Need advice on my Planning

Okay, I have been working for days to figure out where I am going with our studies for the next year and the years after. We are starting with explorers and going through the time just after the Am. Revolution in 2008-2009.

1. I plan on using a spine to unite everyone in our subjects. I am debating between the Am. History Stories by Pratt and The 13 Colonies by H.A. Guerber. Any advice?

2. Each week I would like to read aloud 1 or 2 days from the spine and then read one day each from the following: A Biography, a historical fiction, and a factual story from the time.

3. I want my “7th” grader (for lack of a better term) to read independently 1-2 chapters each week from the following: a different biography, historical fiction, and something from the same time period but in another part of the world. (He is a HUGE reader)

4. My 5th grader I am planning on have read 1-2 ch/week from one or 2 other books from the time period also.

5. I will have them daily read one simple book to their younger siblings so I can work independently with another child.

6. I then also plan on having one of Shakespeare’s plays, a Dickens novel, and fun literature book that we read one day a week each, along with poetry, art study, and nature study and lots of time outside.

Does this sound doable? I am planning to do 12 week periods this year and we will be reading small amounts of these books each day. We will also have fun activities and their other basics, but I just need advice on my overall picture.

Sorry to be so long winded.

Kelley