Hey ladies!!!! I need help! My cousin is taking her 8th grade son out of public school to homeschool him.. he is not very good in math and hates reading. She is very new to homeschooling and needs some curriculum ideas for each subject to get her started ... i do not have older children so my knowledge is limited. Help?
I recommend Teaching Textbooks for math. It is independent and mom can watch the lesson if he needs help. Reading is tough! For the first year, that could just be interest driven. She could sit down with him, make sure he understands he has to do some reading and then let him choose what he wants to read. 8th grade could include math(pre-algebra or algebra 1), science(general or physical), history (American,World or geography), Language arts (grammar, comp, lit), anything else he might be interested in. Sports, music, art, foreign language, that sort of thing. Teaching Textbooks, Apologia Science, Easy Grammar Plus, Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW). These are what we use. My twins will be in 10th next year.
We use teaching textbooks for math and love it. We use apologia general science, an total language plus for language arts (it's all inclusive). We studied American history this year and will continue to study American history this coming school year. We make up our own history curriculum with books that we have, plus library books, internet, and you tube videos. My 8th grader will continue with ASL for foreign language (free on line program), and my 10th grader will continue with German.
Hi, JennyB! My schooling choices generally run to Biblically based, so if your cousin is preferring secular, I won't be a ton of help. BUT... English - Easy Grammar is pretty easy to do. It's grammar only, so you'll need something else for writing. Math - Saxon works for us, but Teaching Textbooks comes pretty highly recommended. If you don't mind Christian recommendations, I love Christian Light Education www.clp.org and Rod & Staff www.milestonebooks.com. CLE has diagnostic tests for math and LA, to ensure proper placement. R&S does not, but 5th is a good starting place for older kids who need to get a running start in English. I also like their science books, but I also like Apologia for science. Good luck to your cousin!
With English, Math, science, and history, she'll want to include some literature of some kind. There's all sorts of directions she could go with this - She could let him choose pretty much whatever he will read, even if it's below his age level just so he'll read and maybe decide it's not so bad afterall. Then just discuss the books with him. Or she could go with a curriculum, which would likely include some sort of teacher guide with discussion suggestions, writing assignments and such. There are study guides online for all sorts of novels at all levels - I'd start with classics like The Red Badge of Courage, Tom Sawyer, The Call of the Wild, White Fang, Old Yeller, The Yearling, things that might appeal to a boy's sense of adventure.
