My little Sunshine girl is turning into a big girl before my eyes. Now that her two front teeth have been lost and replaced with the adult version she looks so totally different to me. She acts totally different too!
First day of school age 6 ~
First day of school age 7 ~
It's that "seven year change" I guess. She has always been so sanguine, eager to please and overly cooperative. Now she tests the limits constantly, over-reacts to get her way and charges ahead with her own will when she thinks she is justified. What a big personality for such a little girl. What an awesome responsibility is is to form her character and train her in virtue!
Really though, she is still the same sweet life of the party she has always been. She is generous to a fault and will do almost anything to cheer anyone up. She is Wild Strawberry's #1 pal - she is SO GOOD to her I am amazed almost every day with how nice she is to her sister. One morning she dressed her as a princess and sat her on pillows -
On our trip to Oklahoma she volunteered for the job of writing down six pages of the words to all of Wild Strawberry's songs:
"O Daddy-O, bo-dee-bo-dee, narnia, narnia, O Mommy-O, shh, shh, mom . . . "
She loves her older sister and brother too. They vie for her attention and playtime. These sisters will be BFF.
Sometime last spring, eyeglasses became a new addition to her looks. We were thrilled that her eyes got the help they needed and we all think she looks super cute in her purple frames, but our Sunshine is less than thrilled. She thinks that people are afraid to be her friend when she wears them. Encouraging her to wear her glasses has become a daily battle as you can tell from this photo -
This too shall pass, right?
In spite of having to wear glasses I think she is enjoying her MODG school work for 2nd grade. It is perhaps a little less work than I had her doing last year, but I think she enjoys the extra time it affords for playing because of course, if you ask her, she never has time to play!
Here are the core books:
And here are books with which I supplement when it seems she needs a bit more to do:
Math: The A Beka 2nd grade math is all review for her so far. I often wonder if we should have continued with Singapore, but I do like the review a spiral curriculum provides. We are also supposed to be doing Math-It, but I like other math games better.
Science: This is all review for her too. Kind of boring, but maybe I will go back to something more exciting next year. I almost went with Noeo Science again. I am intrigued by Apologia, but reluctant to commit to spending an entire year on one science topic. This year we will supplement with nature readers, the Nature Friend magazine, Magic School Bus and A Beka's Health, Safety and Manners book. Mental note: I should look to see if there is a set of Bill Nye the Science Guy DVDs.
Phonics: The first part of Sound Beginnings is a painful review of letter sounds for a girl who is already an avid reader. I have decided to quit and pick it up again on Week 8 when it might be a better use of time. In the meantime she still likes doing Explode the Code.
Poetry: This is going well, although I used to push the kids to memorize a poem a week. MODG allows a longer time - about a stanza a week. The syllabus doesn't say to, but I have her copy the poem into her blank book before illustrating. Here is a sample -
I love the R.L.S. version illustrated by Tasha Tudor, bty. We use this one for copying.
Handwriting: I made an oops here - she did the Picard Book 1 last year. She is doing it again, just for review. We are supplementing with the Getty & Dubay Level C because I like how it incorporates a little language arts as well.
Language Arts: I thought MODG used Primary Language Lessons for 2nd grade but I was mistaken. It is not required in this syllabus. I already bought it, though and am using it. I like the Charlotte Mason feel it has, but the concepts seem rather in a random order. I almost went with a 1950s book my MIL found at a garage sale because it looked more practical and moved along at a good clip with what 2nd graders should know. But I am willing to stick with the Serl book before considering something else such as Simply Grammar, CHC or Seton.
History: One reason MODG finally made sense to me is when I realized that how the children are eased into history. Instead of beginning with the ancients like some classical curriculum programs do, American history is the focus of the first several years beginning with the introduction to biographical figures. Sunshine seems to enjoy this approach already after reading some d'Aulaire books. I have added a blank book for her history as well, asking her to illustrate and write a few sentences, Draw Write Now style. In fact, DWN has a few pages on Christopher Columbus. Here is a page she did on Leif Ericson -
Geography: So far, MODG asks for flashcard review. How boring. I just think there are more creative ways to learn about the states. I am having her 4th grade sister do a states notebook, similar to what Jessica's kids do except that I am lazy about printing out so much so she is just drawing hers by hand. For Sunshine, though, we are listening to this CD, doing a state maze book I found at the grocery store, puzzles, online games and collecting quarters. We are also checking out the state books from Sleeping Bear Press from the library.
Religion: Memorizing the Baltimore Catechism is new to us. I think it's pretty amazing that she can do it! I mean, my kids know more about the faith than I did for decades, but I am beginning to see the point in having answers memorized, especially when it comes time for high school apologetics. The classical method taps into a young child's ability to memorize and so far it is working well. The syllabus also asks the child to do saint reports. Not every week, but I am asking for them almost once a week. The little Saints and Friendly Beasts books give more info than the average saint book entry. I should get some more of these recent reprints too - In the Footsteps of the Saints series.
Here is an entry about St. Germaine -
Of course we are also trying to keep up with the liturgical year traditions and re-read the Catholic Mosaic books when the time comes. Sunshine will receive First Holy Communion this year so I had better look into doing a notebook like I've seen on other blogs.
Music: For MODG she is learning the recorder and Latin hymns. MODG recommends the Usborne book, but the music teacher in me prefers the Best in Class Method.
Art: MODG uses Mommy It's a Renoir, a tissue paper flowers kit and a crochet kit. These are great, but again, I feel the need to supplement. I love these Fine Art Primers, Come Look With Me and Lucy Micklethwait books. We also do projects from the Art Explorers Series.
Foreign Language: We added French to our curriculum after purchasing Rosetta Stone at a homeschool conference. Sunshine does this about twice a week. She doesn't seem to mind it, but she is still repeating lesson one until she can score better than 48% or whatever her average score has been. I also don't hear her using any French vocabulary around the house. I am wondering if we should have gotten something more child friendly like Muzzy?
Literature: In addition to our family read-a-louds (lots of Nesbit this year) Sunshine has a whole shelf from which to choose. I will have to remember to redeem our Pizza Hut reading program coupons!
In summary, MODG is working mostly well for us with generous supplementing. I love having everything planned out into bite-sized daily chunks and because I have needed hours of extra sleep this pregnancy I am quite glad to have a pre-planned syllabus. I simply cannot stay up late planning and printing things out like I used to!
In addition to school, Sunshine and the others are taking violin, piano and theater class. This might be the last year I can get all three children in the same activities since their talents and preferences are beginning to emerge. Sunshine does not want to continue with violin, but does have the admirable goal of wanting to complete Book 1 in Suzuki. She absolutely loves piano.
This theater class is right up her alley, with her naturally loud voice, dramatic flair and ability to entertain (they are doing a musical version of Daniel and the Lion's Den). Given the choice of a physical activity when violin ends for her, she chooses gymnastics. I think this will suit her. She is our most physical child and evidently has no fear of heights. Her grandpa calls her "part squirrel".

Three children down, one to go. This is like a self- imposed parent-teacher conference, isn't it? It is useful to me to evaluate each child; hope it helps you in some way too to see what works and doesn't work for one family. And if you want to help me out (and are still reading this long post) let me know a few things in case I modify MODG for future grades:
Have you used Sound Beginnings successfully?
What is your favorite, fun yet thorough math program?
What do you like for language arts, grammar and spelling for 2nd-4th grades?
Which science program have you enjoyed the most?
Is there something else out there better than Rosetta Stone to teach young children French?