This is my first post here, I'm so glad I have found this forum. I've been reading and reading and reading this forum for a few weeks now but seem to be going around in circles.
This will be our first year homeschooling our DS. He will be starting first grade in September.
Originally I thought we would go with Oak Meadow as I am new to this and a boxed curriculum seemed like it would be easier, however from what I have read, Oak Meadow is quite labor intensive and required a lot of planning-is this correct? I expect to do some planning of course regardless of curriculum, but I'd like something partially planned out that I can follow as a guideline for this first year at least.
I've also heard it's not great if you don't have a crafty child-my son isn't really into arts and craft. He doesn't mind a small amount but doesn't enjoy it. So maybe it's not the right fit for us?
We are looking for something secular and have looked at Calvert and K12 but they are out of our price range. I have heard Sonlight can be used as a secular curriculum by eliminating parts but I'm so confused about what we would need to buy, and it's also out of our price range for the full package. What about the core packages? they appear to be history for grade one, so does that mean I'd still have to purchase a math, science, language etc...curriculum separately?
I am starting to think I should just put my own together but am scared as I have no idea what I am doing and there are so many options I'm overwhelmed! I read The well trained mind and think I could put together a curriculum based on it, but was hoping for something a bit more simple to ease us into this first year. Any thought's on this would be very much appreciated!