Not a curriculum, but perhaps the a Childcraft Encyclopedia (by World Book) set would fit. I think the reading level would be below a 10-year-old's level, but the topics might still be interesting. There's usually about 15 volumes, about 1/2 sciences and 1/2 general arts and social studies, with a different topic on each 2 page spread. It incorporates activities (but not that many) which are pretty easy to implement (though sometimes they require something I haven't had around the house). There is no reason you need the latest version, and usually used versions are pretty easy to find using eBay or kijiji. There probably isn't any way to implement a schedule, but the flexibility may also be an advantage. They invite browsing.

I devoured Cynthia Voight's and Christ Crutcher's novels around 8th and 9th grade, and remember a lot of other kids liking them. Voight's Jackaroo, The Runner and A Solitary Blue might be good choices if he prefers a male protagonist. Tree by Leaf is another good one. She writes a lot of her novels in series, but I never found that it was important to read them in order. Crutcher's novels are a little more controversial with some people, and perhaps not easy for a teenage boy to discuss with his mom, but Crutcher's portrayal of the inner-life of teenage guys makes them worth recommending. S.E. Hinton's "That was then, This is now" is, to my mind, much better than the Outsiders. I think Hinton's best book is Rumble Fish, and it is a good book to introduce kids to the idea of imagery being used to convey plot and character, but it is darker and more dystopian than most of her other books. In another vein, I would say T.H. White "Once and Future King", for many reasons. It's witty and entertaining. Its an approachable King Arthur legend, and its a good introduction to the idea of a tragic hero.

My child is in a french kindergarten, and the focus there is on getting kids to speak French. His comprehension is coming along. We are trying to support the French with vocabulary memorization, and teaching him, and getting him to repeat simple phrases to use in the classroom. Learning to read English then is all home based, and we've got Bob books and Now I'm Reading Books. We're using the Childcraft Encyclopedia as the basic text for Earth Science and Astronomy. and THOTW for Ancient History. I'm not really anxious that he learn this stuff at this point, but he is as curious as anything, and I have to come up with something to keep him occupied. He is starting to learn to control a pencil, and we've loaded up on tracing, number and letter workbooks. He loves the Kumon tracing book so much that it won't be much longer for this earth. The fun part is dreaming up projects. We did quite a bit on air -- weighing air, water condensation, etc. He had a keep weather kit that is mostly busted, but was fun until the wind blew it against a wall. I ordered a rock kit that had him fascinated. The rocks got weighed on a balance and thrown into a bowl of water (floating pumice blew his mind). I think I managed to get across the basic idea that the biggest rocks aren't always the heaviest rocks, because density. We have fossils to make with his toy dinosaur, a water filtration system to build in a milk jug., and dropped marbles into flour to make craters like you see on the moon. I am searching for a cardboard telescope kit, we will do some of the moon phases with a flashlight and some balls in a dark room. Make a solar system. We live within 5km of two observatories, but keeping him up at night is a tricky prospect. A few history projects will overlap with earth sciences: he got an Egyptian archaeological dig kit, and we are going to build a Roman road and run his playmobile chariot over it. Legos will be used for building a pyramid, and a section of the Great Wall of China. Ancient Polynesians -Colouring book and Outrigger Canoe, Easter Island building kit (nano blocks) -Book of Myths : The Things Maui Did and the Austronesian Folk Tales from an Asian Folktales book Ancient Egyptians -Hieroglyphic stickers, pyramid projects Ancient Greeks -Parthenon kit, kid's sized discuss for "olympics" and if I can get my hands on some uncleaned greek coins maybe another archeological dig followed by some chemistry to get the scrud off them. D'Aulair's Book of Greek Myths Ancient Rome -build arch out of plaster of paris dried in ice cube trays, Roman numerals in a wax tablet, make an oil lamp out of bake-able clay Ancient China -Paintable Terra Cotta Warrior from Art in History, Chinese Abacus Myths : Monkey King and Chinese Folktales