For those of you who don't homeschool, let me back up a bit.  One of the great things about homeschooling is that you are free to teach what you want, how you want.  Some states or cover schools give guidelines as to subjects that are required, but you can choose the curricula to teach from, and they are plentiful.  Some are pre-packaged with all of the subjects together.  It's all right there, ready to go, delivered to your door.  A lot of people like those.  But I, like many, prefer to choose the resources that I think are particularly compelling or that I know will really challenge my kids.  I also love the idea that they can each learn from a different curriculum.  For example, I have one math whiz and one that's, well, not.  They use entirely different math programs, both with good results. 

So here I sit with The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling by Debra Bell, The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise and a few other good resources laid out.  I am preparing to make "The List".  In a perfect world my children would learn everything on the list next year.  In reality, we won't get to some of it, but I like to set my sights high.  I start with the subjects to cover.  Here's what they look like for 2008-09:

US History: colonization-civil war                spelling
writing                                                      reading
keyboarding                                              math
science                                                    geography
art/music                                                  Bible
PE                                                           Piano/Scouts

Obviously our focus will be on the history.  That is our main goal.  Many of our other subjects will relate to what we're studying in history.  The art projects will be history related, we'll listen to music from composers of the time, learn about prominent scientists of the day and major discoveries of the time, etc.  We'll write about what we're learning and study grammar through those writing exercises.  And, lots and lots of reading. 

Now that I have "The List", it's time to research and purchase the texts.  Can't wait to see what's available!

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