Great work, @PhantomWraith! It takes a lot of willpower to go the distance, and I’m proud of you for doing it!
My policy was always that it’s not cheating if I don’t know what exactly I’ll be reviewing. So I’d set up the self-study quiz plugin and just cruise through my Enlightened items or leeches. Besides, at Apprentice level, I don’t think it makes much of a difference.
It sounds like you’re already doing everything right, just tackling reviews when you can. I’d usually just go through all the lessons and just let myself get the wrong ones wrong as many times as it took before they’d sink in! At higher levels, I’d usually learn 5 new items per hour. It felt less onerous that way.
My advice, since I’m a teacher myself: if you need to go slower, that’s OK. It sounds like you’re doing other activities that will keep the kanji fresh in your mind. There’s never any right or wrong with the speed of learning (something I’m trying to make my colleagues at my day job realize too!). Practice every day, try to target your weakest areas, try new things, and ask questions as you need to and you’ll be fine. Your goals will likely take years to reach anyway. Taking extra time to cement easier kanji or words has its own benefits. I went quickly myself and you’d be surprised how often I still brain fart on the “easy” kanji!