Beverley who set up that site is always open to taking phone calls. As a veteran home schooler with 3 independent adults (or near adult for her youngest) she is always a useful contact. Her email address is on the web site for making initial contact.
She also has two really good resources you can buy one is a book 'Getting Started with Home Schooling', and the other is a handy booklet which is also available as an ebook, 'Translating Every Day Life into Educational Jargon' which can help you map what your child does each day to the educational framework of your state/territory.
In terms of curriculum it really depends on your home schooling style. We are pretty relaxed about homeschooling so aren't very resource heavy. If you are looking for non-religious then you are looking for the needle in the haystack because most curriculum is US based and made by Christians.
Sonlight Curriculum's main text and readers can be made mainstream by not doing the memory verse or bible readings. That part is easy and takes care of the English, including reading and writing and is very 'Charlotte Mason' in approach. (Charlotte Mason was known for the use of 'living books' or books that could be used as a base to help us understand our world). I am pleased to see that Dr Suess features in their early primarily collections. They also cover off most of the other learning domains in their material including Society & Environment; Physical, Social and Personal Development; Science; and Art.
We use Math U See which is very mainstream other than two items which are 'optional'. They are the Skip Counting DVD and the other is on Financial Stewardship. All the texts themselves are straight up learning and use plastic rods (like Cuisinaire) to shape learning. Our DS loves it and is working on Alpha already. Other maths texts are Horizon, which uses US coins and stuff though; Saxon, which is geared to very little bookwork and lots of hands on learning; and Miquon for the older child.
Those are the one's that I know are free of religious content or that can be adjusted to be that way. The only other learning domains then to be addressed are Design & Technology as well as Language other than English. Rosetta Stone is often used for Languages other than English but in lower primary it is more about learning about cultures than a language in itself. Design & technology refers to anything construction related through to the technology of mobile phones and computers.
I hope that gives you a starting list. That said, from my perspective, these materials are all second rate to simply allowing your child to explore through experiencing everyday life. I know many homeschooling families who start off with lots of curriculum until they get a feel for what they are doing and learn how to translate it into educational jargon.
Congratulations on your decision to home school! I hope that my response is of some value to your initial questions!
Stuff..
I hope that my response is of some value to your initial questions!
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