I would definately check into a trial period with K12. When we did it we could cancel our online subscription but couldn't send back the hundreds of dollars of books we had to purchase. Luckily I still use some of the "book" books now with younger ones.
I wouldn't rush into a curriculum purchase without looking at how you want to homeschool. There are many approaches from schooling at home with textbooks, to literature based schooling like The Well Trained Mind, to unschooling. That can vary what type of curriculum you would choose as would if you want secular curriculum or not. The list is almost endless.
Complete curriculum: K12, Sonlight, Calvert, Abeka, My Father's Word, Winterpromise, Heart of Dakota, Well Trained Mind, Alpha Omega. Some of these are more scripted (everything written out for you) than others.
The big problem with complete curriculum in some but not all cases is the ability to fit it to your child's needs in the different subjects.
I currently use the following with my 1st graders:
Sonlight Core 1 materials (without the Bible portion because I teach it secularly)-just the core, I substitute in SOTW and Usborne History of the World
Singapore Math Standard Edition (sonlight uses the US if you purchase math)
EPGY
Horizons Spelling
Voyages in English by Loyola Press
Handwriting without Tears
Scott Foresman Science by Pearson with some PLATO and NoeScience books thrown in with a lot of library books. (using multiple grade levels since we are very science heavy here)
Look for placement tests to determine level. Some materials are on level and some, like singapore are ahead of US levels.
Last edited by melmichigan; 09/12/09 09:10 AM.
