We homeschool in South Africa - started 18 months ago when we pulled oldest son out of K then. I was wary of buying into a specific curriculum at first as most of them were grade based only and were not enthusiastic about me buying a higher grade for the same year or using 2 grades in one year.
so we decided to do an ecclectic mix and match according to his unique asynchronous needs.
For Maths we use dreambox.com and he attends SEMAS (Japanese abacus Soroban) one on one classes. We also use loads of fun apps on our phones and PC for him including:
Dragonbox (algebra for kids aged 5+)
Timez Attack (times tables and also now additoin, subtraction and division)
For Science we currently use a lot of kitchen science and easy to use science experiment books. When he was studying Genetics earlier this year I used online videos and two awesome kids books. We are starting with Superchargedscience.com middle of next year - great for kids working on their own and so much fun!
For lifeskills we use a blend of montessori, waldorf and unschooling concepts and materials.
For what you would call social studies (I think? Geography, history etc) we use the Leapfrog TAG pen worldmap, Solar System and Human body charts and fill in missing things with kids encyclopedias and non-fiction books.
It works well for us and we have adapted what we do to fit Nathan (nearly 5 now) too.
We really try follow their interests and so do a lot of projects and unit studies too.
I love this approach purely because I can see the benefits as my boys love learning. Grades and grade level no longer matters and my kids are better off for that! As they leave behind the rigidity of age-based learning they are learning so much more fully and wholeheartedly too.
Ideas for younger kids - use a more life learning approach. Bake together, garden together, play singing and action games, do messy play and creative activities. Go on outings and walks together. When your 3 year old is curious about something get a book on that and read it together as long and as deep as needed. You can use montessori materials for more formal learning as needed or buy a variety of things from so many different resource providers.
