Help in organizing books before I give up...anyone else BTDT

Personally, my first thought is that you would be a perfect candidate for going digital. Make the layout once, print it as many times as needed, put them in the appropriate books (or make printed photo books) and call it done.

I don't see anything wrong with your plan. I doubt that all the kids are going to care about EVERY layout, mostly just the ones they are highlighted on, KWIM? I would say do what you can to catch the younger two kids' books up to where you left off for the older ones, but don't kill yourself trying to do every layout for all the books from here on out. Do one layout for the family book for current events and let them fight over them once the family book gets passed down.

I gave up a long time ago in trying to be "fair" and doing an equal amount for each child (I have three). I scrap what I can and put it where I think it should go. I don't make copies for each kid. That way, each with have a completely different album!

I do as much as I can but I can't do it all! Now I have 3 grandchildren thrown in the mix!

This is the money shot, right here.  

I can very much relate to being overwhelmed by being "behind" though you fought the good fight way longer than I did!  The BEST THING I've ever done for myself, pretty much literally, was to let go of the unreasonable expectations I had for myself, and just scrap what inspires me, whenever I can.

You don't have to explain to ANY of us, how important our scrapbooks are.  We totally, utterly know.  So this advice is not to minimize how meaningful the books you've created are-they are precious, and irreplaceable, and every page you've scrapped is a gift.

It's hard for us to remember this, because of how scrapping is in our blood, but you must remember this:

SCRAPBOOKING IS OPTIONAL!     

**gasp** oh no she didn't!

Seriously, though, we get that sense of panic where being "behind" in scrapbooking feels equivalent to being behind in filing your federal income taxes.  We do that to ourselves because we care so much about "getting it just right."  It takes some heavy brain-retraining to undo the message that we have to scrapbook in a certain way, or else we have done a disservice to those we scrap about.  

The message you need to internalize is this: there are no rules and no requirements, there is no right way or wrong way.  Every page you have made and every book you've completed, is a blessing to your family.  And every page you create from here on out, will be too.  No matter what book it's in, or whether it's in order, or whether there are copies of it to go around.   You have complete and total permission to change your approach mid-stream, and what you end up with as a finished product will still be perfect.  

If going back into your current set of books and reorganizing them into a book for each kid through 5th grade and one family book, would be a good exercise for you to see and feel your layouts again and get yourself back into the groove of thinking about scrapping, then I think that's a great idea.  I too find reorganizing my albums puts me back in touch with the amazing power of memory preservation, and seeing my favorite layouts inspires me creatively.  The system you've proposed sounds like a totally logical way to transition from the old way into a new way, and I think you should go for it.

BUT... if the thought of that process is overwhelming and stresses you out, just skip it.  Go get a project life kit and start project life today.  Or scrap a layout of photos you love and that inspire to scrap, no matter when they were taken.  It really is totally okay-you have permission to start what you want, when you want.  You'll never say to yourself, "I wish I had waiting until January 1st to start a yearly book, I wish I didn't have these 3 months scrapped."  Remember, no rules!  You might find that once you are in a comfortable place with how you scrapbook from here on out, going back and making the connection from point A (5 books) to point B (one book) will feel more natural, more "right" for you, because you know the change ends up in a good place.

I would definitely not worry about having copies for each kid.  When they are adults and settling into their own places and are ready to take their childhood scrapbooks with them, you can easily make a "date" with each of them to go through the other books and decide what they might want copies of, which you can scan or take to a copy place.  Or, they'll just have to come back and visit mom!  Win-win!

To sum up... you want to do it perfectly.  Don't worry, you already have.