8th Grade Home Schooling

Transitioning from 7th into 8th grade home schooling does not have to be difficult...when you have the right tools. You can have confidence, too, in knowing that your 8th grader will be ready for high school!

I always tried to keep our homeschool curriculums simple, yet effective. Remember, I was mentored by Ruth Beechick using her books, The 3R Series and You Can Teach Your Child Successfully. They are a must for laying down the foundations of an excellent education.

Because reading is so important, I continue to read aloud each day. Yes, even to my high schoolers. They grab a hobby or game they can do while listening and we sit down to read. It's our DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read).

Our 8th Grade
Home School Curriculum

• Math

  In eighth grade we used Mathematics for Everyday Living , a set of nine books that introduces kids to many subjects including statistics, savings, mortgage, taxes, and investment. The books explain things in a way that is easy to understand and also shows step by step how they come up with their answers. These books will give your children all of the practical math know-how that they will need when they get older.

  By this time your middle school student should have their math facts down. This is when we stopped doing Flash Cards. I kinda miss that now.

• Reading/Social Studies

  I don't know about you, but I hated history. I believe those dull boring textbooks were partly to blame for my not wanting to read. Sonlight teaches social studies using literature. Stories let history come alive making it much easier to remember. This was the year we covered US History. If you choose not to use their complete program, get their catalog and at least have your children read the books. You can order most of them from your local library.

• Writing

  Because we like the Learning Language Arts Through Literature books, we continued with the Green Book for 8th grade. Home schooling middle school (or any grade for that matter!) has its advantages, you can pick and choose your favorites. Annette especially liked the Green Book because it was fun! She enjoyed the Book Study selections, the Enrichment Activities, and their "cool" spelling tips that really worked! She learned her parts of speech well by diagramming sentences one little step at a time. The program was sprinkled with dictation, making it a great program.

  Emily taught Winston Grammar to Annette and Garrett when she was in 8th Grade. It is amazing what you learn when you have to teach. Try having one of your older children teach the younger ones something, anything will do! It's a win-win!

• Science and Health

  Our school room has four book shelves packed with books. We accumulated them from library sales, book sales, garage sales, you name it. The children have ample resources to learn science, but the Usborne and Southwestern books continue to be our favorite science books for middle school and under.

• The Extra Stuff

  Here is a list of some of our favorites:

  Building Thinking Skills
  

  Draw Today
  

  Wordly Wise
  

  English From The Roots Up

This 8th grade home schooling program worked well for us. I trust you will glean something from our experience. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

For information on our other homeschool curriculums click below:

6th Grade
7th Grade
High School


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