Congrats, GAP! Great news!
I was homeschooled and attended private school for several years growing up, and in all those years I used a homeschool curriculum. The program that seemed to function best, and which is HIGHLY respected, is A Beka curriculum. It is very challenging, and it actually teaches you. I outperformed most of my class when I returned to public school, and that was with minimal effort. In fact, I got so bored with the standard public school curriculum that I stopped caring altogether, which hurt my performance for my senior year and early college years. You want a curriculum that enables you, the parent, to understand what you are teaching your child, but one that also provides a challenge to the child throughout his academic career. Let's face it, if provided the proper environment and tools, our kids may become more educated than we are. Probably the best way to ensure this is to purchase every teacher's guide that comes with the material. The better the teacher understands the material, the easier it will be for the student to learn everything he/she needs to know, and excel at it.
The drawback with A Beka, for you, might be that 1) it can be expensive, and 2) it is Christian-oriented. In Science texts, there are references to the Creationist argument regarding the origin of life, and there may be other references I don't remember (it's been a decade since I last used the curriculum). I'm sure the Social Studies texts also contain Christian references or biases inherent in the writing. However, they are also very patriotic/pro-traditional American. You might decide to forgo the curriculum completely due to the religious content, but you might consider the opportunity presented by the material to teach your child about viewpoints that are different from yours, why you differ in your views, etc. Might help to teach him about individual rights and beliefs, and respect from one individual to another. Just my two cents'. Personally, I'm at a point where, though I was raised Christian, I'm more of an agnostic now. However, I'm also considering homeschooling my kids and I don't mind the references. I think I'll let them make up their own minds, since no one can seem to conclusively prove either evolution or Creationism, therefore taking a certain measure of faith to accept either of them.
Also, I wouldn't dream of using cloth diapers if I had the opportunity to stock up on disposables. After a month or two, or six, of shitty, smelly, runny, explosive diarrhea diapers, you might change your mind. Heck, you might not, but that's further than I'm willing to go. Cleaning a diarrhea-soaked cloth frequently?
Count on two years of that, because that's how long a lot of kids take before they start using the toilet.
Vaccinations? You don't know what's in them, you wouldn't know what to look for anyway because you aren't a scientist, there have been some bad effects to a very small percentage of the populace attributed to them, and most of all the federal government pushes their use. I understand that for freedom-minded people, those things cause a few red flags to rise. However, consider this: if you did understand enough about science to verify if a vaccination was what it is supposed to be, you would do it. Why? Because the reasoning behind using vaccinations is unquestionably brilliant. There is a reason why there are no longer epidemics of smallpox or other horrible diseases with high mortality rates - and that is because of vaccinations. I'm not saying I don't get nervous sometimes thinking about them, but I think the benefits outweigh the risks.
FYI, I don't take the flu vaccine. I've always been very healthy. I have a very strong immune system, and don't see the need for it. My wife, however, catches everything anyone around her has (and she's a nurse - go figure), so she gets it. My kids do, too.
Again, congrats on the baby! I think you'll be a great father. And hey, we don't live too far apart - maybe in the future there's a family day at the range with all of our kids.
