7,200+ Confident Readers and Spellers
8th Grade Homeschool Reading and Spelling Curriculum
(At-Home and Online)
Scholar Within’s Bonnie Terry, M.Ed., BCET has been featured on
Help Your 8th Grader Improve Comprehension, Read Faster, and Spell Flawlessly
- Self-paced, step-by-step at-home and online lessons
- Carefully selected reading selections and questions
- Grade-appropriate spelling lessons
- Research-proven reading fluency training
- 8th-grade reading comprehension activities that improve memory skills
- Vocabulary building activities
- Word-attack card games that get the whole family involved
Why Scholar Within?
What parents are saying
“My daughter has not only increased her words per minute but also has improved her comprehension.”
– Mary M.
“The video spelling and phonics lessons are like having a private tutor in our home.”
– Wendy R.
“The games were really enjoyable! We even played them AFTER the lesson was over for the day.”
– Natalie M.
8th-Grade Homeschool Reading and Spelling Curriculum
Hand Selected 8th-Grade Reading Comprehension Selections
Each week, your child will read two engaging 8th-grade reading comprehension selections, both fiction and non-fiction. We’ve chosen the best reading selections that will open your son or daughter’s world of reading.
Your child will learn how to talk about and summarize the stories they have read. The best eighth reading comprehension curriculum includes both fiction and non-fiction. This allows your child to learn to compare and contrast ideas and information as well as think creatively.
Tap to Read – Read-Aloud Technology from Scholar Within
Does your child ever get frustrated with trying to read or sound out a word that they are unfamiliar with? With Tap to Read, your child can instantly hear the proper pronunciations of words by simply tapping or clicking on the word to hear it aloud. They can also work on their reading fluency and speed by pressing play and following along.
Try Tap to Read
Note-taking and Writing Skills
Scholar Within’s 8th-grade reading comprehension program is more than just reading! Your child will learn to take notes from what they have read and use those notes later.
So many students just stare at blank sheets of paper when they are asked to take notes. As a result, we have custom fill-in-the-blank graphic organizer note-taking forms that make it easy to take notes and organize ideas. It is so much easier to fill out a graphic organizer form than to use a blank piece of paper to take notes.
The action of note-taking improves your child’s memory skills. Your eighth-grader will become a better thinker as they improve their note-taking and writing skills.
Build Long-Term Memory Skills
Critical to the 8th-grade reading curriculum is improving overall reading comprehension and factual knowledge base. As your knowledge base improves, reading comprehension improves.
Your child will answer questions about the passages they read in the program a day or two after they read the selection. Using the 8th-grade reading comprehension worksheets, your child will learn to remember and recall what they have read.
Your child will learn to review their notes and write summaries of them. Your child learns the process they will use for years to come to have success in school and in life.
Learn spelling and word attack skills.
Your entering eighth-grader will learn how to spell by spelling patterns through our interactive video lessons.
This specific method teaches your 8th-grader the structure of the English language. This activity improves your 8th-graders ability to not only decode larger words but also improves their reading comprehension as they become more familiar with advanced words.
Your kids will learn and practice the phonetic patterns of English through each lesson, spelling activity worksheets, puzzles, and games.
Each week, your child will learn to spell ten new words according to their phonetic spelling patterns.
Reading Fluency Training Boosts 8th-Grade Comprehension Skills
By the time your child is in the 8th grade, reading comprehension is key to their success. One of the best tips for improving comprehension, in addition to note-taking, is to improve their reading fluency.
Reading fluency training is one of the most important strategies used to build your child’s success with reading. This is your child’s ability to read with speed and accuracy without conscious attention to the mechanics of reading. This is a critical skill as your child moves into the upper grades and the reading material becomes longer and more complicated.
Our research-proven reading fluency drills work on training your eyes to move more efficiently and smoothly left to right. They also improve your kids’ visual processing speed, or how fast they can retrieve and process what they see. You and your kids will love seeing their improvement each day.
Boost Word Attack Skills and Play Vocabulary Card Games
Each week your child will play a card game that will work on their word identification skills or comprehension and vocabulary skills. Both word identification and comprehension skills improve when you play with words. The more comfortable you become with word relationships, the easier it is for you to comprehend what you read. This is why we include reading card games. Your child will love these games and want to play them over and over again.
Develop Planning Skills that Stick
Scholar Within’s 8th-grade reading comprehension program also includes executive function skill activities. These are the decision-making and planning skills that we all need in our daily lives. Your child will use fill-in-the-blank daily to-do worksheets and planning calendars to schedule out their days.
Your child will decide when they will do certain activities, and they will estimate how long each activity will take. After the activity is completed, they will reflect on how long it actually took and will start to build their time awareness and planning skills. Your child will strengthen their working memory, flexible thinking, and organization skills.
Research-driven, results-proven curriculum
Every component of our 8th-grade reading program is research-based and is specifically designed to boost your child’s reading and spelling skills.
The program has been created by learning expert and board-certified educational therapist Bonnie Terry, M.Ed. Bonnie Terry put together her 35+ years of working hands-on with children of all learning styles and abilities into this step-by-step program.
You and your kids will see results each week.
Develop a Love of Reading
Your child will gain confidence in their reading ability and understanding of what they have read.
Your child will make substantial gains with these effective research-based techniques. Your child will be able to complete their assignments more quickly and easily. They will gain confidence and develop a lifelong love or reading and learning.
Your child will do a variety of activities that teach and strengthen all of these skills. Your child will love doing the activities in the program and will want to do them again and again.
Reviews from Parents
Everything you need to teach 8th-grade reading and spelling at home
Step-by-step, online and offline lessons
Carefully selected online reading passages
Tap-to-read, online read-aloud technology
Take notes offline with graphic organizers
Offline reading fluency training
Spelling and phonics video lessons and tests
Learn to spell with spelling patterns
Offline puzzles and worksheets
Vocabulary and word-attack card games
Offline planning and time-management
activities
Executive function and mind-body activities
Print at home or get materials shipped to you
Homeschool Reading and Spelling Curriculum by Grade Level
Learn more about what reading skills your kids will build in our homeschool reading and spelling program.
FAQs
After sign up, you will be asked what grade your child is currently and whether they are above grade level, at grade level, or below grade level by 1-3 years in their reading skills.
Give your best estimate. If the material you choose is too easy or too hard, contact us and we’ll adjust your account.
Additionally, you can choose a couple of sample reading passages at the grade level you think your child is capable of reading proficiently.
Have them read aloud to you. Make a note of any repetitions, substitutions, omissions, or mispronunciations they make. Then ask them at least five comprehension questions.
Instructional level is reading without mistakes with a 93% accuracy and a minimum of 75% comprehension.
The program materials and teaching videos are delivered and accessed online. Each day you will print out a few pages of handouts to use with your kids. Most of the lessons and activities are done offline at a table or outside.
There are a lot of fun activities and games. With grades K-3, most of the activities are done with the parent and child together. For grades 4 and above, there are a couple of activities done with the parent and child together, and the rest the child can do independently.
The short answer is yes!
Each day there are a few handouts to print out and instructional videos to watch. Each day’s actual activities should only take 45-60 minutes of actual work.
The first week takes a little bit of time and prep to get up to speed, but by the second week, the activities become second nature.
We often suggest breaking up some of the activities to different parts of the day.
- Print out the handouts
- Watch the short videos either by yourself or with your kids to know what to do (about 5 minutes)
- Do the fluency training with your kids (5 minutes)
- Activities for comprehension, phonics, brain-body, and executive function rotate throughout the week (20 – 40 minutes)
No. We currently do not have live classes.
We have designed this program to be step-by-step with bite-sized activities. You won’t have to worry about missing a Zoom class, being late, or your kids being still in their pajamas. You can do the activities in the program on your schedule and make up missed days at your convenience.
We have video spelling instruction that your kids will follow along with their corresponding worksheets. If you want feedback on your child’s work, send us a picture of it via email.
Different from other summer reading programs, in this summer reading program, your child will learn through seeing, hearing, and doing. Learning to read through multiple senses builds stronger associations, improves retention, and speeds up recall skills.
In other words, learning to read in this way makes reading easier and automatic. This at-home and online reading program is specifically designed with short activities that integrate hearing, seeing, and doing.
Research on teaching reading and spelling dates back to the early 1930s, first with Samuel Orton and then later with Anna Gillingham. They developed a teaching approach, the Orton-Gillingham method (OG), to help struggling readers and spellers. Their teaching methods include what is currently considered best practices: sequential, phonics-based systems that teach the basics of word formation before whole meanings.
Learning through all three senses (auditory, visual, and tactile-kinesthetic) is essential. This multisensory approach has been proven effective for students of all abilities, including those with dyslexia and other learning challenges.
The Scholar Within Reading Program incorporates these OG principles and strategies along with the latest research on learning.
Orton-Gillingham Instructional Components for Optimal Learning:
- Multisensory: Uses all of the senses (auditory, visual, and tactile-kinesthetic)
- Sequential: Proceeds step-by-step in a logical sequence
- Incremental: Each lesson builds upon prior learning
- Cumulative: Constantly and consistently reviews previously taught concepts
- Individualized: Meets each student’s individual needs
- Phonogram-Based: Words are based on combining letters and letter combinations known as phonograms (the sound-symbol relationship, also known as the Alphabetic Principle)
- Explicit: Stated clearly and in a detailed manner
Physical Products
30-Day Money-back Guarantee
We offer this program because we love seeing parents and their kids succeed. It is an extraordinary experience to watch parents empower their kids, and we are 100% committed to your success. For your part, the success of the program relies on your commitment to completing the weekly activities as outlined.
We are so confident that our Reading Program and Spelling Program will be a life-changing experience for you that we offer a no-risk 30-day guarantee on our printed material kits.
If you are unsatisfied with the print materials and program within the first 30 days, just ship us back the printed material, and we’ll refund your purchase excluding actual shipping cost and return shipping. Materials must be unused and in a resaleable condition. The material must be postmarked within 30 days of receiving the material.
Bonus free physical products must be returned in their original, unused, new, and resalable condition. If the bonus free item is not returned, you will be charged for the full cost of the bonus free item.
If you think you might return or cancel the program, print out the material at home before using any of the physical material.
Online Programs
14-Day Money-back Guarantee
We offer this program because we love seeing parents and their kids succeed. It is an extraordinary experience to watch parents empower their kids, and we are 100% committed to your success. For your part, the success of the program relies on your commitment to completing the weekly activities as outlined.
We are so confident that our Reading Program and Spelling Program will be a life-changing experience for you that we offer a no-risk 14-day guarantee. If after completing the program’s first week’s activities within the first 14 days from the initial sign-up, simply let us know, and we will refund your purchase. If you purchased print materials with the online program, actual shipping costs will be excluded from your online program refund.
Bonus free physical products must be returned in their original, unused, new, and resalable condition. If the bonus free item is not returned, you will be charged for the full cost of the bonus free item.
If you think you might return or cancel the program, print out the material at home before using any of the physical material.
7-Day Free Trial
We offer a 7-day free trial only on the Monthly Reading & Spelling Program Membership.
This gives you a chance to try the program without having to pay. If you cancel within the first 7-days, you will not be charged. If you are considering the yearly option, this is a great way to try the program first before deciding to upgrade.
All other membership options require an upfront payment. For these other membership options, we offer a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Our 14-day money-back guarantee starts when you sign up for the program.
If you signed up for the 7-day free trial and you are still within the 7 days, you can cancel the program on your own. Log in to your account, click Go to Program, go to My Account > Settings > Membership, and you can cancel your account from here. If you cancel within the first 7-days, you will not be charged.
This program has been designed by learning disabilities expert and board-certified educational therapist Bonnie Terry, M.Ed., BCET.
Bonnie originally designed this curriculum in her private learning center in the 1990s where she saw kids with dyslexia, ADHD, auditory processing disorder, kids on the autism spectrum, and numerous other learning challenges.
She learned first hand what worked and what didn’t.
Bonnie was only able to see kids twice a week for an hour each time and had to figure out a way to make progress in reading and spelling in that short amount of time.
She discovered specific multisensory activities worked.
She discovered that she could teach spelling through spelling patterns while teaching individual sound components of letters.
She discovered that you could train your eye muscles for reading just like you can train your body for sports.
She discovered that to successfully teach reading, you must teach all 5 principles of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary).
She discovered that teaching through hands on games is not only fun but strengthens kids skills and associations with learning.
She discovered teaching by the Science of Reading before it was known as the Science of Reading.
Parents and teachers kept asking what it was that she was doing in her learning center because of the transformative results the kids saw in such little time.
She realized that she needed to make this curriculum available to all students.
When you teach in these ways, all kids can successfully read and spell, not matter whether they have learning challenges or not.
Since her private learning center, Bonnie Terry, M.Ed., BCET has teamed up with her son, Nick Terry, who is a design and technology expert to create Scholar Within.
This way, they’ve been able to bring Bonnie Terry’s original curriculum into a step-by-step format that all families can do at home with their kids and teachers can do with their students.
Reserve Your Spot
Not quite ready to sign up? Reserve your spot for Scholar Within’s homeschool reading and spelling program.
