What Curriculum do you use?

2nd most common question!

This question kind of makes me laugh. I was so guilty of asking this question to homeschool parents, but really if you haven't researched homeschool curriculum's then the question is actually pretty silly. I would ask and they would tell me, but its not like I understood. And I feel when I tell people they don't really know what I'm talking about either.

On the advice of many I have read Cathy Duffy's "101 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum"
This book is AMAZING! You learn your philosophy, your child(ren) learning style, what fits your family, how much time you have, money to spend, etc. Then there is a huge chart of her picks for homeschool curriculum's with all of those things listed in columns. Then you are able to sort through the best choice for you and your family.

At first I was leaning towards Sonlight. It appealed to both my teaching style and Caleb's learning style. After researching and talking to people it seems that it is a lot of work for the parent (2-3 hours a day prep time) and with 2 little ones at home I do not believe I can accomplish this. Plus it is pretty expensive, around $1,000.

We are pretty sure we are going to do My Father's World. It gets excellent reviews and I know someone who has used it for years. It is Christian and covers all subjects. For everything to complete next year is about $600. You must pick your own language arts and Math. We are going to be doing Singapore Math. Everyone I know uses it and Caleb was using it in school and he excelled in it.

To finish up 2nd grade I am doing a hodgepodge of things. Basically I am making it up as I go along. Which has been quite a bit of work for me. For one I wasn't going to spend the money for a complete curriculum for just a couple of months. We are doing Singapore math book 2A. For reading right now Caleb is reading the first Harry Potter book and I am making activities to go along with it. We are doing Reading, Writing, and Grammar out of workbooks. He is writing in a journal everyday and it varies to what I assign him. We start each day with bible story and prayer. We are doing Science experiments about 2 times a week and Art about the same. We are also doing some read alouds together. I've been doing lots of hands on things for Cohen and June so they can join us at the table. We plan on a lot of field trips too! Caleb is about to start researching animals before we go to the Zoo. This week he is researching about Chickens, b/c we have been invited to some some church member's house to play with their chickens!

We will also be doing Classical Conversations which we start this Thursday. There is only 6 weeks left and we only meet on Thursdays. This time will help me decide it we do it next year. It appeals to us because it will create a since of community with others and parents stay and are completely involved.

We have only been homeschooling for just over 2 weeks and it was interrupted by snow and Winter Break. We had already planned a staycation, Joey, my Mom and Dad all took vacation for the week.

So far our days are going well. There has certainly been plenty of frustration, but the time with my children has been priceless. I love not having to rush around in the mornings. We just wake up when we want. I drink coffee while they eat breakfast and watch cartoons. TV goes off around 9-9:30. We start school. We break for snack then have more school. Then we have lunch and more school. Then we have a quiet time. Sometimes more school in the afternoon which is normally Science or Art. If it is nice we all go outside. This has been our flexible schedule for now. Things will change. We are using this time to find a good fit for us. Some days we don't even get out of our jammies, but other days I have us all get dressed, b/c I feel like we need to. LOL!

It is all a learning experience. I keep telling myself that it is about the journey and not the destination.