Considering MFW ECC for 4th and 7th grades

Some ofyou have offered great advice for ECC and the possibly of substituting With Canadian content when the time comes.  I’d really like to hear from people using ECC with this age group.  Do you/did you find the material too easy for the age group?  Have you found it necessary to add much to beef up the curriculum?  Comments on the grades 7 and 8 extension pack would be appreciated.  My 7th grader can be pretty sensitive, so I wonder if they might be a little heavy for him.  I only have the two boys and I am able to combine them for almost every subject as they are pretty evenly matched in skills areas.  It’s just a matter of maturity when it comes to selecting reading material. Neither of the boys are big on cut and paste, but hands on activities is an area where we are really lacking and could help us put some new life into our program.  Are there any books/resources that you would skip for these ages?  If so would I be better off buying separately from Amazon with free shipping or finding things second hand or at the library?

 I also really need something all laid out for me.  I don’t think I will feel the stress of not finishing. I have no trouble with the idea of dropping or substituting a country if necessary, and I think we all will benefit from at least one year of someone else doing the bulk of the day to day planning — at least for a while, any way.  Still, looking ahead to what would follow ECC: assuming we stuck with MFW, would it be possible to skip ancients and start with the second year of high school and bring the ancients back in in 12th?  This would allow us to stay in the same rotation. Like this:

Year 1= ECC with 4th and 7th

Year 2= CTG with 5th and 8th

Year 3= RTR with 6th and 9th doing highschool equivalent

Year 4= Explorers to 1850 with 7th and 10th doing highschool equivalent 

Year 5= 1850 to Present with 8th and 11th doing highschool equivalent

Year 6 = Ancients with 9th and 12th both at highschool level

Years 7-9= complete highschool cycle with younger ds

Another poster suggested my older ds could start highschool cysle in 8th, but that may be too optimistic for him.  And if he did, what would I do with him in 12th?  I suppose I could allow an elective or have him study American history that year (we’ll be substituting with Canadian history).

Thanks for any input you can offer. Tomorrow I’ll try to register for their message board, but I value the opinions and advice found here quite highly.  I still plan to use a couple of SCM resources and book suggestions even if we do go with MFW.  

Thanks again to all!