Anybody use Calvert?

Question:
My wife and I are preparing to homeschool our children and would like to know if anyone uses Calvert and if they could provide feedback on the quality of the materials?

Answer:
- Some folks use Calvert the whole way. More folks use it for a year and then spring out on their own. The problem that I hear most about Calvert is its lack of flexibility. Your child might be two grades ahead in reading, 1 year behind in math, and VERY interested in science. The pre-pracked package does not allow flexibility for the differing needs of children. What we do in our family is use No curriculum, but rather we practice child led learning. We just keep doing what we did when he was little. We answer his questions, we put interesting software on the computer, we buy as many books as we can afford, we go to the library every week. I feel that the key is to help a child learn to learn. I have also found that when one doesn't limit a child with a pre-packaged list of things to learn, the child soars deeply in areas of interest. My kiddo, thanks to magic school bus, got very interested in human anatomy and the digestive system when he was five. In educational speak, he did a whole unit study on it....just because he was fascinated.

- We used Calvert 1st and 2nd Grades. The rate of progress is exactly the rate in the public schools. The workbooks are exactly like those used in the public schools. It would be MUCH cheaper to buy public school text books, if you don't want to go any faster. The teachers manual is useful for the first home schooling year, while you are developing confidence. Take a look at the Part-Time Home Schooling web page at http://ww2.whidbey.net/webplay/teaching.html For a better way to teach.

- I am currently using Calvert for my third grader. We like it, the structure works well for us. As for it going along at the same level as the public schools, I don't agree. During the grade three she is expected to learn the multiplication facts up to and including the 9's. Also division is learned, not grazed but learned. Our third grade public school only learns the multiplication table up to the 5's in third grade. I used Calvert for my son for his sixth, seventh, and eigth grades. He choose to enter the public high school. After two weeks they advanced him into the honors classes, then into the School of Academic Renoun. His teachers felt he had already done all the ninth grade course work and agreed to give him the final exams to pass him into the next courses his freshman year. I think the Calvert program becomes more advanced as you move along with it. Judging it by one years course work doesn't seem to fit this program. As for the quality of the materials. Personally I don't use the paper they send, we use it for scrap. The rest of the stuff is good. I don't use the teacher service for my daughter. But I will for the middle school years. The high school didn't even bat an eye since they had a transcript from an acredited institution for my son when he enrolled. Our town is very anti- homeschooling, so that piece of mind it gave me was worth the expence. For those of us who really like the structure the program is good. Feel free to email if I didn't address something.