Are textbooks/workbooks really all that bad? Not for us!

The Allen family's formal school day begins at approximately 8:00am when THE BOXES are brought to the family room/kitchen are, where our large kitchen table is located. Each child, Edward (10-5th grade), Joseph (8-4th grade), and Emily (5-Kindergarten), has his or her own school box that holds all of the school materials needed for the particular grade, or enrichment course, he or she is working on. The boxes contain, for example, books, workbooks, paper, ruler, pencils, art materials, and folders of completed materials.

Heather gets out her notes that detail what each child is assigned and school begins. Math is always first for everyone, and then we move to, depending on the day the child's specific curriculum, other subjects in order of the particular child's preferences. Calvert School's curriculum, and supporting lesson manuals, lends itself to this type of organization and facilitates handling three grades simultaneously.

We try to loosely adhere to a times schedule to manage subject completion since we have learned that one of our children does better under times conditions. For example, math takes approximately 50 minutes; spelling, vocabulary, phonics, critical thinking, and art, about 20; and history, geography, science, reading, and composition, 40 minutes. We try to complete work within those time frames and then move on to the next subject. If a child's subject has not been completed in the allotted time, we come back to work on problem areas during the afternoon. Conversely, if a child completes a subject ahead of time, that child is encouraged to move on to the next one. The times normally work for us; however, when adjustments are needed, we make them. Working within these times usually results in our formal school day being completed by noon.

While Calvert offers detailed lesson manuals for each course, our approach is to sue the manuals solely as guides. Some items we skip or modify as necessary, and some items we consider to be extracurricular and can be worked on, if the child so chooses, outside of the formal school time. Calvert also offers education counselors who are available for questions during the school day and an Advisory Teaching Service that provides a teacher who follows the student through course completion, grading tests, and providing guidance. We have found the counselors and ATS to be very beneficial both to us as parent and to our children as they progress.

Our family has used the Calvert curriculum for six years and has completed kindergarten through 5th grade, as well as several enrichment courses, including: Spanish I and Spanish II, Beatrix Potter, Come Read with Me, Melody Lane, Ancient Greece, and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House Books and Reading Guides. We will be adding Latin to the mix, but since Calvert does not offer that language, we have identified a course from another vendor that meets our needs.

You probably can tell that we tend to be organized and structured. Hence, we feel most comfortable with a prearranged, traditional program like Calvert, but tend to supplement with Bible-study curricula, activities offered through our church, field trips, homeschool support group activities, piano lessons, ballet, 4-H, chess club, journaling, travel, and hours of reading and playing outdoors. Since our formal school day typically ends at noon, we have hours left before dinner to pursue these other interests.

While we recognize strengths and weaknesses in our children, we don't necessarily cater to those strengths and weaknesses. We take into account ways we can facilitate learning; however, we don't focus on that to the extent that we vary our curriculum. We use Calvert for all of our children and strive to insure that the children learn that which is important to learn. The Calvert curriculum, while seemingly structured in many ways, actually frees up hours of time that might be spent in planning and collecting materials required for other schooling methods, for play and exploration.

Our goal is to use the Calvert curriculum through 8th grade and complete the majority of the enrichment courses offered. Our children are developing an incredible knowledge base and experiences that will last la lifetime. For our family, a traditional approach to homeschooling works.