Curriculum so far: None, heh.

Style: Booooooooks.

Honestly, though, right now, I'm at the very beginning of homeschooling my own kids, so our curriculum is the library, plus a book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. We also do a Bible study with some colorful topic flashcards and I'm getting ready to add poetry, but this will just be me reading a poem I pick from online or one of the many books of poetry we have around the house (one of my favorites is the Oxford Book of Christian Verse, but I don't think our copy is the "new" one).

I grew up with Sonlight for most of my school life and I loved it. It had lots of books and plenty of assignments, but very little "textbook" work (I mean, aside from math and science). I've thought for a long time that once my kids are old enough, we'd just start using Sonlight but I'm starting to consider other options just out of curiosity. I'm definitely looking at different options for PreK-- everything from Timberdoodle's hands-on package, which I hear is great for boys (Charli mentions this in her post, I do believe), to Before Five in a Row, which uses a lot of books.

Sonlight really worked for me but I'm willing to consider other things depending on how my kids learn. I'm researching a lot of different math curriculums-- one thing I hated when I was growing up was Saxon math. I think there are a lot more options geared toward homeschoolers now.

I think style-wise, I'd say I'm confident? Perhaps too much so? I like schedules and I don't stress about adapting pre-written schedules to fit my family (like with Sonlight), but my confidence has gotten me in trouble in the past when my response to a curriculum need is, "I'll just write this myself!" I tend to lack follow-through (sometimes because I get bored, other times because I underestimate the scope of the actual project; that said, getting books on sale is awesome, but please don't complain about $100 comprehensive instructor's guides-- that's so many hours of work right there).

Irony: Previous paragraph was about feeling confident, but started with two questions. Verbally, those would have been uptalking, ha.

Anyway, I've written curriculums for classes I've taught, for myself in high school, and helped adapt curriculum for siblings. And I've learned that while I love to write curriculum and schedules, I need to have a rule for my own kids in the future: If it's not finished by the beginning of the fall that we need it, I buy something. I'm avoiding the "starting a curriculum that's only half-finished" quicksand, because I know we'll suffer for it halfway through the year.

Also, I should note, I like the idea of arts and crafts, but I know the thing that already is hard for me and will be in the future is incorporating "messy" activities to go with our theme/subject. Legos: I'm fine. Watching a movie: Awesome! Anything with glue: ugh it will be everywhere and i will have to clean it never miiiiind.

But that sort of stuff is good for my kids, so I'll just have to get over it, even if we don't do stuff like that as often as "crafty" moms.

As for worries about sticking with schedules, here's the thing. I'm working on sticking to my cleaning schedule. Discipline is something I'm still working on. Because of that, I know I'll be tempted to just take days off for no reason or because we're busy with other stuff, but I also know that I love knowing we're doing what's best for our kids. When they were tiny, I worried I'd lack the follow-through to brush their teeth every night, but you know what? I do. I also feed them meals three times a day whether or not I feel like cooking. So I know that, by the grace of God, whether or not we feel like doing school, it will happen because it has to.

So, simple arts and craft suggestions, anyone? Pinterest overwhelms me and/or makes me just want dessert.

*For local readers:  On Saturday, April 27 from 10am-12pm, we blog hoppers will be hosting a question and answer session at Trinity Assembly of God, Fairmont, WV. Email/comment to let me know if you want more details!