We're doing SOTW Vol 1 right now. At first, we were all gung ho, planning to do everything in the Activity Guide, mapwork, library books, other supplemental literature, online activities, movies, etc. It didn't take long to realize that those things weren't working for us. My DD(8) is an auditory learner. She had no interest in the "fun" things. In fact, all of the "fun" things I had planned this year did nothing but agitate her and make my life miserable.
Between SOTW, Usborne World History and all of my supplemental lit, we read/study history every day but we don't do any hands on activities now. I read, we discuss, we look at our maps. Done. We're both happier.
As for scheduling, we just spend as much time as we want on things (2 weeks on ancient China just now). Instead of racing through it, we're enjoying digging deep. All schedules flew out the window this year. :D