Middle School Secular Homeschool Curriculum

The transition into the middle school grades whether in a traditional school program, beginning homeschooling, or as a long-time homeschooler can be very daunting. While the preferred learning style doesn’t need to change at this time, many elementary curriculum options end at 5th or 6th grades. And as the topics covered become more complicated, you may find that what worked before isn’t right for your learners or family any longer.

See also: our favorite Elementary and High School Secular Curriculum and Programs

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We’ve pretty much always used book based secular programs for homeschooling our kids. We’ve tried some online programs over the years, but my kids and I really prefer book based programs.

I also believe in teaching research-backed science and unbiased history which makes choosing secular programs a must (and if you agree, be very wary of  programs that label themselves as “neutral” or as a secularized version of a religious program as these homeschool curriculums are often still very Christian leaning and influenced).

Our experiences through elementary school have helped me know what to look for in middle school, but that didn’t make finding secular middle school homeschool curriculum any easier! I poured through what was probably hundreds of programs trying to find something that fit both my children’s learning styles and my teaching preferences. And over the years, we’ve found some programs that have worked really well for our family.

My favorite Middle School Secular Homeschool Curriculum

Math

There are two secular math programs I have loved and recommend for middle school:

Prentice Hall Middle Grades Math

The Prentice Hall Middle Grades Math program (2009 editions) is a series of textbooks (plus teachers editions which are both easily available used) available for 6th, 7th, and 8th grades as well as a cumulative Algebra Readiness edition, which my older kids and I just finished as their pre-algebra course. Prentice Hall Middle Grades math is a classic textbook program, but I love that it includes comprehensive instruction and examples of the topics, along with daily practice including cumulative review, periodic quizzes, chapter tests, multiple choice cumulative assessments in the student book as well as daily quizzes, pre-lesson review questions, and more in the teacher’s edition. Unfortunately the corresponding online resources went away with Flash, but Prentice Hall Middle Grades math is still a solid program that worked very well for our family.

JUMP Math

My eldest learner used JUMP Math between MCP Mathematics (my favorite elementary math program) and Algebra Readiness mentioned above. JUMP math is an affordable workbook based program with answer keys, assessments, and lesson plans available through a free online account. The workbooks are thorough and return to topics multiple times instead of chunking sections and only covering once per year. Each level is covered over two workbooks per year.

Language Arts

Language of Literature

Language of Literature is another textbook based program that is easy to find used (teacher’s edition also, though when buying used student and teacher versions may not be exactly the same as most used copies are former school versions and may have been adjusted for different states). In addition to short readings with thorough comprehension and response questions, the textbook also includes grammar and vocabulary review as well as tons of project ideas. We don’t do every question and project, so I’ve had to go through the book and select out which activities I want my kids to complete, but it’s an extremely thorough program that my preteens don’t hate (so that’s a big plus right there!)

Winning with Writing

My kids have always hated writing (ironic, right?) and we struggled over the years with covering formal writing. Until I found Winning with Writing. It is an extremely well thought out, easy to use program that covers the basics of writing in a step-by-step format and introduces level appropriate writing projects starting with writing sentences at the lower levels to writing research papers and other types of essays in the upper levels. This program can also be ordered directly from the publisher.

History and Social Studies

While there are more secular history programs available for older kids than for elementary level, I’ve stuck with the program I’ve created for my kids over the years, which is now available for purchase.

Big Ideas through History

My program, Big Ideas though History, is an affordable, thorough, secular, un-biased approach to history education that meets the varying needs of any homeschooling family by allowing parents to select the resources that best fit their individual needs. Big Ideas through History is more of a program outline, not a complete homeschool curriculum, and is arranged into units covering the big ideas that shaped our world rather than taught chronologically (though every Section can also be used alone of in conjunction with another program) and every section includes an overview of the main points of the topic, a related activity, a list of online and print resources, plus a quiz. So while it requires a little work in picking the narrative and resources that you like for each topic, Big Ideas through History provides opportunities to explore and teach history in the way you feel best fits your family.

Science

Much like history, finding a high-quality, and affordable, secular homeschool curriculum for science is not as easy as one might think. I’ll be honest that science isn’t my most favorite subject and it has been neglected in our homeschool over the years. But we’ve used a few secular science homeschool curriculums over the years and I, honestly, like all of them for different reasons.

Science by the Grade

Science by the Grade is a K-8 workbook based science program that includes simple experiments and projects. Each chapter includes readings, review questions and activities, and a corresponding experiment.

ScienceSaurus

ScienceSaurus is a series of middle school level reference books for science, but I found it really easy to teach from and then add in labs and hands-on experiences that go with the book topics.

Story of Science

I’m also starting Joy Hakim’s The Story of Science with my middle schooler and elementary kids this year. The program includes a textbook that ties into the history of science as well as a workbook, which is pretty thorough and for the first book, Aristotle Leads the Way, I only found a few topics that could use an extra hands-on activity to keep my kids engaged.

Assessment

I have always chosen to follow the Common Core Standards throughout our homeschooling journey (read why) and for that reason, I have always used Spectrum Common Core workbooks as an end of year assessment for my kids. Unfortunately, though, the series only goes through 6th grade, but I’ve found the Core Focus program by Barron’s a good option for middle school.