Welcome back to my annual homeschool curriculum series here at Mama’s Learning Corner! Each year, I share our curriculum choices for each grade level I am teaching.
In this post, I will share our chosen curriculum for my 8th grade daughter.
My extroverted 13-year-old is full of charm and sass and is just a joy to be around. While school is definitely not her favorite thing in life, she tolerates it and I have seen much improvement in her maturity to complete assignments this school year.
Whew. Relief. I need little glimmers of hope here and there!
I teach my children a classical education, so you will see that many of our homeschool curriculum choices reflect that type of learning. I found classical education years ago, and haven’t looked back!
Read more: How I Educate Myself as a Classical Homeschool Mom
Let’s see what is planned for 8th grade! I’m really excited for her year!
Browse through all of the homeschool curriculum posts here at Mama’s Learning Corner.
Mama’s Learning Corner uses affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Aside from my affiliate links, I’m not presently affiliated with Memoria Press, BJU, or any other curriculum provider in any way. I’m just a very grateful and satisfied homeschool mama!
8th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices on You Tube
If you would rather watch the video about our 8th grade homeschool, you can watch that video here:
You can subscribe to my You Tube channel to see all of my latest videos as soon as I publish them.
8th Grade Latin
My 8th grade girl will take Third Form Latin again this year. I taught her this same class with this same curriculum last year in 7th grade, however, there was not much mastery despite my best efforts. I have learned the hard way (many times over!) that you cannot force a child to learn something, even if you give 100% of yourself as a homeschool teacher. They have to want to learn something.
This year, we are trying something different. My current 8th grader will watch the Third Form Latin class that my older girl took with Memoria Press Online Academy from a previous year. She will take the teaching portion from the online class and do all of the workbook, recitation, grammar questions, and tests with me.
While I am still doing a lot of Latin with her each day, the actual teaching portion is off of my plate this year.
I think this change of instructor will be great for both of us. We shall see!
8th Grade Math
I have been quite conflicted in choosing math for this year in regard to my older girls. There is only one of me and 5 children, many of whom still need explicit instructions in various subjects, with math being one of them.
I love BJU’s Pre-Algebra, as their math is so solid. I do not have time in my day, however, to teach math consistently to my 8th and 10th graders, so I am trying something brand new to us: Mr. D Math.
We have only used it for two weeks, and I don’t quite have a good enough feel for it yet to offer an opinion.
Interestingly, there is no textbook so you need to print all of their in-class papers and independent work. I am fine with the printing aspect, but I’m not sure what I think about the no-book situation as of yet.
Again – we shall see!
8th Grade Christian Studies
For 8th Grade Christian Studies, my daughter is working through the Book of the Ancient World Set. While this is not Bible Study per se, it is an excellent walk through the Ancient World in bite-sized steps.
I love this curriculum and am looking forward to going through it again with my middle girl! This is a “lighter” subject since the reading is only a few pages a week. That is welcomed by both of us this year. 😊
8th Grade English Grammar, Spelling, and Cursive
My 13 year old still needs much review and reinforcement in grammar and spelling, however, she only has so much writing stamina during the day. I have to carefully adjust her assignments that require writing so I don’t burn her out.
Years ago before I discovered Rod and Staff, we used Easy Grammar when my oldest boy was in 2nd or 3rd grade. I am going to try it again with my current 8th grader. So far, I like the effort that she’s put into the quickie daily assignments, and I do hope that she can keep this enthusiasm.
The pages are predictable, so she knows what to expect each day.
✔ Easy Grammar 8th Grade Teacher’s Text – The publisher gives permission to print from the Teacher’s Book, but I opted to buy the Student Workbook to save me the trouble. It’s cheap, so I saw this as a time saver.
✔ Easy Grammar 8th Grade Student Workbook
✔ Easy Grammar 8th Grade Student Test Booklet – There is one assessment (i.e. test) after every 10 daily lessons.
Even though we have used Spelling Workout for years, I have never been happy with the cursive writing of the word lists. I find them incredibly hard to read. I think I have found a solution to this problem, so stay tuned and I’ll share it after I trial it for another few weeks!
In the meantime, my 8th Grader will work on Spelling Workout H this year. I do think that the spelling lists are well put together and most of the activities are very valuable.
My daughter loves cursive and eases into her school day using Pentime Cursive every morning. She’s finishing up the 7th grade book and will start Pentime Cursive Grade 8 in just a few weeks. It is just perfect for her!
8th Grade Literature
For 8th grade, my daughter and I are using Memoria Press’ 8th Grade Literature Curriculum. I just love this year’s selections! It starts with Treasure Island which is easily in my top three favorites for classic fiction. I am tickled to read through it again with my girl.
In addition to Treasure Island, we will read Wind in the Willows, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and most of Poetry & Short Stories: American Literature.
She reads the text and completes the comprehension questions. We have class a few days a week to go over the questions together and discuss the story.
8th Grade Composition
My daughter took her first online class last year in Composition and we saw amazing results. I could hardly believe her diligence and especially her enjoyment with the class. I was thrilled!
This year, we will continue her online class where she will take Classical Composition: Chreia/Maxim in the Memoria Press Online Academy.
8th Grade Classical Studies
8th grade is a huge year in our house with Classical Studies, as it is the year we read The Iliad and The Odyssey. The first portion of the year includes the Book of the Ancient Greeks set, with the Homer epics starting right after Christmas Break.
I usually use the Memoria Press Lesson Plans, however, I know that my 8th grader will need a slower pace through the Homer epics, so I am going to condense the Book of the Ancient Greeks a bit and start The Iliad a few weeks sooner.
What a joy to be able to read these Great Books again with another one of my children. One of the many blessings of having many children!
✔ Book of the Ancient Greeks Set – includes text, Teacher’s Manual, Student Workbook
✔ The Iliad Set – includes text, Teacher’s Manual, Student Workbook, and DVDs or Streaming of the lectures
✔ The Odyssey Set – includes text, Teacher’s Manual, Student Workbook, and DVDs or Streaming of the lectures
8th Grade Science
I am thrilled to pieces that I can combine my 6th grader and 8th grader this year for science. We only have two weeks of school under our belts so far, but I can already tell that this is going to work incredibly well!
Both girls are using the John Tiner science books plus the study guides from Memoria Press. I divided the science year into trimesters:
1st Trimester: Exploring the World of Astronomy Set
2nd Trimester: Exploring the World of Chemistry Set
3rd Trimester: Exploring Planet Earth Set or Exploring the World of Physics
*I am undecided on the last Tiner book. We will use one of the two listed and I’ll see how the year goes before making that decision.
8th Grade Lesson Plans
Most of my 8th grader’s classes are using Memoria Press materials. For those classes, I mostly use the lesson plans contained in the 8th Grade Curriculum Manual. If her particular classes aren’t listed there, I purchase the Individual Lesson Plans which range from $2-$8. Occasionally, “heavier” lesson plans will be in the $10-12 range, so just be aware of the price difference.
Having the classes paced and already assigned for me is an enormous help.
Are you teaching 8th grade this year? What are your middle schoolers studying? Please leave a note in the comments. I’d love to read what is going on in your homeschool this year! 
Here’s a quickie list of our 8th Grade Curriculum Choices for this year:
→ Lesson Plans: Memoria Press 8th Grade Curriculum Manual and Individual Lesson Plans
→ Latin: Third Form Latin
→ Math: Mr. D Math – Pre-Algebra
→ Christian Studies: Book of the Ancient World Set
→ English Grammar: Easy Grammar 8th Grade Teacher’s Text, Student Workbook, Student Test Booklet
→ Spelling: Spelling Workout H
→ Cursive: Pentime Cursive Grade 7 and Pentime Cursive Grade 8
→ Literature: Memoria Press 8th Grade Literature
→ Composition: Classical Composition III: Chreia/Maxim with Memoria Press Online Academy
→ Classical Studies: Book of Ancient Greeks Set, The Iliad Set, The Odyssey Set
→ Science: Exploring the World of Astronomy (1st Trimester), Exploring the World of Chemistry (2nd Trimester), Exploring Planet Earth or Exploring the World of Physics (3rd Trimester)
Printable Rhyming Mats with CVC Words
Leave a Reply