Sea legs.

I guess when we make a sea change we have to find our sea legs. I am really wobbling through this deja vu experience called homeschooling. Yes I did it 10 yrs ago but with only 3 kids and two toddlers playing around. This time there are 5 kids (those two toddlers are now in grade 8 and grade 6) to teach and a toddler and a newborn. I decided to buy an easel to keep the SK and preschooler occupied while I teach the others. Otherwise I've been teaching the SK one how to write letters and her name by writing with markers on a wipe off book I got from Avon. I highly recommend it. It also comes with books for numbers, colours and shapes and cd with songs about these topics. Haven't played it yet and wonder what sorts of instruments might be used. As for the bigger kids its been tough as I realize I have missing parts of the curriculum and have had to order all sorts of books from the library but they are not textbooks or workbooks but more like the types of books you borrow to do a project. So I am not really satisfied with this cookie cutter option. Also I must hunt down a microscope for grade 8 science. He has to learn about cells. I checked Walmart's kids section but nothing there. I intend to check The Source. On top of all this I have the added problem of having no answer keys for the textbooks and workbooks I have. I guess I could order them but that would cost a pretty penny. The sea is very rough now but I hope I can get over this patch and experience some smooth sailing. Any advice from homeschoolers out there? I'm all ears. Oh and if you are wondering what happened to all my old homeschooling stuff, well most of it I sold and the rest is stuck in Malaysia.