Homeschool - Not sure where to start? Here are some GREAT resources to help you out.

I don't know about you but I feel like we just started summer and already it is time to order next years curriculum!  I have only been homeschooling for one year and we used a state funded online school at home program.  I wasn't sure where to start so that was a great place to start, but now I know what I like and didn't like and what we want to try doing differently this year. I was so overwhelmed at all the choices and all the different philosophies I needed a good place to start. 

Hearing me talk about my overwhelmedness (real word? I am going to go with it) my friend lent me a book called 100 Top Picks for Homeschool  Curriculum by Cathy Duffy.  What a GREAT GREAT book!  It is the perfect place to look at all the philosophies and all the curriculum options with in that school of thought.  It has a quiz to help you narrow down your choices as to what method you would like as well as your child's learning style and descriptions on all the various curriculum's for those methods and learning styles.  SO SO SO helpful.  I was so new I didn't even know what questions to ask.  I just knew I was lost.  I highly recommend starting here. 

From there here are a few other resources you may be interested in...

homeedexpert.com - This is a really cool online tool  from Cathy Duffy as well to help you see what is best for you and links straight into www.homeedshopper.com that searches with one click a lot of the used and new sites for curriculum buying like EBAY, CBD, Amazon and a ton of others. 

simplycharlottemason.com - This is for those of you interested in the Charlotte Mason method.  It is an incredible resource for where to begin, curriculum options, what the philosophy entails, etc... I am relying on this heavily myself.  After going through the Cathy Duffy book above I found out I was interested in the Charlotte Mason method which is a totally different style of homeschool than the more traditional worksheet driven styles.  Check it out.  I am really excited to try this method this year with my wiggle worm going into 2nd grade.

www.homeschoolreviews.com - This is a really helpful place to check out more information and reviews on curriculum you think you might be interested in. 

www.cbd.com - is the site for christian book distributors a great site for deals on Christian homeschool curriculum, books, Bible classes, as well as  anything a christian book store would sell. 

Once you have chosen a curriculum try http://www.half.com/, www.ebay.com, or a new favorite www.homeschoolclassifieds.com which is a classified site dedicated to homeschoolers  that is like Craigslist with ads straight from the sellers themselves. 

I hope this was a help for you.  Have any other great resources, freebies, etc?  Send me a comment or email me directly from the email me link.  Thanks!  Hope you get all your homeschool stuff sorted soon so you can go enjoy the rest of summer!  Good luck to you!