Here I sit, broken hearted, I paid hundreds and I’ve barely started. Sheesh, homeschooling can be expensive! As a bartender in a small town, I get asked about thirty-seven extremely personal questions per shift. When the topic of homeschooling comes up, all bets are off. Generally, people are positively intrigued by my unorthodox schooling methods and wish to know more. Thankfully, most of them don’t ask, “how do you socialize your children?” to which I would answer, “at the dog park!” I digress. One question that DOES come up a lot is, “does the state give you any money back to do that?” Which usually leads me to respond, “No, but they should, shouldn’t they?” I understand that they won’t, and can’t, and shouldn’t, but it sure would make life easier.

My second born, Max, will be starting kindergarten in the fall and I am only now starting to think about how I shall tackle this development. He has a completely different learning style than his older sister, and I am realizing that what worked for her will not work for him. I am leaning toward a Waldorf approach because I think the gentler learning style will suit him but I am turned off by the price tag of curriculums by Christopherus and Oak Meadow, although I know that both are awesome.

Months ago, I saw a post about Lavender’s Blue Homeschool during my daily visit to Soule Mama, and I have been racking my brain to remember the website ever since. Today I fumbled my way to success! I’m pretty excited to have joined her email list and I am seriously considering purchasing her kindergarten curriculum. I am turned off by the download format; it seems like a lot to pay for something that I still have to pay to print, but I do like the samples…

As you can see, I am torn. Do I go for it? Shell out for Christopherus that I know I will love or perhaps buy the Oak Meadow second hand? Should I scrap it all for the Montessori curriculum that I already own but has proven more time consuming than I can possibly handle? Or maybe somebody out there has some brilliant new idea that I have yet to consider?