Too Many Choices!

One thing you don't realize about homeschooling until you are staring a school year in the face is how many CHOICES there are for curriculum! From free stuff on the internet to a pack that costs $1000 and includes your supplies (down to the last paper clip!) for a year, the choices are truly dizzying. Then you add on outside groups like co-ops, and you can really stress yourself out before the first day of school is even here.

 I have literally spent 2 years looking off and on for that "perfect" curriculum. I have made photocopies of sample plans from 4 companies, borrowed old curriculum to look through, pawed through bargain bins, searched Ebay and Amazon high and low.  I even bought a basic kit from one company, only to discover a very important difference in worldview that would have required me to rewrite parts of the curriculum for our use, so back the package went.

I have decided to accept that this perfect curriculum does not exist. I am finally picking something that looks fun, educational, and easy to use- and praying for the best. My final choices are Trail Guide to Learning and Math Mammoth. I am super excited about learning American history with my girls this fall through the Trail Guide's Paths of Exploration. The program has a detailed focus on American history and geography, which I love and can really make come alive for my girls (this is from the person who last weekend gleefully melted in 95 degree wet heat watching men in wool Civil War uniforms fire cannons at one another).  All of the science, literature, grammar, and other language arts are also included.

I can't wait to get started and share with you how this year goes! How about you? What have been your curriculum choices when you started homeschooling? How and why did your choices change over time?