S/O Calvert 5th grade

[umsami]

I saw a lot of long-term Calvert users posting about Calvert high school, so I thought I'd ask their opinion on 5th grade. This year we started out in OM 4th, but it wasn't rigorous enough.  I added in CHOW, which is one of DS1's favorites. He's read close to 75 chapter books, and I have trouble keeping up with him.  Need something more rigorous/challenging…but the OM weekly schedule did not work for me.

 

I do like Math Mammoth, though. :)

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We haven't used 5th grade yet but IMO it's one of hte years when Calvert most shines.  Late elementary and early middle school are difficult years, IMO, to acheive a good balanced approach, and I think Calvert acheives that in 4th and I believe in 5th.

 

The Science is the same as 4th grade which is the "A Closer Look" series which we really love.  I don't think that means that everyone will love it, but for some reason we just really do.  The A Closer Look Science stays on topic just long enough to answer the basic questions my daughter has, but not long enough that we become bored.  In general we spend one week on one basic topic.  The pictures are really gorgeous, but they aren't distracting. It doesnt have that annoying "magazine" quality to it that I've seen in some Scott Foresman stuff, for instance.  There is one beautiful picture per page.  The Calvert Manual picks out which experiments you will do and for the most part, they are do-able (but I went through the yellow list at the beginning of the school year and bought 130.00 worth of odds and ends from Home Science Tools so that I could be sure that I was sure that we'd have all the materials!)  

 

The history is a fairly dry history textbook. You can tell from the samples that it's not chock full of excitement.  ...can't say much there as it's hard to tell from the samples.  

 

I do know that the writing is basically an extension of the 4th grade and this is where I believe Calvert absolutely shines.  The writing instruction is clear, concise, consistent, and often very fun.  They always lead the student step by step.  You'll see where they throw in a few suggestions to "try to complete this assignment in one sitting" but it's just for test prep and you don't actually have to expect that. We have used the 4th and 6th writing, and I can tell you that it's very well done.

 

The grammar in all of Calvert is a bit lame.  I mean, the topics they cover are great!  But, there is NOT ENOUGH review at all.  I am amazed that my son is grasping it as well as he is.  Then again, they have some wonderful review videos in grade 6 (not sure about grade 5) which really cement the grammar for those visual learners.

 

You can see the literature- all wonderful excellent American classics to tie in with the American history theme.  I'm so excited about them, so even when the high school came out and we decided to move my son over to Hewitt, I really didn't want to miss out on grade 5 with Calvert.

 

Lastly, the geography is learning the 50 states.  I don't know how 5th grade approaches the mapwork and geography but I will say that in every other grade there has NEVER been enough review for anything to stick.  I hope that's not the case with 5th but that is fairly easily solved- the provide blackline masters and you can copy them and do it over the course of a few days, and add in a puzzle.  I race against my dd to complete the puzzle and she learned her states pretty fast that way.

 

Spelling is totally hands off for you.  That spelling book that you see is actually supplemental and the education counselors told me to just skip the whole thing and have my kids just do the Computer program.  It is kind of like some public school busy work and weird random writing assignments.  Once in a while you might see something useful in there like alphabetization, but you can just let your kids use the spelling program and unless they have a learning problem or really struggle with spelling, it'll be enough!  Yay! My dd uses Sequential Spelling but my son just uses the online spelling program and that's it. 

 

Child's History of Art is awesome awesome awesome...love it love it.  I think that since you are from the Middle East I don't know if you will feel bummed that it mostly represents Western Art (ie from just before the Renaissance forward although they do include the Egyptians now and then especially with regards to sculpture) but it is just so conversational, beautiful and well done, I think anyone would love it.  The actual art LESSONS however leave a bit to be desired.  Then again, my son is busy and we don't have time for him to become the next great artist, so in a way I'm glad the lessons aren't too involved.  I mean, I think they could have done a little better though.  I found the 4th grade art LESSONS to be better.  5th graders study architecture.

 

So, without ever having used it, I can say I have a pretty good feel for it.  It's the first year that they use a textbook for history, and of course that is a bummer in one sense, but in another sense it's not so bad because you can get a nice secular overview of American history!  Then, you'll have a nice peg to hang onto later on in high school.

 

Also, the ATS is extremely challenging and there's a lot of studying of flash cards and facts, so unless your son is a strong memorizer and fairly focused, i would skip the ATS and just enjoy the package on your own.

 

6th grade has been pretty awful in some respects and totally amazing in others, so I plan to keep my dd in 5th and then re-use the 6th grade course, before switching her to Hewitt.  I can say that overall 6th has been a success and really really taught us to work hard!  

 

Here it is in a nutshell- I feel that middle school is tough and Calvert is really helping me get through it...I feel like my son and daughter are prepared for whatever comes next and I didn't have any guesswork.  Even the areas in which Calvert is weak (Grammar for instance), I still feel like they are certainly not behind or lost.  

 

And the education counselors are there for you, and you truly can utilize them as much as you want.  They will even get on the phone with your child, if that makes more sense and your child can talk clearly about his question.

[Butter]

5th grade was AWESOME!  There apparently was enough grammar review for my son because even though he really struggled with grammar, he has done great with grammar in public 6th grade.  I've been amazed how much grammar he has in school and how similar it is to Calvert because where I grew up we did not do *any* grammar past the 8 basic parts of speech and nothing formal after about 3rd grade.  The geography was fairly awful in 5th grade, though.  That was the one thing we didn't like.

[umsami]

Thanks so much Calming Tea and Butter.  Great reviews, I really appreciate it.

 

A bit bummed to hear about history, because CHOW is so loved by my son this year.  Oh well, perhaps we can supplement or something.  :)