School Books for the fall!

Yesterday I received our shipment of school books for the fall school year. We are always so excited to get new books for school. Getting our fall books late in the spring for the next fall always seems to give the kids the extra motivation to get this year done. We have a little over a month left in the 2008-2009 school year. Whew, almost done!
I am excited about the new curriculum that I have for this fall. I am doing something completely different for English. I have used Rod and Staff Grammer for Hannah and Eli throughout their school years, but the kids seem to be getting bored with it. It was a great book to get them through the basics, but I was not really keen on Rod and Staff's lack of creative writing. I have decided to go with Hake/Saxon's Grammer for 2009-10. I am excited about the set up of the book. There is a review in each lesson so the kids won't forget things. Also, each day has two new vocab words for them to write in a journal and gives them application of it, and to top it off there is dictation (for improving listening skills) and a creative writing assignment each week. I am hoping that it isn't going to be too much for them.
For science and history I have decided to teach Hannah and Eli together to save some time for me. We will be doing Anatomy for Science which the kids are excited about. Lots of hands on experiments. The workbooks are Anatomy Academy written by Katie Collins. For history I have chosen to study world geography. I am using Trail Guide to World Geography by Cindy Wiggers. It is fun study that uses lots of mapping skills, art and cultural lessons for the studies of the different countries. The kids looked through it last night and immediately asked if they could start it tomorrow! I love that kind of excitement towards school work....
For math I have started using Saxon. It seems to work well with the kids math skills and keeps them reviewing old material. Progeny Press is my choice for reading curriculum. It is a great way to get our kids to read good wholesome books which teach great life lessons. With each book comes a study guide that introduces new vocabulary and focuses on reading comprehension. It does teach some spiritual lessons as well. I like how the curriculum gets our kids to think about what they are reading.
I do most of my school book ordering through Rainbow Resource. They are cheap and I trust their reviews of the material and are great about getting orders out quickly and cheaply.
I love to hear about new school ideas and techniques. It has been a challenge this semester with a 20mos old running around, but we are finally getting the routine figured out. If you have any great ideas on how to home school with little ones around I would love to hear them!