Anyone with a large family try something besides SCM/CM?

Raines, thanks for the tip with large families. I will look at the site you mentioned.  I have 10 children ages 3-23.

One thing that helped me with the grading is this:  they come to a designated grading area and cannot have a pencil in hand, only a red pen.  They grade their work themselves (math, some grammar work sheets, other things like this that I call their “independent work”).  They let me know what they needed to correct and it has been going fairly well. I have a newly adopted boy who was cheating while grading.  Sometimes I will randomly grade his for him or keep a close eye on his work to help him persever and grow in his character. 

When we do formal grammar and/or spelling copy work, I discipline myself to grade it right then and there while they are studying.  Many times grade it together and discuss the errors/corections together. This is on a good day.  The other days, if something slips, I can catch it later.  Analytical Grammar is a bit difficult to grade but I suffer through it. 

I learned a lesson the hard way when my older son took Math U See Geometry which was self driven.  I assumed he was doing fine.  He got to the final and I graded it for him.  He did poorly.  I looked back through the his workbook and he wasn’t being thorough in his grading.  He failed the class and is taking it again. :/  He needed much more accountability.  I was preoccupied.  Mistakes are good teachers. 

We do Apologia science one semester and history another or do science 2 days a week and history 2 days a week together.  There is not a lot of grading needed in these subjects.