I don't know if it is exactly what you're looking for, but Logic of English Foundations and Essentials has extensive coverage of spelling rules and review (every 5 chapters in both levels).

We chose MM over Singapore for the very reasons you cite: ease of use, not needing a separate teacher manual, but still retaining a rigorous approach to math. Neither I or my daughter have had a problem with the layout or density of problems in the program, common complaints about MM generally. You'll notice in my sig that we do supplement MM pretty heavily, but this is not due to any problems with MM as a math spine. DD just blows through math pretty fast so I like to slow her down with other stuff. In my opinion, MM is a great program for you, based on what you seem to be seeking.

My DD loving our Shakespeare discussions using this book as a guide. I have a hard copy, but this will be convenient to have!

We are relative newbies with BA, having adopted it at the beginning of the year when DD finished MM2. MM is a really ideal fit for her, and I'm not entirely sure BA will work in the long run (though it has been going OK so far). DD has a lot of issues when she doesn't immediately know the answer; she gives up and dramatically exclaims, "I can't do it!" She saw me looking at the samples of BA and was immediately enthralled, and I didn't see that it would be such a bad thing to introduce regular struggles into her neat little world of MM (where she rarely struggles). But, BA is slow-going for her. She's a young 2nd grader (late August birthday), and I think we're just building some maturity on the struggling thing. So, I just can't see myself adopting BA as an only curriculum for my DD. I think it could be mentally exhausting for her to do daily. We do about 4 pages each week, the idea being we'd finish BA3 sometime in the middle of MM4, and continuing 1/2 year behind her MM grade level schedule. This allows for review and deeper thinking without rushing through 2 separate programs in one academic year (plus the Dreambox and Process Skills we do as well; it's my way of slowing her down a bit).

We used ELTL 1 and are now in the middle of 2. This covers grammar and lit, all with books we can get at a low/no cost. We also use the phonics/spelling portion of LOE, which I find to be very open and go. This combo of materials works very well for us, but LOE is an investment to be sure. An investment I feel has been worth it, but an investment nonetheless.

We've had a fun year so far using How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare. I'm looking forward to reading aloud Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, scheduled in ELTL3, which we'll be getting to later this year.

We've used 2 levels of ELTL, and everything is in the public domain. I was a little iffy on a few of the level one books -- I didn't care for them all -- but plan to use it again with minor tweaking for DS and to continue on to ELTL3 with my older DD. It's my understanding all levels of ELTL, anyway, are public domain books.

I know I'm echoing the sentiments of others here when I say the director and community make the difference! I had a friendly community, but because we were of a different church family, none of the other moms seemed to want to make an outside connection with our family. I am not bitter about it, or anything, but our lifestyle and family cultures just were very different. My kids were excited about seeing "Frozen" and dressing up for Halloween -- things the other kids at CC just were not doing. Midway through the year our director had already decided he wasn't continuing with CC in the future, and a lot of the verve and enthusiasm drained out of our community, since it was to clear it would be dissolved. If I were to do it again, I would join an established community that I was certain was a going concern, so that we wouldn't have to go looking for a new community in subsequent years. I would also seek out a community where members were from more than one particular church family. Most of the reason we didn't return this year is because I didn't want to shell out for another mediocre year when I would have had to enroll my pre-K 4yo (plus, he was NOT academically ready for the memory work, but would not have been allowed in the nursery). I agree with everyone who has said variations of "don't do it for the science or art." I agree you should get to know the director and people in the community before making a commitment, because they will make or break the experience.

Still thinking about our plans for next year, but somehow I've already managed to buy stuff (wouldn't you know it)? For DD, who turns 8 at the end of August: Spelling/Grammar: At the beginning of this school year, I envisioned finishing LOE Essentials by the end of June, but I can see now that a slow approach will be better in the long run for DD. I'm thinking of taking a summer break to review and solidify spelling and grammar rules, and finishing at the end of the year. Writing/Literature: We're "accelerating" ELTL2 in that we're doing it daily, and we'll move right into ELTL3 when that's finished. That's should put us in a good spot to begin CAP Fable and maybe Treasured Conversations. Not sure in which order, or if any of that will be redundant. We'll see how it plays out! Math: Plan is MM4, but we just ordered BA, so we'll see how that goes as a supplement. (w/Dreambox and Xtramath) Latin: We'll keep plugging away at GSWL, and whenever we finish that, we'll begin Latina Christiana. Geography: A Child's Geography I History: SOTW2 and selections from CHOLL (Middle Ages) Science: interest-led science w/our 2-family co-op and get back to BFSU. Summer plan is to lesson plan the heck out of it so I can be more prepared next year (this year my 2 littles made anything that wasn't open-and-go too difficult). Memory work: We are going to stick with working on the selections from How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare, which has been a big hit here this year. We'll do some CC memory work (geography, timeline, and math), but not CC. We'll also continue working on our Scripture Mastery verses and Discovering the New Testament (LDS). We're also picking and choosing from Telling God's Story I. Other: swim team, piano, and we're looking into drawing/painting classes if we can afford it. DD loves to express herself with art, and I...do not. Time to outsource! We do language arts, memory work, and math every day, history 3x/week, science 2x/week (co-op), and everything else twice per week.

Thought I'd bump this in case anyone can help. Alas, I cannot!

I would agree with the others; Essentials isn't as "fun" as Foundations. I moved my DD to Essentials after completing B-C. I prefer it, myself -- I find it more efficient and we move through the material at a good clip.

Good advice already shared on this thread. I got Foundations D for my DD7, and did two lessons before trying a lesson in Essentials. I find Essentials more streamlined and my DD and I get through a section must faster than we did in Foundations. We are reviewing things and solidifying the rules we already learned, obviously, but I find this is a positive thing for my DD. We have liked the pace of one lesson per week so far.

Another sole LDS family in a CC Foundations group last year. I can't recall YEC coming up at all last year, perhaps in passing once -- my DD didn't even notice. The science topics in Cycle 2 didn't lend themselves to much discussion of this topic, so it really wasn't a big deal to my non-YEC point of view. (YMMV - We're doing Cycle 3 independently this year, and skipping science, so I can't speak to any YEC topics in the coming year's curriculum.)

We've used RS with Process Skills and CWP and it worked well for us. I thought it provided a nice supplement to RS, which is pretty limited on word problems, I have to agree. I have never used or even seen TT, so I can't speak to that. We're switching to MM, which I think has sufficient word problems, but we'll probably continue with the supplemental word problems for enrichment.

I was able to access the list on Currclick as well :) http://www.currclick.com/browse.php?manufacturers_id=17

My DD was in last year as a first grader, and she enjoyed it, for the most part. I think if you're looking for a community, CC can be great for that age. If it's just the academics you're after, then it's possible -- and maybe even preferable -- to do it at home (CC is expensive!). For reasons too mundane to recount here, we're not going back to CC this coming year, though I haven't ruled out returning down the line. We're doing Cycle 3 memory work at home this year, though I'm throwing out the science, latin, and grammar and replacing it with stuff that I find more developmentally appropriate, and, well, fun. :laugh:

I use a little plastic bin I found at Target that, when you lay the cards in sideways, fits all four sets perfectly. I put some dividers in the bin to separate the ages, and it works very nicely, kind of like a big index card holder. We like to handle the timeline cards a lot, mix them up, put them in order, etc., so I didn't end up getting a binder + page protectors, though I definitely see the appeal.

I vastly prefer the 2nd edition to the first, but if you didn't like the changes, it seems silly to switch.

Are you able to expand on your specific preference for PSiPS vs CWP? I have them both in my shopping cart at RR, and I'm not sure if I should get one, both, or what. My DD seems to get overwhelmed with story problems, unless I am really holding her hand. Now, she's 6, I expect to be holding her hand -- I just would like her to start developing some systematic skills for problem solving. I'd love to hear your input!

We previewed it at our convention last week, and while I already have my curricula in place for next year, it was a very tempting option. Everything looked high-quality and my daughter loved the looks of it. I had to remind her that I'm not buying new stuff when what we have is working (something I have to remind myself of every day...).

I'm basically just echoing the statements of others, but I would try a cheaper option than CC. We're leaving CC because the cost is so high for more than one kid, and my K4 DS isn't ready for what Foundations will demand from him. Ours wouldn't be quite $1400, but that much money would pay for a LOT of cool homeschool extras. Maybe subscriptions to the zoo, the science museum, kits for way better science demonstrations than the CC ones, an organized sport, homeschool choir... I'm just thinking off the top of my head. I loved our CC community, but once you have more than one kiddo in the program, it starts to offer less value IMHO. That isn't to denigrate the hard work of the tutors, at all. For our family, though, we need more for a $1000 investment. We do plan to continue some CC cycle 3 memory work this year.

We have the workbook for level 1, but have found that my DD prefers to copy into her own handwriting book (like this).

We had chronic letter reversals and I was tired of droning on about it. I switched her to cursive and it's been pain-free. My DD was a young public K-er, so she began cursive just after she turned 6. She has a decent hand for a first grader, after about 9 months of practice. About as good as I was in 3rd. I plan to start my son with cursive next time around. We use Logic of English for language arts, and here's their "teach cursive" rationale: http://www.logicofenglish.com/2-uncategorised/122-why-teach-cursive-first

I have Essentials as well (bought before Foundations was released) and my 6yo DD didn't find it super accessible. I think you could do it, though, if you stretched the lessons out, modified the handwriting as needed, and really focused on the games. I like Foundations and would suggest it if budget is not an issue, but if it is, you can probably get away with Essentials.

Also started in B last year (after completing about 1/2 of OPGTR), went through and completed C. No problems!