History is also a favorite subject at our house. So far we have loved CHOW and the reprints of Edward Eggleston's books from 1890's, _A First Book in American History_ and _Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans_. We also love reading historical fiction and biographies from the time periods we are studying.

I am very impressed with Horizons, and my kids enjoy it, too. It takes a spiral approach which both I and my math-guy husband think is important with this subject because it requires the child to remember how to do all of the different types of problems throughout the year. With a mastery program, I would be worried that my children would forget skills if there wasn't enough review. Other reasons I like Horizons-- It covers everything in my scope and sequence and even goes beyond. There is plenty of drill, but not too much to frustrate my children. The workbook pages are colorful and interesting. There are enough problems (but not too many) on the workbook pages to make sure my children understand the concepts. IMO some programs have too many of the same kinds of problems on a worksheet which is unnecessary and can be discouraging to children. One note-- The TM is a required part of this program. I know a lot of people have said that they only use the workbook pages without the TM, but I have found that I would be missing a significant amount of the program (including the drills and explanations of new concepts) if I weren't using the TM.

I can't stand to leave anything unfinished, so I would take extra time into the summer if I needed it. This would be most important to do for the core subjects such as math, English, etc. I also try to make a limited, informal "summer school" program so the kids don't forget a lot over the summer. This consists of reading, math review worksheets, and something else that needs extra work (usually reading comprehension or handwriting for us). If I needed to finish a subject, I would probably just add it into our summer assignments.

I would second Spelling Power. You wouldn't have to do the whole program as prescribed if your child doesn't need it. You could just use the spelling lists (which go all the way through high school level) and proceed through them as quickly as you like.

Have you considered using A Child's Geography--Explore His Earth (Voskamp)? I haven't used it yet so I can't give any specifics, but I am planning to get it for next year. It sounds like a great combination between geography and earth science. BFSU fits a lot of your requirements, though it would not be independent for your son. It is a general science course, though it is broken down into four threads, including "Earth and Space Science." Every lesson has activities/experiments that you put together with things you can almost always find around the house. Even though the activities are simple, they are always engaging for my kids. There is a list of books you can check out for additional reading with every chapter, and you can use it with your younger child as well. I have found this to be a superb science course, especially for kids who have an aptitude for science.

I bought pads of handwriting paper from Miller Pads and Paper for my kids according the each grade level, and we use that for the R&S grammar writing. I keep all of the papers in a file of a file box, but you could punch holes in them and keep them in a notebook if that would be easier. You could also find a spiral notebook with spaced lines according the grade level.

Here is the link to the timeline I bought that I like better than any others I have seen. http://www.geomatters.com/products/details.asp?ID=181

I got a nice laminated poster from Geomatters. I like the layout of the rows from top to bottom since it is the way we read. It is easy to see where things happen in history when it is all on one concise page.

Spelling Power has worked wonders for us, and it really does take only 10-15 minutes per day. I thought my son was awful at spelling, but I found out that he is very good at spelling and only needed an effective program. If you are looking for reviews, there are a fair number on Amazon. HTH

I tried to use the Core Knowledge to do my science as you said you are planning, but it was so boring that my son thought science was the worst subject. I then changed to Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, K-2 grades (Nebel), and science is one of our favorite subjects. It is quite an in depth course which is exceptionally well written for small kids. I highly recommend it!

Yes, it is an addition/subtraction problem. I would understand it like this: If the problem were like this: -7 - 4 = You would subtract 4 from the -7 However, when the problem is: -7 - (-4) = Then you do the opposite of the first problem (since -4 is opposite +4), so that you would add 4. Perhaps that is a logical explanation. I think most people would just learn the rule that subracting a negative is the same thing as adding a positive. Maybe you also could look at a number line to think of a logical way to understand it.