2025-26 8th Grade Curriculum Picks!
2025-26 8th Grade Curriculum Picks!
It’s hard to believe my oldest is already starting up 8th grade, and that we’re only one year away from high school! But she is a delightful 13 year-old, and a very organized and conscientious student. She has been my guinea pig since we started this homeschooling journey 9 years ago in kindergarten, 10 years if we’re counting Pre-K! And let me just say as an encouragement to homeschool parents of spirited, strong-willed children - there is growth and progress and those traits can turn into tenacity and follow-through. I’ve seen this in my oldest daughter, and I am so glad I have been her teacher and cheerleader and mentor through the journey. It’s not over yet - we have most of her teen years still to go - but what a gift to spend this time discipling and coaching and learning alongside her.
At this point in her education, I have outsourced some of her core classes to a few different outside resources. With my 8th grader being the oldest in a family of 5 kids (soon to be 6 this fall!) I found it difficult to carve out the amount of time and attention I felt her age level deserved for subjects such as math, Spanish, and writing. And I also wanted her to have other peers to discuss her literature readings alongside. So for her 7th grade year, we enrolled her in Math 7 and Spanish at a well-established online school and it was such a great experience for her! She had wonderful teachers, connected with peers her age on some group projects, and learned how to manage deadlines for assignments, tests, and quizzes. These classes also gave her some experience in preparing and studying for tests, and learning how to work with standard grading procedures. (As a side-note, up until 7th grade I feel very happy for my students to work towards mastery in subjects such as math and spelling, but we don’t worry about or assign grades. I do not want that to be the focus or stress for them when they are younger - we focus on joy and curiosity in learning, on building strong work ethics, building a growth mindset, etc - but we don’t make formal grades a factor in elementary school. But at a certain age (for us 7th grade has felt right) I do want them to learn what’s required to work towards achieving the best grades of which they are capable. I know this philosophy varies from family to family, but that’s how I’ve come to think about the grading system for my students.)
With all that being said, here is the line-up for her 8th Grade Curriculum this Year:
Math: My daughter will be doing pre-algebra through her online school this year at Kolbe Academy. Her school uses Sadlier-Oxford Foundations of Algebra. The class meets for 70 minutes, 2 days per week. She can email her teacher with any questions, and can also attend office hours for additional questions. At this point I am fairly hands-off, although I will occasionally help with questions she may have.
Spanish: Last year my daughter took Spanish 1A through Kolby Academy and this year she’ll take Spanish 1B. The class moves pretty quickly, and she makes lots of flashcards! She also has the chance to practice speaking Spanish in class and in homework videos she makes. The class uses Holt McDougal Avancemos! Level 1 for its curriculum.
Writing and Literature: This will be her first year taking a writing and literature course with a teacher that takes on occasional small cohorts to work through the Excellence in Literature Program written by Janice Campbell. This teacher homeschooled all of her children, and taught this class to her own kids and many of her nieces and nephews. This year we were able to set up a new cohort with 4 of my daughter’s friends from our local co-op. They meet once per week on zoom, and will discuss all of their literature readings. The teacher also assigns weekly writing assignments, edits them, and provides feedback for them to submit final drafts. My daughter will have a pretty heavy reading load with this course, full of classic literature, and I am very excited to hear her thoughts on all of these works!
Science: For the past 7 years I have helped run a co-op that focuses on history, science, art and religion. I have been heavily involved in teaching history, and we have several teachers in the co-op that are more science-focused - which is wonderful! So my kids have all had their core science classes taught through co-op. Next year my 8th grader will take a “Mission to Mars” class that a dear friend of mine is teaching; she created her own course using the NASA's Mission to Mars Student challenge. Her background is in aerospace engineering and she will be teaching a semester-long workshop style course. I’m really excited for this class! For the second semester, we’ll be doing earth science at home using the Elemental Science curriculum.
Bible & Theology: This year, my 8th grader will be working independently through the Into the Deep Level Three Bible and Religion Curriculum. We’ve loved Into the Deep resources in the past, and I’m excited for my daughter to dive into this curriculum this year. She’ll work through two lessons/week, and we’ll have a conversation towards the end of the week about what she learned. This curriculum is beautiful and combines scripture, church teachings, poetry, art, prayer, and so many wonderful elements to help build up the Christian faith in young people. Level Three is geared towards 7th to 9th graders, and can be done independently or family-style.
History: This year our family will be studying Medieval History using Cedar Tree Schoolhouse resources I've created (Medieval curriculums forthcoming) , and my 8th grader will read several Medieval Literature works to coincide with our family history studies. (I’ll share more about our family history studies in a post on our family curriculum subjects.) Additionally, this spring I will be teaching a Medieval Literature class at our co-op for an 8th-10th grade class, and we’ll be working through Sir Gawain and The Green Night as well as several of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
Family Studies: I'll share in a later post all of the subjects and content we cover during our family's "Morning Basket" time - which often happens in the afternoon! But this is where we do prayer, Bible study, hymn, poetry, composer and artist studies, etc.
Ok, that wraps up the majority of my daughter’s core work for her 8th grade year. She’ll learn a lot, work really hard, and I hope have a lot of fun in the mix!
Let me know if you have any questions or thoughts in the comments.