We began our home school journey in 2011 when our oldest was four. I decided that what I was doing with her (just playing, really) wasn't enough and that I needed to be doing some sort of "preschool" with her. Based upon the recommendation of a friend, I bought a very expensive preschool curriculum and dove right in. Thirty lessons in, I decided I HATED it and gave up. We spent the rest of the year doing what we had been doing before. A lot of informal learning through play, which turned out to be the best thing I possibly could have done for our little girl. Before long, I began thinking about kindergarten. My daughter was begging me to teach her how to read, so I knew I needed to do something. So I started researching. I researched homeschooling philosophies and the curriculum options to go with each. I finally settled upon what I thought would be a good match for us. I was half right. We did another half year, throwing out half of what I had selected, replacing as needed, and continuing with what worked. Due to the arrival of our third baby and a deployment, school just proved too much for me to keep up with at the time, so we went back to a lot of informal learning. About all we stuck with through that entire year was our trusty old McGuffey Primer, from which my daughter learned to read. A few more curriculum tweaks, and I finally felt as though I had found options that were truly working for us.
My home school is a bit eclectic. Predominantly Charlotte Mason in flavor, a little bit of Classical philosophy here and there, a very tiny sprinkling of traditional schooling. Really, whatever works best for my kids and with my rather laid-back teaching style is what flies around here. We love curriculum that relies upon "living books," because my children seem to learn best reading books written by those who are passionate about their subjects. We tried textbooks, and that was a massive fail.
Curriculum we use and love:
AmblesideOnline
RightStart Math
All About Spelling
IEW's FixIt! Grammar
Visual Latin
Sabbath Mood Homeschool Science Guides
McGuffey's New Eclectic Readers
Thinkwell Math
Bob Books
Penny Gardner's Italic Handwriting
