2012-2013 Curriculum

I decided if I was going to be a legit homeschooler, I needed to post our curriculum picks for this next school year.  In the past year and a half that I've been preparing to homeschool, I've really appreciated those bloggers who post their curriculum choices and what works for them and what doesn't.  Here is my disclaimer though....this is my first year homeschooling!  I really have no idea what I'm doing yet.  I think picking a curriculum for the school year was much harder than making the decision to homeschool.  I finally just had to make a decision and go for it! 

For our main curriculum we are using Memoria Press

I didn't purchase the entire curriculum package, but was able to pick and choose the things I wanted to use.  I'm really excited for this classical curriculum and I hope it is a good fit for us this first year.

For math we are going to try Math U See

This is one I debated on over and over!  I had planned on using Saxon Math since that is what the kids have been doing in public school.  However, this last year was a rough math year for Lydia.  She has always done well with all subjects and even though she still tested above average for her class in math this year, she hated it!  It's the first year she has been discouraged and frustrated with her math assignments.  I could see her slowly giving up on math throughout the year.  Her scores also went down throughout the year (but were still above average so the teacher wasn't concerned).  I don't have a great love for math and I really don't want Lydia to feel the same way about the subject.  I'm hoping that Math U See will be a curriculum that will help her understand math and give her more confidence in her math skills. 

For history we are going to use Story of the World

These have GREAT reviews and I'm excited to get started with it.

So there you have it!  I hope that in 6 months I'm reporting back with GLOWING reviews on all of these choices ;)  We will just have to see how it all works out.  The hardest part of choosing a curriculum your first year is that you really have no idea what is going to work best for you and your family and it can be quite expensive to get started.  When you are spending money, you want to get it right the first time!  But the great thing about homeschooling is that if something isn't working, we can stop and try again. 

Wish us luck!!!