elizabeth clare

practical solutions for the modern catholic

in Homeschooling

2nd Grade Required Reading List

Quite a while back, I had a reader request that I post our family’s required reading lists.  This should have been very easy for me to do since I have all those school planning files on my computer, but for whatever reason, it has taken me months!  Today I’m posting our 2nd grade required reading list and hope to get 3rd and 4th grade up as soon as I find the time.

If you aren’t sure what a required reading list is or how to go about making one, here are a couple posts you should read:

A Required Reading List for your {Catholic} Child

Resources for Creating a {Catholic} Required Reading List

Required reading lists are nothing new, but our required reading list was the fruit of learning about the Robinson Curriculum.  If you haven’t heard about Robinson, he was a man whose wife died and left him with 6 children.  He was unwilling to give up educating their children at home even though the majority of his day was spent earning a living for the family.  In the end, he developed a school day that consisted of 1 hour of math, 1 hour of writing, and 2 hours of reading.  For the most part, the children were responsible for their own education.  To fill those 2 hours of reading, he developed a book list for his children to systematically work through.

In the last 3 years we have relied heavily on our required reading list as a means to educate our children (right now I only have one proficient reader, but we plan on using the same process for all of our children).  At the beginning of each year, I take the time to sit down and develop a reading list filled with living books from these genres:   literature, science, history, and religion.

We want our children reading as quickly and proficiently as possible and then they begin working through the reading list.

This school year, I am working on combining and reworking the lists from past years to create a list we can use for all our children (the current lists I have are very “boyish”).

As you look over our past years’ reading lists, here are some things you should know:

  • The reading list is the only formal way we teach science, history, vocabulary, and reading comprehension in elementary.
  • I attempt to alternate easy reads with more difficult reads.
  • I try to mix history, religion, science, and literature into our reading list.
  • Our child reads through the list during our “quiet hour” each day.
  • Our child reads for pleasure outside of that hour of required reading.
  • Our child enjoys the reading list enough to read many of the titles during his pleasure reading time.
  • Though there are many series in the book list, we do not require him to read through the entire series unless he wants.
  • Because we use so much classic literature, I am able to get many of the books for free on our Kindle.
  • When our children become proficient readers, they are gifted a Kindle (which in the end saves us oodles of money on books!).
  • When creating the reading list, I take into consideration what books we have on hand and what we can get for free on Kindle.

Today I’m posting our son’s 2nd grade required reading list.  In the middle of second grade was when reading really clicked for him.  He went from barely being able to read and then a month later reading the Chronicles of Narnia in a couple weeks time.

When we knew he was ready, these are the books and the order we had him read for the rest of the year.

If you like this book list you are going to love the Eternal Literature ebook and Read through the Catholic Year Book Lists:

2nd Grade Required Reading List:

I’ll get up the 3rd and 4th grade required reading lists as soon as I have the time!  I hope they are a help to you as you start thinking about next year.

You’ll also like reading:

Resources for Creating a {Catholic} Required Reading List

A Required Reading List for your {Catholic} Child

Must Reads for Young Catholics

Marian Must Reads for Young Catholics

10 Must Do’s in Your Catholic Preschool

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Comments

  1. valerie says

    Thank you so much for posting this! We are started in the Fall with MODG 2nd grade and this is such a blessing to have!

    • ellaclare85@yahoo.com says

      I’m so glad it will be helpful! I know I get so many ideas from other blogging homeschoolers. I always love to discover a new book!

    • ellaclare85@yahoo.com says

      Thanks for asking, Rebecca. I don’t have it posted on my site yet, but I’m going to send you an email with our family’s complete required reading list (from beginning reader all the way up).