Traditional Catholic + Charlotte Mason Year 2 Curriculum

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In this post, I’m sharing our plans for year 2 curriculum as a Traditional Catholic + Classical Charlotte Mason Homeschool.

Religion + Catechism

We pray, read the Bible, and devotionals together as a family as a part of our morning time. These are the books that I read to my year 2 students are a part of their catechism lessons.

St. Joseph’s Baltimore Catechism

Jesus Comes — depending on if the child has made their First Communion by now, we will study through this book.

And also for a supplement, we like these Catholic Stories for Boys and Girls, Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls and More Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls.

Math

As I have mentioned in the previous post for year 1, we’ve tried several programs before settling in with Rod & Staff and Life of Fred (for extra practice).

And again, as previously mentioned, as a Classical Charlotte Mason homeschool, I still keep the math lessons short (20 minutes for form 1 and 30-40 minutes for forms 2 and up). So, I break the lessons down and don’t fatigue the children with all of the extra practice sheets, complete workload of a suggested lesson, and speed drills, etc.

History + Geography

In year 2, we continue with reading through the D’ Aulaires books that we did not read in year 1. And as a part of our historical fiction readings, we start to read through the Little House Series together.

For geography, we also continue with reading through the Holling C. Holling books. And new this year, we begin the Ambleside Geographical Readers, Book 2 by Charlotte Mason. This also continues into year 3.

The student will also continue work with maps/atlas, globe, and the beginnings of map work in their geography notebook.

literature

These are the books that we will read aloud from, sometimes during specific blocks during the school day, and sometimes at bedtime.

• Betsy-Tacy series
• Alice in Wonderland
• and Through the Looking Glass
• Lulu’s Library
• Charlotte’s Web
• Once on a Time
• Understood Betsy
• Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

Poetry

Robert Louis Stevenson — this has always been a favorite for our children and there’s so many good selections for memory or copy work!

Walter de la Mare — also super delightful.

Myths + Legends

In year 2, we read through the following:

• D’ Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths
• A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys

Fairy Tales + Fables

We read through Aesop’s Fables together as a family each morning and then re-read through the book once finished. When the children get into upper forms, they move on to independently reading this version of fables.

I choose certain selections of Grimm’s Fairy Tales and Andersen’s Fairy Tales spread throughout the year.

Reading Lessons

For years 1 & 2, I begin our reading lessons with The Little Angel Reader program and for extra practice, we also combine our readings with The American Cardinal Readers.

These are also combined with poetic reading lessons. I think that it’s very important to incorporate phonics lessons with poetic reading lessons.

language arts

The basis of a language arts in a classical Charlotte Mason education is through narration, copywork, and dictation. Dictation and grammar are introduced in form 2 (year 4). 

Year 2 language arts: 

• Oral and/or drawn narration 
• Copywork

We also continue with cursive practice and cursive copywork.

Related: The Foundations of Language Arts in a Classical Charlotte Mason Education

Natural History / Nature Study

We have usually followed along with the special studies as recommended by The CMEC. We’ve enjoyed these special studies and overall recommendations for natural history. 

However, since we are combining a variety of curriculum, here’s what we are currently using.

• Handbook of Nature Study
• Eyes + No Eyes series
• Burgess Bird Book
• Nature Journals
• Star Lore — a variety of books and resources + star gazing
• Seasonal nature books

Common Family Subjects

I have written up separately about what we will study together as a family. Bible, devotionals, Shakespeare, artist study, etc are included in these posts. They are usually listed by the year’s curriculum picks.

Here are a few more related posts for common subjects:

• Morning Time
• Musical Education in our Homeschool
• Shakespeare + favorite resources
• Fairytales, Fables, Legends, and Myths in a Catholic Education
• Favorite Nature Study Resources
• Favorite Catechism Resources in Our Catholic Home
• Charlotte Mason Picture Study as Formation in Wonder