holidays.  I hope to make this a more common, routine practice this year and have already made weekly prompts that I hope will help spark creativity and story/sentence structure.  Copy work will remain the same with our Scripture memorization and other subject writing.
* Reading - no formal curriculum this year.  This kid LOVES to read, so books and more books it is.  We worked our way through some favorite read alouds and already have some favorites picked out to devour this coming year.  He kept a reading log that we found in the $1 bin at Target and loved it.  There he recorded his favorite books with author, title, setting, rating, quick description/main idea, and an illustration of his favorite part.  The free online site, Read Theory, was perfect for reading short passages and answering comprehension/vocabulary questions.
* Science - He picked Apologia's Astronomy and really enjoyed it as did I.  We loved learning about each planet, the moon, sun, starts, constellations, and other fun facts.  Lots of hands on activities which we both really enjoyed.
* History - Another new curriculum for us...Story of the World Vol. 1.  This was a positive for the most part except that it is a lot of information.  I also did not purchase the Audio CD set (relied on the book) and will probably use those in the future.  We can listen to the lesson while in the car or simply relaxing in the school room and then use our time to focus on the activities and map skills.  My teaching heart did like the 'test' section and we quickly reviewed those as our 'timeline' to keep facts up to speed before beginning a new chapter.  I also enjoyed how it weaves Biblical events in with the information we read in history books.  How quickly we forget they are one in the same :)  Volume 2 is Ancient Rome - Middle Ages...I think it will be a fun one to explore!
* Spelling - No formal curriculum this year.  We worked on specific phonetic sounds or words I saw misspelled often through his writing.  In January we used another free online site, Big IQ Kids, which provided a word list each week and actvities to practice.  Cole often did this in the afternoon while Cade napped or during quiet time.
* Bible - Apologia's Who Is God and How Can I Know Him?  We've highlighted this curriculum off and on since Kindergarten, but really hope to dig in this coming year with the notebook and added activities.  Scripture memory will still be an ongoing part of our week and we'll chug along with our b'fast discussions of Jesus Calling (Cole reads the Kid's edition while we read the adult and then we chat about it together with our Bibles over pancakes :)).
* Geography - Nothing formal.  Just a simple McGraw Hill workbook I found at the parent-teacher store last year.  Reviewing map skills, landforms, continents, and oceans.

Whew...no wonder we are tired :)  To celebrate our last day, I wrote Cole a note about how proud Michael and I were of his hard work and he received a book he's been eyeing for awhile - Lego Character Encyclopedia.

When people comment or question on why we homeschool, it's always the same answer for us.  Obedience.  Following in obedience to what God has called our family to do in this season.  It may not be forever, but it's for the now, and we're trusting His Sovereignty to cover our faults and inadequacies with His love and grace.  May these boys grow to be mighty arrows in the hand of an Almighty God.