In my state, many homeschoolers go to the local community college to finish off Spanish. Ours even had an online option. My own children did lessons with a teacher and you may find someone like that in your town too.

Teaching Textbooks is great with explanations and solutions worked out in full. So, it is good where the parent isn't comfortable with math. But - it is not very challenging and not good prep for higher level math. My one son did it, aced every test and then did not do wel on ACT and SAT math. I switched him to Life of Fred and that fixed it. But LOF is not good if the student gets stuck and a parent can't help. Once he hits high school you could try an online course or a co op class if that is an option where you live. My son who just graduated did a class through Art of Problem Solving. Those courses are very challenging but good if your son is strong in math. If you find your son is no longer enjoying Saxon, my kids liked Thinkwell. I like it too as a lot is graded on the computer! I have never used Saxon but many on our large group who did use it advised against it at the high school level. But then there are always people who do like it too :) Having now rambled on, I am inclined to say look at Thinkwell. We used their Govt and Economics courses too.

Grades 5 and up. Perhaps 4th grade if a child is very computer literate ... I have been using it to teach mainly middle schoolers.

Jans101 online lessons are free and cover Excel, Word etc ....just google and you should find them. She is a college lecturer but I actually used them for my kids at elementary level. We did computer programming as electives in high school - not sure if you are looking for ideas for that.

Hmmm ... would Khan Academy and the trophies you get be enough fun? You could make the trophies equal points and then when they get enough points they can cash them in for a reward. You are looking to review quite specific topics so I don't know what else to suggest. THe 24 game (we have the cards but here is an online version - http://www.mathplayground.com/make_24.html) is fun and good to generally get them thinking mathematically again. Otherwise just use problems from last year's books and turn them into a quiz show or 'beat the clock' challenge or some similar game.

If I had known about Cover Story earlier, I would have offered it as a co op class. It seemed to be a great fit for that - as well as just doing it at home. My son did OYAN - he didn't finish (his fault) but what he did he enjoyed and I will get my daughter to do the whole thing.

As no one else is giving an opinion - here's mine: It looks like you have done a pretty good job of covering history so far and I suspect your son knows plenty of US history even though you never had a year dedicated to it. So, I suggest, let him choose. He is likely to know more than kids at school about history so I don't think it is very important for you to worry about that. As he likes history, let me suggest he compete in National History Day (just google it). You start at the regional level, the best go to State and then Nationals. All my kids have made it to state and 3 of the 4 to nationals.He can pick a topic related to something he will be studying. PM me if he decides to do it and I can give you some tips.

My daughter loved Snapcircuits at that age. And board games - there are lots of 'word' related ones like Blurt that are 'educational' and fun. And the good thing is they don't grow out of them.

Get her to be able to identify 'is' and all the forms of the verb 'to be' as a linking verb. Once she understands that is a linking verb, then you can just get her to learn then other linking verbs as there aren't a lot that get used frequently. 'Feels' and 'Seems' are two that do come up. For helping verbs explain that for there to be a helping verb in a sentence there has to be at least one other verb that is tied to that verb. Helping verbs 'help' ie are never alone.Again, there arre not that many and she could just learn the list, but obviously you want her to understand. What might confuse her will be sentences like: I will be a teacher next year which contains the linking verb 'will be' but 'will' is also the helping verb. Here is a game to practice helping verbs - http://www.quia.com/rr/121293.html

I used Spelling Power with all my kids - mercifully we are done with spelling now. It works on the principle that you give the word list and see what they get wrong and get them to work on the ones they struggled with. You buy it once and you have all the words you need to teach them. They all finished it between 7th and 8th grade (the girls were faster than the boys). I am not sure what it costs now, but it is a once off cost and you re-use it. Mine has lasted through 4 kids - not sure it is in saleable condition any more - but it lasted and it worked and they can all spell the words they need to!

Yes - that is the best Scratch book available! Believe me - I have everything there is. I teach programming and I got a review copy which I used for classes this summer and it worked really well so I am using it in my co op class this fall. Unfortunately I haven't yet found as good a resource for Python. If you think your kids aren't ready for 'real' programming after Scratch, Alice is a similar language but more complex. I often teach that in the spring semester.

My daughter loved the PBS TV Shows Fetch and Zoom. I found 20 episodes of Fetch on Netflix, but can't find Zoom anywhere. I know in Fetch the kids on the show had to solve a series of science challenges. Zoom was also science-related and fun. If she knows where to find them online I will come back here and post again.

My one son did Epidemiology - CDC has a free course I downloaded.

I think he would enjoy computer programming - I teach classes on that at our co op. I ut up a page with the resources I recommend - www.squidoo.com/teach-computer-programming and I would agree with duckens that Scratch might be the best one to start with - I do give suggestions there on the resources I like best for each language. Computer applications are another idea - I used Jan's 101 courses for my kids to learn Word, Excel and Powerpoint Economics / Entrepreneurship is another idea. If you did the latter he could start his own business as part of the course. I know there are books on the subject - I am not at home now so can't see what the ones I have are. For art, computer graphics might appeal.

The science was the part that always got my kids ... I would suggest you see how she does on the SAT - no science there! Colleges accept either. 2 of my 3 who have graduated di much better on the SAT than on the ACT. That was a great score though!! Even if you stick with the ACT, she will improve and if she is getting that already as an 8th grader, she has nothing to worry about.

My dd has done Fractions, Percents, all the pre Algebra and aout 1/3 of the algebra now.She is about to go to 8th grade and has done LOF for 3 years I guess. This year she placed in an area wide math contest with all the local schools. I have been teaching a math club every other week for the homeschoolers in our support group, and I thought this had a lot to do with her succes, but she reckoned it was all "due to Fred". It is by far her favorite thing to do each day. My boys (who are both now graduated used and loved LOF too - and they really liked the way things are explained. They liked the stories too!

Sorry, I missed this one - it really is that long! I have it scheduled over 3 weeks. But I think we took longer in reality. We tried to watch about 30min a day ...

Mine did it as a full credit - we love geography! I made up a curriculum that included watching lots of travel DVDs so they could 'see' the geography and then they did research and wrote up web pages on various places.

My kids have used RS and Duolingo as supplements and have taken classes at our local co op. Other homeschoolers in our area go to the community college here.

Personal preference - my kids and I are not good with just listening. I don't think there were many visuals but I still find it easier to watch a lecturer. So, sure - go with audio if that works with your kids.

I saw in another thread on here that it is being taken down next year. Looks like a decent free option. My one concern is that it lacks much in the way of 'homework'. I saw that sometimes there is a question to think about, and once there was material to read and one multiple choice question followed. I didn't watch the videos so am not sure how engaging or otherwise they are.

My friend was there with her daughter - they just stayed for opening day and judging. My son was there a few years ago and my other son made it but was in Spain so his partner went alone. Another friends' daughters have made it for about 6 years running now. It is an excellent contest to teach students how to do in-depth research and learn to write a these statement, do an annotated bibliography etc. As mine moved on to college they all had no problems with research paper writing. It also develops a love of history - I have loved watching my kids get excited about some piece of historical data they discover. Primary documents can be very exciting!

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My dd did use SL100 - but my boys did it at the same time as she did and they were in 6th and 8th grade then. Which is why I had a problem when they got to high school. They did do SL 430 US Lit (or whatever it might be called at present), but then I put this together for the actual history. I let them do it however they wanted to. They usually watched the DVDs one at a time on Mon - Wed and then wrote the essays on Thurs and Fri. They would do the reading a bit each day as it was too much to read in one go. They are boys so, no, no notes! (My daughter would have taken notes I am sure). After they gave me their essays I would grade and tell them what I felt they left out - sometimes I would make then re-write. Critical Thinking thru US History helps prepare them for the DBQ section of the exam. They would do it and give it to me and I would grade it and discuss any errors. I did not program in formal discussion times - it would just happen naturally round the dinner table many nights. I watched the John Adams series with my older son; my husband watched with the younger one. And sometimes the other movies we would watch as a family - it just depended. Do the same stuff from a variety of angles did mean that it was naturally reinforced. They didn't start studying till 2 weeks before the exam and it worked out fine. They were engaged and interested and that seemed to do the trick.

Sorry it took so long - but it is done at last. You are the first to see it, so please let me know if you find typos, bad links or anything else. Here is the link to the US History Course - http://fundafunda.com/prodpage. As I said before, I used this for both my sons before the took the AP US History exam. A friend's son has just done it too - I am hoping for great results from him too. I do know he felt good about the exam. Hope it helps some of you.