Hi Holly, and welcome!
First off, congrats on raising 4 kids while also owning your own design firm, that’s fantastic. As for the notion of moving forward with licensure, we have an article with some quotes from others in somewhat similar circumstances that might help.
Beyond that though, I’ll tag a few architects that can probably provide some deeper insight into the differences you can encounter with the ARE 5.0. @cat.heard9, @coachdarionziegler, and @coachzachhoffman, any of you able to expand on Holly’s question?