New to CM…starting a 9th grader, + 8th, 6th and 1st

Hello, my name is Jenielle.  This is our second round of homeschooling.  I homeschooled about 4 years ago.  We schooled basically school at home, which is why it didn’t work.  My kids have been in both public and private school.  I pulled the kids out in January and we have been homeschooling since then.  Traditional school just doesn’t appeal to my children.  I have been talking with a friend about CM methods.  I believe it will work great for all of the my kids, because they all LOVE to read!  I have read the book by Catherine Levison and the book by Karen Andreola about Charlotte Mason methods.  I have been trying desperately to find something that would bring the desire to learn back to my older children.  We will be starting 1st grade, 6th grade, 8th grade and 9th grade.  I am not so concerned about missing things with my youngest two children.  I am a little concerned about my soon to be high schooler and my 8th grader. 

I think that I am mostly concerned, because I have no experience with CM and I don’t want to mess things up for my oldest two.  When they were in the private school, they were in a joint classroom and basically doing the same subjects…so that is what we have continued since they have been home. 

I am planning to use Early American and World History, A Literature Approach this first year with all of the kids.  I got guides for each of their ages.  I just recently ordered Algebra I Saxon math with the DVDs.  I was planning to start this summer with Nature Studies.  I have been reading a ton about that and have purchased some great resources from Ebay.  From everything that I have read, I think that I need to do another science with my oldest two.  Is this a good assumption?  Maybe a lab science?  We tried to use the Apologia Science, but it was really dry for my kiddos.  

Do I need to do some sort of writing program for the older two?  If so, does anyone have any good recommendations?  I feel like the pressure is on, but I really think this is what I wish we had been doing all along.  It will definitely suit my youngest children well.  I think it will be great for the other two also, but it is harder to change their ideas about what school should be.  My oldest daughter(9th grader) thinks that the only way to learn is a textbook, but yet that way doesn’t work well for her.  Now my son(8th grader) could learn from dirt.  He loves to learn, but he is not quite sure about all of this either.  

We had an easy transition since January.  I haven’t been near as strenous as I probably should have been.  I was just trying to change their perception of school and learning.  I am hoping that these new changes will be a plus in the right direction.  I feel really good about all of this.  I just want to really thorough…and not leave anything out. 

I am really nervous about the transcripts, but I have found quite a few very detailed informational transcripts.  I just don’t want to mess anything up.

Any insight on any of this would be greatly appreciated and accepted. 

~Jenielle