newbie to CM and grade 8

Currently, Using Language Well only has two books or levels. Sonya is in the process of writing Using Language Well Book 3, which would be the one used in approximately grades 7 and 8, depending on your child’s spelling abilities and how much grammar he has had.

The components of language arts in a Charlotte Mason education are spread throughout several subjects. Narrations are composition, and are given in subjects like history, geography, and science. At the 8th grade level, narrations would cover narrative, expository, and descriptive writing. You can find out more about narration in our blog series specifically on narration from our Learning Library.

Literature, poetry, Shakespeare, spelling through prepared dictation, and grammar make up the other components of language arts. Spelling Wisdom has prepared dictation passages already selected for you. Because we are currently writing book 3 for Using Language Well, your son would need to use a different grammar curriculum, if needed. If he’s had plenty of grammar with a different curriculum, then he probably doesn’t need to continue studying it. If you feel he needs a good grammar course, we recommend Analytical Grammar.

For Keep It Simple, we only have Individual Studies lesson plan books available for grades 1-6. More will be written, but we have several other projects ahead of them. You can see what we recommend for grade 8 for math, science, and language arts on our Overview Chart. The grammar and spelling components of language arts would be scheduled in the Individual Studies lesson plan book, if one were available. (The other components –narration, poetry, literature, Shakespeare — are scheduled in the Enrichment Studies lesson plan books and the history lesson plan books.) Math and science would be done every day, while spelling/prepared dictation would be done about twice a week. How many days he needs to complete grammar would depend on which grammar curriculum you choose. Typing and Book of Mottoes would be scheduled once or twice a week.

To complete Keep It Simple, choose a history time period from our history lesson plan books and an Enrichment Studies lesson plan book. Inside each book you will find a list of materials used in the lessons. Gather the materials for “Family” and each grade you are teaching, and you are all set for a full year of school. You can see the lists in the samples of each book.