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English Language Arts: 8th Grade Homeschool

 

ELA Homeschooling from a Christian Worldview

Before high school begins, eighth grade is a wonderful opportunity to strengthen reading, writing, and critical thinking through the lens of a biblical worldview. In our Christian homeschool, English Language Arts is about far more than grammar and literature—it is about pursuing truth, recognizing beauty, and cultivating wisdom. As students read timeless classics, analyze poetry, and develop their writing skills, they also learn to discern the ideas behind every story, comparing them with the truth of God's Word. Our goal is to equip students to communicate with clarity, think with discernment, and glorify Christ in both their learning and their lives.

ELA has been the trickiest subject to plan for. Finding material that is taught from a Christian Worldview was very challenging. I have waded through gobs of curriculum, pre-reading content from publishers and found so much hidden information or political agendas hidden inside the content. Finally, I found grammar and writing programs I'm comfortable with. The writing course we are using is Lost Tools of Writing Level 1 by the Circe Institute and the grammar course we are using is DAILY GRAMMAR with its video component. We are also going to do a lesson a day from this free online resource: Daily Grammar With grammar it is best to start with something and go all the way through. If you jump around, the children get confused. So, it is really important to find one and stick with it!

Our literature selections follow along with  Ambleside Online Year 7,8,9 in Two Years Also, we are doing copy work and dictation from our readings for spelling, and handwriting practice. After loads of research, I am feeling confident about our approach to ELA for the rest of our homeschooling career. 

I have designed our homeschool from the end to the beginning and have the twins tracked to have a good portion of their Associates Degree completed in High School. In other words, I have the end goal in mind each time I select courses. Homeschooling for College Credit has been a valuable asset in helping me map that out. We will make our first CLEP attempt at the close of our 9th grade year, attempting to test for college credit English Composition I. Basically, I have two full school years to get them ready for that test. That is why I chose Lost Tools of Writing Level 1 Per the reviews I have read about this course, students who compete it are well prepared for the writing portion of ACT and it should complement the CLEP test prep material we plan to use. 

Like stones, words are laborious and unforgiving, and the fitting of them together, like the fitting of stones, demands great patience and strength of purpose and particular skill. 
Edmund Morrison 

Lost Tools of Writing

This course is taught by me, but the Circe Institute provides me with teaching material that includes a manual and video instruction.  Levels 1 & 2 teach classical rhetoric and persuasive essay writing. The children learn to choose and defend a position using a thesis statement and proofs for their writings. 

I will be tracking our progress of Lost Tools of Writing here, as we move along, including the writings we produce. We use a method of homeschool called Sabbath Homeschooling, meaning we school for six weeks and break one. So, we end up with six terms that are six weeks long. Hopefully, I can maintain the updates each term. The course scheduling actually fits well with our style of homeschooling because the children will produce a total of nine essays throughout the school year. We will be completing two per term after the introductory lessons.

Term 1

During term 1 we get introduced to the three cannons of writing and complete two Rudimentary Persuasive Essays. The first one being a three paragraph essay and the second one a five paragraph. 

I am going to be teaching the children to come up with thesis statements by asking questions. The questions we are going to ask will come from rich, classical, literature. For the first essay, we are going to look at a short story by and American author, O Henry, called The Gift of the Maggi. We enjoyed this story via audiobook. The Gift of the Magi Audiobook The essay I am going to model for them will come from a question formed by the reading. From this point forward, I will only share the reading I use for each essay, along with updates about our progress, and our finished work. 

Keep your eyes 👀 out for post updates. I'll be sharing them on my Facebook page:
ANCIENT PATH

Also, be sure and check out my 8th Grade Planning post to see how ELA fits into our school year. 

Happy Homeschooling!
*＊✿❀ ❀✿＊*


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