TessaM Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 I'm new to homeschooling and I want an all-in-one curriculum for our first year. My son is in 6th grade and did well in public school, but he has ADHD and gets bored easily. I work from home and can help him 2-3 hours a day, but he'll need to do work on his own too. Our school district will reimburse up to $2,000 for non-religious homeschool curriculum. I'm having a hard time deciding between Bookshark or Calvert. Has anyone used both? Thank you for any advice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Calvert is definitely more school-at-home. I personally find Bookshark more appealing. However, neither is (to the best of my knowledge) set up in such a way that it would entirely independent for your child. I think you should plan on actively teaching him yourself for the 3 hours you can, and letting him work through the assignments during the hours you can't be teaching him. However, as mom to an ADHD child myself, I can tell you that he may still need help after those three hours of active teaching. I wouldn't assume he'll transition straight from public school and be able to work on his own. Most homeschoolers work for many, many years during elementary school to work up to some independence in middle school. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TessaM Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 Thank you Aimee! I'm leaning towards Bookshark. I'm surprised you're the only one that responded. Maybe Calvert and Bookshark aren't very popular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Thank you Aimee! I'm leaning towards Bookshark. I'm surprised you're the only one that responded. Maybe Calvert and Bookshark aren't very popular. I'm going to guess that a lot of people had the same internal reaction I had: how to be gentle about telling you that a reading-heavy program isn't the best for your situation, since you have picked two out. My own picks for middle school included a smorgasbord: Intellego Science, Ellen McHenry's The Elements, and a parent-intensive Mr. Q. Moving Beyond The Page literature units since they were a mixture of hands on projects, worksheets, and summary questions to change it up every day. A variety of sources for history And so on. There are more resources out now, but I do remember it being rather intensive with my son. One tip passed around all of us with 6th graders was to get them active in the morning. Have them run, ride bikes, whatever, and then sit down to do schoolwork. Add in a lot of breaks for activity throughout the day and slowly work on building habits and tools that they can use to be successful on their own. I have a Sonlight manual for core D sitting here in my garage and I'm really glad I didn't use it for my son. It would have been a miserable year. It's the same reason I won't consider it for the next child coming up to be able to use it - it's long days with a lot of books. And I have two kids who love to read! :lol: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lang Syne Boardie Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 I think Home Again is right - you probably can't use Calvert or book shark if you only have 2-3 hours per day to educate your child, and he's not a really enthusiastic autodidact. You didn't ask for advice, so feel free to ignore this: Even with challenges of ADHD and boredom, if my sixth grade son were doing WELL in a school setting, that's where I'd leave him if at all possible. *Especially* if I only had half the morning to interact with him, teach him, learn together, find social outlets, help channel energy in positive ways. It sounds like he may have a lot to lose if you take him out of school. Again, totally presumptuous question, but have you tried to solve the problems within the school paradigm? Seek more accommodation for learning challenges, find some stimulating and educational activities to join, look harder for mentors in sports or scouts or clubs, go to the library often, etc? I've Hs'ed for 20 years. I'm pro-homeschool. But as the mother of four sons, some of who, have ADHD, I'm even more pro-child...if he's doing well in a school setting, with classmates, qualified teachers and a full day, I'd work with that instead of bringing him home to be lonely and possibly under-educated because you don't have time. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkyandtheBrains. Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Bookshark is "faith neutral" not secular. Calvert is secular. Can your child work near you when you aren't actively teaching? With ADHD, chance are they will need you nearby to readily redirect if they are distracted. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaceful Isle Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 We are using Bookshark this year with my sixth grader. Today was our first day and it was wonderful. That being said, it was very teacher intensive...like the whole time. He uses teaching textbooks for math and we are using a different language arts, but it took me a ton of time just to do his history, science and read a louds with him. I really wanted a literature based curriculum for him this year and it fits perfectly. Last year he did online curriculum and it was hands off for me. If I needed him to be independent , we would go back to his online curriculum from last year, not do bookshark. I can't really comment on Calvert. I did some Calvert k with my son last year, but quit early on. It just didn't jive with us. Good thing I got a smashing deal on eBay for it. So it wasn't much of a loss. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Neither.... I've used both. Calvert worked well for my EXTREMELY focused son...my ADD daughter had major struggles with it. Sonlight's books are 95% long, often boring, (depending on the Core), and it is a loooonnnngggg school day!! I DO NOT recommend it for a kid with ADD unless reading historical fiction happens to be his hobby. In that case it would be awesome. My sister homeschooled my nephew with ADHD and he did: Teaching Textbooks for Math Rainbow Science and Apologia for Science EIW (NOT IEW) for Writing- Essentials in Writing breaks everything down step by step and has easy to watch videos.... Story of the World as read-aloud for history I can't remember what she used for Spelling, but it was the same idea, short and sweet, just a few workbook pages and a quiz. No muss, no fuss. (He was always an excellent speller and didn't need any remediation in any subject except math though) And she assigned him books to read...just a few really great ones per year...I think in 6th grade she read aloud 2 and he himself read 2 or 3. He had always had excellent comprehension and good spelling so she wasn't worried about that. If your son is behind in reading obviously 4 books per year wouldn't be enough, but for him it was/is. His real problem with school was the loonnnngggg boring hours. So she was so smart, she did the opposite, keep it short, keep it simple...move on. And I would recommend the same. She kept his school day short and sweet!! NO extras, just the 3R's and Science and a fun, quick history read aloud. NO "Creative notebooking," No "extra literature selections".... He is doing great, possibly going to graduate a year early and head to the Army. He is happy, smart, well adjusted. Still hates school but doing great and got through it with no problems. Got his own car and is getting a part time job at Home Depot... This really worked for him! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraBeth475 Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Have you looked at a computer based program like k12 that might offer more support during the hours you are working? Or what about using bookshark for history and literature (I love their approach to these subjects personally) and using less teacher intensive programs for the other subjects? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraBeth475 Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Oh, I forgot to add, if you do go with Bookshark, audiobook versions are available for some of the history and read aloud books and that can be a real time saver for mom. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolamum Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 We used BkSk & my child was 100% independent with it. We used Levels 6 & 7. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TessaM Posted September 1, 2017 Author Share Posted September 1, 2017 Thanks everyone for your wonderful suggestions and encouragement! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadah Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 I've Hs'ed for 20 years. I'm pro-homeschool. But as the mother of four sons, some of who, have ADHD, I'm even more pro-child....Thank you for this wording. It was what I was trying to say to a friend this week and couldn't quite convey. Very well said, all of it. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted September 4, 2017 Share Posted September 4, 2017 (edited) We used BkSk & my child was 100% independent with it. We used Levels 6 & 7. :) I had one child do SL through Core 100, she was completely independent from Core 6 onward. My other children would not have been independent at that level, and my child with ADHD would not have done well at all. It really depends on the child. Maybe Calvert Academy would be different? When I think of Calvert I think of the print materials, but they do have a middle school academy now. Edited September 4, 2017 by melmichigan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 4, 2017 Share Posted September 4, 2017 (edited) k12 would be my pick for you. It is designed to be independent at that age. At least it was for my older sons. He LOVED it! Calvert- don't waste your money. It is dreadful boring and overpriced. Bookshark/Sonlight- I'm not sure this would be a good choice for a child who has AHHD and gets bored easily. It is read a little snippet here, read a little snippet there from several different books a day. (I did not read the other responses.) Edited September 4, 2017 by Paradox5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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