introduction with prayer request (sorry it's long!)

Hi! Though this is my first post, I have long been encouraged by many of you(thanks!). My husband and I are homeschooling our five children ages 13 down to almost 2 yrs. old. We have only homeschooled. For all of these years, I have envisioned living an educational life with my family, using our homeschool as an extension of worship/ discipling our children, in hopes of raising a godly heritage for the Lord. CM’s methods have seemed to go nicely with this vision. For the last several years, the biggest  challenge for me, (and for most of the moms I know who homeschool more than 2 children), is how to handle multiple children. This is especially true of history, but can be true of other subjects as well.What began as an enjoyable adventure of learning together, has become a nerve-wracking, kind of “roller coaster ride gone bad” kind of thing. Thankfully, the Lord has been faithful; the children are doing well in school, and otherwise. I am the one who is struggling. We first encountered a challenge  when using Sonlight, which we used for our first several years of homeschooling. This happened pretty much after we had more than one child using it. Because of the spacing between our children, we would always have had to use more than one,even two cores. Also, it became too expensive for us.For a few years, I have tried putting together something on my own, similar to what you do here, using various booklists.This was a lot of work for me. Our last couple of years have been spent using or working from AO. We love many, many things about it, and are so thankful for all of the information they have made available to us. Our first year using it went very well, as far as having my two oldest being able to work independently is concerned. That year, however, I found myself grieving the loss of our together time, especially time spent doing history. I have read many, many posts from this group, as well as from the AO group. I have read about the pros and cons to all of this, but still feel unsure of where the Lord is leading us. Suffice it to say, I need prayer. I’m having trouble deciding where to go from here. In my heart, I would love to have us studying the same history rotation. I’m just not sure about the best way to do this. AO doesn’t recommend combining children, although some do that. I’m not sure that is going to work for us, as the upper year seems too hard for my oldest, and the younger year seems too easy. I love their printed schedules and booklists, but have had to tweak them. I would like for my oldest to be able to study both modern history and ancient yet, as these are the times we have spent the least time on for him. I’m really wanting a game plan from this year on, so each year I don’t feel like I am reinventing the wheel. I have concerns, also, about my son getting ready for high school, transcripts, etc. Aside from praying for wisdom beyond what I have and confidence (which I am lacking), I would appreciate hearing from anyone who might be led to advise me on this. Specifically, Anabetica, after reading your posts here and at AO, I have been very interested in what you have been doing for history. I like how you have used  TQ, and how you have studied multiple threads of history at the same time. Are you still doing this? How is it going?  Also, I have liked how Heather has used TQ, and Guerber along with SCM. As far as AO goes, Michelle D., Shanna, and Cindy S. , I have read posts you have written, and wonder if you have any further advice. Cindy S., in one of your posts, you wrote about having to be careful about some of the AO books, esp. relating to inappropriate books. Could you get into this a bit more? The reason I am asking is not to be critical of another curriculum. I just am not sure I feel qualified to have to be the “content police”, especially when dealing with so many books at so many various levels, for so many children. I’m also not sure about so much mythology and fairy tales being included there. Furthermore,I, like others  have had a real challenge placing my children in the right AO level. I’m currently still dealing with that issue (correct placement). I have loved many things about this site, especially the curriculum guide and the schedules. The schedules have been among the most helpful things to my homeschooling to date(thanks!). Probably my biggest concern to using SCM is pulling everything together, especially in light of the high school transcript thing. I don’t think we can afford the Organizer to help with that, or the Planning DVD for that matter. These resources seem to be giving many of you success using SCM. Is this a correct conclusion? My husband and I have prayed most and hardest about this period in our homeschooling over any other year;many tears included. We are asking the Lord to allow us to hear His voice, according to His leading for our family. The love so many of you have for the Lord has been apparent to me during time spent on this forum. Your hearts toward one another and your support for each other as the Body of Christ has encouraged me many days when I have really needed it. Thank you for your consideration, prayers, and any responses. Blessings to you! Sincerely, Nancy