Choosing Curriculum

It seems around March, I start thinking about the next year in homeschooling. And it seems others do as well. A couple of weekends ago, there was a Curriculum Symposium. It is where a panel of homeschoolers will get together for a question and answer period and then open up the room for those who brought their curriculum and those wanting to sell curriculum. I had never been before and had really wanted to go. But, I had no childcare and then the kids ended up being sick.

But, that hasn't stopped me from thinking and planning. I want to branch out a bit. Stay with the Charlotte Mason style of teaching because it works well for us. Plus, it is very flexible, which we need and it promotes LOTS of reading, which I love. And not reading twaddle but really, really fabulously written stuff. The style just gives so much credit to the intelligence of a child and their real ability to learn.

Anyway, that is where the problem comes in. There are so many darn good books out there to read and I just don't know where to stop. I don't know what books to include in my school year. What books should I just skip over? Or should I make them read alouds? Or free read books? What do I do about the fact that I want to read them all? But, with schooling two and the other two roaming freely, time is at a premium.

As I stack my books to look through for next year and peruse all of the literature for sale online, I know at some point I am going to have to narrow things down. I do have to wonder how others do it? How do they make decisions on what to include? Do they tell themselves they will get to all the rest of the books next year and the next and the next?

So, what are your plans for next year?