8th Grade Curriculum 2012-13

I think the number one question fellow homeschoolers ask each other is what curriculum or books they use. Since Care Bear is one year away from high school, I wanted to make sure any curriculum gaps we have had are closed this year; namely Geography and Logic.

So, this is the 8th grade curriculum plan for this year:

Islamic Studies: Ad-Duha Level B and C

We are just starting the second semester of Level B and inshaAllah we will start into Level C this year. Even though this is geared towards 1st and 2nd grade children, the memorization is intense and the lessons learned are easily suited to any age. The program is very heavy in memorization, which is hard for a pubescent child, and this is what drags this out past a year so far.

Math: Saxon Algebra 1 with Saxon Teacher CDs

While Saxon is not the most fun and lively book available, I like the warm ups that are available from the 3rd edition forward, and I wanted to keep with a tried and true book that has a full curriculum through Calculus.

Literature: Follow the book list in the Well Trained Mind for Medieval time period. Also use Figuratively Speaking.

This is listed as the 6th grade book list, but we just started traditional homeschooling last year, starting History with the Ancient time period. In her virtual school in 4th and 5th grades, it seemed they covered the more recent time periods in History, so this is a logical progression for us. We have been pretty casual with Literature in the last year, so I want to add in Figuratively Speaking to get her thinking of the parts of literature before we take more formal courses in literature in high school.

History: Well Trained Mind weekly sequence using DK Publishing’s History of the World

I really like that she needs to go through all the time periods and all the places of the world, then gets to dive into anything she finds interesting.

Grammar: IEW‘s Fix-It! Year 2

Care Bear hates… I mean hates sentence diagramming, and really, I hate it too. I get that you should know the parts of a sentence so you know why something is right or wrong, but it is just tedious to diagram sentences. Fix-It focuses on correcting grammar and using correct proofreading marks. This is more real life, and it is closer to what kids are actually tested on. Win-win!

Logic: The Art of Argument

This is our first year addressing Logic, and I think it will be highly beneficial. This book has come recommended through many homeschooling circles, and our main reference book, The Well Trained Mind. Care Bear is not exactly thrilled to study logic, but I think she’ll like having the information.

Geography: The Geography Book: Activities for Exploring, Mapping, and Enjoying Your World

This we are also planning on doing pretty casually and more for fun (hm, maybe we can do projects with our homeschool group!), but I want her to be introduced into Geography concepts before taking a more formal course in high school.

Foreign Language: Rosetta Stone Mandarin Chinese, completing year 1

She started the first year in January, and she works on Chinese three days a week. We are trying to stretch it out so she has a full four years of foreign language in high school and I don’t have to try to find a sixth year of Chinese.

Science: Taken at the homeschool co-op

Art: Taken at the homeschool co-op

Wow, that looks like a lot! We dropped the formal writing program to fit in Geography and Logic. When you take into consideration the only courses we do every day are Islamic Studies and Math, we make it work without going crazy. Of course, if something isn’t working, we can change it! That’s one of the numerous beauties of homeschooling!