Well Saxon and Singapore are pretty much opposites. My opinion is that people pair Singapore with Miquon because they're both just so wonderful, lol, and they complement each other. I do recommend Miquon no matter what you choose. It isn't so much a back up, or needed, it is an extension. I personally bought the Lab Sheet Annotations and won't be buying the workbooks. I plan to do our work on the blackboard, but that's just me. The Lab Sheets has mini versions of EVERY single workbook page in ALL of the levels. And because it isn't tough enough deciding between the three, you might want to look at
MEP Math, its free. I'm definitely using it next year, along with the Singapore and Miquon I have, The year after that I'll probably be using the MEP as my main program. I downloaded all of the lesson plans to look at from my computer, but didn't print them, because I don't mind reading on my screen. I was actually curious how much one cartridge of ink could print out so that I could figure the cost. For two students I printed off 1 1/2 years worth of student practice book pages and multiple sets of the number cards on cardstock, as well as number lines. My printer was still printing darkly after that and I haven't had to replace the cartridge yet. I plan to use the blackboard instead of the blacklines, so I didn't print those either. The lesson plans present this as an option.
For Science I recommend you look at the other current thread about Science and Social Studies if you're looking for something secular. There's some good suggestions there.
As to how? Its just a lot of digging around, reading, and thinking for me, lol. And learning as I go. I look at samples alot. Asking for suggestions is a good a place as any to start.
