How Do you Homeschool?

So I ask the questions....

1. how do you homeschool? Do you have a set curriculum or do you take a more relaxed approach?

2. How do you get creative on a budget or "no" budget? I have enjoyed viewing so many mom's blogs and learned so much about the different ways everyone homeschools. I'll admit at times I think "boy, are we boring or what". I'm not near as creative as many of you are. We don't belong to a homeschool group, I never heard of a lapbook (which are totally cool by the way) until I started browsing blogs, and my girls enjoy working on their own and having my input when they are learning something new. It does make it tricky to not have our own house. Before we moved we did more crafts, I had a dry erase board with multi colored markers to make learning more fun. But not so much anymore. And the budget just isn't there for all that extra stuff. I asked my girls today if they liked how we did things, and they both said yes, so I guess we're okay. I didn't start homeschooling because I wanted them to be isolated from the world, but so that they'd get more one on one time and we could spend more time developing their character and who they are as young ladies. They get plenty of socialization from soccer, youth group and church and they do very well making the right choices. For years I strictly stuck with Abeka (because I do love their curriculum), but in the past few years I've changed a few things from language, spelling, reading and writing. I try to gauge how they learn and what interests them. I've thought of trying a unit study approach but don't know if I'm organized or creative enough to do that. I do love teaching my girls (I'm learning at the same time..especially with math.) We love the fact that we can take a vacation anytime we want, the girls don't have to do homework for 3 hours a night. They can sleep till they're ready to get up and are done at a decent time. Personally I think this is a great idea...of course I have my moments that I wonder if I'm crazy or not. If you are from SW Washington or Northern Oregon and have great resources for field trips, etc.. I'd love to hear them.