Thank you, ladies. You (and those on the fb pages) have given me much to think and pray about. I've talked with hubby (who always says that he leaves all these administrative decisions to me...

) and to the kids to get their inputs. I have come to the conclusion that if I tried to combine them all, that I would be holding my eldest back. In fact, I may have already been doing so.

While keeping them together in certain subjects, I have not been as diligent in pushing her to learn independently. Yes, she can do her math, grammar, and those types of subjects mostly independently, but she still looks to me to spoon feed her information in other areas, instead of actively pursuing education. (I hope I made sense there...I passed out last night, fell out of the tub, and then vomited...not a great night, so I might still be a little foggy) Some of her history and science work has been higher level than her siblings,but I'm sure I have fallen a bit short in stretching her. Time to let her spread her wings a little. She was actually excited about gaining more independence as we looked over the RtR guide samples. She was a little nervous about the amount of pages needing to be read in the history box, but I reassured her that I can help read some of it to her if needed...at least in the beginning. Someone also gave me some good advice on the fb page, to start her about 2 weeks before I start the others so I can get her used to the new format and new amount of independence.
My dyslexic ds was the hardest to convince in the change. He hates change, and he is very...um...sensitive?? (not sure if that is the word I'm looking for)...about family time. He is always the one wants to make sure that we always eat together as a family, always wishing that my parents would be able to make it every Sunday for a big family dinner, etc. Sooooo....I had to bargain with him! LOL! Honestly, I thought the allure of American history would be enough, but no, I had to promise that we would read ANOTHER biography on Davy Crockett and spend at least one week on the Alamo (AGAIN!).

I think Bigger will be a good fit for him and my 2nd grade dd.
I'm still a little nervous about trying to run 2 guides, but knowing that my eldest will be fairly independent does help. My youngest who will be 5, I'm not as concerned about. With his speech and motor delays, he is not ready for anything too formal. If in 6 months from now, I feel differently, I will reassess. For now the plan with him, is to do some LHTH and some BFIAR very loosely. Lots of learning through play.
So I think that is where I am. Does it seem like those would be the right guides for them? RtR for my 7th grader, Bigger for my 4th and 2nd graders??