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Health & Fitness

Our Calvert Homeschool Materials Arrived Yesterday

What is in the box?

Why am I homeschooling this year?

I love teaching and chose to give a single year of homeschooling to each of my daughters as they passed through middle school. Oh, it was so much work! I always said that I worked harder than they did--especially with my oldest daughter. But it was worth it!

The time has come for my son's year of homeschool, and I decided to go with the non-profit Calvert Online Public School program run through the district. I think it's a good fit for us. He's very energetic and loves time spent at school with friends. This way, he will still be able to participate in flex-time at school as well as assemblies and school events.

This time I am going to enjoy the journey with him instead of spending my time making lesson plans and writing exams.

What is my initial impression of the books and lesson plans?

I'm impressed. It seems every subject is well-covered. I love the the science books, and it was fun to find containers of chemicals and two test tubes.

I took the time to go online and look at the first lesson for each subject. Art history caught my eye because it had links for three art museums, including the National Gallery of Art--good timing, because I am taking my son and a friend of his who is also doing Calvert online public school this year to D.C. for history camp anyway, and we can stop by the museum and look at the artwork from the homeschool curriculum in person.

What was my son's response?

He had asked me to homeschool this year instead of waiting for seventh grade, and I warned him at the time that it would be a lot of work. I was very clear about that. His main drive was to work ahead in math.

So when the boxes of books arrived and he saw the biography of a surgeon, he said, "They want me to read this? Look at all these books! There are four science books." Even though he was expressing shock and surprise, I noticed that he proudly said (in mock dismay) to everyone in the family when they arrived home from various activities or came down from their rooms, "Look at all these books I got! They fill a whole shelf! I can't believe they expect me to read this." I could tell he was actually pretty proud of them. This was confirmed when he later said, "Can we get started or do we have to wait?"

What do you suppose my answer was?

When the hard work begins and the daily task of keeping up with assignments and exams starts, his enthusiasm may evaporate like dew off the grass in the morning. But that's okay. I've been through this before.

He will still take the MEAPs, but we will have to drive to a testing center to take them. He will still spend a few hours each day working on core classes. His first lesson: be careful asking your mom to homeschool you. She might say yes.

Thoughts specifically on Calvert Homeschool vs. for-profit online charter schools?


• Calvert has been in the home school business for over 100 years.

• Calvert is non-profit, partnering with Oakland Schools to offer Michigan home school families the benefits of being enrolled in a school district without requiring seat time at a brick and mortar building. Benefits:

• MHSAA extracurricular sports eligibility

• The opportunity to attend school assemblies and events

• Optional participation in band, orchestra, art, etc.

• Although the for-profit charter schools also have their tuition paid for by the state, there is no money returned to the home district. With Calvert, state money is used only for tuition and actual overhead costs. Any overage is returned to local districts.

• Online reviews for Calvert consistently praise its high standards.

Mary Marshall established this partnership with Oakland schools when she was superintendent in Dexter. I'm paraphrasing here, but she said that it would help homeschool families and not have downsides for the district. I feel the same way. Some homeschool families are in the groove and do not need a packaged curriculum. I know, because that is what we've done in the past. But for those families who choose to educate their children at home, but may not have the resources to purchase materials and find support groups to interact with, this is a really good option.

Any local families who are interested in enrolling in Calvert Online Public School have until August 16th. This is a firm deadline, and students need to enroll both in Dexter Schools and in the Oakland VLAC. More information can be found in this article.

There are still openings in the program.

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