The first thing I did was begin contacting homeschool groups.  I joined an excellent accountability group and found a wonderful support group.  Then I began looking for curriculum.  The advice I heard again and again  from experienced homeschoolers was not to expect my first curriculum choice to be my last.  Most homeschoolers have learned that they have to use much trial-and-error experimentation before finding the curriculum that  actually works for their child.

 For our first year of homeschooling I selected  TRISMS History Makers.  It is a literature-based time-line curriculum, which provides lesson plans in History, Science and Literature for a full year of study.  The only thing I had to add was math, and I selected Math-U-See.  

I found TRISMS to be a very flexible curriculum which was easily adjustable to any learning style.  The best feature was that my son learned valuable research skills with this approach.  Although it is a complete curriculum (except for math) I decided to supplement it with IEW - Teaching Writing: Structure and Style - which I highly recommend.

We continue to trust the inspiration that gave us our beginning by allowing nature and opportunity to redirect our lesson schedule.  When a pair of Carolina Wrens built a nest in our hanging plant, we decided to observe them and did an impromptu unit on birds and their habitats.

Look here to see Dylan's first "on-line" presentation.    

While observing the wrens, we noticed several huge yellow spiders in our yard.  So we did a little research and learned about  Nephila clavipes - also known as banana spider.  

We frequently attended educational and social "field trips" - plays, museum tours, archaeology digs and picnics - with our homeschool support group.   Dylan also participated in several curriculum-related activities with his Boy Scout Troop.  Although these were usually P.E.-related, such as CPR training, swimming and wall climbing, within weeks of beginning study of ancient Rome, Dylan's Boy Scout Troop was offered the opportunity to attend a "Roman Encampment Weekend".   How serendipitous!

I would say our first year of homeschooling was semi-unschooling.  I had a curriculum and lesson schedule, but still allowed my student's interest to take priority over "the plan."  When I did the end-of-year assessment, I was amazed at how much Dylan learned in spite of (or because of) our free-style approach.

I give Garnet Moon Academy an A+ for academic year 2003-2004!