2012-2013 school year review ~ Velcro Boy

Wow!  Two posts in as many days.  I'm on a roll :)  I really need to come up with a new blog nickname for Velcro Boy.  It doesn't really suit an 8 year old, does it?  VB completed 2nd grade this year and preparation for First Communion as well!  Now he's serving at Our Lord's table every chance he gets.

Velcro Boy ~ 2nd grade
Math: Math-u-see level Beta.  This covers multi-digit addition and subtraction with carrying and borrowing.  I'm amazed at how well he caught on.VB loves watching the DVD's, even for the lessons he really doesn't need to watch.  He also likes the manipulatives.  He really needs to "do" something in order to learn it.

Religion: Faith and Life.  This was the year the kids prepare for First Communion, so they fairly thoroughly covered Reconciliation and our Eucharistic Lord. Great program! We also read devotionals, stories of the saints and celebrated the liturgical year.

Science: Behold & See 2 from Catholic Heritage.  This is a fairly broad overview program that touches on all the general science topics.  There were some worksheets and some experiments that the kids really liked.  Like making a globe out of ice cream.  Yummy!  It's written in a conversational style and I really liked it.  I'm not sure I would use it for a 2nd grader though.  It's probably about a year behind the grade.  It worked well because VB isn't the type to sit still for long and it kept his interest.  I also used it for Doodlebug, who was able to follow quite easily.

Geography: We started covering the 50 states using the same series The Professor used from Sleeping Bear Press.  We covered a state each week, so we didn't finish them all.  We also didn't do a scrapbook, but used a sticker book I came across.

American History: We covered the 1700's this year.  We spent a lot of time on the Revolutionary War.  The kids did some projects and a lot of reading.  We made some period recipes, made some tri-corn hats and made some games kids in those days played.  We even made a lapbook (large book made up of lots of smaller books).  They really enjoyed that.

World History:  We covered the age of the Apostles.  Actually we didn't even finish it, we have 4 more units to complete, which we'll work on this year.  We discussed the Apostles, the early Popes, the church fathers and the early martyrs.  We learned about ancient Rome.  They really enjoyed learning about gladiators.  We did several projects as well.

Literature/writing:  Velcro Boy also used Writing with Ease level 1.  Since this is a gradual instruction, I'm hoping not to have the same problems with writing with VB that I have with the Professor.  It's going well so far.

Spelling: We started using All About Spelling this year and we're really happy with it!  I'm amazed at how well VB has taken to spelling given how much reading has been a struggle.  We do some work on the board with magnetized letter tiles, so I think this is a big part of it.  Remember how he likes to touch things.  We completed level 1 and started level 2 this year.

We're still working on phonics using Reading Eggs.  It's a online program and we're also having VB read to us when ever we can.  He's made a lot of improvement, but still has a loong way to go.

See my post about The Professor for high points and difficulties.  Overall, it was a good year.  I also discovered just how good at helping with the baby Velcro Boy is!  He's been a life saver.  We probably wouldn't have eaten all year if he hadn't been so good with Pumpkin :)