Grade 8 Homeschooling Curriculum

In Art Through Faith, students see full color reproductions of Christianity’s greatest religious art with insightful comments to point out religious meaning.

The junior high student is introduced to the works of different artists in this truly unique collection. Artists include Fra Angelico, Bellini, Botticelli, da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Rubens, and the Pre-Raphaelites.

Using the English 8 for Young Catholics workbook in the first semester, students do a fast-paced review of grammar concepts learned in previous years. Topics reviewed include the eight parts of speech, adjectival and adverbial prepositional phrases, principal clauses, adjectival and adverbial subordinate clauses, and diagramming. Noun clauses are introduced this year.

Composition for Young Catholics is the second semester component of the English course. Students focus on expository writing using examples, details, and reasons to support ideas. In the final quarter, students go through the steps of writing a practice research report, which include taking notes, constructing a bibliography, and citing sources. These skills will be especially valuable in the high school years.

The historical period from the discovery of America to the 2008 election is covered in The History of the United States: History 8 for Young Catholics.

Review questions throughout the 32 chapters and end of chapter questions help the students focus on the important content.

Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra is an interactive online math course designed specifically for independent learners. The course contains a digital textbook, teacher lectures, and audiovisual step-by-step explanations of math concepts.

In Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra, students study the following concepts: Arithmetic Basics, Rational Numbers, Decimals, Percents, Measuring Length, Measuring Area and Volume, Simple Algebraic Equations, Integers, Longer Algebraic Equations, Combining Like Terms, Rational Expressions, Powers, Polynomials, and Radicals, Geometry, Relations, Functions, and Graphing, Statistics, Probability, Inequalities, and more.

For more information about Teaching Textbooks courses, please click here.  

Children learn parts of the Mass in Latin and musical notation and to play and sing songs from the liturgical seasons, as well as short plays in We Sing of Our World.

Students improve comprehension and literary analysis skills using Reading 8 for Young Catholics: Comprehension as they continue to identify characters, plot, theme, and other elements that they will later encounter in high school literature courses.

In Reading 8 for Young Catholics: Thinking Skills, students apply these skills both to classic short stories and selections from the life of St. Joan of Arc. Each quarterly book report requires a thesis statement that is supported in the five-paragraph analysis. Students will find this classic five-paragraph format useful for years to come.

In their final year of working with The St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism No. 2, eighth graders increase their understanding of the fundamentals of the Catholic Faith: the Creed, the Commandments, the Sacraments, and Prayer.

Special emphasis is placed on the study of Church history using Witness to the Faith: Church History for Young Catholics. The Church’s progress through history is surveyed, beginning with the founding of the Church and continuing through the twentieth century.

Students study Life Science 8 for Young Catholics, an engaging, comprehensive life science program. The text/workbook was written and reviewed by Catholic medical doctors using clear explanations and bright, colorful pictures. The well-designed presentation uses hundreds of high quality diagrams, photos, and illustrations to make even challenging concepts easy to understand.

The first semester of the course covers the science and chemistry of life, beginning with the cell and single celled organisms, and progresses through fungus, plant, and animal kingdoms. The focus of the second semester is human biology and covers the different systems in the human body including the respiratory, circulatory, and digestive. The course is designed to prepare students for High School Biology.

Students learn to spell by completing 36 lessons with exercises on the makeup and definition of the words, and then read the words in sentences and paragraphs. Stories focus on the lives of the saints and other religious stories.

In Spelling 8 for Young Catholics, students cover such concepts as words derived from Latin, Greek and French, clusters and diagraphs, negative prefixes, suffixes, and scientific and mathematic terms.

In Vocabulary 8 for Young Catholics students learn the meaning and correct usage of new words and often learns new meanings for familiar words.

Use of a dictionary, plus exercises and a crossword puzzle contribute to the learning experience and leave your Eighth grade student ready for High School.