Ok, so haven't been here in a long, long while, but we are definitely homeschooling next year, and I need advice or some pointing in the right direction and you guys always seemed so knowledgable. We are all very excited to homeschool, but I have no idea what I'm doing, and it feels overwhelming in what to choose, lol. I want to use my tax stimulus rebate to get their homeschooling stuff together.

What are some good secular basics? I keep thinking I would prefer to buy a whole curriculum for Emma, but I'm beginning to think I need to just pull something together myself because she is on some many different levels -- at her current school you can work as far ahead as needed and mostly she is working 1 to 2 years ahead in all her subjects.

She would really enjoy doing work online. She loves doing workbooks at home but her eyes light up with the possibility of doing it online. I have found Laurel Springs, but I can't really tell how great it is. I've seen bad and good reviews, and the kindergarten program, from reviews, seems to be christian based.

And on Ethan, I'm going to do kindergarten with him next year. He's been in preschool this year at the same school as Emma, and he just turned 4 this year, and wants to read so badly, and is already writing all kinds of words he asks me to write for him but he doesn't know his letters well or phonics, and doesn't really have an interest, he wants to just read, lol. How good is Teach your child to read in 100 lessons? What about a phonics program you love? I've heard Abeka is very good, but it's also christian. I've collected various workbooks for prek and kindy he enjoys doing now, but I would like a good phonics program too.

Is there a good kindy curriculum or is it better to just pull things together yourself?

Last question, lol. Emma has had spanish since she was 3 yrs old in preschool. I would really like to continue it. Would it be better to find a conversational class or is there a great program out there she can do at home?

Thanks for all the help!

I highly recommend Montessori. You can do it very easily at home and a lot of stuff you can make and find around the house. There are plenty of resources and it might take a bit more creativity than getting something prefab, but you'll save yourself a lot of energy in the long fun becuase of how self-sufficient they become on their own, naturally.

We did Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons but we did not use the script in the book. It is designed as a VERY scripted program which I, personally, can not stand. DS2 was adamant that we used that book so I introduced the new sound and he read his part of the book. If he had problems I prompted him. He went through lesson 65 and then got bored with it. He is now reading real books. DS loved it (was very upset when I sold it???) but I hated it.

DS1 use Headsprout.com. He was a very early reader and this worked well for him. You can try the first three lessons for free.

I LOVE 100 Easy Lessons. When I first picked it up I was very intimidated at all the lines, arrows, dots, and 10 tasks per lesson. But then I sat down and read the into and did the first 5 lessons with DS and I was hooked, so was DS. He was reading small words by lesson 10 I think and reading sentences by lesson 20. Yes, it is very scripted and for the first
15+ lessons I followed it completely, then I skipped the tasks that DS didn't like and modified other tasks. We never spend more then 20min on a lesson. He is now finishing up kindergarden and is reading at a second grade level. Both of us are thrilled. It is also the most economical reading program out there.

This was our first year and it has been a struggle getting in the swing of things. I am on our 3rd spelling program, we went through 3 math programs, two Grammar programs, trying to fit in all the subjects I want to. DD went to ps for kindergarden and 1st and trying to make sure I was giving her material at her level was/is extremely challenging.
Right now we are using:
100 Easy Lessons- secular
All About Spelling- secular
Writing Strands- secular
Growing with Grammar/ First Language lessons- secular
Math U See- secular although the skip counting CD does have skip counting songs in both biblical and secular. I just use the secular versions.
Story of the World- secular for the most part