The great curriculum decision

Oh, Sonlight, how you draw me in like a moth to a flame. (except for your price!) And as much as I love the way it looks, studying IG's and samples out the wazoo have shown me that it is not for us.

MFW...lovely MFW.  While I wanted to love you for kindergarten...I don't. I can't.  It's not what a kid who has 2 years of preschool under his belt needs.  But for first grade, however...hmmm.  Strongly considering it.

We are lightly schooling throughout the summer, both for my benefit as a newbie, and to get DS1 into the routine of seatwork.  Preschool officially is over next week for him, and we usually don't do more than reading books on preschool days.  Days without preschool, however, we have school.

For now, and my plan for the summer, is this: we start with our Jesus Storybook Bible and a devotional from His Mighty Warrior: A Treasure Map From Your King.  After that, we tackle the hardest first, so it's phonics.  We are taking a break from OPGTR right now and using Progressive Phonics instead.  DS1 enjoys the little stories and it's easier for him, which is the confidence booster he needs.  I'm not that much of a fan of them yet, but they are simple and he can participate in reading a story.  He's not a natural reader and it takes a lot of work for him to sound out CVC words. (He's also a young 5, so no biggie)  He LOVES to do handwriting, and is actually better at it than I thought.  We are using ARFH-K and each time we learn a new letter, there is an animal picture to color, then gets hung on the wall.  Math is Singapore Essential Math (although will probably change to CLE math next year), and that seems to be going pretty decent.  I thought he was more math-oriented that he is, so I've had to adjust my expectations of math.  And hey, it's kindergarten.  It's fine.  (And part of the reason we are homeschooling - for him to learn at his pace.)

I am one of the ones that believe that anything other than the 3 R's in K is icing on the cake; however, I want him exposed to more.  So starting in the fall we are working on Elemental Science: Intro 2 days/week and working on basic geography and a beginner National Geographic Atlas 2 days/week.  The other day of the week will be library/play/field trip/watch a movie/whatever day.

I also have FIAR to throw into the mix if I get bored.  And booklists.  By fall, DS2 will be 3 (he's a fall birthday) and he is VERY busy and learning also.  I need to start coming up how to keep him from leveling the house and starting on basic pre-k work.