Eighth Grade Virtual School

Cognia accredited

35+ electives

Mentorship

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Brightspire offers an accredited, standards-based virtual school experience for eighth grade, designed to be flexible, engaging, and academically rigorous. Students learn at their own pace with the support of certified teachers, on-demand tutors, and dedicated mentors who help guide their progress and set meaningful goals.

Each course includes:

Video-based instruction led by certified teachers
Interactive assessments to reinforce mastery
Printable resources for offline practice
Hands-on projects and creative challenges
Personalized feedback and mentorship check-ins

Brightspire’s eighth grade curriculum helps students become clear writers and create linear functions that can be used to model and solve mathematical and real-world problems. In science, learners explore the properties that affect motion, forces, and energy on Earth. In social studies, learners cover ancient civilizations in the regions of Mesopotamia, India, China, and Greece and Rome. With opportunities for enrichment and connection through monthly student events, seventh graders at Brightspire build confidence, curiosity, and community—all from the comfort of home.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS 8
In this course, students build on their knowledge and blossom as
thoughtful readers and clear, effective writers. A balance of literary and informational texts engages students throughout the course in reading critically, analyzing texts, and citing evidence to support claims. Students sharpen their vocabulary, grammar, and listening skills through lessons designed to provide explicit modeling and ample opportunities to practice. Students also routinely write responses to texts they have read, and use more extensive, process-based lessons to produce full-length essays in
narrative, informative, analytical, and argumentative formats. In this fullyear course, students develop a mastery of reading, writing, and language arts skills.

MATHEMATICS 8
In this course, students use input-output relationships to build a
foundation for learning about functions. Students make connections
between verbal, numeric, algebraic, and graphical representations of relations and apply this knowledge to create linear functions that can be used to model and solve mathematical and real-world problems. Technology is used to build deeper connections among representations. Students focus on formulating expressions and equations, including modeling an association in bivariate data with a linear equation, and writing and solving linear equations and systems of linear equations. Students develop a deeperunderstanding of how translations, rotations, reflections, and dilations of distances and angles affect congruency and
similarity. Students develop rules of exponents and use them to simplify exponential expressions. Students extend rules of exponents as they perform operations with numbers in scientific notation. Estimating and comparing square roots of non-perfect squares to perfect squares exposes students to irrational numbers and lays the foundation for applications such as the Pythagorean theorem, distance, and volume.

PHYSICAL SCIENCE
This full-year course focuses on basic concepts in chemistry and physics and encourages exploration of new discoveries in the field of physical science. The course includes an overview of scientific principles and procedures and has students examine the chemical building blocks of our physical world and the composition of matter. Additionally, students explore the properties that affect motion, forces, and energy on Earth. Building on these concepts, the course covers the properties of electricity and magnetism and the effects of these phenomena. As students refine and expand their understanding of physical science, they will apply their knowledge to complete interactive virtual labs that require them to ask questions and create hypotheses. Hands-on wet lab options are also
available.

MS SURVEY OF WORLD HISTORY
The year-long MS Survey of World History course provides a basic
overview of all aspects of World History from the early River Valley
civilizations through our modern world.
Students will gain a rich understanding of global cultures and the historical factors that have shaped the world around them. Throughout the course students analyze historical sources and make connections with concepts such as government, economic systems, and technology and innovation. Students encounter rigorous reading and writing activities to develop literacy and writing skills as well as critical thinking and communication skills. The course begins with units covering ancient civilizations in the
regions of Mesopotamia, India, China, and Greece and Rome. Students learn what life was like in ancient times and how the empires rose and fell. Students move on to study the social and political changes that were brought about during the Renaissance and that spurred worldwide explorations. Revolutions, imperialism, and world wars follow with indepth studies on how these events happened and their influence. As one century ends and the next begins, students study the Cold War as well as
the political and economic changes across the globe. The course concludes with the issues facing our global society from environmental issues to the role technology plays in our everyday life.

Middle School Electives
Middle School Digital Literacy*°
Middle School Keyboarding and Applications*
Middle School Computer Science°
Middle School Digital Art & Design 1A*
Middle School Digital Art & Design 1B*
Middle School Exploring Music 1A*
Middle School Exploring Music 1B*
Middle School Exploring Business*
Middle School Exploring Health Science*
Middle School Journalism 1A*
Middle School Journalism 1B*
Middle School Photography 1A*
Middle School Photography 1B*
Middle School 2D Studio Art 1A*
Middle School 2D Studio Art 1B*
Middle School Career Explorations I*
Middle School Career Explorations II*
Middle School Career Explorations III*
Middle School Online Learning and Digital
Citizenship*

Middle School Health
Middle School Health Quest*
Middle School Health*
Middle School Fitness Basics 1*
Middle School Fitness Basics 2*
Middle School Intro to Group Sports 1*
Middle School Intro to Group Sports 2*
Middle School Intro to Individual Sports 1*
Middle School Intro to Individual Sports 2*

Student life

Embrace pressure-free learning

Let your pre-teen progress through lessons at their own speed and immerse themselves in topics they're excited about, all in the comfort of home.

Man playing an acoustic guitar against a plain background

Foster personal growth

Students work with mentors on an "Inspired Learner" framework, honing independent study skills while creating a personalized learning plan based on their college and career goals.

Choose from 35+ electives

From art to computer science, Brightspire helps students explore their passions.

Brightspire parents

Parent check-ins

Our mentors keep parents up to speed on student progress and learning opportunities.

Easy transcripts

Brightspire maintains transcripts and keeps track of your student's records, allowing families the ultimate flexibility should they choose to transfer back to brick and mortar school.

Stress-free class schedule planning

Families work with their mentor to ensure the student is placed in the right classes at the right level, and set-up to achieve their learning goals.

FAQs

Yes! Brightspire is a self-paced program, allowing students to spend more time on challenging topics and move quickly through material they already understand. Students partner with their mentor to customize the schedule to fit their needs.

Brightspire uses a multi-level approach to guide students on their academic journeys, ensuring they get the help they need, when they need it.

Teacher Support: Our teachers check on student progress weekly, providing feedback on their work. If intervention is needed, teachers will communicate with both students and parents to create a plan for successful course progression. Communication with teachers is flexible; parents and students can reach out via text, email, or direct message through our online portal, and meetings with teachers can be requested at any time.

On-Demand Tutoring: On-Demand Tutoring is available for students at the moment they need it for our core courses in language arts, math, science, and social studies, and in Spanish and French language courses. These services are easily accessible through the chat button within each course.

In addition to chat support, students can work with tutors through 1-on-1 live audio calls and a real-time collaborative whiteboard. Tutors can initiate audio calls directly from the platform, and students can message tutors to arrange these calls.

Student On-Demand Tutor Chat Hours:

Monday – Friday: 9 a.m. – 10 p.m. EST
Saturday: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. EST
Sunday: 6pm - 10pm ET

Hours are subject to change.

Mentorship: Our mentors act as trusted advisors, helping students establish good educational habits, develop ownership over their learning, build a growth mindset, and become independent, thoughtful students. Mentors also help set academic goals and monitor progress, and alert students and parents if students demonstrate on-going challenges with their courses.

With these resources, Brightspire ensures that every student has the tools and support they need to succeed throughout their journey with us.

Registration:

A non-refundable enrollment fee of $150 is charged at the time of enrollment. This fee will be charged again upon re-enrollment at Brightspire for each semester or year.

Tuition Fees:

Full Time Enrollment (Up to 6 courses)

1 Year: $3,990 if paid up front. Or 3 payments of $1,427 on day 1, 60, and 120.

1 Semester: $2,240 if paid up front. Or 3 payments of $783 on day 1, 30 and 60.

Part Time Enrollment (One course at a time)

1 Year course: $930, which must be paid up front.

1 Semester course: $465, which must be paid up front.

Yes! Brightspire is accredited by Cognia, which represents one of the highest levels of secondary school accreditation in the USA. This means our credits should be accepted by other high schools across the country, and our diploma is recognized by universities that require an accredited high school diploma. However, we always recommend checking with the specific school or college to ensure our credits or diploma meet their requirements.

Brightspire courses are NCAA approved, making them an excellent choice for student-athletes aiming to pursue college sports.