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1.
Choose Spelling Materials |
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Recommended
for 1st and 2nd grades:
Spectrum Spellers
The thirty-six colorful lessons each containing four fun but
simple pages, have words and activities based on phonetic
principles.
The second grade book is also phonetically based, each
lesson having ten "core" words and five optional "challenge" words.
Different dictionary and study skills are covered in each lesson. A
particular advantage of the Spectrum spellers is that each lesson
contains a short writing exercise. (Each writing lesson in this
book also has an example of the same exercise done by another student.
This example contains misspelled words for your child to proofread. I
usually cross this section out to avoid having the child see the misspelled
words*, but do read it aloud to give and idea of how to do the writing
lesson.)*which according to CM can
do more harm than good- brain sees the word misspelled and this "photograph"
imprinted on the brain can cause confusion
*If your 2nd grader has
had little or no spelling training, or does not enjoy language arts, I
would suggest Spectrum Spelling for Grade 2.
*If your 2nd grader loves
workbooks, writing, and reading, and has had previous spelling
training, I would suggest Spectrum Spelling for Grade 3.
Spectrum Spelling Grade 2 -$8.95
Spectrum Spelling Grade 3 -$8.95
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2. Choose Phonics
Materials |
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Really
Reading!
Tanglewood's own reading program
is now available
through a free PDF download!
If your 2nd grader
needs a
review of the most basic phonetic principles, try this!
Click here:
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 Spectrum
Phonics
These phonics workbooks have been around for years as Merrill
Phonics Skilltexts. Now, with a new name and a new color look,
they are actually cheaper! I couldn't do without these workbooks.
As much as I like natural learning (no workbooks), I depend on these for
order and thoroughness. Each page is one short lesson, and each
lesson briefly explains a phonetic rule and then has a straightforward
activity illustrating the rule. (Dictionary and
study/comprehension skills are briefly covered too.) In my
opinion, a necessity!*I've found that the grade levels are on
the easy side. I suggest using a grade 3 book with a second grader,
and so on.
Recommended for 2nd grade
Phonics Skilltext Grade 3 (B) -$8.95
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3. Choose your English Grammar
materials |
Choices for
2nd grade:
choice #1:
(Tanglewood's pick)
 Rod
& Staff: Preparing to Build
This is a very easy to
use and comprehensive English grammar course. Each lesson is
contained on a layout of two pages. The left-side page covers the
lesson which is to be read aloud by the parent and the right-side page
has a few writing activities for the student to do on his own.
Sentences, nouns, verbs, pronouns, and adjectives are studied.
Memory poems, review lessons, and a study skills section are also
included.
What I really like is the way the student is also given much
direction as to how to make the best sentence- not just an
acceptable one. *This is a 'Tanglewood pick' book.
*This 2nd grade book is my favorite in the
series. If you are teaching several children (from 1st-4th) at the
same time, I suggest you use this book with all of them and then
progress to the 3rd grade book together.
367 pages. Hard cover,
162 lessons including reviews.
*We don't
carry Rod & Staff yet.
The apple is a link to a store that sells them:
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choice
#2:
-not available from Tanglewood-
-purchase from Peace Hill Press-
 First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind
See the description above. The first 100 lessons are intended for
first grade and lessons 101-200 are intended for second grade.
While billed as a text for "classical" education, in my opinion it is
more CM. There is a lot of poem memorization, picture study, and
verbal interaction with the parent rather than actual writing practice.
(Actually, there is very little writing and I found this to be a
detriment. In my experience, a child can tell you
all-day-long that a sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with
a period. However, for some reason this knowledge does not
automatically translate into his writing. It is only with a lot of
actual writing practice that the basic rules become second nature.)
*see below for more comments |
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*I thought I
would prefer the FLL book because it was more "CM". However,
after using both books,
I've decided that I prefer R & S. It is more focused and very easy
to understand.
One problem I have with FLL is that it is heavily
concentrated on the parts of the sentence but does
not give those parts context. Usually the student is
studying the parts without seeing or using them in a complete
sentence. I also found FLL's approach to teaching
about sentences rather haphazard and prefer the steady progression of R
& S.
As a parent of several
children, I also find it comforting to know what to expect (at least in
the areas of grammar & math) from
each lesson and to know that each lesson will take approximately the
same amount of time. R & S provided this for me, but FLL did not.
* R & S has heavy Bible themes and all of the lessons refer to God
and/or a Bible story in some way.
Also, God as the Creator is a strong theme throughout the book.
*While the writers of FLL are Christians, the book does not have overt
Christian themes. |
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A great workbook series to
consider:
 Language
Practice series
Although I'm not much of a workbook person, I really like these workbooks
and would suggest using them during the second half of the school year.
I recommend these books especially for those who use First Language Lessons
and/or simply copywork for teaching English grammar.
Each book is designed for a specific grade level and covers most (if not
all) of the important concepts your child should know in simple one-page
lessons. Each concept is briefly, but clearly explained, followed by
meaningful practice exercises. Great preparation for those
standardized tests, in addition to being short & sweet!!
(I've found that the grade
levels are appropriately assigned for these workbooks and would suggest
sticking to your child's grade level regardless of whether you're doing
a 'slower' Charlotte Mason track or a 'faster' classical track.)
Language Practice 2 -$11.99
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Remember to get your
Tanglewood Corebook! |
