I'd like to go with a pre-packaged curriculum because I think thats easier, however, at the moment I can't so I have a lot of different books, I do have a lot of abeka that I've bought used or that was given to me.
But I'd like everything in a nice neat package so I could just check things off as they were done instead of having to do things the way I am at the moment.
Just my personal opinion of the matter.

If you have children who like to read and who like to write it is easier to do an eclectic curriculum in my personal opinion. If you have kids who don't like some subjects an eclectic curriculum can be difficult without a lot of planning on your part.

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[i][i]Psalms 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.[/i][/i]

Hi back!! I have never used a pre-packaged curriculum. We always mixed and matched resources to fit our kiddos. I have homeschooled in MN and CO, and they are similar to IA. My best friend homeschools in IA. I know she has used a mix of things, but not sure if she ever went full boxed or not.

If you had no preconceived ideas of what might be better... what would you prefer?

I found it had more to do with the individual parents and kids than the state requirements. Packaged curriculum is easier for some parents. And some kids do better with a more eclectic approach. Just need to keep the needs of both in mind.

I posted a nice long reply pretty much saying what Kysa said....just longer! I don't know what happened to it. It must have gotten lost in cyber-land!

You do what fits your lifestyle, teaching/learning style, life situations, etc. There is no right or wrong way. I have done both. Your children will learn and thrive either way.

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I can do ALL things through Christ, who strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13)

I am eclectic, although with my 8th grader I am using quite a bit of Bob Jones material. I do not know that I will necessarily continue with that for him - kind of waiting to see how our year goes overall. I try to keep things as budget-friendly as possible, so I heavily use the public libraries and online freebies for my youngest in addition to our home library. I think it really depends on what clicks with each child. Zone in on that and go from there.

Welcome, Bookworm Jo! (Love your um - name? handle? - whatever they call it, it's great!)

I'm in Ohio - here we just have to tell the state what we plan to use, but we pick it.

I'm an eclectic sort of person, I guess. I like the freedom of being able to do what fits at a given moment.

For instance, the other day, we were reading a story about rice. I realized my daughter had NO idea how rice was grown (despite the fact that *I* used to live in a rice-growing country), so we googled images of terraced rice paddies (they're beautiful to look at - my dd decided they were in heaven, not on earth!)

https://www.google.com/search?sourceid= ... w&tbm=isch

Then we found a great Nova site that told how they're built:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/rice-paddy.html

I think that's something that's easier to do if you're constructing it yourself.

I also suspect that all-in-one curriculum sets might be something that fits your child (or you) in one subject, but not in another. What if you order the whole set, and find that while it works for teaching your kid math, it's just not working for reading?

I like to be able to custom fit every lesson.

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Hi Bookworm Jo! Welcome! I'll echo what the others said about your decision being whatever is best for your family. Some parents need the structure of a boxed curriculum to help them feel like they are getting everything done. Each child is also different. Some thrive doing workbooks while others need hands-on to learn. So don't worry about what others are doing! You know what is best for your family. :0)

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TKDmom , from 8th gr on we used Bob jones a lot. Till we got to math and did saxon.
I wish I had used Bob jones for math, because it may had been a little bit harder and DD would not be taking 3 math classes for college that she would not need. I hope that made sense.
She got A's on Saxon and is taking 4 semesters of math because on the test she had to take for placement in college she did horrible. I was very disappointed and wish I had stayed with Bob jones, but everyone was doing Saxon.

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I put together my own curriculum for two of my kids. One reason to choose pre-packaged is that it would be very easy to resell. The used homeschool curriculum booksales I have attended all sell mostly the top brands, Bob Jones, Abeka, etc. With my youngest I used a free, online resource for curriculum, Ambleside Online, and avoided most of the buying/selling

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"...with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26