I'm a very indecisive person.
I research everything, trying to make sure I pick the best option.
I read reviews, I ask people for recommendations, and if I can, I try to check things out first-hand. I just don't want to make a "wrong" choice.
So when it comes to choosing what resources we use in our homeschool, it was very hard for me to pick just one and stick to it. Because of that, I find myself using multiple resources. Everyone has their favorites, and there is a lot of quality materials out there! Each one has different strengths and styles, so it's hard to know which to pick!
Math: I use both Singapore Math and Life of Fred.
Language Arts: I use Learning Language Arts through Literature, Institute of Excellence in Writing, as well as Writing Strands. I also use some ideas from Brave Writer and Drawn Into the Heart of Reading.
World History: I'm using Mystery of History, Story of the World, Critical Thinking's World History Detective and as an additional supplement, the Usborne Encyclopedia of Ancient History.
On top of that, I have all 3 volumes of KONOS, because I couldn't decide which one to start with! (Thank God for used book sales!)
When I plan out our weeks, I intersperse the different resources so we may use several in a single week, or sometimes I'll stick to one for a week, then switch to another for another week. This allows me to get broad coverage of topics, and hopefully Monkey is getting the benefit of the various strengths that each one provides. It also allows me to try it out, and rule out one or more options if I decide it won't work for us. It's hard to decide anything based on reviews and recommendations. When we actually use a something, we can see whether it works or not for Monkey.
Since most books tends to be set up for 1 year's worth of material, this means we have to either double up our workload, or spend a longer time on completing each book. I'm not worried about taking as long as we need. I'm also not worried about skipping sections that I think are repetitive from some other source.
Because I'm so new to homeschooling, I'm not sure how sustainable this is. Maybe at some point I'll have to just commit to one thing and run with it, but for now, I like being able to explore!
