Starting out with 4 kids

[Saratoga]

Hello I am new to this forum.  I would like to start afterschooling with 4 kids this year.  They are 12yr (Gr.7), 10yr (Gr.5) and 7yr old twins(Gr. 3) 

I would like some advice on what curriciulum to choose.  I am thinking math, spelling, grammar and writing would be ideal but I don't want to start out with to much and then give up.  

My kids already take music lessons and love to read independently.  They are in French immersion so I do think I'd like to beef up on the ELA aspects.  I have looked slightly at AAS....but it looks pretty complicated and time consuming and I don't want to get overwhelmed off the hop, but my kids do need help with spelling and writing in English as that  is not covered in depth in the immersion program.     I'm a little overwhelmed at the options out there...and with 4 I don't want to make things too complicated or we'll all get swamped and quit.

For math, I am thinking maybe Math Mammon for the younger kids, maybe an online math program (Beast Academy??) for the 10 and 12 year old??

I am so thankful for advice or thoughts of seasoned veterans in this endevour.  

[vonfirmath]

I would start with seeing how much homework they are going to have and how much time you are going to have to work with.

 

I have not been successful with curriculum. We read books together, and I will share things I learn in curriculum at the proper time. We use XTra math and some math workbooks at home -- and that because my son sees he needs more practice so is willing to do it.

[amymarie3]

I use Math Mammoth for my 8yo twin boys.  For us it works well, we do it year round so that they can get through it eventually.  The key to MM for us is that I only have them do 10-15 minutes or 2-3 pages a day.   No more than that.   

I also bought the beast academy books and just lay them around the house.  The kids pick them up and read them randomly.  While they enjoy them I have decided that pencil and paper math practice gets the information into their brains better than the online practice does.   The schools these days are doing more and more online math so I am making a point of having them do it on paper at home.  I did pick up the beast academy workbooks but it took the fun out of it for them so we stick to MM.

Spelling you see works really well for both english language practice and handwriting and can be done in 10 or so minutes a day.

We read aloud every night for 20-30 minutes.  I have them read aloud to me randomly through out the day just so that I can correct their pronunciations.  We also use the McGuffey readers for a more structured reading practice when I feel like it is necessary.