When I studied Latin in school in England, we used Cambridge (from age 12) but also had extra grammar instruction. Here in the US, I've taught both in school and homeschool situations. Currently my 5th grader does First Form Latin, which seems to appeal to her logical mind, but I don't see why you couldn't blend both as long as you decided on one pronunciation system. Or how about spicing up the MP grammar-based books with their Lingua Angelica (Latin song) translation program?

I would concur with the post above - if your child understands the topics, move on. Yes, Saxon works in increments, but those are small, and are reviewed in subsequent books. We completely skipped Saxon 6/5 because I felt it wasn't really teaching my daughter anything new, and began with 7/6 this year for 5th grade. To take the longer view, you basically learn arithmetic for your first few years, and then repeat it ad nauseam (for bright math students) until the books let you start algebra. There's no reason to hold back a student who understands the material (says my Math professor husband).

My husband is a mathematician, and he recommends letting your son teach himself as long as he's happy and is understanding the concepts. Our elder daughter had a 'prep' year at home for 10th grade and took herself through 3 Saxon math books with minimal help from Dad (she's in a school for math and science now). My 5th grade daughter is working through Saxon 7/6 at her own pace- her dad or I just check her work each day. I know they have math genes, but if your son is successfully working ahead of his grade already, there's no need to push him unless you're aiming for Harvard by 4th grade ;)

Last year (4th grade), my daughter worked through the Memoria Press book mostly by herself. I wouldn't label it as "fun" myself, but she liked it (note: it does cross reference D'Aulaire's Greek mythology book so you'd need that or something similar to complete all the assignments). Real Science 4 Kids has a Middle Grade astronomy course, but I haven't used it so can't comment on it. We also attended programs at our local observatory and she chose to make a huge model of the solar system inside a furniture box (she had lots of fun with spray paint!).

I can't give you the hindsight of experience, but I am planning to do Horatius with my 5th-grade daughter next year as part of the ancient history cycle. Based on our experience with MP guides this year, I'll probably not use all the comprehension questions - they made the pace too slow for my fast reader. We'll have a go at memorizing as much as possible (and I'll offer a special prize if she makes it!).

These posts really helped me add to my list as well! I'd like to add that my elder daughter really enjoyed Lawrence's Roman Mystery series. Each focuses on an aspect of Roman life, so even they are 'popcorn' reading, your child is still absorbing facts. Both my girls are addicted to the Horrible Histories series by Terry Deary (not fiction, but fun) - we pick them up cheaply when we're home in the UK, so I don't know how available they are here.

Last year (our first homeschooling), I used SOTW and just tried to get library books ahead of time. For this coming year (5th grade) I found a great supplement to the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia: The Incredible Ancient History Book Box. It contains 8, 64-page books on major ancient civilizations, with 15 projects in each book. When we get to the appropriate places in the encyclopedia, I'm planning to stop and let my daughter work as long as she wishes with the books. They're British, and cost about $20 here, which I thought was well worth it to avoid research woes (we have a very small library). http://www.amazon.co...K/dp/1843228009