Hi RoseArienh,
Looks like there is one major difference in what we are trying to achieve. If I understand corerctly you are aiming for a tribe where everybody alive is a JOAT, while I am aiming for a tribe where everybody, both alive and dead, is a JOAT.
Since my last post I got 12 more who made JOAT, but I also suffered a setback: a random event added three children to my tribe, so I now have some extra work to do...
Also it did not really help to decrease my population size. I had one person die of old age (in his early 80's), but with the three new children population size went up by 2 to 101.
Current state:
12 dead persons (all JOATs)
101 alive (68 JOATs, 30 people who need Devotion only, 3 people who need everything still)

You're right. Your plan is much more ambitious than mine. I decided to do this after I had completed all but a couple of the "trophies". I felt that there should be something more I could do with the tribe after all that work of bring them along. Now you have me wanting to start a new tribe and attempt what you are doing!

My plan involves something called micro-management so I never let the game run while I'm not around. As a result now all the peeps from before the event that added three made JOAT. Also two of the new ones reached that milestone. The third one is a bit stubborn and still lacks on devotion. But it is climbing slowly!

By all but a couple of the trophies you probably mean the same ones I don't have yet:
Never a dull moment (currently at 48%)
Rub those sticks together(currently at 44%)
So I want events that put out the fire!

I set myself two other targets as well:
1,000,000 units of food in the supply (so not just gathered). Less than 6,000 to go.
1,000,000 tech points in store (not just collected). This one still has a long way to go. As I dress my peeps in lign with the skill they are currently being trained in, I spent a lot on clothing. Since almost everybody is a JOAT now this spending should become less. Still below the 100,000 mark though.

I have been reading all the topics here and I was curious, what is a JOAT?

Hello jot! “JOAT” is short for “Jack of All Trades.” Your villager can become a “JOAT” when he/she has mastered all 6 skills: Farming, Building, Research, Healing, Parenting, and Devotion.

There are 2 trophies in VV5 which require villagers who have mastered all 6 skills: “Jack of All Trades” and “Plentiful Polymaths.”

Made it!
Or rather... made one of my additional targets...

All people in my tribe, being dead or alive, are now JOAT! So I now have 100 living JOATs (plus 13 dead).

One thing you should understand is that they only need to reach master in all skills. After reaching master they can still improve a bit (unto fully maxed out). As I am still trying to get the last two trophies I decided (just for fun) to try and get all the living to the maxed out in all skills. None there yet, but some are getting pretty close...

Status on missing trophies:
Never a dull moment: 50%
Rub those sticks together: 48%

Also made my extra target of 1,000,000 units of food in the supply. Still working on the 1,000,000 tech points in store thing. Almost half way there...