This is a general subject-by-subject overview.

ART:  This year the child reads Art Through Faith 8. Most weeks, you discuss one image from the chapter using the “art questions” from the syllabus. Then the child sketches from memory, or writes a description, or does one of the other usual memory exercises. We got the book in hardback. It’s lovely.

ENGLISH:  We use Easy Grammar Plus. Voyages is too mom-intensive for me, though I think it might be better preparation.

GEOGRAPHY: 8th has three geography sections: Medieval Europe map, Geography terms, World mapping. The Medieval map is like previous years. The geography terms are land forms and facts. The world mapping is identical to 5th grade, but at a faster speed.

HISTORY:  This year is Medieval Europe. The child builds a timeline. Apart from lots of reading, there are quite a few text book assignments.  Don’t skip them!  Like the science assignments, these have major Language Arts goals woven in.  I heard a talk where Laura said that people who skip the OWAA assignments almost always have trouble with the volume of writing in 9GRD. And like last year, the term papers are NOT research papers.  They’re “tell me what you know” papers.  An extended written narration is a better description.

LATIN:  Latin is wherever you are in the cycle. Usually, we’re on Fundamentals I.

MATH:  Saxon Alg 1/2 is like the rest. I had to do math right with them for a while. Modelling the speed and orally noting how repetitive it all was, was the only cure. Saxon problems take only about two minutes each.  More than that and you’re in a rabbit hole.  (Edit: MoDG now recommends Teaching Textbooks, if you work one year ahead. Self-grading! WHAT A RELIEF.)

MUSIC:  The Alfred’s syllabus has the child make a grid of the musical forms and has the child plot the music he hears. He also works through the Unit reviews from Alfred’s and reading relevant sections of Meet the Composers.

POETRY:  The poetry this year is all Shakespeare.  Read Shakespeare, watch Shakespeare, memorize Shakespeare.  We liked it. The memory work was never solid, but we did our best. Where all the music performances were last year, the Shakespeare movies are this year.

READING:  Assuming your child isn’t struggling with reading, the history selections are separate from this.  However, WE DON’T DO THAT.  For the free-ish reading time, we often used selections from the 3GRD booklists.  Redwall was the favorite.

RELIGION:  This year there is a lot of writing in religion. Faith in Life 8 pairs with questions from Baltimore Catechism 2. About halfway through the year, the child begins to memorize lists of virtues and sins.

SCIENCE:  Concepts and Challenges!  My kids like these and really absorb the material.  And again, this is more language arts than science. Don’t skip it.

SPELLING: All of the Wordly Wise assignments ask you to use Spalding marking system, “if you know it.”  But, regardless, it’s nice to do workbook pages instead of dictations!