Step Back

This spring and early summer we did a Story of the World coop with a couple friends. We read and narrated the chapters in book one on our own, then got together weekly to do the projects from the activity guide. It was wonderful and the kids loved it.

Until we went on vacation for 6+ weeks and got behind. We have been in a mad rush to catch up before our next get together with our friends and the kids are not enjoying having history stuffed down their throats. Hurrying through is pretty contrary to the point of homeschooling and has led me to a lot of rambling thoughts on our methods.

Does it matter if we are caught up? I want to continue the activities with our friends but maybe it's not as important that the activities line up with our reading. Maybe I can just say "remember when we did...." Or maybe I shouldn't be doing history at all yet. We basically started 1st grade this summer but according to Charlotte Mason, I shouldn't be doing any academics until age 6.

So should I stop history on chapter 10 and wait until January? If I do that, will I start over or pick back up on Chapter 10? Part of that decision depends on whether we do this coop I've been tying myself in circles over. If we don't do the full coop, our little coop will end in a couple weeks and it won't matter if we're caught up but if I do it, we need to catch up on history.

But we could still scrap some of the other academics until January. We could go back to more of a preschool type curriculum. Or would we need to do at least kindergarten to satisfy my husband who is still scared the town is going to knock down our door if we aren't rigid and structured despite the lax laws we enjoy in this state.

Any classical or CMers out there with opinions on 5 yr olds?