We didn't care for EM much in our household, either. Dd12 dealt with it for one year in 4th grade and found it really easy that year, but she had done what seemed to be a more challenging curriculum the year prior. Dd10 used EM from 2nd-5th. I've never seen the 5th grade curriculum for EM b/c dd12 skipped that year of school and dd10 subject accelerated in math only that year.
We did find, however, that EM focused less on games and alternative methods like lattice multiplication in 6th grade. I liked it a lot better that year. I wouldn't have chosen it had I homeschooled any of those years, though, as an OP mentioned in relation to the general selections of homeschoolers.
