Welcome back to my annual Homeschool Curriculum posts! Today I am sharing my 8th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices for the 2024-2025 school year. If you are looking for Classical Education ideas for your homeschool, this will be a great post for you!
My fourth child (third girl and a joy to my heart) is an 8th grader this year, and this is the third time I have taught 8th grade. So this will be fun and familiar for me, thankfully!
It’s always nice when I have already read the books and materials in years past, and only need to review heavily. That helps save my brain power and time for those subjects I have not previously taught.
For the bulk of her studies, we are using BJU primarily for math and science, and Memoria Press for all other subjects.
Note: In years past, I was able to record videos for each of my child’s studies. Unfortunately, my time seems to get tighter and tighter as the years go on and I’m just not able to do that this year. I’m so sorry! I know that was a favorite there for awhile.
I teach my children a classical education, so you will see that my choices match that method of learning. I didn’t receive a classical education myself, so it has been a lot of self-education on my part. But it can be done!
➡️ Read more: How I Educate Myself as a Classical Homeschool Mom
➡️ 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 Pre-Algebra
My 8th grade girl’s least favorite subject is math, so I will start there to “get it over with” as she would say. My daughter is more of the creative sort, so math and science have never been her favorite.
It took me years to finally settle on BJU’s Pre-Algebra, after trying a variety of other options. This is the only level of BJU math with which I am not familiar, however, it is structured in their updated style that I have used in the 6th and 7th grade years.
There is no doubt that BJU math is quite intensive for the homeschool mom, but I have seen much fruit, so we press on!
She and I have class every day where I teach her the new material.
✔️ BJU Pre-Algebra Set – Includes Teacher’s Guides, Student Text, Activities Book, Activities Answer Key, Quizzes & Tests and Answer Key
8th Grade Latin
In my many years of homeschooling, I have found Third Form Latin to be the turning point in Latin studies in my home. Things are moving along swimmingly, and then we get to Third Form, and it gets quite a bit more challenging.
Like I did with my #3 child, I am going to repeat Third Form Latin again with my 8th grader. There was not the level of retention needed to move on, so we are going to go back and repeat.
While that seems like a step backwards, I have found that mastery is essential in Latin.
Last year, I taught her the lesson each week, which went well. What went poorly was the follow-up with the workbook work and recitation throughout the week.
This year, we are going to try the Third Form Latin Streaming Videos from Memoria Press. While I haven’t previewed any of the videos yet, I see that there is a Lesson video and then there is a video regarding the daily workbook work.
That was a nice surprise, so I look forward to diving into that more deeply. While I can teach her the Latin and do recitation with her and review the work, there isn’t always time in my day to do that. I wish there was, but the reality and practicality of teaching 4 children – two of whom are in high school – are very challenging.
My choice is to do most subjects with them, but there are only so many hours in the day.
✔️ Third Form Latin Basic Set – Includes Teacher’s Guide, Student Workbook, Student Text, Quizzes & Tests with Answer Key
✔️ Third Form Latin Streaming Videos – Includes Lifetime Membership
8th Grade Christian Studies
In 8th grade, my children read through Dorothy Mills’ Book of the Ancient World. While this is not true Bible Study, it is certainly helpful in understanding the peoples of Bible times: the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Hebrews, and others.
This book is a bit lighter and the reading is only a few pages, which is quite welcome since she will be reading through the The Iliad and The Odyssey this year. Those are not light reads for an 8th grade student.
✔️ The Book of the Ancient World Set – Teacher’s Guide, Student Text, and Student Workbook
8th Grade Composition and English Grammar
All of my children have used Classical Composition from Memoria Press. My oldest two children have completed all of the levels and are magnificent writers. I learned early on that this was a subject I needed to outsource, and I am so glad that I did!
My daughter will be in Classical Composition IV Refutation/Confirmation this year and will take that through Memoria Academy. Their writing classes are excellent, and my daughter is especially excited to take this class under Dr. Dray. He is a favorite teacher in our home!
I will continue to pull lessons from Rod and Staff English Grammar 7 as they correlate with our Latin for the week. I have found from 7th grade and up, that it’s easier to piece together the English Grammar and Latin Grammar. We usually do 1-3 lessons per week.
✔️ Classical Composition IV: Refutation/Confirmation – Includes Teachers’ Guide, Student Workbook, and Streaming Video Instruction
✔️ Rod and Staff English Grammar Grade 7
8th Grade Classical Studies
Because we have a Classical Homeschool, we always have Classical Studies as a subject. The 8th grade year in our home is always pivotal since it’s heavy on the Greeks.
This year, my daughter will study Dorothy Mills’ The Book of the Ancient Greeks during the first third of the year. The last section of the year is spent reading and studying through The Iliad and The Odyssey.
I am so excited to read through these Great Books again, as I particularly enjoy The Iliad. Yes, these are intense books to study, but what a worthy endeavor!
I have the Streaming Instructional Videos for both The Iliad and The Odyssey, but I am unsure if I will use those as of yet. I need to see what the timing of our days looks like in reality before I decide that.
✔️ 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 Literature
I have a few favorite years of literature and 8th grade is at the top of that list! We are using Memoria Press’ 8th Grade Literature Curriculum again this year. We are using the “old” version of this package, not the newer version with different reading selections.
Don’t throw tomatoes, but we are just not fans of The Wind and the Willows, which is scheduled in this package. This year, I am switching it out for Little Women.
I am so tickled to read through Treasure Island again this year, which is one of my favorites. That text starts our year off, and then we will read through Tom Sawyer, Little Women, and Poetry and Short Stories for the Logic Stage.
The last text is centered on American authors, so that will be fun to read Longfellow and Robert Frost again.
I am looking so forward to this year with famous American authors!
✔️ Memoria Press 8th Grade Literature Set with Novels
✔️ Little Women Set – Teacher’s Guide, Student Guide, text
8th Grade Science
We are going to give BJU Earth Science a try this year. I generally use the Tiner books for middle school science, but my 8th grade girl has studied most of those in the past.
We are going to do a lighter version of Earth Science this year. BJU subjects are always top-notch in that they provide plenty of content and are extremely thorough.
However, not every subject can be “hard” and as I already shared, math and science do not come easily to this particular child. Because of that, I need to brainstorm a bit on how I can make this subject lighter for her.
She is interested in the topic, so that is already a step in the right direction!
✔️ BJU Earth Science Set – Includes Teacher’s Guides, Student Text, Activities Book, Activities Answer Key, Quizzes & Tests and Answer Key
8th Grade Lesson Plans
For the Memoria Press classes I am teaching, I find the Memoria Press 8th Grade Curriculum Plans to be very helpful with pacing.
If her particular classes aren’t listed in the Curriculum Manual, I just buy the Individual Lesson Plans, which range anywhere from $2 to $8. The more intensive, year-long classes are priced at $10-12.
For the BJU subjects of science and math, I use the Lesson Plan section in the front of each Teacher’s Guide as help for the day-to-day pacing.
With both publishers, I find that it’s a bit too much for my children to accomplish each day with their load of studies, so I do modify a bit.
Having a skeleton of daily work is tremendously helpful to me!
✔️ Memoria Press’ 8th Grade Curriculum Guide
✔️ Memoria Press’ Individual Lesson Plans
What are you studying with your 8th Grader this homeschool year? Please leave a comment, as I love to read what other families are studying!
8th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Quick Look:
→ Lesson Plans: Memoria Press 8th Grade Curriculum Manual and Individual Lesson Plans; plus BJU Lesson Plans in the beginning of each Teacher’s Guide
→ Latin: Third Form Latin with Streaming Video Instruction plus Rod & Staff English Grammar Grade 7
→ Math: BJU Pre-Algebra Set
→ Christian Studies: Book of the Ancient World Set
→ Literature: Memoria Press 8th Grade Literature, substituting Little Women
→ Composition: Classical Composition IV: Refutation and Confirmation with Memoria Academy
→ Classical Studies: Book of Ancient Greeks Set, The Iliad Set, The Odyssey Set
→ Science: BJU Earth Science Set
July Word Search Packet
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