8th grade History has no specific curriculum but consists of reading good challenging books across a variety of subjects and time periods and writing essays on these readings. In the middle of the year, we begin an overview of philosophy to begin introducing the background of great ideas in western civilization. Recall that 7th grade was spent on U.S. History. The aim for 8th grade is to take a broader look at various periods of world history with a variety of literature genres and challenging essay projects.
These are the books read in 8th grade
Glory and Honor – The Musical and Artistic Legacy of J. S. Bach by Gregg Wilbur
St. Matthew Passion (selections) – oratorio by J.S. Bach
My Only Comfort – Music of Bach (selections) by Calvin Stapert
Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott
Talisman – Sir Walter Scott
Ballad of the White Horse – epic poem by G. K. Chesterton
By Pike and Dyke – G. A. Henty
David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
Let Go – Fenelon
Consequences of Ideas – R.C. Sproul
Meno Dialog – Plato
Francis and Edith Schaeffer – L.G. Parkhurst Jr.
Charles Dickens – biography by G.K. Chesterton
Confessions book 11, ch 1-7 by St. Augustine
Friends Though Divided – G.A. Henty
Proslogium (ch 1-3) by St. Anselm
Summa of the Summa (Peter Kreeft ed.) I.Q15-16 on p142-147
Consequences of Ideas, by R.C. Sproul, is an overview of philosophy from the pre-Socratics through the 20th century. The book is 14 chapters. An accompanying video series of 35 different messages is available as well as a study guide for the video series. We use all three resources in our study. We start with reading the book chapter, possibly writing an essay on the chapter. Next, the corresponding video messages are viewed. Reading is assigned, if appropriate, for the philosopher being studied, again with an accompanying written essay. Since there are 2 or 3 video messages per chapter and we watch 1 or 2 video messages a week, the sequence takes about 2 weeks per book chapter. Other reading is ongoing on days the Consequences study is not done.
Our study sequence is more easily understood from looking at the Month 6 example schedule. You can go at this or a faster pace, especially if your student is already fascinated with the big ideas of philosophy. It’s very important not to rush through this but to have a leisurely introduction to these ideas that will be studied in depth in later years. They are engagingly presented by Dr. Sproul on the video series and your student should find these enjoyable. Here’s a summary of our study sequence.
| Book chapter | Video session | Reading/Essay after video |
| 1 First Philosophers | 1 Beginnings | |
| 2 Pre-Socratics | ||
| 3 Heraclitus, Parmenides, Zeno | ||
| 2 Socrates/Plato | 4 Socrates | |
| 5 Plato – part 1 | ||
| 6 Plato – part 2 | Meno Dialog (Plato)* | |
| 3 Aristotle | 7 Aristotle – part 1 | |
| 8 Aristotle – part 2 | ||
| 4 Augustine | 9 Plotinus & Neo-Platonism | |
| 10 Augustine | Confessions (Augustine) bk 11, ch1-7 | |
| 11 Anselm | Proslogium (Anselm) ch1-3 | |
| 5 Aquinas | 12 Aquinas – part 1 | |
| 13 Aquinas – part 2 | Summa Theologica I.15-16 | |
| 6 Descartes | 14 Renaissance Revolution | |
| 15 Descartes | ||
| 16 Descartes and “Cause/Effect” | ||
| 7 Locke/Empiricism | 17 Leibniz | |
| 18 Pascal | ||
| 19 Locke | ||
| 8 Hume/Skepticism | 20 Crisis in the 18th Century pt1 | |
| 21 Crisis in the 18th Century pt2 | ||
| 22 Berkeley and Empiricism | ||
| 23 Hume – part 1 | ||
| 24 Hume – part 2 | ||
| 25 The Enlightenment – part 1 | ||
| 26 The Enlightenment – part 2 | ||
| 9 Kant | 27 Kant – part 1 | |
| 28 Kant – part 2 | ||
| 10 Hegel/Marx | 29 Hegel | |
| 30 Marx | ||
| 11 Kierkegaard | 31 Kierkegaard | |
| 12 Nietzsche | 32 Nietzsche | |
| 13 Sarte & Heidegger | 33 Sarte & Heidegger | |
| 14 Darwin/Freud | 34 Bertrand Russell | |
| 35 Modern Philosophers |
*writing assignment is to draw the geometric figures Socrates describes to Meno at each stage of the dialog
Most of these available on Amazon. Here’s a partial listing: