Spectrum 8th Grade Math Workbook

Great 8th Grade Math Workbook to help young students reinforce Math at that level, easy to understand and use as a guide.

It makes to fun math.

I got this book to sharpen my 6th grade son going into 7th grade math skills over the summer. The sections are short and the section provides useful examples. The book is set up to build on the skills. It appears to be about 5 days of a concept. Each page (new section) teaching an additional function. I bought the book with the goal to sharpen my son's math skills, link concepts, and for him to get comfortable with showing his work. If you can do it in your head, you can write it down. This book is worth it. My son has not complained about doing math problems over the summer break. I typically give him between 20-30 problems. Its taking him 35-50 minutes to finish the problems this includes checking the work. I bought 2 math books thinking this book might not cover all the concepts I needed. I was wrong.

This is a solid math book, but it does have it's flaws. However, I do think it's positives do outweigh the negatives and would still highly recommend the book/ series.I am a math teacher and a parent of two girls, grades 4 and 6. I no longer teach in the public schools (I've been out about 15 years now, but have tutored many students up until about 2 years ago), but when I did teach, I spent most of my time teaching middle school math (grades 6 to 8). I currently teach college math at one of the local community colleges and often teach the Developmental mathematics classes (remedial math for college students). I've used the Spectrum Math books in my teaching and have watched them change throughout the years to suit the changing curriculum. What I love about the series is that they offer a good amount of practice on the basics... this is not a math series that will spend a lot of time on those crazy 3 step and beyond problem solving questions... it focuses on understanding the basics. If your goal is to pass the state exams with their crazy questions, this probably isn't the series for you. I purchased this series b/c I personally cannot stand the Common Core curriculum as my children's public school teaches it... they teach solely to pass the PSSA tests in April (Pennsylvania's state Exams) and I feel they don't spend enough time on the basics. I personally Opt my children out of the Exams... but that's a whole different "review"!This particular grade book (8th grade) I do feel is lacking in the full curriculum, however. I do feel it needs more meat to it (Topic-wise). It focuses quite a bit on the coordinate plane and graphing equations (slope, creating equations using slope and y-intercept), but I feel it lacks in some basics such as positive and negative numbers (including positive and negative decimals and fractions). I am using this book with my 6th grade daughter who is advanced in mathematics as a supplement to her public school learning. I originally had her work on certain topics in the 5th grade Spectrum book last year and during part of the summer to fill in the "gaps" that the public school had created with her when they switched to their Common Core curriculum. I then had her work through the 6th grade Spectrum book over the summer (which she begrudgingly did... she claims she doesn't like math, but she is quite good in it). We finished the 6th grade book towards the beginning of September, so I purchased the 7th, 8th grade, and the Algebra book for her to work on. (We haven't tried the Algebra book yet.) For some reason, she started working on the 7th grade book and then wanted to change books and work on the 8th grade one... so that's what we are doing. Our deal is, she does a page in the book each day she does not have math homework from her teacher. So far, I like what I see. We have done Chapter 1 and most of chapter 2. However, I have already looked ahead to the 3rd chapter on "Linear Equations" and have changed the order of the lessons for my daughter. The chapter starts out with using slope as a relationship (in equations but NOT on the coordinate plane), then gets into graphing with slope (on the coordinate plane), then goes into Solving one step and then 2 step equations, then only one page on multiple step equations. Then it goes back to graphing lines on the coordinate planes, then it goes into solving 2 equations, 2 unknowns (algebraically), then solving two equations graphically. Wow! What a crazy chapter! I have broken it up (by just writing at the top of the page so my daughter knows when she gets to it) into 3 "chapters": Solving Equations, Graphing Equations I, and Graphing Equations II (with slope). I'm very disappointed in the Equations section. Solving one and two step equations should be covered in 7th grade and re-visited in 8th, but then emphasizing multiple step equations (combining like terms, etc.). I'm disappointed b/c that is one reason why I purchased this book... I was hoping for more two step and multiple step equations, since my daughter has done one step equations in school, but not more than that. In my opinion, there are too many pages on one-step equations in this book, and not enough two step or multiple step equations.What I plan to do is, have her finish Chapter 2 "Rational & Irrational Number Relationships", work on the Equations section, then some of the graphing section, then go back to the Grade 7 workbook to give her more instruction in Multiplying and Dividing Integers and some other items in that book. In my opinion, the 7th grade and 8th grade books need to be purchased together to get a full middle school curriculum. The 7th grade alone is not really "7th grade" in total (but it's not bad), and the "8th grade" alone is definitely NOT a full curriculum. (Yet, the 6th grade book was definitely a FULL curriculum!)The one thing you do NEED to watch out with this WHOLE series (from the young grades on up) is the answers/ sample problems. This series is notorious for errors. Their proofreader must not get paid very well! I've had issues with the answer key being incorrect (one or two errors per chapter I'd say) AND errors in the Sample Question/ Answer at the top. You really do need to check over the answers and the Sample questions before you start the page (or as your child is doing her/ his work). You can't know absolutely NOTHING about the math b/c your child will not find the errors and then end up thinking the answer in the back is correct... creating frustration... blah blah blah. My daughter knows that there's always a chance the answer key is wrong, so if she's checking her answer and it doesn't match, she asks me (and hopes!) it's a typo... sometimes it is, and sometimes my daughter is the incorrect one :)Here are the chapters that the book "covers":Ch 1 "Integers and Exponents" (although it doesn't cover Integers or positive/negative numbers AT ALL, so I don't know why the title includes it! It does cover exponents very well, however.)Ch 2 "Rational & Irrational Number Relationships" (Very thorough)Ch 3 "Linear Equations" (this is the one with equations and lots of graphing on the coordinate plane and slope)Ch 4 "Functions" (more linear equations using input/ output tables, Slope as a rate of change, initial values/ y-intercepts. Not crazy about how it is presented, but not bad)Ch 5 "Geometry" (Translations, Angles & Transversals, Pythagorean Theorem, Volume)Ch 6 "Statistics & Probability" (Scatterplots, Creating Equations for Scatterplots, Frequency Tables)In all, even though this particular workbook has its flaws, I think it is still a great book, as long as you purchase the 7th grade workbook as well. Depending upon your needs, you may want to also purchase the 6th grade workbook if you are trying to fill in gaps for your child.

Great way to add extra math

I love this book.Each chapter has a roughly 2 page* pre-test followed by about 10 subsections (2 pages of worksheets ea) followed by a post test. There's also a mid book 3 chapter test and a final all chapter test. The pages are perforated & ALL the answers are in the back of the book. Occasionally a test will have a worksheet on one side of it which is inconvenient if you are tearing pages out and giving them as individual tasks - but it's not unworkable. The practice pages give a short teaching example that's very well laid out. I wish the table of contents listed every subsection in a chapter, but that's a minor complaint. A quick place to record grades would be good too, but again, a very minor complaint. I really have loved using this book with my kid - it's been exactly what we needed.*when I say page, I mean just one side of a paper. So two pages would be front and back of a single paper (or back of one & front of the next)

As a homeschooling Mom do I love Spectrum workbooks. They are great as a supplemental curriculum in addition to your main curriculum. It covers all the topics that are needed to succeed and to also get that extra practice in. If your child already has the math knowledge how to solve 8grade math topics, this spectrum math book will be great for independent working, and homework assignments.

There are mistakes in the answer key. Specifically, page 48, problem 3 b. The answer key has the line going the wrong direction. It is a negative slope, not a positive slope. I googled it and apparently, this isn’t the only mistake in the book.