When I first read your post my first thought was, "this kids probably not into the arts...". I love the whole great books idea too but that is not my dd's natural bent. She is math and science all the way. So, while I do want her to be well read and familiar with great books, it's sort of a waste of her time to sit around debating the merits of The Great Gatsby when she would rather be pouring over science journals and turning my kitchen into a lab.:001_smile:
My degree is in biochemistry so I completely understand.... I love to read but have no desire to analyze every piece of literature I come across. Yes, there is merit to being able to do a character analysis, but that isn't my focus on learning for my dd (our son, OTOH is the polar opposite...) IMHO, math and science need to be textbooky. That's what my dd wants to major in and it is what's going to give her a firm foundation to prepare her well for college.
Please, no judgement here.:D I know some families use living books to teach science, etc. I just don't think the textbook approach is all that bad, and may even be preferrable depending on your dc.
Maybe a textbook based curriculum would be just the thing to get him excited about school again.