8th Grade Curriculum

Teach with confidence from day one!

Sonlight J includes History / Bible / Literature.

Language Arts J is linked to History / Bible / Literature J

Perfect bridge between Middle School and High School. It draws ideas for creative writing from the books your student read, and adds book analysis and SAT practice assignments. It provides clear instructions for all assignments, and rubrics to aid in evaluating your student's work.

A full-color lab book with concept explanations, illustrated experiment instructions, and comprehensive activity sheets to record the lab findings. This book is looseleaf and 3-hole punched.

The world can't duplicate grace, and yet it craves the hope and transformation that grace brings. Explore the church's great distinctive in action. Shocking, scandalous, amazing.

Learn the five powerful principles that penetrate to the core of any worldview from a former agnostic. See how the Christian worldview is not only true but attractive. Clearly written, well organized, and easy to understand.

Is God unfair? Is God silent? Is God hidden? The Israelites had a fair, vocal, visible God, and it didn't help them any. More is going on in the heavenlies than is visible, and we don't know what our faith is doing on a cosmic level. Outstanding.

Amazing story of a woman who grew up in India and couldn't wait to leave. In one night, three men came to ask her to help their laboring wives. All three refused her father's help (he was a doctor), preferring to let their wives die than break religious taboos. And all three did die. Ida realized she could make a difference, and so she went to med school, then served in India for decades, helping the lepers, founding a teaching hospital, serving the people. Powerful.

A gorgeous, lavish book by a master storyteller who obviously loves her subject. Joy Hakim tells the story of scientific thought during ancient Greece and in the years following, focusing on the biographies and findings of many colorful characters. Be amazed at how far they were able to reason, without calculators or calculus. Outstanding.

Picking up the story, learn about the advances in science from Newton up to the late 1800s, told mostly through fascinating short biographies of these men of science. Learn about Tycho Brahe's metal nose! About the discovery of physics and the annus mirabilis! About the feuds and partnerships, the dead-ends and the triumphs. Outstanding.

Not sure you're ready for quantum and theoretical physics? You have just needed a better teacher. Hakim does an outstanding job explaining challenging concepts, and you'll understand more than you would have thought possible. Learn about the advances in scientific thought, primarily in physics. How does the world work? After you read this, you'll know more than you do now! Beautiful, interesting, informative. Outstanding.

An excellent, interesting story of the earliest scientists, from unnamed Egyptians through Euclid, and their ability to figure out basic math using only the three items in the title. How Pythagoras proved his famous theorem (it will blow your mind!), plus the discovery of the Golden Mean by Eudoxus: absolutely incredible. And how Eratosthenes was able to figure out the size of the earth! These people didn't have digit symbols! Unbelievable! Prepare to be amazed.

The Royal Society—basically, the world's oldest science club—changed the way we think of the world. Scientific enquiry is open to all, and it's collaborative. A marvelously entertaining look at many of the early scientists.

How easy to take for granted the grid lines on every map and globe. Yet the entire Age of Exploration took place without accurate measurements. Once sailors lost sight of land, they were truly adrift. How could sailors more accurately plot their location, and so save many ships from sinking? They needed a precise way to tell time. Self-educated clockmaker John Harrison took forty years to develop one, and his invention, in time, changed the world. An engrossing tale, well-told.

Newbery Honor. Moving from detective story to thrilling real-life spy story, Bomb tells about the race to build the world's most dangerous weapon. Marvelous retelling of the spy network and sabotage teams, of the Los Alamos top secret lab and the incredible collaboration behind the first atomic bomb. (The countdown to the Trinity explosion is one of the best examples of writing I've come across.) Superb.

Engaging, delightful account of ten everyday materials that deserve a second look. How does opaque sand become transparent glass? Can you describe the experience of eating chocolate? How long does it take concrete to dry out? And so on. An absolute delight.

A delightful biography of Archimedes, the Greek mathematician who made a number of wonderful discoveries—or proved their practical application. Once he solved a challenging problem while in the bath and was so excited by the discovery, he ran naked through the streets yelling "Eureka! Eureka! (I've found it! I've found it!)" Science and history rolled up into one.

Malone offers a wide variety of articles about things that are not explained by the theory of evolution. Whatever your current beliefs about the origins of life and the age of the earth, you will find this book interesting. Overall, fascinating information and helpful explanations, along with gorgeous, full-color illustrations.

Faced with his missionary brother's move toward atheism, the author had to figure out what he really believed about the origin of the earth. He asks, "Which is harder: 1. Designing a zebra? or 2. Designing a cell that builds an ecosystem for a zebra to live in—then builds the zebra, too?" Whatever your current ideas about the age of the earth and evolutionary theory, you will learn something. Thought-provoking, well-researched.

A thoughtful rebuttal to a fascinating section of Perry Marshall's book Evolution 2.. An interesting read!

The Algebra 1 Instruction Pack contains the instruction manual with lesson-by-lesson instructions and detailed solutions, and the DVD with lesson-by-lesson video instruction.

Newbery Honor. They don't write them like this any more. Intelligent, deeply felt novel in which 15-year-old Vicky deals with the impending death of her grandfather and the focused pursuit of three college men. A beautiful coming-of-age story.

Robin is an apprentice forester unjustly cast out of society. But this creates opportunity for a few stubborn Saxons to gather in secret under Robin's leadership and strike back against the arrogance and brutality of the Norman overlords.

The classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge's transformation from a miserable man who hates to one who shares in Tiny Tim's joyful exclamation, "God bless us every one." A story the author, Charles Dickens, enjoyed reading every Christmas Eve.

Good Dr. Jekyll is transformed into evil Mr. Hyde by means of an addictive drug. He finds himself more and more inextricably drawn into evil. A parable for our times written by author Robert Louis Stevenson.

On a mission to a medieval planet, Elana becomes the key to a daring plan to thwart an invasion. An intelligent, thoughtful work that will stimulate as it entertains. A moving 9th grade reading level book.

A few citizens of an imaginary village dare to question some long-held but false beliefs in the community...and are ostracized as a result. Thought-provoking but easy to read.

One of the 20th century's best-loved authors tells his personal story of "going solo" — striking out on his own in his first job (in East Africa!), flying combat for the RAF in WWII . . .and returning home to Mother.

Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse, must move her family or face death. Unfortunately, her son Timothy is ill and can't be moved. She seeks help from the brilliant rats of NIMH. The solution in the "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" book is worth the read.

Hollis Woods, an artistic foster child, dreams of having a family. And she nearly gets her wish thanks to the Regans who take her in for a summer.

The "Treasure Island" novel by Robert Louis Stevenson is a high seas adventure has a group of treasure seekers following a treasure map to a distant island. Full of piracy and treachery, this book is as enjoyable to read today as when it was first published in 1883.

Newbery Medal. After Gen's bragging lands him in the king's prison, his chance of escape looks slim. Then the king's scholar summons him for an impossible task—and then to reach home again, alive. A gorgeous mix of mythology, adventure, and survival, for the thoughtful reader.

The only mystery story ever to win the Newbery Medal! Sixteen players are possible heirs to Sam Westing's fortune . . . and all of them are suspects in the case of his curious demise. The one who discovers the villain's identity wins $200 million; will the losers lose all? A pleasurable read.

Newbery Medal. In a nameless Utopian community in a future time, everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out as Receiver, getting special training from the Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pains and pleasures of life...all the realities that can cause passions and upset within the community. And so the Giver teaches Jonas about color, the sun, snow, mountains, love, war, death. . . . and the revelations overwhelm Jonas. Horrified, he plots escape to "Elsewhere," a step he hopes will return these and other, more important memories to all the people. Can he succeed? A fascinating, thoughtful, and disturbing science-fiction novel.

"If your teacher has to die, August isn't a bad time of year for it." Russell Culver is fifteen in 1940, and he's raring to leave his tiny Indiana farm town for the endless sky of the Dakotas. School has been nothing but a chain holding him back from his dreams. Maybe now that his teacher has passed on, they'll shut the school down entirely and leave him free to roam.

Classic story, in the Alice in Wonderland tradition of word-play and logical conundrum, about a bored young man who discovers life is far from dull if you just put your mind to it.

Wolves without and a wicked governess within lead two English girls, Bonnie and Sylvia, to many spine-tingling adventures. Suspenseful. Fun!

Newbery Honor. When Primrose's parents apparently perish at sea, she goes to live with her eccentric Uncle Jack. A delicious story about a small town, living a life of passion, and taking what comes. Delightful.

Organize all your homeschool papers in one sturdy and convenient binder. With tabs that match your Sonlight^® History, Language Arts, and Science Instructor's Guides, you'll always know where to find each week's schedule, notes and study guides.