It can be very stressful coming back to homeschooling after a break. Whether that break is summer vacation, or kids going to public school for a bit. (I know you've mentioned this in the past!
) So you should definitely give you and your children some grace there, as they're transitioning back to doing things at home with mom, and you are transitioning into getting back to doing school with your little ones!
We're bound to have really tough days and even really tough months. I just wanted to encourage you to keep on for a bit, but maybe making some changes that might help.
When my oldest was starting out with CTC, it was a jump in skill level for sure, and challenged him. Mostly it was a challenge to fit it all in without our day going so long. One thing that really helped him (and me!) was for us to meet together in the morning before the others were up, and do some of our "T" boxes together. We did english/writing, dictation, geography/Genesis study, and went over any instructions in DITHOR, as well as storytime. We were usually able to fit this in a 30-45 minute time slot. Right after this we had breakfast as a family. It was so nice, because he felt like he had a good jump on his day before breakfast, and then I could spend more focused teaching time on the younger four kids without feeling like my older was waiting for me, or I was putting him off.
He could then do the rest of his day independently, checking in with me from time to time to do a narration or just later on for me to check over what he did that day. It does take some time for kids to work into knowing how to do each box within the guide and gain independence in their work. When it does happen, it's so nice, because it free's mom up to do other teaching with the youngers.
Maybe then you could do the left side of Beyond with your younger one, and then send him off to do some copywork (maybe playing with the baby when he's finished), while you do some teacher boxes with your Preparing son, and get him started. When you're not working with your Preparing son, he could do some independent things while you finish up with your Beyond child. This is pretty much how we do things. Just trying to keep everyone working on independent things, or rotating with working with mom. It sounds confusing, but it works really well. After a week or two of this, everyone knows what they should do when, and it makes the day flow very nicely.
I just wanted to encourage you on a few of these things, I understand that you know your family dynamic much better than I ever could, so you'll know best what will or will not work out for you! Blessings as you seek a plan that works!
