A company that I have used almost from the beginning of my homeschool journey is Catholic Heritage Curricula. I can't even remember now how I heard about this wonderful company, but I'm glad that I did. I believe that I started using their materials when Ben was learning to read and have used them in some form or fashion ever since.
CHC strives for a "gentle, flexible approach" to homeschooling, that allows time for families to still be families.
Now, they are a curriculum provider, but there is free support available at their website. You can buy their lesson plans, which will give you a complete curriculum for your Preschool-8th grader. The lesson plans are designed to go in a three-ring binder and are flexible. They can be changed and altered to fit your child/schedule. But they are also thorough and allow for keeping up with grades and attendance records, as well as being a yearly planner for other activities. For the last few years I have used blank planners as we don't use enough CHC to buy the pre-packaged planner. But I still like to use them. They include 36 weeks and have a liturgical calendar in them to help keep us on track with the seasons of church life.
CHC does publish some exclusive titles. These titles tend to be faithfully Catholic and include Catholic themes and teaching in the materials. They also tend to be inexpensive. One handwriting workbook for a whole year is $14.95. Some that I have used include:
The Language of God Series
My Catholic Speller Series
Catholic Heritage Handwriting Series
Little Stories for Little Folks
For example:
This is a picture of spelling lesson in the book that Sam is currently using. Bible verses that help to explain some part of Catholic teaching are emphasized. Most of these do not require hefty teacher's manuals. The instructions are printed in the front, with removable answer keys in the back. These are single use workbooks.
They also have textbooks. Some of these are exclusive to them, but they include other publishers as well.
Here's where I have to talk about their catalog. Even though I don't use as much of their curriculum as I did when Ben was little, I still love to get the catalog in the mail. It's pretty and has encouraging articles written to us moms, gives tips for ways to start the year off right, and reminds us to pray for our kids! We have saints-in-the-making in our homes. CHC always reminds me of that and I appreciate it. The catalog is a reminder that the beginning of the school year is an exciting time. A time to reflect, to revamp and to recommit.
Sadly, I have not continued to use many of their products. This is not the fault of the products. I have found the products to be thorough, Catholic, and rigorous. They just did not work for us. My boys have not been joyous readers...too much "workbook" and they really get burnt out. So, I have had to look into other ways of teaching those subjects that I thought would come easily to them.
If you are looking for a gentle, flexible, inexpensive and Catholic homeschool curriculum provider, you will not go wrong looking into CHC. Or just get their catalog. It's an experience into itself.