I know many of you won't remember me. I have been around the world with curriculum and now back to HOD. Truth is, I have wanted to leave textbooks (at least some) and the only one I can feel "safe" enough to use is HOD.
What time I've spent with Sonlight has burned me out and I don't feel very accountable with SL. Anyway, long story, let's move on to helping me choose. I have looked at the placement chart carefully. DS is almost 10 (19th of this month) and he has used mainly 3rd grade material this year. His math is what gives him the most trouble!
We are using MUS and it seems to work very well for him for now. However, he has worked in the Abeka Lang. 3 book and has some of it to finish. That has gone pretty well. He does o.k. with spelling, but needs to practice some of the spelling rules a little more. We are still working on cursive, he still writes his letters rather large, but legible. He has read lots of books this year like: A Question of Yams (BJU book), Riding the Pony Express, The Secret Valley, many of the SL language arts 2 intermediate books. He has read lots more, but mainly around 3-4th grade level types. Non-fiction is his main issue. Believe it or not, he does not care for anything like The Littles 
He is really into science and wants those kinds of books to read. I try to use those, but also want him to branch out, Kwim?History, has been a mix of some of Abeka history 3 and some of the Sonlight core 1&2 books. He loves the ancients and that puts me in a spot for choosing!
I feel like he fits somewhere in between Bigger and Preparing. I'm leaning toward Bigger with maybe pulling in some of the extensions. I don't think BJU English 3 would be a problem at all. The diagramming will take some time, but he usually does rather well with English. However, with his interest in ancients and etc. preparing might be an option???
So, what would you pick??? Also, he is on the hyper side of life. 
A wiggly little boy, but dad says he's just "all boy". He's more like the "class clown" type, so go figure. Anxious to hear from you all!
momofone
Just wanted to say hi and also agree with Bigger as the best placement for your ds, based on what you shared. He will get a great foundation in CM skills and a fun year. I'm also "back"-a few years ago I stopped Bigger about 13 weeks short of the end due to "life" and put my younger girls in ps. Last year I brought my youngest back home mid-year and did Preparing, and this year I brought home my just-turned-13-year-old mid-year and we are finishing the left-over weeks of Bigger wiht Extensions. It seemed like I needed to go back that far for some reconnecting and refreshing for my 13-year-old. She was not happy to leave ps, but I saw some negative influence. Doing the last half of Bigger with her has reminded her that learning can be fun, and that mom is a pretty good teacher 
She has been blossoming since being back home.
LOL, in all my years of homeschooling, HOD is THE only curriculum that any of my kids have wanted to KEEP