I have really been blessed to see the Lord's hand in guiding our curriculum choices. While we were still in our planning stages, I was blessed to have several good books available to me. It was through one of those books, Beyond Survival, that we were led to Five In A Row (FIAR) and the unit study approach. Through talking with other home-schoolers (locally and on the FIAR Message Boards) and doing more reading we found other curricula that were appropriate for our family.
As you are researching curricula, I strongly encourage you
to do several things:
1. Pray & pray & pray some more - the Lord will lead you
as you seek His guidance.
2. Talk with your spouse about your philosophy of schooling, your
teaching style, your children's learning styles, your budget,
etc. What is right for one family is not going to be right for
every family. With regards to learning styles, I have found two
books very helpful. One is The Way They Learn by Cynthia
Tobias and the other is Discover Your Child's Learning Style
by Willis & Hodson. The first is a good introduction to the
subject, the second goes into much more depth. SmarterKids.com
also has a simple learning styles assessment available on their
web-site.
3. Try to actually take a look at the materials you are considering.
You might be able to do this either at a curriculum fair or through
visiting or borrowing from other home-schoolers that you know.
With SSRW in particular I was pretty convinced, but hesitated
because of the cost. I visited with another family from our church
that had used it and had raved about it. Once I saw it (and Claire's
reaction to it) I "knew" for sure that this would be
a good fit for us. I've been very pleased with that decision.
I really believe the Lord has led us in our curriculum decisions.
4. If you do purchase something and then discover that it is not
the "right fit" for your family, don't feel as though
you are "stuck" with it. If it is unused condition,
you may be able to return it to the vendor (many have very generous
return policies). And remember that what is not a good fit for
you may be just the right thing for another family. Check out
opportunities for used curriculum sales (either local or on the
internet).