Beyond & littles - which side first?

[Motherjoy]

I have a 7yo who is solidly in Beyond. My 5yo and 4yo are tagging along for the Learning through History side. For the Basics side, they do listen in on the story and the math activity, but they don't do the math lesson. They also have their own level of ETC and they each do their own page (at their own pace) in TRL.

So, which side should I start first? Last year, I did really well at covering the basics, but I didn't get the history side done every day. It was our best year of school, though, and all the boys are reading well at their levels.

I'd really prefer to do all the school in one sitting with the little guys, except for a short potty break. We usually don't do well if we get up from the table. We end up never coming back. Any suggestions? Today I used table activities and rug activities to keep busy while I was working with the others, but they enjoyed those too much and didn't want to get back to regular school. So, I'm thinking I need to get the history side done while we are all together, then do phonics with everyone, then dismiss the little ones to play while I work on spelling & math with the 7yo.

[sharonb]

I've found that for us, it works better to do the left side and storytime of Beyond first (after I've finished LHTH with the 2yo and 4yo). It's easier to get everyone together that way. Then they move on to their 3R's subjects; I work one-on-one with my 1st grader, while my 3rd and 4th graders work on theirs semi-independently. My 2yo and 4yo can listen in if they are quiet; otherwise they have to go to the playroom to play.

[MelInKansas]

I pick whatever seems the hardest to get through for right after worship/prayer and Bible time. This year that is my 6YO (Beyond) doing LA and copywork. But in your situation, I would indeed do the history and everything you want to do with the youngers all together, get them all through it, and then they can have free time (or if they tend to fight and have problems separate them with activities to do) while you finish up with the 7YO. My 4 YO tags along for history, storytime, and some of the math activities with her sister. It's a fun way to do it, and she's also doing phonics and a little bit of handwriting.