I have never used a boxed curriculum for my 10 year old, but I did buy all of the What Your X Grader Needs to Know books and we used to read through parts of those books, but my son preferred reading through history and science encyclopedias that had pictures to look at and more interesting information. For history this year we are reading Story of the World, which he picked out at the book store, even though I thought it would be at too low a level for him. He likes it for bed time reading. We read Book 2 and we will soon finish the 3rd book. He also watches a lot of shows on the History Channel and he plays a lot of computer games that involve history and multiplayer online games where he can make his own alternate history.
For science, I have the book "Science: If You're Trying to Get Better Grades and Higher Test Scores You've Gotta Have This Book" and I like it because it has basic science vocabulary and info presented in a way that is easy to remember and it is easy for me to make up questions over the material. We do this in addition to watching a lot of science shows. We usually see something interesting on the science channel that we want to learn more about and then read about it. He also uses Wikipedia a lot.
For math we used Aleks for a while, but we have had a lot of trouble with our internet for the last couple of months and it is very, very slow, so we are using a Spectrum math book and also The 10 Things All Future Mathematicians and Scientists Must Know but are Rarely Taught and If You're Trying to Get Better Grades and Higher Test Scores You've Gotta Have This Book for math.
We read National Geographic Magazine and use a globe and map puzzles for geography.
He does more reading online than anything else, but he is getting enough practice reading that he is able to read and answer an average of 6 out of 10 questions on reading sections of an ACT prep book and I think he would do even better if he had more practice taking tests. I usually read to him in the evening, usually a classic book of some kind, the Story of the World, or a science history book, or National Geographic, whatever he wants me to read.
We will probably use The Chortling Bard Caught'ya Grammar with a Giggle for High School and look for good grammar sites for online practice.
