Homeschooling Updates - 8th Grade Curriculum Choices

Painted by 8 year old while using the "I Can Do All Things" Art Curriculum. (This was done during free time, but utilized skills he had learned.)

It wasn't too long ago (January 2025) that I posted on my blog that I tried out sending my middle school aged son to a charter school. Well, I am somewhat relieved to report that the phase/trial has come to end. We are returning to "homeschooling" him on Monday. I put homeschooling in quotes because there are sooo many resources available nowadays to school a child at home that do not involve a mother directly teaching their child, which will be very beneficial for the high school years. I could write several blog posts based on what we experienced and learned during my son's time at the charter school, and other reasons why we needed a bit of a break from the intense homeschooling lifestyle, but for the sake of privacy, I'll keep it brief. In the seven or so months my son was enrolled I saw firsthand how broken and compromised the education system is in America, even in a small charter school that is supposed to be different from the others. While my son was ready to leave the school, he appreciates what he gained from the experience and is glad he went. I'm glad we had a relatively safe place to send him for him to gain some discernment, and understand why we have homeschooled him, and why that will likely continue to be the best option.

So now that we are returning to homeschool for 8th grade, what are we using for our homeschool curriculum?! Here it goes:

-Science: Apologia Physical Science, Self-Paced Online Course

-Composition: Essentials in Writing 9, with Scoring purchased.

-Grammar: Christian Light Education (CLE) Language Arts

-Math: CLE Algebra

-History: CLE American History

-Reading: CLE Reading 8

While everything else (electives, etc.) is still to be determined, this will be the core of his curriculum. (He will also be apprenticing with his dad for business and technology skills.) My son loves CLE curriculum so this will be a great way to transition him back to homeschool. One new strategy I am using with him is how we review work together. I am going to check his work and then let him correct it. After his corrections, I will check it again. With anything that is still wrong, I will leave it to him to study and improve by himself using the curriculum/teacher's guide, Khan Academy, or something similar. In this way, I am offering him more of an "administrative service" in helping him with his education, which seems more age appropriate. We have decided, though, to work directly together on history and reading, because that is a nice time together anyway : )

This year has certainly been a whirlwind! My next post will be about my favorite curriculum items that we are using this year!