It's February and I'm buying curriculum already...

Yes, I have purchased our Sonlight Core C IG and now our writing program.  I've also bid on a couple of pieces on eBay.  With our budget quite a bit tighter this year, I figure I'm going to have to start early to ease the strain on our budget and to simply collect it all in time for the next school year.
With all that in mind, I have long since decided what our curriculum will be for 2nd(-ish) grade:
Bible - Sonlight Core C
History/Geography - Sonlight Core C
Read-Alouds - Sonlight Core C
Reading - Sonlight Readers 3
Math - Saxon Math 2
Grammar - Shurley Level 2
Science - Sonlight Science K
Handwriting - A Reason for Handwriting A
Writing - Understanding Writing

I think I perceive that the number 1 'judgement' from non-home educators is that I am not a trained teacher.  And trust me, I know this.  God has blessed me, a science girl, and Mr. P, a math whiz, with a language-oriented child.  We would be totally lost without fantastic curriculum.  I do a LOT of research to make sure everything we use fits both of our styles.

I personally need lessons planned out.  If not planned out, easy enough to divide into 36 equal weeks' worth of work.  Ask me to do more than that, and I will either quit after 3 weeks or spend one night a week stressing over creating my own worksheets.

R, well, she's obviously a reader.  But NOT a textbook kinda girl.  She doesn't do well with a lot of pictures.  Every single curriculum choice is a non-textbook.  In fact, one of my favorite things about Sonlight is that instead of textbooks, they use fun Usborne books (which I happen to be a HUGE fan of) with lots of illustrative pictures, or fiction and non-fiction books to describe time periods and/or places.  In her read-alouds, they either correspond to the history/geography or they are classics in their own right.  They've built their science curriculum in the same way.  All that to say, she needs books, and lots of them.  Saxon has worksheets, but no textbook for her to look at, same for Shurley and Understanding Writing.

All that to say 2 things: 1) If you are on the fence on homeschooling because you doubt your ability, there's no need to doubt.  There are curriculums out there for all types of moms and dads and all types of kids.  You will find one that works for you and your kid and it makes it all work so well.  You are allowed to be picky because of the immense number of choices available to you.  I will sing the praises of my choices all day long, but they might not work for you, and that's ok.  Find something that does, and if someone asks if you are qualified to teach, tell them that you are, because you are their parent (and you did manage to teach them to walk, talk, etc), and that the people that wrote the lesson plans/books are more than qualified.  And let's be honest, I guarantee you that no teacher out there remembers the details of every single thing they teach without a little prompting, why should you have to be an expert on everything you're teaching?  I personally LOVE learning alongside R.  I learned more in her 1st grade year of history and geography than I did in all of high school history.  I think the joint discovery is part of the magic of homeschooling

2) I'm SUPER excited about our new writing curriculum.  It's called Understanding Writing, and it's one purchase for grades 1-12.  Lessons planned out - perfect for me, lots of letter writing and other practice - perfect for her.  If you have a linguistically inclined child like I do, this is worth looking at.  It's cheap, and one of my favorite things about it is that it allows you to use your own curriculum for phonics, spelling, and grammar.  It is *just* writing.  And it focuses on serving others with your writing, which is so amazing.  Lots of letter writing, lots of practice proof-reading (which if you've read this blog very long, you know I need practice in as well).  And it's inexpensive.  This is a review that kinda 'sealed the deal' for me on my choice.  It's lengthy, but worth the read if this is something you're looking for.

So, take this blog post at face value.  I am a unique mom with unique kids.  I know some of my choices will work for you, but some or all may not.  That's ok.  This is simply meant as a place to start if you have a child like mine or you are wired like me.  Or it's just an encouraging post that one day your prince...errr... curriculum will come.  There's a lot that goes into my choices, and I know the same goes for you.  But, if you're just starting out and daunted by the overwhelming-ness of choosing, know that it's all worth it.  You will do a lot of work up front to find the right one(s), but the rest of the school year is spent (mostly) smooth sailing (with some, or a lot, of wrinkles to work out).

And being home with my kids discussing Babylon, Assyria, Mammals, the plan of Salvation, and adding two-digit numbers with regrouping?

Totally worth it.

No question.

**Disclaimer: Sonlight offers rewards points for referrals.  The Sonlight links have my rewards number.  You get $5 off you order of $50 or more, and I get rewarded as well.  You do not have to use my link, but I'd appreciate you forever and ever and ever if you did.
Also, I am an Usborne consultant.  The Usborne link is to my personal webpage.  This is my side business, really just to support my daughter's habit of reading everything in sight and living nowhere near a library.  You do not have to purchase from me, but I (and R) would be very, very, very grateful if you did. **