I agree! In my experience, homeschooling moms are a wonderfully self-confident and also an exceptionally creative group. The last thing in the world I personally wanted to do was to follow the curriculum spelled out by anyone else.
There are already on the market excellent publications for use in each subject area. It is a personal decision to select from them according to the needs and interests of one’s own children.
We used Saxon math texts from grade school through to AP Calculus. Sullivan Programmed reading materials (super phonic instruction) are still available for use, but the old McGuffey Readers are easy to locate and wonderful to use as well. Science and social studies materials are a joy to locate (from libraries, online sources, etc.) and truly can be adapted to the interests and enthusiasms of one’s own youngsters.
Elisabeth, my husband was wary of homeschooling also. He agreed, though, to let us try it for just one year. Perhaps your husband would be willing to do the same. In our case, we first tried it only for kindergarten. We never stopped until the kids were off to MIT and Cornell. All along the way, homeschooling was a terrifically fun and rewarding adventure. May you have the opportunity too!
Yes, I hope to persaude my husband with a trial year. My daughter is in public school kindergarten. We live in a top school district and she also absolutely loves school, so it’s a hard sell right now, but I am hoping that as some of the negative social aspects of public school become clear that my husband will be more receptive. For now I’m “afterschooling” but will keep working on my husband!