10 Best Middle School Curriculum: A Complete Guide for Home & School

However, we’re about to make it easier for you! This comprehensive list of school and homeschool curriculums will help you find the best middle school curriculum for your child. All you have to do is read on!

Top 10 Middle School Curriculum & Resources

1. Positive Action Middle School Curriculum

Simply put, these middle school curriculums might be the best middle school curriculums on the market. Although made for school students, they can be modified for homeschoolers. In addition, they take your child on a fascinating learning journey.

For starters, they teach students many aspects about behavior, social skills, mental health, and more. Not to mention, they get them engaged and excited about the learning process with its enjoyable content.

So, you can decide to purchase any grade kit for any middle school curriculum from Positive Action. And you’ll get many activity booklets, game cards, different journals, colorful posters, and a teacher’s guide to help you organize the learning process.

Finally, Positive Action offers a middle school combo bundle that includes grade 6, grade 7, and grade 8. This way, you won’t have to go through the hassle of choosing a curriculum each year. As a bonus point, you’ll get a discount on the total cost of the grade kits if you purchase this bundle.

2. SONLIGHT 6th Grade Curriculum

If your kid has a wild imagination, they’ll love this curriculum. The Sonlight curriculum introduces middle school students to different cultures, religions, and a broad array of academic topics in the following subjects: history, geography, mathematics, language arts, and science.

In language arts, a student will work on their grammar and writing through many challenging assignments. Not to mention, they’ll get introduced to new literary and writing styles. As for math, Sonlight offers a Math-U-See curriculum to get your kid acquainted with many algebra and geometry concepts without anxiety.

As a bonus point, this homeschool curriculum comes with a comprehensive teacher’s guide to ensure that you aren’t overwhelmed with the many details on your hands. Aside from the manual, you’ll get books for each of the previously mentioned subjects.

3. Master Books 7th Grade - Basic 4 Subject Set

This Master Books set provides a student with an introduction to the four core subjects: mathematics, history, science, and language arts. Over a 36-week plan, a student will get acquainted with many academic concepts and go through various quizzes and worksheets.

From a Biblical perspective, students will study many exciting topics in science, including Chemistry, Physics, and how they relate to the idea of God’s creation. As for the math curriculum, it builds a solid foundation for a student in both geometry and algebra.

Moreover, the history curriculum covers many periods in world history, such as the Renaissance and fall of Rome, from a Christian point of view. Finally, students will learn a broad array of new writing and literary concepts in language arts through engaging activities and worksheets.

4. Oak Meadow Grade 8 Curriculum

The Oak Meadow curriculum focuses on the four subjects that every student needs: English, mathematics, science, and social studies. Starting with English, students get introduced to classic novels to strengthen their vocabulary and reading skills. Moreover, students get weekly assignments to improve their composition and grammar skills.

As for social studies, middle schoolers study economics and government systems with an experiential approach. This approach makes for an interactive experience, as they get the chance to participate in practical projects.

Meanwhile, the science curriculum focuses on physical science topics, such as matter, mass, energy, light, sound, and force. Students will conduct many experiments and analyze the results to prepare them for the upcoming years.

In math, a student gets to choose between Algebra I and Pre-Algebra using the Saxon curriculum, which makes homeschooling an effortless experience.

5. BJU Press Grade 6 With Books

The BJU Press curriculum takes a proud stance as one of the best online curriculums on the market today. It takes your kid on an enjoyable educational journey through engaging online videos explained by experienced teachers. The subjects in this curriculum are math, science, English, heritage studies, reading, spelling, and handwriting.

In heritage studies, students explore many ancient civilizations and their cultures. Meanwhile, the English curriculum improves their writing, reading, and grammar skills through classic literature stories.

As for math, the online middle school curriculum gives a student a more in-depth look into division, multiplication, statistics, line plots, and more. Finally, the science curriculum covers earth science, biology, and physical science. If you’ve purchased this online kit, you’ll get printed worksheets, textbooks, and E-textbooks.

6. Power Homeschool 7th Grade Program

The Power Homeschool curriculum offers middle school students a plethora of engaging activities and videos. In addition, it ensures a smooth learning experience by using the Acellus Learning System that’ll help you track your child’s progress.

The subjects that this program offers are math, English, science, and social studies. The math curriculum covers algebra and geometry, while the English one helps your child practice different writing styles and reading comprehension.

Furthermore, the science section focuses on physical science as the main topic, and a student gets to see real-life examples and experiments. Lastly, the social studies section teaches students about the cultural, social, and technological advances that helped shape today’s world.

In this online middle school curriculum, students get to choose one of the world languages, German, French, and Spanish, to learn throughout middle school.

7. Time for Learning 8th Grade Curriculum

This middle school homeschool curriculum includes math, language arts, health, physical fitness, science, and social studies.

In math, a student will study problem-solving, rational numbers, Pythagorean theorem, and types of graphs. While in language, they’ll improve their comprehension and vocabulary skills by learning about synonyms, idioms, homophones, and antonyms.

Additionally, the social studies curriculum mainly revolves around United States history, starting from its exploration until the 19th century. As for science, the curriculum focuses on science of the earth, life science, and physical science.

And the best part is that this online middle school curriculum includes automated recordkeeping and grading to save parents the hassle of grading themselves. Also, as a parent, you won’t have to plan the lessons yourself, as they already come with detailed lesson plans and activities.

8. Moving Beyond the Page Age 10 -12 Full Year Package

The Moving Beyond the Page curriculum is among the best homeschooling choices for your child. It has science, social studies, and language arts courses with engaging activities and exciting content.

And the middle school student will improve their spelling, vocabulary, and writing skills in language arts through stories and activities. As for science, they’ll study many fascinating topics, ranging from the basic periodic table to new concepts about force and motion.

Moreover, the social studies curriculum focuses on world history, geography, various cultures, and information about governments and how they work. As a bonus point, this package includes detailed schedules and lesson plans so that you don’t have to go through the headache of preparing them.

In addition, this online middle school curriculum is self-paced. With this flexibility, your kid won’t feel pressured to study as fast as their friends throughout the school year, and they’ll be able to benefit more from the learning experience.

9. ACE Comprehensive Curriculum (6 Subjects) Grade 7

The ACE Comprehensive Curriculum is entirely based on Scripture and biblical principles, making it a perfect fit for parents who want to raise their children religiously. It incorporates English, math, social studies, literature, word-building, and science courses with the help of PACE workbooks.

Those workbooks encourage students to become more independent, as they study at their own pace and take self-tests. After taking trial tests, they have one final exam to ensure they understand the subjects they’ve studied well. Then, with the help of answer sheets, students will also get to evaluate their performance on all those exams.

Even better, this middle school homeschool curriculum is one of the most budget-friendly courses on the market today. So, if you want an affordable choice that can give your child a unique, spiritual learning experience, this curriculum is the one for you.

10. Calvert 8th Grade Home Curriculum

With the Calvert homeschool curriculum, a middle school student will study math, language arts, history, geography, and science. For starters, the language arts curriculum focuses on literature and the history of writing so that students read and write better and develop critical thinking skills.

As for math, the student learns the subject as if they’re learning a language. So, they understand mathematical concepts through a set of conventions, and they get to relate them to real-life problems.

Meanwhile, the science course teaches middle schoolers how to observe the world and its wonders. And they explore constellations and stars. Moreover, they study other topics, such as atomic structures, geology, ocean life, and mass and volume measurements.

Finally, history and geography are taught together in one course. They introduce students to many historical figures, such as Columbus and Magellan, and many topics, including the Civil War and American Independence.

What Is Taught in Middle School - A Complete Guide

Math

Since math is a core subject in all years, it’s essential you know what your kid will learn. A middle school math course is particularly vital because it prepares students for the upcoming years. Luckily, most curriculums are the same when it comes to this subject.

That’s because students learn more deeply about addition, multiplication, division, subtraction, geometry concepts, and many algebra topics. For instance, in geometry, they study the Pythagoras theorem, parallelism, and perpendicularity. Otherwise, Algebra teaches them all about linear equations, irrational numbers, and percentages.

With that being said, some curriculums have a more creative take on math, as they use different programs like Math-U-See or Saxon curriculum. Those build a solid math foundation for students and set them on the right track for high school and college.

Science

Middle school science covers many interesting topics for students, including earth science to astronomy. To prepare students for high school, they get to practically test scientific theories and analyze their results. They also get introduced to microscopes and learn how to use them.

In general, middle school students should learn about motion and forces, energies, and waves in physics. As for geology, they learn about the earth’s structure and crusts. In chemistry, the focus is the properties of the three states of matter on a more advanced level. Finally, in biology, they learn about cell division and the human body.

With that being said, science lessons may differ significantly from one middle school curriculum to another. Therefore, if you have preferred topics for your child, you should check beforehand.

Social Studies

Some curriculums include history and geography in one subject, while some separate them into two individual courses. Also, the social studies curriculum doesn’t have to be the same in all curriculums. Some topics may differ, but the general theme is the same.

Accordingly, most social studies curriculums include content about ancient civilizations and cultures, U.S history across many centuries, American independence, and historical events, such as the Civil War and the World Wars. In addition, some curriculums include introductions about historical figures, such as Christopher Columbus.

As for geography, middle school students continue to learn about maps and globes. And they study more countries and capitals. Some curriculums also contain an introduction to weather changes and climatology in general.

Language Arts

The middle school language arts curriculum mainly focuses on improving students’ vocabulary and grammar. This way, they won’t feel out of depth when they start studying high school curriculums, and the engaging activities, assignments, worksheets, and stories that students read help.

As for writing, students learn more deeply about synonyms, antonyms, idioms, and how to use them correctly. In addition, they get introduced to different writing styles so that by the end of middle school, they’ll be able to create concise and well-structured pieces of writing.

Finally, middle school students should learn how to use figurative language to solve their worksheets and activities. Some curriculums also use technology-based tools to help them with planning and prewriting.

Reading

While some curriculums don’t include reading as a separate subject, you should know what students learn in it. For starters, middle school students get to read classic novels and stories to learn different literary styles. They also learn how to summarize and make inferences about short composition pieces.

In addition, students practice how to get the main idea out of a literary piece, think from the characters’ points of view, and understand the author’s goal. To sum it up, they’ll learn how to analyze literary pieces deeply.

Some curriculums also include a brief introduction to poetry. Finally, at the end of middle school, students should know how to extract specific information from a text and enhance their reading comprehension.

Final Words

When choosing a curriculum for middle school years, your top choice should most probably be the Positive Action curriculum. Aside from working for both school and homeschoolers, it also teaches students many important behavioral aspects. Now that you know enough about middle school curriculums, you can choose the perfect fit for your child!