Curriculum Choices

Warning: Long and possibly boring post. I don't promise that any of this follows a coherent thought.

I've been drowning in reading this past week.

No exciting novels or even fun magazines for me though.

No, I'm knee-deep in homeschooling catalogs, websites, and online bulletin boards. I'm trying to make the decision on what we're going to do this coming year (which we'll be starting at the end of July).

I posted earlier, comparing TOG and Sonlight, trying to decide which might work better for me.

I still haven't made a decision, but I'm trying to make one soon so that I can move ahead to prepare.

When it comes down to it, I have to realize that no matter what I choose, I'm not going to be able to leave it alone. That's just me. I wish that I could just be satisfied and feel like whatever curriculum I choose is perfect the way it is, but I don't know that I will ever feel that! Maybe I just need to get over it.

I have been looking at Tapestry of Grace (which we're already using), Sonlight, Story of the World (using this also), Mystery of History, and Winter Promise.

The thing is that nothing seems to fit perfectly.

We are finishing up TOG 1 this year, so if I use any of Sonlight's cores next year, we will be overlapping in the history studies. I don't want to have the kids study Ancient times again. They are ready and excited about moving on to Medieval Times.

Plus, I used the "Sonia" tool on Sonlight and according to that, because of my children's ages and differing reading abilities, I wouldn't be able to lump them into the same study groups - any of them. I can't do 3 separate cores and preschool with Nick and keep a baby happy. That is not going to happen.

The thing that draws me to Sonlight most (besides their great choice of books) is that it eliminates the work for me. The lesson plans are neatly printed out and all I have to do is execute. However, I really want to keep the kids on the same page when it comes to our history studies and I like to have history as the core to what we're studying rather than the literature. I just do.

I should add that I already own TOG Yr 2 (the older version), Mystery of History 2, and Story of the World 2 (Book, CDs, and Activity Book). So, purchasing a whole new curriculum seems a bit ridiculous and frankly quite wasteful. All 3 of these curriculum are wonderful.

My main complaints with continuing with TOG next year are:

1. The schedule. It lists all of the choices for the week, which I love, but I hate that it's not in the neat, easy-to-use right out of the box format that Sonlight is. I know that it tells you to have your children schedule everything out each week, but that doesn't work for me. I want the year's worth of assingments in front of me before we start.

2. Year 2. I just feel like way too much is crammed into this year. My kids want to spend some time on the Middle Ages - castles, knights, the Renaissance. The Vikings don't even have their own week! To move from the Fall of Rome all the way through the American Revolution is a bit much to cover in a year.

3. The Writing Program. This has crippled me this year. I don't feel like there is enough guidance on assignments. Maybe it's just me.

If you've read this far, then maybe you're trying to make the same decision I am. I've seen a lot of people on the boards asking questions about which is better for a large family - TOG or Sonlight. I know that they are both great programs.

What I'm considering right now is either just going back to Story of the World as the spine for this coming year and using TOG and MOH to supplement with the mapwork, vocab, projects, and upper-level reading assignments for Ellie or spread out the first 19 weeks of TOG 2 over the whole year.

Either way, I would just have to put spend the time to put my weeks into the Sonlight scheduling format to be prepared for next year. And I would have to come up with something for writing assignments. That sounds like it could be a lot of work I'm making for myself though. I wonder if it would be worth it.

Oh, I'm making myself tired just thinking about this. Hope I didn't put any of you to sleep!
I'm off to bed. I promise to let you know what I decide!!