Another year is in the books which means it is time for another homeschool update… Check out my End of Year 8th Grade Curriculum Review | 2018-2019 to see what did and didn’t work for us!
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8th Grade Curriculum Overview
History-
- Horrible Histories
- Horrible Geography
- Everything You Need to Ace World History in One Big Fat Notebook
- Everything You Need to Ace American History in One Big Fat Notebook
Language Arts & Literature 8-
- Writing With Skill Level 1
- Wordly Wise 3000 Book 8
- Homemade Booklist
- Everything You Need to Ace English Language Arts in One Big Fat Notebook
Math-
- Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra
Science-
- Focus on Middle School Astronomy
- Focus on Middle School Geology
- Everything You Need to Ace Science in One Big Fat Notebook
History
I combined Julia and Jack for our history and geography lessons this year. This is from a purely selfish position on my part because it meant half the cost and work for me if I combined my two littles together. Cost and work aside– I am really glad I did this. Julia and Jack really enjoyed working together. I think it takes some of the pressure off if you have someone else who can answer questions once in awhile. We started the year off with Horrible Histories. Terry Deary did a fantastic job bringing a little humor into our history lessons. Both of my kiddos couldn’t help laughing while listening to me read. I loved that the books not only include mini quizzes throughout the chapters, but also a final quiz! If you think you’re children are not learning by simply listening to you read try one of these quizzes out… You will be pleasantly surprised just how much they take away from these books!
After we completed this set of books, we moved on to Horrible Geography. These books are packed with information about everything from volcanoes to rainforests. Some of the books even have mini experiments for you to try out at home.
If you are looking for a fun way to tackle history and geography this year I highly recommend both of these series!
Big Fat Notebooks
In addition to the books above, I had Julia independently read Everything You Need to Ace World History in One Big Fat Notebook and Everything You Need to Ace American History in One Big Fat Notebook. We have switched curriculums a few times through the years, so I wanted something that could fill in any of the gaps we may have missed. I cannot praise this series enough!
Language Arts
This year Julia used the following mix of materials for language arts:
- Everything You Need to Ace English Language Arts in One Big Fat Notebook
- Wordly Wise 3000 Book 8
- Writing With Skill Level One
- 10 Books Every Middle Schooler Must Read
For the most part I am very happy with this mix. Julia didn’t really enjoy Writing with Skill, but I did see quite a bit of improvement in her writing skills this year. Wordly Wise is a long time favorite of mine. The lessons are very straightforward, and make for excellent morning work. I was equally impressed with the language arts book from the Big Fat Notebook series. There have been a number of concepts Julia has struggled with through the years, and this book finally cleared them up for her!
The final piece of her language arts program is of course the literature! Since I pieced together the rest of the materials for this subject I made up my own booklist for her:
10 Books Every Middle Schooler Must Read
Up to this point I have tried to filter a lot of what Julia reads, but I personally feel that there comes a point when our children should be exposed to a little more. Books can teach us so many valuable lessons, and I know Julia has really enjoyed exploring some new territory on her own.
Math
Julia continued on with Teaching Textbooks this year. If you are not familiar with Teaching Textbooks it is a computer based program that teaches lessons, provides lessons and quizzes, and grades everything for you. It is a homeschool mama lifesaver!
She is currently finishing up Teaching Textbooks 2.0 Pre-Algebra. Julia is definitely NOT a fan of this whole algebra thing, but I am thankful that we have a program that can teach it to her. I had all A’s in math when I was in school, but I am not very good at teaching math to my children. She is just wrapping up this level, and will be moving onto Algebra I in a few weeks. (<— In case you are wondering about that… we homeschool year round!)
Science
Just like history I grouped Julia and Jack together for science during the 2018-2019 school year. Together they studied Focus on Middle School Astronomy and Focus on Middle School Geology. We all really enjoyed the lessons in the textbooks, but the labs were a little “dry” for our liking. We ended up picking and choosing which labs to complete based on what materials we already had on hand. If I had to do this again I would honestly save some money and skip the lab portion of this program. Maybe we are just not a science loving family?
I am sure you have noticed a trend by now… Julia also read the Everything You Need to Ace Science in One Big Fat Notebook on her own. It was another winner! I have never seen her so excited about one of my curriculum selections. She told me they are just so easy to understand, and she feels more confident moving onto high school next year having read these.
Homework and Horseplay’s final thoughts…
I think Julia had an amazing 8th grade year. We both really enjoyed the majority of her materials, and we are ready to tackle her first year of high school in the fall! Other than skipping out on the science labs I really don’t think there is anything I would change about my selections. In fact, Julia loved the rest of the Big Fat Notebook series so much that she asked me to order her Everything You Need to Ace Math in One Big Fat Notebook to read over the summer.
Thank you for checking out my End of Year 8th Grade Curriculum Review | 2018-2019…
I hope you had a great 2018-2019 homeschool year. Make sure to check out the rest of my end of year reviews ↓
End of Year 6th Grade Curriculum Review | 2018-2019
End of Year 10th Grade Curriculum Review | 2018-2019
The post End of Year 8th Grade Curriculum Review | 2018-2019 appeared first on Homework and Horseplay.
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