May I ask what grade your daughter is and what curriculum you use for language arts (grammar, reading, phonics, etc)
We use Easy Peasy All-in-one Homeschool and absolutely love it! Right now we are using the second grade and pre-k levels.
I use Sonlight and love it. One thing to keep in mind is that you donāt have to use their full grade package. I just use their history/literature, what they call the ācore.ā I use a different science (Apologia) and Singapore math, and a different handwriting program from the one they recommend, and even though Language Arts comes packaged with it I donāt actually use it, just the readers. I could see starting with a full grade package if you donāt know what you need, but once you have a little experience, itās more fun to pick and choose. And Iād always recommend placement tests for math and reading and not just going by grade level, because those subjects are so much harder or more boring if you arenāt on level.
Spring is when a lot of areas have homeschool conferences and curriculum fairs, which is where vendors come together and offer deals on their curricula. Iām not sure where you live, so I canāt point you to a specific area, but to give you an example, the MACHE conference (Maryland) is happening in late April. http://www.machemd.org/event-cfair.asp These sorts of things are all over the country. The best part of it is being able to look through the curriculum, and not just see a few pages online.
The FIRST thing I would do is discover her learning style. For example, my daughter is very hands-on and does best when she can see, hear and DO the activity. She doesnāt do well with abstract information and prefers for things to be concrete, which she understands better. This helped me decide which curriculum would be best suited to her.
When you start homeschooling, realize that it is a learning process for you, too. Itās ok to stop something that isnāt working and to start a different path - even mid-year. There are lots of free curriculum options out there, too. And ALWAYS visit your local library.
One last thing: in our county, we can go to the Board of Education and get school books. So you always have the option of using the textbooks/workbooks she would be using next year.
I donāt have much wisdom to offer on which curriculum to pick (we cobble together our own from various sources), but One suggestion I do have is NOT to start all subjects at the same time. That could be very overwhelming for both you and your child. I suggest starting the ācoreā subjects" math + language arts first, then adding on the other subjects one at a time every few weeks. Youāll both have a chance to feel like you are getting the hang of things. Homeschool is very efficient, so as long as you are diligent, I doubt your daughter will fall behind.
I have been here. My first year of homeschool I bought a full K4 Abeka Program and before even starting it I bought hooked on Phonics (the full kit with all the grades). I finished Abeka and the $400 I spent on HOP was a waste of money I didnāt even touch it. Abeka was all I needed (and had time for somewhat without loosing my mind). I went through 3 years of thinking we were missing something and supplementing, supplementing,supplementing wondering how much we were missing.
In all honesty you will never cover everything, but even public schools donāt cover everything they donāt even finish the whole curriculum each year. I donāt know anything about state laws but follow those and if you live in a state or province (like me) that is more lenient, write out the ultimate goals you want for your child. Do you have plans for college/university in the future? What do you need to do to reach that goal? Do you want them to have strong character with education coming second? Then cater to that. If you try to do everything you will be overwhelmed and you canāt get it all done, neither can your child/children but you can trust God to help you do what you need to do for your child.
My favorite resource, because it lists scope and sequence, has lots of sample pages to include table of contents and student pages of most items they offer and has very knowledgeable phone help as well as curriculum packages is
Homeschoolingbooks.com. It is my primary resource for texts, ideas, supplements as well as informational resources for teaching.