Frugal Homeschool Curriculum Choices for 8th Grade -

Summary:  Our homeschool middle school curriculum choices for 8th grade and a few for 7th grade, too.  (You don't have to go by a grade, btw)  #homeschoolmiddleschool#frugalhomeschoolcurriculum 

Note - This post may included affiliate links to products that we love and have used or would use in our  own homeschool. Please see my disclosure .

I have lots of great memories of homeschooling middle school. 

My daughter was in irish step dancing then, and really loved doing nature photography with me whenever we got the chance.  

She also started volunteering as a TA in a science class in our co-op then.  Volunteering was a great way for her to build up her confidence.



In 8th grade, we used a variety of resources. Here's our choices for curriculum for her that year.

Our 8th Grade Curriculum Choices 

Social Studies

We did Oak Meadow's US History course in 7th grade, then Civics course in 8th grade, and my daughter loved both. 

It explored government on the local, state and national level.  The writing assignments helped my young teen to develop her writing skills with a variety of exercises.  

English


We did both English 7 and then English 8 from Oak Meadow, focuses on reading 7 classic novels and writing about them.  I loved the questions for both comprehension and critical thinking in this course. It includes work in grammar and usage as well.    

Through this course, literature became something that my daughter looked forward to everyday.  I found the Teacher's Manual, which can be purchased from the Oak Meadow office, to be very helpful in teaching this course.

Science


We used Science 7 and Science 8, from the Rainbow Resource Center.  This frugal book included physical science, life science and earth and space science. 

I liked how it covered a wide variety of science concepts, and prepared her for 9th grade science study.  Specific activities, experiments and puzzles went along with each concept that was introduced.  

Then special interests were dived into whenever they came up.  

Math

For 7th Grade we did Teaching Textbooks, then in 8th we did Switched on Schoolhouse Pre-Algebra.  To learn more about Teaching Textbooks, click here, even though we are talking about using it in high school in that article.  It still gives you an introduction to Teaching Textbooks, which we liked for 7th. 

That covered Pre-Algebra topics with a multi-media approach.  The explanations were clear and helpful, and that is according to my daughter.  

It had the structured and depth that helped my daughter retain what she had learned.  I also liked that it was a self-graded course, a great time saver.  We also used their tutoring by the half-hour at times, when there was a problem.  

In November that year, we dropped our regular studies and joined in the fun at the National Novel Writing Month (NaNovWriMo). It is a time to join others who are working on creative writing that month.  

We used this book for middle school to help us get started.
It is described in this post on 3 Frugal Resources for Creative Writing.  This became a fun November break, that we continued into the high school years.  

And creative writing helped not only to build up my daughter's writing skills, it also taught her about the components of literature, plot, character, setting, etc.

What are your choices for curricula for 8th grade?  Please feel free to share in the comments, as I love to hear about new resources that you have discovered.

Betsy has been homeschooling for over 14 years.  Her daughter got into each of the colleges on her list, with scholarship offers, including a Tier One U.

She helps you homeschool your teen, and also makes the process of getting into college easy to understand.

Her book includes 12 high school planning printables, to make your record keeping easy.

This is recommended by: Lessa Scherrer, Certified College Counselor from College Inside Track

Amazon for  $11.99

"Betsy has a wealth of understanding and knowledge to share with the parents of college bound homeschoolers.  She provides support, encouragement and step-by-step advice on all aspects of the homeschool high school and college application process. This book is a must-read for parents considering homeschooling high school and for parents in the thick of the application process."

For more information, click here - Frugal College Prep for Homeschoolers or to buy it here - my book on Amazon for only $11.99.  

High School Planning Printables included will make your record keeping easier.

The high school planning forms include:

College Entrance Requirements Form

Overall High School Plan

Curriculum Planning Sheet

High School Credit Record Form

Transcript Form

Activities and Awards Form

Homemade Course Form

Writing the College Essay Form

Course Descriptions Record Keeping Form

Reference Letter Request Form

PE Record Form

For more information, click here - Frugal College Prep for Homeschoolers or to buy it here - my book on Amazon for only $11.99.  

And don't worry about forgetting things.

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now college grad, whom she homeschooled through high school.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, highschool, 
college, gifted/2e and wrote -Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd Edition,   She offers homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting,  and has had some of her articles picked up by the Huffington Post.

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This post is a part of the 8th Annual Back to Homeschool Blog Hop-Curriculum Week.  Check out all the other great posts from iHN veteran homeschoolers.

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now college junior, whom she homeschooled from day one.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, high school & college and wrote the book - Homeschooling High School with College in Mind.   She offers free homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting. 

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