I do like LOF fractions and decimals a lot, but I don't think it would be a good fit for your son right now. It's makes lots of leaps... While it is great for supplementing, it would be tricky to use as an introduction to a topic.

Logic liftoff series is nice...

There are lots of possibilities... I think the "Key to..." series is very good for focusing on one topic. It's slow and gentle and pretty independent. My 10 yr old daughter uses it periodically and I've used it successfully with kids needing remediation in high school, so it's not babyish at all.

My daughter's favorite author used to be Eva Ibbotson... her new favorite, however, is Terry Pratchett. I think those authors have a similar sense of humor and fantasy. If you go that direction, consider "Wee Free Men" which has a 9 yr old girl protagonist.

I asked Pearson about the test... It's not sold to individuals - only school districts (hence the low per student rate). Sorry!

Soaring with spelling would probably meet your needs

I think of "health" as a combination of teaching about puberty and sex ed as well as about the human body and disease. It sounds like you've got it all covered.

How about Minimus? You could do one book a semester and start LP in 6th grade.

My lefty and my righty both do Pentime. I really like the style and I like how it is taught. The workbooks are cheap and although published by a religious (Mennonite?) publishing house, appear fairly neutral so far.

I'm suffering from poison oak right now too. It wasn't even me who touched it! I just did the laundry and it must have rubbed off onto me. The best suggestion is the really really hot water one. I can't describe the sensation of hot water on poison ivy or oak in public.. But, um... It's like a wonderful sneeze that satisfies every primal itch you've ever had.

Which test are you trying to prep for? What age?

I do like LOF a lot, but I wouldn't be comfortable giving up a solid comprehensive math program like CLE to do it. Supplement? Yes! But I'd continue on to CLE 600 in order to solidify elementary math before moving entirely to Fred.

I taught a self contained PS 7th grade class in CA about 10 yrs ago. The subjects were world history from around 500 to 1600 or so... Language arts, pre-algebra (or more accurately pre-pre algebra, though the kids weren't tracked so there was a wide variation in skills), life science, PE, computers/ health (1 sem each). 8th grade got us history instead of world and earth science instead of life and music/art instead of computers/health.

Did she like "Keys to..."? You probably could have her work through some of the other keys to including the algebra. CLE 7 or 8 are also workbooky and seem pretty complete.

I've used Explode the code with non native English speakers before. The pictures also served as a source for vocabulary too. Starfall and brain pop esl are also good.

I would give 'The Transitive Vampire' and 'Eats Shoots and Leaves' and 'Words and Rules' a try.

My 10 yr old is doing LP1. She does the textbook orally and writes in the workbook.

Ellen mchenry has a free download about anatomy. I think you just need an atlas of anatomy to go with it. http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/homeschool-freedownloads/lifesciences-games/humanbody.php Edited to add - its aimed at middle school so may not be exactly what you're looking for.

I think it would be a pretty unusual kid who could do it completely independently. We did SM textbook together and had my 8 yr old do the workbook on her own, but BA seems less indepent because the activities and exercises are more varied and are asking for more depth of thought than SM was.

Also minimus TM has great resale value.

We used Minimus -> LL 1 -> LP1. They're all really first year type books, and you could jump into any of them without any background. Minimus was my daughters absolute favorite, but also the easiest. I think it could be a great placeholder between ll and lp, if that's where you were heading. To fill it out, another option is to add in the exploratory Latin exam next year. We spent a month or two preparing for that. There are some PDFs you can buy to help study for it and my daughter really enjoyed those too.

:iagree: Can you figure out what specific area she needs help with? If you can identify the problem (Fractions? Decimals? Percent?), try either Keys to .... or Math Mammoth. If you need just a general program, you might want to look into Lial's Basic College Math. It's a review of elementary math in preparation for an intro algebra class -- and it's especially aimed at teens and young adults, so it's not babyish in any way. Still... try not to be disheartened. Make a plan -- catch up on elementary arithmetic this summer, start pre-algebra in the fall... aim for Algebra by the following summer or fall. She'll get there!

We outsource our art instruction... My younger daughter has a once-weekly watercolor class and my older has a painting class once/week and a drawing class once/week. I know that's not what you wanted to hear, but that's the only way my kids will get any sort of art instruction.

My daughter is really enjoying BA, but there's only the 3a and 3b books at the moment... I don't know the timeline, but I was under the impression it wouldn't be a complete curriculum for a few more years.

You might want to look into Killgallon's sentence composing books. The focus of the book is to encourage good sentence construction by imitating interesting well-written sentences from children's literature. Your son may see it as a fun puzzle rather than as a burdensome writing exercise.