My thoughts so far....

For about 4 months now I have been researching homeschooling curriculums...and it is very overwhelming.  It could seriously be a full-time task...reading all there is, interviewing people, viewing cataloges on the internet.. and it is very overwhelming..especially someone that is new to all the homeschool lingo...

CC--Classical Conversations
CM--Charlotte Mason
Unit Study
Living Books
ABeka
Lap Books
Classical Approach
Worldview
Evaluations
Test Book
Co-op
Life Group
Copy Work
Rhetoric
Dictation
Recitation
Saxon

and the list goes on and on....

So here is what I know so far about what we may and may not do, what I do and do not like, and what I have come up with so far.

I don't think we will be doing a co-op...at first I was all about it but now after researching the ones out there, I find that they are there for social interaction and the ones that aren't and actually do lessons well,...I think i can do at home...and I'm not sure I want to teach other people's kids...I'm not sure that is what I imagined when I decided to homeschool.  Now I would be intersted in a field trip kind of science/nature study group...because then we could also do research at home about what we saw outdoors.  I would also be interested in a book club type of thing so that Emily can talk/discuss books with her peers.

Math-I'm doing staight up, everyday math...something repetitive and tried and true...Most likely Saxon for third grade.

Science..we are going to do some type of nature study because that's what I like...we will be outside exploring and then bring that inside to do research and reading.  I think I like living books so we will read about nature using living books...maybe use some of Charlotte Mason type stuff...

History/Geography is where I am waivering...a book called Story of the World has been recommended to me by several people and they said to start using Volume one and use the Bible alongside that.  Sounds cool to me.  I, myself, have always been intrigued with how the Bible intertwines with our History...The Bible is our History!  But sometimes it is hard to see the timeline...I have a book calle the Bible Timeline written by one of my best friends' mom..it is amazing!  I want to incorporate this in our study and then I figured we could use that to incorporate Geography.  The problem I see is this:  It will take us forever!!!!! to get to say American History...and I am super interested in that too...we would be studying ancient history for forever...still figuring on this!

Grammer/spelling/language arts--Emily has a very solid foundation in these areas.  I may stick with ABeka for this because I have someone that has offered me free books...again ABeka is tried and true and usuer friendly.  Although, I had someone just today say that another curriculum for spelling/grammer is amazing and I will be checking that out. 

The pioneer woman recommended some books to study art history in which I am interested in. 

John and I did decide that a part-time option at CCS or the Boulware school is not for us at this point...maybe later on.

I have been reading a book called 100 top picks in homeschooling curriculums and it explains the different philosophies and curriculums...I came out scoring high in Unit Study, Classical, Charlotte Mason, and Ecletic...those were my top four when I took a quiz about my views, ideas, likes, dislikes, needs...

I think I will end up in the ecletic category but my only fear with that is that when I am pulling from all these different resources that I am shooting too high and I will get bogged down...I mean, Can I really do all of this!  I need some sort of plan, guide, etc. 

From what I understand...when you follow a curriculum by the book....(ie: buy 3rd grade ABeka) then the teacher manual gives you your plans.."read this page and do this work sheet on this day"type of thing...That seems so boring to me and one of my favorite things about choosing to homeschool is that I can be flexible and pick and choose and we can spend more time of studying art history if that is something Emily finds exciting but I feel the need to complete and move on and have a means to the end...so I am getting advice and have just this week visited some curriculum websites to start maybe purchasing a book or two....I'm sure this will all change over time and our needs as a family will change.  John warned me when taking my "quiz" in the book to grade myself fairly and accurately on who I really am and not on a fictitous woman that I think I should be..good advice honey! 


Emily will continue with ballet and piano.  We will most likely sign her up for an art class and she may do Petite Players during the year.  She will continue to do church choir and if she wants, I wouldn't mind signing her up for a sport at CCS but she will have to pick art or sport (take turns)...We have lots of friends that homeschool and we spend a lot of time with friends so I am not worried about the social part at all....

We will also do Bible as a family ....so excited about this (John is in charge of this)

This all sounds great but oh so overwhelming and I know its not all doable at once...and I know that the nice perfect picture I have in my mind will be scribbled on in no time....most likely Day 1 of homeschooling!