Experiences with Calvert for 7th-8th grades?

[LauraGB]

I can't believe I'm asking this, but honestly, I'm THIS close to sending ds to Catholic school (the only non-ps schools around here are parochial). After much (much, much, much) consideration, I've come to the conclusion that he might just need to be held accountable for the quality and integrity of his work by someone else in addition to just me. I don't want to send him to school. He doesn't want to go to school. But, I think I need to incorporate some additional accountability for a while.

 

So, I've been looking at Calvert with the teacher assist (the "middle" selection). And a little at Oak Meadow. The problem is that we've covered most of the 7th grade materials offered by those places. So, I guess for all intents and purposes, he's more advanced academically, just not so much so in quality of work. I guess I'm okay with reviewing, provided he, I don't know, "grows up" a little and takes some responsibility and pride in his work.

 

Do you have experience with any programs like Calvert for this grade level? If so, can you please share the pros and cons you've found? I'd be grateful (and ds would be, too, because your input just might keep him out a blue and white uniform and Catholic school).

 

Oh, I should probably offer some background in how we've educated thus far, since Calvert seems to be a very different approach than what we are used to. We have always worked on suggestions offered ala TWTM, and we didn't alter too many things until this school year. Most of our curricula is in my signature.

[Stacy in NJ]

I don't have any experience with Calvert but wanted to suggest The Potter's School if your religious sensibilities allow.

 

They're academically rigorous and you can select individual classes to suit your needs. It may be difficult to enroll mid-year, but they may have some 2nd semester classes with openings.

 

Just a thought.

 

ETA: Memoria also offers online classes for 2nd semester. I agree that outside accountability is valuable, especially during the early teen years.

[Merry]

it's quite good if you want structure and accountability. Their history and science books were pretty dry, so I thought. The book studies are not very in depth but still interesting. The language book which is Warriner's is very good. The compositions lessons are well done.

[LauraGB]

I don't have any experience with Calvert but wanted to suggest The Potter's School if your religious sensibilities allow.

 

They're academically rigorous and you can select individual classes to suit your needs. It may be difficult to enroll mid-year, but they may have some 2nd semester classes with openings.

 

 

 

I had not read about Potter's School before. It's nice that they have the individual class options (there are some, like math, that I would opt out of if possible for the "box" style curricula); there are just certain areas where he is needing the extra kick. But, it looks like they don't have much availability now that the year has already begun :(.

[LauraGB]

it's quite good if you want structure and accountability. Their history and science books were pretty dry, so I thought. The book studies are not very in depth but still interesting. The language book which is Warriner's is very good. The compositions lessons are well done.

 

Thanks for this input!

[Jilly]

Have you thought about K12? I think it is a step above Calvert.

[Guest]

I second K12. HIGHLY suggest. I have used Calvert preK to 6th. Spare yourself and your son. You are MUCH MUCH MUCH better off looking into K12 iAcademy.

 

http://www.k12.com/schools-programs/online-private-school/

 

You can also sign up for individual courses with teacher oversight.

[Elfinlady]

Have you looked at Keystone? My DS just finished thier 7th grade and is about to start 8th. It's online based, and they write a LOT of five paragraph essays. There are teachers for each subject that students can email.

 

I thought my DS needed accountability to someone other than me, and Keystone worked beautifully for that.

[AHASRADA]

If all you need is accountability (and not a whole new curriculum) you could look into Hewitt or Kolbe Academy. We ended up going with Hewitt for this year. Both programs have their own curriculum, but you can use your own and they will still do correcting/grading for you. Both put heavy emphasis on the parents' right and responsibility to guide their child's education (Kolbe the most), so you will still be expected to grade math and some assignments, sending in a progress report. With Hewitt, you send in the required work samples at the end of the quarter, with your progress report, and they provide a 2 page detailed narrative "report card", giving your child encouragement and constructive criticism, as well as grades. If you use Lightning Lit., you can choose an e-mail option, where you email his writing assignments upon completion and receive them corrected within 2 weeks. This way, you don't have to wait until the end of the quarter for feedback on writing.

 

Kolbe gives you the option of doing all the grading yourself, and sending in work samples for them to verify. If you opt for them to do some grading, I believe you send in any 12 work samples of your choosing, from any subjects, for grading, during each quarter. You still grade the rest.

 

With both programs, you can enroll for the entire year, or only for a semester, so you can try it out without paying the full year upfront. With Kolbe, you pay for enrollment (transcript services), and pay an additional fee for grading. Hewitt has only one option: enrollment, which includes grading. The cost for transcript & grading services with both Hewitt and Kolbe are comparable: About $500 per year.

 

I just wanted to let you know that there are programs that still allow you to use your own curriculum and maintain your homeschool flexibility, while providing some accountability for your ds. BTW, it has already worked quite well for my ds13. He is very conscientious about his work if someone outside our home will see it/evaluate him: Sunday school homework, standardized tests, science fair. However, if he's only accountable to mom, he is more likely to do a sloppy job. Hewitt requires him to do 3 history projects each quarter, and would you believe, again, knowing he would be "graded" on it, rather than skipping it or starting something and never finishing it, he created a model of Native American cliff dwellings, making the homes out of clay, the "mountainside" from papier mache, painting, applying fake moss, etc. Neither he nor I would ever have followed through on such an elaborate project just for homeschool.

 

Best of luck in your decision!

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

My son used Calvert for 7th grade and absolutely loved it. From a teaching perspective, it was extremely easy to use, literally an open and go program. Scripted lesson plans make it easy to get your mind focused on what to discuss (which I needed at the time since I just had a baby). For the student, lessons are short but full. The writing assignments were varied in the type of writing they needed to do and were across the curriculum, so there was always some type of writing going on (but not overwhelming, it was well choreographed). The history, as another poster mentioned, was dry and if I was to do this now (with out a newborn) I would add to it with with other resources. My son enjoyed the literature choices as well as the discussion. I found it to be a enriched literature program with vocabulary, discussions, projects, and comprehension questions that were not all regurgitating the facts. (It was this program that got my son to actually look at classic literature as not some boring old books). I agree with the other poster about the English text, it was good. Calvert also has computer skills lessons that are coordinated with the other school work to show how each skill can be used in their work.

 

I forgot to mention, the manuals are written to the child at that level, so it is encouraging independent work.

 

I did not use the services provided so I cannot comment on how those work or the quality of them.

[LauraGB]

I haven't looked into K12 for this grade level yet - I knew some parents whose younger elementary kids used this and they all really liked it. I think I'll revisit the k12 site and snoop around some more.

 

I have never heard of Keystone, Hewitt or Kolbe - will definitely be looking into them.

 

And it's kind of nice to hear that the accountability issue isn't just with my kid. I keep wondering how I managed to instill this sort of thing in him, because I sure didn't mean to! But dd doesn't have this issue; she is much more driven and personally motivated, so it looks like it might be all on him.

 

Thanks for the suggestions!