We also liked the K12 books. It's a fabulous follow up for middle grades. 👍 I'm at this place with my 6th grader this year too. He's the youngest and has completed a full world survey and a year of US history. I'd originally assumed it would be a fabulous year for random rabbit trail unit studies, but he wants to dive into prehistory and evolution, and really pushed for a Star Wars unit study. 😄 Star Wars was actually pretty easy to make educational and prehistory is his history this year. He'll most likely use Build Your Library level 7 for 7th, which is world geography. And then level 8, history of science, for 8th grade. World history will come around again in high school. 🙂

Updating this now that we're on the ground running. 🙂 This is built with my particular 6th grader in mind. He's a strong reader with a big interest. It's looking like we'll probably spend the whole year here instead of half as decided in the spring. Spines -A Really Short History of Nearly Everything (Bryson) - covers the astronomy/earth portion -Prehistoric Life (DK encyclopedia) -Dinosaur! (DK encyclopedia) Those two could be replaced with Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life by DK, but I think we're getting more variety with the separate volumes. -Evolution: The Human Story (DK) Non-fiction books -On the Origin of the Species (graphic novel or young reader version) -Charles Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selection (graphic novel) -Sapiens: A Graphic History, volumes 1 and 2 (graphic novel) -Consider the Platypus* -Your Inner Fish* -The Third Chimpanzee for Young People* -Story of Life in 25 Fossils* -The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of Their Lost World* -Life: The First Four Billion Years -Dinosaurs to Dodos (though he almost devoured it fresh off the Amazon truck) -The Skull in the Rock: How a Scientist, a Boy, and Google Earth Opened a New Window on Human Origins (The Story of Earth by Hazen* was considered but dropped. Maybe when he's older.) Titles with an asterisk are higher reading level. They'll be read aloud or just spread out in smaller bites. Readers (some tossed in his lit and some tossed on his bed) -Maroo of the Winter Caves -Trapped in Gondwana -A Bone From Dry Sea -Raptor Red -Evolution of Calpurnia Tate -Edge of Extinction series -Dinotopia series -Earth Before Us series Documentaries -Eons (PBS) -Galapagos (BBC) -Your Inner FIsh (HHMI) -Your Inner Reptile (HHMI) -Your Inner Monkey (HHMI) (and more from HHMI, including one on A.R. Wallace) -Dogs Decoded (NOVA) -Ape Genius (NOVA) -When Whales Walked (PBS) -History of the World in Two Hours -Cracking the Code of Life (NOVA) -Darwin's Darkest Hour (movie rather than documentary) -What Darwin Never Knew (NOVA) Other -membership to the natural history museum -fossil digs, local sites, etc -Darwin and Evolution unit study from Build Your Library, but really only using some of the links and the timeline pages. It would be better for a more casual interest. I can't return it so we'll make the best of it.

Fwiw, as the OP specified secular, Memoria Press and Tiner books aren't secular, and Bookshark is neutral rather than secular. 🙂

My youngest read a pile of Scientist in the Field books (easily 18 of them) and a handful of other books for zoology last year (5th grade). 🙂 Right now he's plowing through the earth science books in Build Your Library level 7. (Book lists are in the listings at buildyourlibrary.com.) For 6th we'll be reading piles of books on evolution, prehistory, and astronomy. And some random Star Wars connections. 😄

I have two good Zoology textbooks. One we used bits and pieces of for a middle grades zoology year, and the other is waiting for the animal whisperer to grow into high school. I bought them both used and inexpensive. The one just called Zoology by Miller seems pretty standard high school level. This is the one we actually used parts of. Integrated Principles of Zoology by Hickman is more dense and challenging. I'd say upper level high school. For hands on I'd rely on local zoos, Audubon Society, herpetological center, etc.

One Year Adventure Novel walks through the planning stages and has print outs for chapter and character plans. This is a full curriculum and not secular. My graduates that used it earned an elective credit. I've heard good things about these books, but have no experience with them. Adventures in Fantasy: Lessons and Activities in Narrative and Descriptive Writing, Grades 5-9 https://a.co/d/9ZYW4Zh Seize the Story: A Handbook for Teens Who Like to Write https://a.co/d/3BkWcbr

I don't remember the Wordsmith line ever having a creative writing book. The Creative Writer from WTM perhaps?

He did that writing book, random writing assignments in his government and economics courses, and a diy lit course. I called it English 12 and awarded one credit.

I don't remember which version off the top of my head but it did have the readings. I went through it ahead of time and wrote out a schedule for the whole book before handing it to him. Entries would have looked like, "Read pages x-y; do writing project z on page y." I checked and discussed his work with him. He didn't really seem to need much for extra assignments. Honestly I don't remember how long we would have spent on it. The world was shut down that year and it all blurs together now. 😄 It's definitely on my "use for every kid" list. 🙂

Lively Art and Elegant Essay are more 8th/9th. I wouldn't use them with a senior. My 18yo was/is the classic "why write five paragraphs when I can sum it up in five syllables" type of kid. Writing was probably his least favorite part of schooling ever. Somehow he did internalize enough to do really well in his first year of education outside our home. 🤷‍♀️😄 All that to say, he honestly enjoyed working through They Say I Say: The Moves That Matter his senior year. It was a recommendation from SWB at one point (it's been awhile and I don't know if it still is). He really connected with that book and did well. 🙂

They're good. You could easily use them as a spine and build a course around them. I like the science and history ones better than the Usborne encyclopedias. My 11yo is using the middle school math workbook from this line for light summer math. It's been fabulous for our purposes but it wouldn't do at all for a core curriculum. Fwiw my 18yo was like this with flight/airplane books. "But this one has ThisPlane and ThatPlane that the others don't have!" Or, "This one has amazing line drawings!" Even though he's long outgrown wanting to be a pilot, he still has all of those books and considers them treasures. He and the books were worth it. No regrets. 🙂

We (rather loosely) used a basic public school text I found at a local used book store. We'd already covered more than 80% by that point, but it ticked the necessary box.

Sounds like what you've been doing is working well. 🙂 What's he interested in?

One of my graduates liked Writing With a Thesis by Skwire around that grade. 🙂

The DVDs for Art of Argument are optional. The books were out for years before those existed. If you really need to cut costs you could get away with just the teacher book and read aloud together, but it's more ideal to have the student workbook and the teacher book.

1) Art of Argument fits that description. Mine used it around 6th-8th grade, depending on the kid and their workload that year. Spread throughout a year it's totally doable for an average 6th grader. To go even lighter I'd check out thethinkingshop.org, and just cover one a week through discussion. If you meant challenging, puzzle type logic, maybe book two of Reasoning and Reading. 2) I'll add one more vote for Figuratively Speaking. It's simple to use, effective, and fabulous. 3) I've got nothing, but my rising 6th would like to dabble here too. 🙃

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That's not something I'd attempt. Plenty of kids don't finish this series until high school. My last WWS user didn't start level 1 until 7th grade and it was a great fit for them. I'd start with level 1 and just take it at that kid's speed.

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Build Your Library level 8 is my hands down favorite. It's a literature based history of science year, so it's more of a general science course, though it leans heavier on physical science.

Redwoods by itself is a quick survey compared to the Lial text. Lial is much more thorough. If I recall correctly Redwoods was made for small schools where more teaching would happen. They're both mostly recaps of arithmetic with some negatives and equations tossed in. Fwiw, Lial's prealgebra book also recaps arithmetic, but is much stronger than both those options on negatives, exponents, order of operations, etc. To get Lial less expensive, get older versions. The math is the same, maybe just in a slightly different order. I only ordered the solutions manual rather than the tm. Just make sure the covers match.

Anyone have a beginning drawing book they like for high school? My teen is specifically asking for an intro course that teaches basic skills. They are quite firmly NOT interested in online classes, topical step by step books, or "just YouTube it." They do enjoy manga/anime style art, but that's not a requirement. We're considering Oak Meadow's Drawing and Design, but it looks like so much more than what we're looking for. A half credit course would be fine. ETA: rising 9th grader

Writing was our missing subject upthread. I *think we're going to go with Winning With Writing. I'll order one for a closer look if I can decide on placement. 🙃 He'll need to go back a grade or two. (dysgraphia) When he needs a break from his main writing book, which he will, we'll use the Killgallon books. The plan is to have him do grammar and writing concurrently this year, instead of staggering them as we have been. It'll increase his pencil to paper volume. If I'm wrong and he's just not ready we'll go back to staggering another year.

I used AG with one of my graduates so it's been ages, and I no longer have a copy to refresh my memory. I've only glanced through GftWTM, as my youngest will use it this fall. The biggest difference right away is GftWTM uses sentences from literature in the exercises. My kiddo is an expert pattern finder and this would make him master the concept instead of gaming the lesson. 😄 The exercise sentences in AG feel more pre-chewed, crafted just for that grammar concept. It was very effective and got the job done well though. AG also has an optional video component.

My 11yo boy's top mention this year was The Louisiana Girls Trilogy by Jewell Parker Rhodes. Ninth Ward, Sugar, and Bayou Magic 🙂