Our daughter is grown now, so hind sight is 20/20. But for what it's worth...
We always went by what was the best for our child's learning style, which meant frankenstein-ing the curriculum together. I understand the appeal of a packaged curriculum. I really do, but we chose to piece it together. There is SO much out there to choose from these days.
We went through three math programs (ouch- $$) that did not suit her before settling on the DVD based Math-U-See (later supplemented with Khan Academy and my husband's expertise - mathematician) and now she is an engineering student at college.
We took the advice of an experienced homeschool friend and focused on reading rather than writing for her creative writing skills ("leave her writing alone until she is at least 12") and she ended up doing NaNoWriMo five years running and has completed over 10 novels. We discovered that her engineering mind loved diagrams and so we went through the entire Analytical Grammar series, which is mostly sentence diagramming with increasing complexity. I had no idea she would like that!
Our science curriculum was all over the place: unit studies, library materials, field trips, documentaries, and eventually online courses for AP work (thinkwell.com is good). We joined a homeschool co-op that offered all kinds of classes, where she took Forensics, Electronics, Chemistry, and many other courses.
We started French about 7 times, eventually finding Powerspeak and getting the 2 years credit she needed for highsch. graduation. When she was a Junior she fell in love with Latin and took that on her own.
She loved Geography and we did all kinds of workbooks, games and actual travel. For history, we used Story of the World which, though Christian, is a fair and interesting series. That one we did in read-aloud style, from age 8 to 11 - so fun!
P.E. was real instead of the forced nonsense my husband and I had to put up with in school. In our state she could have gone part time to the public school to participate in team sports, but she was always more interested in individual sports. We made sure she had opportunities to pursue any athletics she liked. She learned to ski, ride a horse, shoot an arrow, ride a bike, swim, etc. It was up to her what to pursue because we wanted her to be an adult who likes to move and play.
During her high school years we did a lot of Great Courses (dvd courses), taking the whole year to go through a series. (US History, Human Health, Music Appreciation, History of Art, several others). I didn't do a lot of testing, but would write up little quizzes just to see if she was paying attention. lol Yes, she was. I worried that colleges wouldn't accept Great Courses as legit. classwork, but they did.
We gave up on many, many materials that didn't suit her: General science course book (too boring), Vocabulary builder workbooks (she already knew the words, thanks to reading a lot), Spelling books (again, not needed). This is why I am glad we didn't buy a packaged curriculum. Those materials are great, I'm sure. But each child learns each topic in their own way. I saw packaged curriculum as a modified version of public school, and we wanted her not just to learn but to learn how to find your favorite methods of learning. That way, she can continue learning throughout life.
I hope this is helpful and not just me rambling on and on. Overall, I recommend being as open minded and flexible as possible. Then when your child(ren) reach(es) high school age, start documenting everything and prepare the child for SAT Subject Tests (Barrons test prep books were very helpful) if they are college bound. "Teaching to the test" is not tons of fun, but takes very little time in the efficient world of homeschooling. (And we found she was basically ready without additional instruction anyway.) Those subject tests prove that you are not just giving out "mommy grades." (We did not use grades until high school btw.) Outside verification is very important to college admissions boards. Also record and document any high school level work done in 7th & 8th grades, which can be substantial for homeschoolers. For grades, I documented what my grading system was and used the grade-point-to-letter-grade system that the local university used. Her high school transcript was 10 pages long, so full of accomplishments and activities!
With all the confidence I have in how we approached homeschooling, it wasn't until our daughter got into a tough and competitive university program that I really embraced that confidence. Until then, I just knew she was a smart, happy, confident person with a great personality and a kind heart. But even that alone wouldn't be a bad outcome, would it? Then when she got admitted I wanted to yell to all my negative family members and the homeschool naysayers, "now you can go f- yourselves!!"
All the best to you and your family! Thanks for letting me rant and rave.