Most kids should be able to just read after Headsprout. My youngest is dyslexic, so she still needed reading instruction. I moved on to Funnix level 2. It started right where Headsprout left off. link to my review of Funnix: http://www.thehomeschoollibrary.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1024 I also had my dd start working in Phonics for Reading. This is a fabulous program from Curriculum Associates. It is entirely parent-taught though. link to my review of Phonics for Reading: http://www.thehomeschoollibrary.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1094 Now that my dd has finished Phonics for Reading, I have her working through Megawords.

Easy Grammar hasn't worked for any of my kids. Flashkids Language Arts works very well for my 7th grader (she's used it since 5th). It doesn't seem to do much for my 4th grader though. I'm probably going to start my 4th grader in Hake Grammar once she finishes her current Flashkids LA workbook. I also like Fix-it Grammar, but my 7th grader is the only one that works well for. Hake worked well for my oldest.

I'm using Prentice Hall Biology by Miller and Levine, but I'm looking for a different program. This one is WAY too rigorous for my artsy dd.

I'm working through Jacobs Algebra for the 2nd time. My oldest used it last year and my middle dd is using it this year. You don't need the overheads. I just read through the student text with my dd and went over the set 2 problems as examples before assigning sets 1 and 3. Sets 2 and 3 are nearly identical, but with different numbers. If my dd had a lot of difficulty with set 3, I'd assign set 2 for the next day. I didn't use the teaching suggestions in the teacher guide at all. I used the teacher guide exclusively for the answer key in the back. I do use the test masters (a separate booklet) that has tests for each chapter.

I'm actually reading that to my kids right now. The full title is Ties That Bind, Ties That Break by Namioka and it's a great book. This is my 2nd time through Core 5. We really didn't like using the World Book Encyclopedia the first time through. We did it the year before the EHE was published. This time, we're doing a heavily modified version without WBE or EHE. We're using the Enchantment of the World series as our primary spine. Our library has a book from that series for nearly every country we want to cover. Instead of the EHE, we are using the Country Study Lapbook from Knowledge Box Central. Instead of using manila folders, we are just using hole-punched cardstock in a 3-ring binder to glue the minibooks to.

It was very much worth the money for my dd. My youngest is the only one who used it. She is dyslexic and HS got her over a hump she had not been able to pass before. Link to my review: http://www.thehomeschoollibrary.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1016

I started the series with my middle dd when she was in 5th grade. That year we did just two books. My dd read two chapter subsections each day and did the Guided Reading workbook right after we finished reading. She did the selftest on the computer for each chapter when she was finished with the chapter. The selftests are on the companion site for the Science Explorer series. The Real World and Skills Labs were all that we did for science when we came to them in the book. We have never done all of the experiments. We do the discover activity at the start of a section if it looks like it's worthwhile to do - usually it isn't. We do some of the Sharpen Your Skills and Try This. We have never done any of the chapter projects. We do most of the Skills Labs and Real World Labs. That depends mostly on whether or not the materials are going to be easy to gather or not. I go through the book my dd chooses a few weeks before we'll start and list all the supplies that will be needed for the Real World and Skills Labs. Then I cross off the materials (and the labs that need those materials) that I can't get from Home Science Tools. I may cross off others that are more expensive than I'm willing to go for as well. Now that my dd is in 7th grade, she does a chapter section nearly every day. Most chapter sections are 4-5 pages. When a chapter section is longer than 5 pages, I spread it over two days. Some of the chapter sections in Environmental Science (the book my dd is working in now) are 10 pages. I let my dd choose the order in which to move through the series. The only ordering requirement I have is that she must do Chemical Building Blocks before Chemical Interactions. The other books can be done in whatever order she wants.

I waited until my dd was 4th grade, but she is dyslexic. I can see possibly using it with a 3rd grader who is reading very well, but there are 25 words on each list and I think that could easily be overwhelming to a 3rd grader.

Right now I am still muddling my way through Prentice Hall Biology with my 9th grader. If I decided to bail at this point and switch to Holt Biology, what resources should I get? I'd get the student edition and the teacher edition, but what else? Also, if I used Holt for chemistry next year, what should I get? I have thought about using Keystone (which uses Holt) next year, but I'm not sure I can justify for myself the additional cost of their service.

I would definitely get an evaluation at this point. Labels aren't necessarily a bad thing. The types of labels your dd might choose to apply to herself are likely to be far worse than what she might get from testing. My dd was convinced that she was stupid and would never be able to learn to read. She was relieved to find out that she was dyslexic. Having a name for it helped a lot. Once I found out what her actual issues were, I was able to find programs that actually worked for her. My dd had to sound out every word before she could read it at 7.5yo, even her own name. She couldn't recognize any word on sight and could only sound out short vowel words. Now, at 9.5yo, she is reading at grade level. She is still dyslexic and will always be dyslexic. We still work on reading every schoolday. But she CAN read now.

Scott Foresman for elementary grades Prentice Hall Science Explorer for middle school I'm using Prentice Hall Biology for my 9th grader this year, but I'm probably going to switch to Holt Chemistry through Keystone High School for next year.

I had an 8th grader last year and will have one next year. 8th grade last year: SL Core 7 Student Writing Intensive (level B) and then IEW methodology for writing Word Roots A1/A2 Hake 8th grade grammar Jacobs Algebra Prentice Hall Science Explorer 8th grade next year: half of SL Core 100 and listen in to SL Core 3 US History-based Writing Lessons volume 1 Megawords Flashkids LA Fix-it Grammar Word Roots A2 finish Jacobs Algebra and Kinetic Books Algebra and start Jacobs Geometry Prentice Hall Science Explorer

I'm very happy to see the new format here. I have several boards (not all of them hs) that use this same software and I like it much better than WTM's old format.

The local elementary schools use Everyday Mathematics. The local hs groups are larger than they might otherwise be because of it.

Your ds is at the age where I would recommend evaluation. My dd was 7.5yo when I had her tested. It was wonderful for her to know that there really was a problem and there were things we could do to make it possible for her to read. She hated reading "baby" books and struggling with those when everybody she knew her age and even younger was capable of reading "real" books. I had my dd tested at the local ps. I know that some have had difficulty getting testing done there, but I didn't have any problems at all. They had an initial meeting with me to determine what tests to do, did the tests, and went over the results all within 60 days without any hounding. The results showed that my dd is actually gifted with a severe learning disability affecting all her academics. She has difficulty with anything involving visual input and especially visual input with a time constraint. I posted her scores on dyslexiasupport2, Beginning-Reading-Instruction, Schwab LD boards (which are going to be closed soon), and READNOW. I got feedback for what programs to try with her and finally started to see progress. 1.5 years ago, I heard about a local tutor who did evaluations and then made recommendations. I take my dd to her every 3-4 months. She assesses my dd (only $60) and then helps me come up with a game plan to last us until the next assessment. My dd who had to struggle through sounding out her own name at 7.5yo is now reading at grade level at 9.5yo. She is still dyslexic and always will be. We have to work very hard on reading, spelling, and writing every day. My dd doesn't have a bad opinion of herself anymore though. She knows that she has problems with reading just like her older sister has problems with fine motor issues that make buttons, snaps, and zippers difficult for her to manage.

I wouldn't use the tests with anybody under 3rd grade. The tests for SOTW4 are much more difficult than for the lower levels. I wouldn't use those tests until at least 4th grade and preferably 5th grade.

I try to check all the schoolwork daily. I don't always succeed with that, but that's my goal. I always manage to check my 9yo's work because I work with her all the time. I nearly always manage to check my 12yo's work during her one-on-one time. I don't always get to my 14yo's history questions, but I do get to her geometry and biology every day. I don't always get to her writing assignments either. The only things that I actually put grades on are tests.

My dh has an English translation of Russian history texts about WWII. It's very interesting to read the Russian perspective on WWII. The Russian Version of the Second World War by Graham Lyons http://www.amazon.com/Russian-Version-Second-World-Schoolchildren/dp/0871961369/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200763192&sr=8-1

I started hsing my oldest with SL Basic K (now called Core C) when she was 4.5yo. This is my 11th year to hs. Since my youngest is in 4th grade, I have 8 more years to go after this one.

I haven't used any of the programs you mention in your post. The only programs I've used that meet your criteria are Headsprout and Funnix. Headsprout has a 50% off special going on right now and that's a great deal. http://www.headsprout.com/cards/holidaypromotioncfa.html in case you're interested, here's the review I wrote of Headsprout: http://www.thehomeschoollibrary.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1016 and a review that I wrote of Funnix: http://www.thehomeschoollibrary.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1024

I have never used TOG because it looked too difficult to secularize. I have been using SL for 10 years now and haven't had too much difficulty with using it secularly. The SonlightSecular email loop on yahoogroups is a huge help to anybody wanting to use SL in a secular manner.