Back-To-Homeschool with 8th and 4th Grade

Even though we have done review products a couple days a week during the summer, we OFFICIALLY jumped back into our full routine this week! It was BACK-TO-HOMESCHOOL and I can't believe that it is my NINTH year homeschooling! I never in a million years envisioned this for my family, but I can't imagine anything different now! 
My oldest son is exploring what would be officially 8th grade if he was in public school. This year we are working on promoting as much independent accountability as possible in preparation for the high school years starting next year. (gulp) We are also considering what classes he needs to be focusing on in the upcoming years in preparation for his future career in the engineering field. This year, we are hoping he can start taking accountability for his work so he can get done earlier each day--if he can do that, he'll be able to work on the farm in the afternoon--something my husband really appreciates having him for. I will be sharing a post later with the curriculum we've picked for this year to help facilitate this. 
Right now, his favorite subjects are still history and science--and least favorite is definitely still math. He loves to read and enjoys historical fiction or non-fiction books. He's thoroughly loving our homeschool co-op where he has classes in literature, STEM, Music Appreciation, and ART. He works fairly well on his own and hates having to wait for his brother to finish joint projects.

My youngest son is completing fourth/fifth-grade work this year. He is really taking off in his schoolwork and would do math all day if I let him. He still adores being read aloud to, so we do that for our reading curriculum. He enjoys reading, writing, math, grammar, and art. He does well with history, but it's not his favorite. He's much more well rounded in his school work. His learning style of kinesthetic and visual means he enjoys looking at photo books and creating projects for his work. At this time, he's still desiring to be in a career that does something with math. As long as he can still farm. LOL. 
He really enjoys the homeschool co-op, especially having a class for literature. He enjoys new friends and our cooking class that is part of our co-op. He likes having his brother do a few subjects with him, preferring group work to solo work. 
It's going to be a good year. We've got a lot of changes coming up--and I think it could be our best year yet!
Make sure you check back for our curriculum list if you want to see what kind of a curriculum I've mashed together for us this year. Some old and some new for each boy!
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