Calvert Curriculum Users - answer some questions for me please

[watertribe]

I want to here from Calvert users on their likes and dislikes of the curriculum. I am considering it for 8th grade. At this level, from their website I gather that they will evaluate your child's reading, writing and math ability and then recommend the appropriate level. I probably wouldn't use their math but I'm wondering how this worked for your dc. Do you use any of their teaching services (ATS)? I wasn't planning to, but would like to hear about it if you do.

What is the strength/weaknesses of this curriculum?

Do you use all the curriculum or do you add or substitute some? Do you think someone coming into Calvert at 8th grade would have an easy transition?

I am thinking the structure of this curriculum may be helpful to my oldest. Any comments will be helpful to me. Thanks!

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

We used calvert for 4th grade mostly. It is a good, solid curricula IMHO. We did use other stuff too but this because I am a curriculum junkie. We did use their math which is also solid IMO. Calvert is adding high school courses next year from what I understand. We are not using it now since ds is attending a charter school and has done since 5th grade. You could ask them to send more info to you and there are web information sessions that are helpful.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

I forgot to add there is a calvert facebook page and a yahoo group last I checked that may be helpful to you.

[AliR]

DD has used Calvert since 3rd grade, and is now in 6th grade.  I strongly recommend you have your child take the placement test and talk through the results with a Calvert advisor - there is no charge and no obligation. 

 

Pros: 

Calvert has a brick and mortar school, as well as over 100 years experience in homeschooling, so they really do know what they are doing.  The curriculum is very complete,and I particularly appreciate that technology is used across all subjects. The benefit of the lesson manuals (which from 6th upwards are written to the student), access to educaton counsellors, and interwoven on-line materials such as Discovery Streaming, really do mean that you do not need to supplement.  There are lots of ideas for enrichment activities if you choose.  High school will be available from September 2014 (9th grade). 

 

Cons:

The price, although I do maintain it is good value when you add in all the extra features it has over and above just the books.  There is a lot of material, which can be off putting until you get used to the fact that you don't need to do everything in the lesson manual.

 

Things that you will hear about as being cons:

The biggest con that always seems to come up is the lack of flexibility across grade levels, mostly as a criticism from those who have never used the program, or did so in the lower elementary grades or many years ago.  This is not the case now.  We are currently using a custom curriculum with them that is a mix of 5th/6th/7th grades.  You don't have to use their math at all.

 

We have always used ATS.  I find, especially as we go up the grade levels, that I have difficulty fairly marking work (I am too tough!) especially for compositions.  The marked ATS tests form a very good portfolio of the year's work.

 

As to whether it would be hard transitioning in for 8th grade, I think that would be best answered by Calvert themselves after the placement test. 

 

[Mandy in TN]

I am not using Calvert, seriously considered it for 6th grade this year. Instead we are using many of the same or similar products. Obviously, it depends on what you need. If your ds needs to see what many other 8th graders are doing to be motivated, if y'all are butting heads and an outside authority will alleviate tension in your relationship, if you are unsure that you are doing enough work or the appropriate level of work or that perhaps you are doing too much work, if you need a portfolio for your state and are concerned about assembling this, if you this ATS may motivate your ds to but forth more effort, (and I am sure there are many other reasons) the Calvert may be a good fit. After I realized that what I really wanted was near daily hand holding with outside feedback on every written assignment and lecture and grading for every math assignment, I knew that Calvert with ATS wasn't going to meet our needs. OTOH- ds did like the look of their grade 6 product page, so I went to amazon and purchased many of the same and some similar products. Then, went with Write at Home for composition and Derek Owens for math. This arranagement better met our current needs.

 

If you think Calvert meets your current needs, go ahead, do the placement test, and talk to them. I mean really- worst case scenario you have to look for something else. :)

Mandy

[Lanny]

OP There is another recent thread on WTM, I think in the K-8 board, that you might find very interesting. It was begun by someone unhappy with the 6th grade PH Science textbook Calvert uses. I wish I had the URL of that thread, to include here. GL

[...................]

I want to here from Calvert users on their likes and dislikes of the curriculum. I am considering it for 8th grade. At this level, from their website I gather that they will evaluate your child's reading, writing and math ability and then recommend the appropriate level. I probably wouldn't use their math but I'm wondering how this worked for your dc. Do you use any of their teaching services (ATS)? I wasn't planning to, but would like to hear about it if you do.

What is the strength/weaknesses of this curriculum?

Do you use all the curriculum or do you add or substitute some? Do you think someone coming into Calvert at 8th grade would have an easy transition?

I am thinking the structure of this curriculum may be helpful to my oldest. Any comments will be helpful to me. Thanks!

We are currently using 4th and 6th and have used pre-K, K, and 2nd as well.

 

1.  ATS is great for someone at your son's age range.  The tests are very motivating to really learn to study.  THe Calvert manuals for 6-8th grade actually walk your student thorugh how to study, reminding them to make vocabulary lists or flash cards, and to study, and teaching how to outline, etc.  The tests are challenging but not impossible or overwhelming and include A LOT of essay, connection and critical thinking.  They are NOT fill in the blank mindless tests, although you will see some multiple choice of course.  They are only done every 20 lessons, which works out to once per month. 

 

2.  

Strengths- pretty well balanced, all planned out.  The 8th grade will teach your child how to be organized, how to study, how to use textbooks, how to be a self-learner, and all in criticla thinking and analyzing while using a lot of higher order thinking skills.  THe art is very interesting and very fun, and the textbooks are mostly very interesting.  

 

I actually USE the Ed COunsellors.  I call them every time, any time, that I need advice, or an idea, or have a problem or a question.  They are so kind, and patient, and full of wonderful ideas.  Since I am paying for that service, I actually use it all the time.  I figure there is no way I'm going to pay all that extra money and then not call them whenever I want.  

 

Weaknesses- the Science is rather dry (ok very dry), and I would rather learn history from just real books than use any textbooks at all.  However, I have been very pleasantly surprised by the textbooks Calvert chooses (with the exception of PH Science.)  

 

Another weakness is the cost.  It is just through the roof, and it only gets higher every year.  However, for me, this year, even though I miss some of the more eclectic, fun stuff we used to do, I really feel my kids are getting so much balance.  I am teaching a lot of new things and discussing more about the world, cultures, religion and politics because we are just covering so much more.  But still, 1400.00 is a lot of money, when you could do 8th grade for so much less.  

 

3.  I use all the curriculum.  FOr my daughter this year I am adding some good phonics review, and they both do Spanish separately.  

 

4.  The structure has really helped my oldest son.  Even though the school day is sometimes longer than I would like, I really see him learning a lot- really learning, not just going through the motions.  Of course, he always learns and retains when I sit with him and discuss what he is learning!  And I make sure he gets to enjoy the Brain Pop, the vidoes, and the hands on projects.  They lengthen the school day but they also break up any monotony and that is a healthy thing.  Also, he is complaining here and there about the length of the day sometimes, but I ensure that he understands that this is a well thought out, proven curriculum used around the world, from an institution that has been around a long time.  Even though it's not perfect and there may be better methods or curriculum, he understands this reasoning and it really helps him to not argue with me and constantly question what we are doing, how much we are doing, or how hard it is.  I realized how much I was babying him last year when we did our eclectic thing, and I'm a little ashamed of myself for how much I babied him.  :o)

 

Lastly, you asked whether someone would come in have an easy transition?

 

Calvert's writing is very challenging.  That's the only area where I would see someone really not doing well or being overwhelmed if he had not had plenty of writing practice.  But if he knows how to plan and write a five paragraph essay with good opening, closing, body, supporting details,a nd good word order, excellent word choice (using the thesaurus), and do that with several different genres of writing, then he should be fine.  But they will place him one grade lower if necessary and still be considered 8th grade.

 

The rest is just a matter of working hard, studying and memorizing.  My son is definitely having a transition from sitting on the couch listening to me read aloud, and then working alongside his little sister in happy little notebooks.  Those are good things ,and better ways of learning in some respects but for my son it is a transition to actually being responsible to read, discuss, make vocab cards, and organize one's thoughts and THEN even write about it.

 

We are very happy with Calvert.  Sometimes I really miss the other methods of learning and we are especially bored by the Science this year.  But the organization, help, balance, thoroughness, completeness, and the art, literature, discussion, make up for that. 

[...................]

OP There is another recent thread on WTM, I think in the K-8 board, that you might find very interesting. It was begun by someone unhappy with the 6th grade PH Science textbook Calvert uses. I wish I had the URL of that thread, to include here. GL

THat's me.  It's just really boring with facts crammed in.  HOwever, we are hoping the other books in the series are more interesting and less difficult.  We are told that the chemistry books are two of the hardest.  

[watertribe]

Thanks for that detailed review CalmingTea. I am in the process now of doing a placement evaluation with Calvert and I understand they do custom placement for spelling, grammar, writing and math (although I thought the s/g/w were all integrated). Writing is not his strong suit, but he did WWS1 last year and we started WWS2 (which he loves)- I'd love to use it, but it's hard to commit so much $$ into a whole curriculum and not use it all. I am also not looking forward to dry/boring science - when it should be so fun! Maybe 8th grade is better than 6th...I guess that's the problem I find with Calvert - I like the sound of a lot of it, but not all of it, and it's too expensive to just swap out what I don't like. 8th grade is over $2000 with ATS and math - I just missed a 20% discount that ended (ouch!).

 

I am curious how much time your son spends on school in an average day. I've looked through the sample schedules, do you find you can follow that? If it takes longer, do you have your ds work until the lesson is done, or do you let it carry over into another day?  Is it five long days a week, or is one day lighter? One of the problems I have right now with my ds, is that he has a hard time concentrating for a long time, we'd both dread 5 long days.

[AliR]

We school year round with no long holidays, so instead of doing one lesson per day we just commit to a certain number of hours (for us no more than 4 hours for 6th grade, both DD and I lose the will to live if we go any longer). The Education Counsellor has recommended that we do 'chunking', which is working on a whole batch of a single subject rather than doing a bit of everything each day.  So, for example, for 20 lesson days - which will take us probably 6 weeks - we will do 20 lessons of reading, then 20 lessons of science, then 20 lessons of history, then 20 of geography, or whatever we  We won't move onto the next batch of 20 lesson days until all the subject areas for the first 20 days are finished up.  We do math and language arts daily. 

 

I agree with Calming Tea about the first couple of Prentice Hall books, which are heavy going on chemistry with not a lot of pictures.  However, as science is my thing, I do appreciate that the actual content of these books is excellent even if the presentation is dry. The'chunking' of subjects also means that if we have an afternoon of chemistry, there is the time to use on-line supplements or do some hands-on work to illustrate the concepts presented.  If we were jumping around between subject areas each day, I don't think we would get to that.

 

For discounts, I have looked back over my ordering pattern over the years, and see that there has been a 30% sale in November before.  Not saying this will happen again, but you may be able to persuade an advisor to give you a hint about forthcoming offers.

[...................]

I think th schedule is actually fairly accurate. So it's about 4-5 hours but that includes 2 recesses and lunch. I ensure that my son acually goes out to play during those times, and it really improves his mood!

 

I love the chunking idea but I bought Calvert so that I would not have to tweak and Plan- so we just use it as-is. Some days are much longer than others. But that happens rarely. Usually they are balanced.

 

But yeah- that 2000.00 and the dry dry science and geography is why we may be looking elsewhere for next year. :(