Compare / Best Homeschool Curriculum for Middle School
Scope: Homeschool curriculum for grades 6 through 8, from full boxed years to single-subject courses. Not online schools or live classes.
Last updated:
We may earn a commission if you buy through links on this page, at no extra cost to you. Match order is fit-first — grade, worldview, budget, parent time, format, and learning style — and commissions never change that order. See our affiliate disclosure.
Get your top 2–3 curriculum matches — free quiz
About three minutes, no account. Matches are fit-ranked.
Middle school is the bridge between elementary lessons at the kitchen table and high school courses your student works through on their own. If you are shopping for homeschool curriculum for 6th, 7th, or 8th grade, the subjects get harder, the reading gets longer, and many families start to hand over more of the day to the student. Seven questions sort most families quickly.
How much independence is your student ready for? Most middle schoolers can read assigned books, follow a written schedule, and watch a lesson on their own for part of the day. Few are ready to run the whole year alone. Plan on a gradual shift: the student takes on more of the daily work, and you still teach, discuss, and check it.
How much parent time do you have? Parent time in middle school usually sits between elementary and high school. Some programs on this page expect you to teach daily, and others carry more of the teaching once you pick the course.
Building study habits. Middle school is a good time to practice following a checklist, keeping a notebook, taking a quiz without help, and finishing a week’s work on time. Several programs on this page build that in with student schedules, checklists, or weekly quizzes, and we note them below.
One boxed year, or build by subject? Some publishers sell a full grade-level year with the books and a daily plan. Others sell one course at a time, so you assemble the year: a history and literature core here, a math course there, a science course from somewhere else. Both are normal in middle school. Building by subject gives you more control and more decisions.
Worldview. Most linked programs on this page are Christian. BookShark calls itself faith-neutral, and All In One Curriculum calls itself secular. See the FAQ for details before you shop.
Budget. We use three words: low, mid, and high. We do not print prices, because prices and sales change.
Preparing for high school. Look ahead at math, writing, and science. Middle school is when many students move from arithmetic toward pre-algebra and algebra, write their first full essays, and take a science course with regular labs or quizzes. Our best homeschool curriculum for high school guide shows where each program goes next.
| Program | Shape | Worldview | Parent time | Open-and-go | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sonlight | A literature-based year built from a History / Bible / Literature program, or an All-Subjects package by grade. | Christian and Christ-centered. | Medium, because students can take on more of the reading while you stay involved as a mentor. | Yes for planning only, because the Instructor’s Guide schedules the year and you still discuss and check the work. | High. |
| BookShark | A literature-based year by level, with Levels F, G, and H covering most middle schoolers. | Faith-neutral, in BookShark’s own FAQ. | Medium, because you still read aloud, discuss the books, and check the work. | Yes for planning only, because the Instructor’s Guide lays out each day. | High. |
| Memoria Press | A boxed classical year for each grade through grade 12, with a curriculum manual of daily lesson plans. | Classical Christian. | High, because you teach from the manual, including Latin and composition. | Yes for planning only, because the manual writes the days and you still teach them. | High. |
| Compass Classroom | A streaming video course library you pick courses from, not one boxed year. | Christian. | Low once a course is chosen, though you still assign courses and check the work. | Yes for planning once a course is chosen, because the video teacher carries the lessons. | Mid. |
| SchoolhouseTeachers.com | A Christian membership library with middle school courses and optional School Boxes you can adapt. | Christian. | Medium, because you choose the courses and stay involved in them. | Yes for opening a course, and you still choose which courses make the year. | Mid. |
| All In One Curriculum | A one-time PDF grade pack for 6th, 7th, or 8th grade, with parent teaching guides and student books. | Secular, with evolution lessons included. | Medium, because the parent teaches from the guides. | Yes for planning, because the parent guide lays out the lessons. | Low. |
| Simply Charlotte Mason | Charlotte Mason lesson plans and book lists, with family lessons plus each child’s own subjects. | Christian. | Medium, because you lead the family lessons and narration. | Yes for planning, because the plans are written and you still teach them. | Mid. |
| Teaching Textbooks | A math app with Math 6, Math 7, Pre-Algebra, and Algebra 1 for the middle school years. | Math only, so we did not score it on worldview. | Low, because the app presents and grades every problem, though you still watch progress. | Yes, because the lessons and grading run inside the app. | Low. |
| Journey Homeschool Academy | Science video courses from a Christian publisher, with labs, sold one course at a time, with three middle school courses. | Christian. | Low once a course is chosen, though you still gather lab supplies and check the work. | Yes once a course is chosen, because the video lessons carry the course. | Mid. |
| 7Sisters Homeschool | Downloadable middle school essay writing and literature study guides. | Christian titles are part of the line, such as Great Christian Writers. | Medium, because you still discuss the books and grade the writing. | Yes for planning, because each guide comes with a written plan or questions. | Low. |
Pricing and package contents change. Check current packages on each publisher site.
There is no single best pick for every middle schooler. The sections below are ordered by the job each program does, not by rank: full boxed years first, then course libraries, then a secular download, then a Charlotte Mason plan, then single subjects for families who build the year themselves.
Fits families who want real books at the center of history and literature, a written plan for the year, and a student who is starting to read and work on their own with a parent close by.
Sonlight is a Christian, Christ-centered, literature-based curriculum. Its middle school page lists History / Bible / Literature programs such as Eastern Hemisphere (Level F), World History Year 1 and Year 2 (Levels G and H), a one-year condensed World History (Level W), History of Science (Level J), and its 120 American History course. A History / Bible / Literature program includes a year of history, geography, Bible, readers, read-alouds, and an Instructor’s Guide, with the required books. An All-Subjects package adds language arts, math, and science. Its 6th through 8th grade All-Subjects packages include Math-U-See, moving from Zeta in 6th grade to Pre-Algebra in 7th and Algebra 1 in 8th. Science runs from Science F in 6th grade to options that include Apologia General Science in 7th and 8th.
Sonlight’s 8th grade page says that if your students are ready, they can follow the Instructor’s Guide and direct their own daily studies, and its 120 American History and 130 Literature courses come with a separate Student Guide and Parent Guide. That does not take the parent out of the year. Sonlight’s philosophy page says the program requires significant parental involvement and that you have the opportunity to serve as mentor to your own children. Its middle school page estimates 2 to 3.5 hours of daily parent time across all subjects for its world history and Eastern Hemisphere years.
BookShark describes its own beginnings on its blog: it was built as a curriculum based as much as possible on the existing Sonlight product, with the faith-based materials removed. That does not mean the reading lists are identical, and it does not mean they share no titles. BookShark’s FAQ calls it faith-neutral: it does not espouse or oppose any faith, and its science and history programs do not teach evolution, creationism, or intelligent design.
BookShark sells by level rather than grade. Level F is for ages 10 to 13, Level G is for ages 11 to 13 and studies ancient civilizations, and Level H is for ages 12 to 14, with Level I for ages 13 to 15 after that. From Level D through Level H, language arts ties to the history program. BookShark schedules four days a week and leaves the fifth day open. Asked how much preparation the parent needs, its FAQ says “Very little,” and adds, “You just open your binder and start teaching.” Optional BookShark Virtual adds online schedules, assessments, and grading, and students still read the physical books.
Pick Sonlight or BookShark if:
Skip both if you need low parent time, a video teacher for most subjects, a secular science course that teaches evolution, or a low budget.
Compare them directly: Sonlight vs BookShark and best literature-based homeschool curriculum.
Shop: Shop Sonlight →
Shop: Shop BookShark →
Fits Christian families who want a complete classical year for each middle school grade, with Latin, composition, and classic books, and who can give high parent teaching time.
Memoria Press sells classical Christian grade-level packages through grade 12, including Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grade Curriculum Sets. Each set includes a curriculum manual, and Memoria Press says the manual has every day already planned, so you just open it up and teach from the books in the plan. That is the planning. The teaching is still yours, which is why parent time is high.
The middle school sets move Latin forward each year: Second Form Latin in sixth grade, Third Form in seventh, and Fourth Form in eighth, with the eighth grade set also including Henle Latin First Year for some translation practice. Composition moves through Classical Composition III, IV, and V. Math goes from Rod & Staff Grade 6 to Memoria Pre-Algebra in seventh grade and Memoria Algebra I in eighth.
Each set includes science: The Book of Birds and Exploring the History of Medicine in sixth grade, The Book of Trees and Exploring the World of Biology in seventh, and Novare Physical Science in eighth. Some subjects include streaming instructional videos, such as the Latin courses. Formal logic waits for high school, where Traditional Logic starts in ninth grade.
Check placement if you are starting Memoria Press in middle school. The seventh grade set says students should complete First and Second Form Latin before Third Form Latin, and Memoria Press sells New User Add-On Sets for each of these grades.
Pick Memoria Press if:
Skip Memoria Press if you need low parent time, a secular program, or a student who works mostly alone, or if your student has had no Latin and you do not want to catch up.
Compare it directly: best classical homeschool curriculum, Memoria Press vs Sonlight, and Memoria Press vs Classical Conversations.
Shop: Shop Memoria Press →
Fits Christian families who want a video teacher to carry literature, Bible, Latin, history, and science lessons, and who will choose the courses and check the work.
Compass Classroom is a library of Christian streaming video courses, mainly for grades 6 through 12. You pick courses rather than buying one boxed year. The Compass Membership gives access to more than 40 streaming courses, with an individual plan for one student or a family plan for one parent and four students. Some courses require physical books, noted on each course page.
Its Plan Your Year guide recommends middle school courses such as Middle School Literature, Grammar of Poetry, Modern Parables, Visual Latin, and General Science in sixth grade, adds American History and Physical Science in seventh, and adds American Literature and Spanish Grammar from Latin Roots in eighth. Logic, Fitting Words, and Western Culture courses are sold separately and are not in the membership, so the logic courses on its seventh and eighth grade lists are an extra purchase. Its middle school lists include no math course, and the only math course in its Math & Logic section is Calculus for Everyone, so plan on a separate math program.
Pick Compass Classroom if:
Skip Compass Classroom if you want one plan that covers every subject, including math, or if you want a print year with a daily manual.
Compare it directly: Compass Classroom vs Memoria Press and Compass Classroom vs Sonlight.
Shop: Shop Compass Classroom →
Fits Christian families who want one family membership with a broad set of middle school courses and a starting plan they can change, and who will choose the courses.
SchoolhouseTeachers.com is a Christian membership library, not one prescribed year. Almost all courses have a written component, and many include video, interactive pieces, or other media. Its middle school page describes checklists that help students stay on track, a planner for parents and students, and progress tracking, plus electives such as Understanding Middle School Health and Personal Finance in Bite-Sized Chunks.
There are optional School Boxes for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. The Seventh Grade School Box is a set of downloadable curriculum guides for Bible, math, English language arts, spelling, science, history, health, social studies and geography, music, and art, with weekly and daily checklists and nothing shipped. Its math guide is built on the Pre-Algebra course, and history comes in a traditional or a classical option. SchoolhouseTeachers.com says you can adjust, modify, or completely reimagine the box, and its sixth, seventh, and eighth grade box pages say the box is included with every membership.
Some courses still need books. Its FAQ says some courses may recommend books, often available through the library, and a few upper-level courses require a purchased text.
Pick SchoolhouseTeachers.com if:
Skip SchoolhouseTeachers.com if you want one boxed year with the books shipped, a secular program, or video teachers for every course.
Compare it directly: All In One Curriculum vs SchoolhouseTeachers.com.
Shop: Shop SchoolhouseTeachers.com →
Fits families who want a secular middle school curriculum on a low budget, delivered as PDFs, and who will teach from the parent guides.
All In One Curriculum sells one-time PDF grade packs for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. The 7th grade pack lists math, language arts, science, and social studies, each with 180 daily lessons, a student book, and a parent teaching guide with an answer key. Its 7th grade math covers integers, solving equations, slope, ratios, rates, and proportions, and its science covers topics from matter and plate tectonics to cells, genes, and human body systems.
Its FAQ says the curriculum is secular and does not pursue a political or religious agenda, and that it includes lessons on evolution. Everything is digital, so no books are mailed: you use the files on a device or print them yourself. All In One Curriculum also says it is a curriculum, not a school, and is not accredited.
Pick All In One Curriculum if:
Skip All In One Curriculum if you want Christian content, printed books in the mail, or a video teacher. Families who prefer a faith-neutral program that does not teach evolution or creationism can look at BookShark instead.
Compare it directly: All In One Curriculum vs SchoolhouseTeachers.com and best secular homeschool curriculum.
Shop: Shop All In One Curriculum →
Fits Christian families who want short lessons from living books, family-style history and enrichment, and written plans, and who are fine assembling the year from those plans.
Simply Charlotte Mason is a Christian Charlotte Mason program. Its curriculum guide splits the day in two: family lessons for subjects such as history, Bible, poetry, picture study, music, and nature study, and individual lessons for each child in math, science, and language arts. Its seventh grade overview lists Bible study, language arts, literature, math, science, Latin, and personal development as individual student lessons, and says most school books are read independently at this level, with written narrations increasing from two to three a week. It offers middle school literature book lists that students in grades 5 to 8 can share.
You build the year from a shopping list. Many of the scheduled books are sold separately, and each of the four years of A Pageant of History has its own Middle School Books Bundle. Budget is mid. Parent time is medium, because you still lead the family lessons and hear narrations.
Pick Simply Charlotte Mason if:
Skip Simply Charlotte Mason if you want one box shipped with everything, a secular program, or a video teacher.
Compare it directly: best Charlotte Mason homeschool curriculum and Simply Charlotte Mason vs Sonlight.
Shop: Shop Simply Charlotte Mason →
Many families build middle school one subject at a time, often around a core from above. Three subjects come up most: math, science, and writing.
Teaching Textbooks is a math app with levels from Math 3 through Pre-Calculus. Its levels for the middle school years are Math 6, Math 7, Pre-Algebra, and Algebra 1. Teaching Textbooks says the app grades every problem, gives a step-by-step audiovisual solution for each one, and sends parents a daily progress email. It also offers a free trial of the first 15 lessons of any level. Budget is low. It is a math course only, so pair it with a core for everything else. If you use Compass Classroom, this can cover math.
See Math-U-See vs Saxon vs Teaching Textbooks.
Shop: Shop Teaching Textbooks →
Journey Homeschool Academy sells science video courses with a Christian worldview. Its middle school courses are Earth Science Explored, Physical Science Explored, and Experience Astronomy, and it lists Physical Science Explored and Experience Astronomy for grades 6 to 9. Earth Science Explored has 35 weeks of video lessons, two a week, with weekly homework questions, quizzes, a lab manual, lab videos, and a course guide for parents. Lab supplies are bought separately. Journey describes its middle school astronomy and earth science courses as independent learning. It is a science course, not a full curriculum. Add a Journey course next to any core above.
See best Christian online science courses.
Shop: Shop Journey Homeschool Academy →
7Sisters Homeschool sells downloadable PDF guides for middle school English. Middle School Guide to Essay Writing is a 10-week course, four days a week, that teaches basic essay format, persuasive essays, literary analysis, compare and contrast essays, and editorials, with three grading rubrics. Its middle school literature study guides each cover one novel, such as Esperanza Rising, and come as a fillable student file and a separate parent answer key. Use them to add essay practice or a novel study when you are building the year by subject.
Shop: Shop 7Sisters Homeschool →
These come up often. We describe them from their own sites, without reviewing their full lines, in no particular order.
Apologia. Apologia describes itself as Christian homeschool curriculum for kindergarten through grade 12. Its middle school science list includes General Science and Physical Science. Sonlight schedules Apologia General Science as a science option in its 7th and 8th grade years.
Oak Meadow. Oak Meadow sells a middle school curriculum for grades 5 through 8 and describes it as secular. It says its middle school curriculum is written directly to the student, and it explains independent use versus enrolled use on its site. Its enrolled school option is outside the scope of this page.
Math-U-See. Math-U-See is a math program whose levels include Zeta, Pre-Algebra, and Algebra 1. Sonlight includes those three levels in its 6th, 7th, and 8th grade All-Subjects packages. We compare it with Saxon and Teaching Textbooks in Math-U-See vs Saxon vs Teaching Textbooks.
We compared these programs because families shopping for the best homeschool curriculum for middle school usually land on very different products: boxed years, course libraries, a PDF download, a Charlotte Mason plan, and single-subject courses. We ordered them by the job each does, starting with shape (a full year or one subject), then worldview, parent time, and budget, using our own bands for parent time and budget. We did not rank them by rigor or by how Christian they are.
Sonlight is Christian, high budget, medium parent time, books, and open-and-go for planning only. BookShark is faith-neutral, high budget, medium parent time, books, and open-and-go for planning only. Memoria Press is classical Christian, high budget, high parent time, books, and open-and-go for planning only. Compass Classroom is Christian, mid budget, low parent time once a course is chosen, and video. SchoolhouseTeachers.com is Christian, mid budget, medium parent time, and an online library. All In One Curriculum is secular, low budget, medium parent time, and digital PDFs. Simply Charlotte Mason is Christian, mid budget, medium parent time, and books from a shopping list. Teaching Textbooks, Journey Homeschool Academy, and 7Sisters Homeschool are single-subject options.
Wording was retrieved October 9, 2026, from Sonlight’s homepage, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade curriculum pages, middle school page, and educational philosophy page; BookShark’s FAQ, Level F, G, and H pages, BookShark Virtual page, and All About BookShark blog post; Memoria Press’s Classical Core Curriculum page, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grade pages, and Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grade Curriculum Set pages; Compass Classroom’s homepage, Compass Membership page, Math & Logic shop category, and Plan Your Year guide; SchoolhouseTeachers.com’s homepage, Membership Benefits page, middle school pathway page, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grade School Box pages, and FAQ; All In One Curriculum’s homepage, 7th Grade Homeschool Curriculum page, and FAQ; Simply Charlotte Mason’s curriculum guide, seventh grade overview, and What We Believe page; Teaching Textbooks’ homepage; Journey Homeschool Academy’s course list and its Earth Science Explored, Earth Science Explored lab supplies, Physical Science Explored, and Experience Astronomy pages; 7Sisters Homeschool’s Middle School Guide to Essay Writing page, middle school product page, and Esperanza Rising study guide page; and the homepages or middle school pages of Apologia, Oak Meadow, and Math-U-See. Simply Charlotte Mason’s Middle School Books Bundle pages were retrieved October 17, 2026.
Full method is on our methodology page.
There is no single answer for every middle schooler. Sonlight or BookShark fits a family that wants a boxed literature year. Memoria Press fits a family that wants a classical year and can teach it. Compass Classroom fits a student who learns from video courses. SchoolhouseTeachers.com fits a family that wants a Christian library of courses. All In One Curriculum fits a family that wants a secular, low-budget download. Simply Charlotte Mason fits a family that wants Charlotte Mason plans with family lessons. Take the quiz if you are not sure which shape fits.
Yes, in two different senses. All In One Curriculum calls itself secular, and its FAQ says it includes lessons on evolution. BookShark calls itself faith-neutral: it does not espouse or oppose any faith, and its science and history programs do not teach evolution, creationism, or intelligent design. Those are different promises, so match the one you need. Teaching Textbooks is a math course, so worldview rarely comes up there. For more options, see best secular homeschool curriculum.
It depends on the shape you want. Sonlight is a Christian literature-based year, Memoria Press is a classical Christian year, Compass Classroom is a Christian video course library, SchoolhouseTeachers.com is a Christian membership library, and Simply Charlotte Mason is a Christian Charlotte Mason plan. Journey Homeschool Academy adds science with a Christian worldview. See best Christian homeschool curriculum.
Yes, in different shapes. Compass Classroom is a streaming video course library, SchoolhouseTeachers.com is an online membership library, Journey Homeschool Academy sells science video courses, and Teaching Textbooks is a math app. All In One Curriculum is a PDF download you can use on a device. BookShark Virtual adds online schedules and assessments to a book-based year. None of these enrolls your student in a school. See best online homeschool curriculum.
Partly, and more in some programs than others. Sonlight’s 8th grade page says students who are ready can follow the Instructor’s Guide and direct their own daily studies, Journey describes its middle school astronomy and earth science courses as independent learning, Simply Charlotte Mason says most school books are read independently by seventh grade, and video courses and math apps carry more of the lessons. In every case, a parent still checks the work, discusses the reading, and grades the writing. Memoria Press expects the most parent time on this page.
Yes, and many families do in middle school. A common pattern is one core for history and literature, then a separate math course and a science course. If you mix, check that the courses do not overlap and that the total workload is realistic for your student.
There is no single grade that fits every student. The publishers on this page place it differently: Sonlight’s All-Subjects packages and Memoria Press’s sets put Pre-Algebra in 7th grade and Algebra 1 in 8th, the SchoolhouseTeachers.com seventh grade box uses its Pre-Algebra course, and Teaching Textbooks offers Math 7, Pre-Algebra, and Algebra 1 as separate levels. Place your student by what they have mastered, not by grade alone, and use the publisher’s placement help or free trial lessons where it offers them.
Want a personal match? Take the free quiz.