Previously, my older son did level 3A and 3B of Singapore Math. We enjoyed it, but I thought it was too "light." Boy, was I wrong. I was just starting out homeschooling and I was used to that ps approach (drill and kill), so I put my son through 2 years of CLE math. This year, it finally got to be too much. I have done weeks of research seeing where I went wrong. Here is where: I have a mathy child who loved thinking and working problems, and I squshed his love of it with drill and kill and long lessons. I went through the Singapore placement tests and glanced and "assumed"my son tested out of the levels. Then, today, I went back and actually had him take the placement tests! He tested in 4A...right where we left off! Things he learned in CLE with drill and kill, he couldn't remember at all! Oh my goodness! What have I done????
So, I placed an order today with Carrie and Mike! We are going back to Singapore, following the way it is scheduled in CTC and that is that! Never again will I drill and kill with my kids. We will utilize my husband to help us in math if we need to (he is an Engineer), and I will resolve to learn math myself if I have to. I started my younger son in Singapore 1A with Beyond and I can't even tell you how quickly he went from a child who HATED to see CLE math come out to a child who adores seeing his Singapore come out of the box!
I love the Charlotte Mason style...I wish I had never seen the inside of a ps and had never gotten the "ps mentality." I feel God leading me each day to follow HOD as written and now, we are! We are doing every.single.box! The only thing I add is French because I love to speak the language and I love teaching it to my kids! And, if something gets "put back" sometimes, it is French and not HOD.
I can't thank you enough to the person who made the sticky thread of all the philosophies behind what HOD uses. I am SOLD! Dictation, Singapore, the whole nine yards. We love it all! And just like with math...understanding WHY it all works is like opening a door for me!
LOL! I loved reading your post! I especially love this: 
It's all so true what you are saying about the CM method and HOD too. I am so glad that I found HOD and so fortunate that I found it early on. It has made my life so much easier! 
I was worried when we read it again for PHFHG he might not want to read it again - no worries there though - he didn't remember a lick of it. 
He kept saying, "Mom, we never read this!" Then, when we did it for PHFHG, he loved it, especially reading it along with "Grandpa's Box". So, I guess all was not lost. I did the same thing with spelling for him. I doubled it up because it was harder for him due to speech concerns. The day I went to just dictation was a relief for the both of us.