Andrea Chen

(formerly titled How to Live Nobly and Well)

The supplements are carefully woven into the third grade lesson assignments, but for those who prefer not to use the lesson plans the supplements alone could easily be used for enrichment and would make purchasing the plans worthwhile. For example the book report supplements contain clear guidelines for helping young students write book reports, a checklist to help the student in their efforts, creative ideas for written reports or oral reports and hands-on project reporting.

See review of full 2nd grade Lesson Plans.

I love homeschooling and am fascinated with science but frankly I've been pulling my hair out over the past few years trying to keep up with what I'm "supposed" to be doing with science.

After receiving the new Catholic Heritage Curricula (CHC) lesson plans a few weeks ago I was so excited I dropped the program that I had designed for our younger daughters and began using the CHC plans. They are thrilled and I'm overjoyed to find such complete, yet flexible, plans that are thoroughly Catholic.

Designed to keep track of one child's lesson plans for a year, this organizer has several features that would please both the structured homeschooler or those who prefer unit studies. This comb bound planner includes an attendance record as well as pages for expenses, projects and field trips, book lists, progress reports, grading, monthly overview and 70 lesson plan pages with two pages covering each of 35 weeks.

We enjoy CHC products a great deal because they fit naturally into our homeschool and family life. This little art appreciation course is no exception.

This program encourages children to learn about themselves and their world while imparting Catholic ideals. Pilgrims of the Holy Family is well suited to be used by individuals or in a group setting as an alternative to secular scouting programs. Written by a homeschooling family of five, "Pilgrims" presents 75 enrichment activities each of which allows the child to achieve a degree of mastery in a particular topic. Those familiar with scouting will recognize some of the topical activity sets as similar to scouting badges.

Ecclesiastical Pronunciation, 15 weeks of lessons

The Writing Strands program focuses on the structure of writing by teaching the student to organize his thoughts before writing. Many of the ideas the author uses are found in other English programs, such as Voyages in English, but in WS they are presented in a more systematic fashion with each lesson building on preceding lessons. The lessons are written for the child to read and do independently, with the parent checking work occasionally. WS is very straightforward and directs the child to write about specific topics.

We've all heard the whining and complaining that can come with teaching composition. Many children just refuse to make the effort to write, and when they finally do finish an assignment their parents agonize over how to grade the composition. Having heard the writing complaints for years, I am excited to report that there is now a solution in WriteGuide.com.