2024-2025 GROUP SUBJECTS HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM PICKS || SECOND GRADE + KINDERGARTEN

[@Michelgia523]

The only reason build your library puts ages on their curriculum is if you are using it as your base for language arts other than that, you really won’t have to build anything up. It’s an absolutely wonderful program for around the world. I even used it with a third grader. 😊

[@MaryBarfield]

I 100% agree! I was looking through the program and I really don't think there will be anything I need to truly "beef up" for my rising 2nd grader! I think she is going to love all the books, activities and especially the Art & Cooking! The girls and I are so excited to get started!

[@wvfarmersdaughter]

I'm interested in knowing more about how you do your 4 year history cycle. You said 1- is ancient, 2- is medieval, 3 - is early modern, & 4- is modern. What more specifically what delineates your years in this cycle. For instance, ancient history usually goes up until the fall of the Roman Empire, medieval history usually goes from there through the reformation of the church. Early modern might go from there til just before WW1. Just curious. And then where/ when do you cover US History? Is it combined into one of your other years somehow or is it a separate study? Is it a 1 or 2 year study? What resources do you use or plan to use?

[@rachaelgray919]

She didn't specify but I think she's probably using Story of the World for history next year. It's from the Well Trained Mind. US history is combined

[@MaryBarfield]

You're correct! After next years American Girl US History, we plan to start with Build Your Library Level 1 Ancients Literature and pair it with Story of the World Ancient times Curriculum. This could of course change since that's almost a year and a half away, but our tentative long term plan is to go with Story of the World. :)

[@MaryBarfield]

The core of my teaching method comes from the classical education style of teaching, which does a 4 year rotation through all of the periods of history. They include US History when studying world history through the ages. However, I'm not a purist, so I will be dedicating 1-2 years of middle school and high school to learning about US History (so my girls won't go through 3 full cycles of 4 years of history like they would if we were following the classical method to a T). This could of course change since it's years down the road, but this is my current plan. I plan to use Story of the World for (from well trained mind press) for each of those 4 years of history in elementary school. I will be doing more videos on this and talking about it further in depth so hopefully those will be helpful too in answering your questions! :)

[@BrekkeEl]

I’d love to hear how you’re balancing geography and AG history! I have twin kindergarteners and want to do both of these programs.

[@MaryBarfield]

I actually just posted a video this morning talking about it all! 🥰kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2XMnImlo6Zlaqssi=ZcusrKMXvncMG3PO

[@JoyForney]

Looks like it is going to be an amazing year!! Well done. I love the title of the book, Africa is not a country. As someone who lives in Uganda, I sometimes get frustrated when people ask me what, say, Nigeria, is like....well I've never been! ;) Africa is HUGE and so diverse! Anyway. We've been doing all around the world studies this year for 2nd grade, and if you allow screen time at all, I want to recommend "Let's Take a Journey" country videos from miacademy here on KZbin. The guy shares a "letter" from a child in that country and talks about their life there. My daughter LOVES the videos, and has taken pages of notes for each one. Thanks for a great video!

[@MaryBarfield]

I will definitely have to take a look at Let's Take a Journey! That sounds like it would be such a great compliment to this program! Thank you for fleeting me know about it :)

[@astoldbydeedra]

I love what you've got planned for the year! We're actually six weeks into the the Blossom and Root K Space and Nature Study for this year, and my kiddo is loving it! We'll be doing the Build Your Library Level 0 next year. We plan to use Build Your Library long-term for history, and are planning at this time to move into the pre-history combo with Build Your Library and Blossom and Root before jumping into Ancients. I delayed the history cycle for us, so my kiddo was slightly more mature to appreciate the information she's learning. She'll be seven going on eight by the time we delve into ancients.

[@MaryBarfield]

Your track sounds exactly like mine for my current 6 year old (she will be 8 when we delve into ancients too)! I think we will be using pieces from BYL moving forward as well! We really love her literature (I may have already purchase level 1 as well lol). I purchased B+R Pre-history as well, but after looking through it, we may hold off until my youngest is a little older and do it as a unit study later on so she can fully grasp and appreciate the material! So unless something changes, we are just going to do BYL Pre-History at the end of this upcoming school year and then roll into Ancients the following school year! :)

[@astoldbydeedra]

@@MaryBarfield You will be slightly ahead of us, so I'll be interested in how that plan works for your family. I'm also a fan of Homeschool Together, and they seem to be following the path I intended to follow as well. It's nice having that feedback from others' experience, before we jump into the next year.

[@kiras7874]

Thank you for sharing. I personally have a 12 year that would enjoy some of these books, I really like some of the books that are used in the Around the World curriculum, we will be going through world geography soon, I usually put together our own geography curriculum and I will most likely be adding some of these that you showed here.

[@MaryBarfield]

That is awesome! Build Your Library levels seem to have great book lists, so even if we don't do their entire curriculum in the future, after this upcoming year, we will most likely at least use books from their literature portion! :)

[@BearBettermentSchool]

I would highly recommend Classical Conversations. If possible, you might want to try an Open House. You and I are very similarly minded.

[@MaryBarfield]

Funny you say that, my neighbors kiddos are in Classical Conversations and they offered to have us shadow in the fall to check it out!

[@laurenmerrill7145]

Build your library looks fun! With the 6 extra weeks I might do an intro to the United States.

[@MaryBarfield]

Oo that’s a great idea for those last 6 weeks! We are very excited for BYL this year!!

[@ashleymurphy4813]

We are on month/girl 4 in American Girl History and loooove it. It is my favorite thing we have done this year.

[@MaryBarfield]

That's so great to hear! I'm getting more and more excited about doing it this fall after I speak to people who have done either a unit or all 8 girls. Everyone has nothing but positive things to say about it!

[@ashleymurphy4813]

@@MaryBarfield it has required conversations about slavery, racism, death, disease, and kidnapping so far🫠 but my 6yo has handled it all very well. I’d say it’s still a gentle introduction but of course no history curriculum will come without dark topics.

[@MaryBarfield]

🥴 I agree that our history has some heavy and not so savory topics that we need to discuss with the girls, but to your point, I think American Girl does it in a younger elementary appropriate way, through the girls who are relatable to our kids. The books certainly show the struggles that different people had to endure and overcome depending on their background and ethnicity, but I also like how the stories highlight triumphs in their lives as well! 🥰 I think it’s going to be a great year of conversations and learning! 🙌

[@ashleymurphy4813]

@@MaryBarfield it is a wonderful curriculum for character building!

[@sarapayne9445]

Have you looked into elemental science? It’s a classical approach to science.

[@MaryBarfield]

Yes! Our plan is to do Biology for the Grammar stage from Elemental Science for the he 25-26 school year! I’m actually quite excited about it 😂. If we hadn’t already set our hearts on learning about Space this year I would have done for this coming school year!

[@sarapayne9445]

@@MaryBarfield I just discovered them and made the switch already. So glad I stumbled upon your channel. Thank you.