School in a Box?
The Oakland VLAC Calvert Homeschool program offered through the Dexter Community Schools could be loosely described as “public school in a box.” Obviously, there are many aspects of public school that could never be put in a box, but the curriculum is tight and the daily lessons cover the material in depth. If a family followed the daily plans with exactness and put in the time, they would get a comprehensive education for their children.
Books and Paper, not Virtual School
Although there are optional materials online, the work is done using textbooks and paper. Assignments can be either handwritten or typed; we do a little of both. I have seen my son learn to effectively highlight textbook chapters while reading them and then go back and review for tests by concentrating on what he highlighted during his reading. It’s an effective strategy and he’s honing his skills for middle school. There are daily assessments he takes at the computer, but they are at most 5 questions each and very easy. The real work is at a desk with traditional materials. (Well, okay, sometimes on the couch with the dog, but it's pencil and paper.)
Surprises
Here’s the big surprise: his favorite subject is art history. I would never have seen that coming. This summer we were at the Smithsonian and he balked at even setting foot in the National Gallery of Art. Now he can discuss Greek vs. Roman vs. Assyrian sculpture. Another big surprise: for an avid reader, he loathes the Calvert reading assignments. I sort of agree with him: the materials chosen are well below his reading level and frankly boring--to both of us. That’s okay, he’s reading great books on the side (which I assign him). The last book he read was Where the Red Fern Grows.
Personalizing is Important
It would be important for VLAC families to adapt the program to suit their own style. Friends of ours clump similar lessons together rather than doing a broad survey each day which is the default schedule. They choose do two or three science lessons one day and then several geography lessons the next. For another family I know, the children work along at their own pace covering at least one entire lesson each day. The children enjoy the challenge of trying to outpace the recommended lessons and are currently 3 lessons ahead.
For us, I squeeze a week’s lessons into 4 days and reserve Thursdays for what I want to teach. Today, it was extra grammar from Easy Grammar Plus, spelling from The Institute For Excellence in Writing, history/writing from the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia (The Persian Empire), and keyboarding which was to type up one of his Calvert writing assignments (a review of Marvel Super Heroes Lego Game) and post it on Amazon. Then he had the choice to end the day with some assigned reading or German language practice. As it turns out, I’m a tougher teacher than his Calvert teaching advisor. But only on Thursdays!
He also went to Creekside today for P.E. with teachers Marsha Meyerhoff and Fred Ligrow and loved it. That’s a benefit of being a Dexter student homeschooling. One of the drawbacks was the requirement to drive to Howell to take the MEAP over a series of days in October.
Recommendation
All in all, I would recommend the program to a family interested in homeschooling with a completely organized curriculum laid out for them. The support is dependable. Kids are still Dexter students. Calvert has a long history of accredited home schooling. That said, my advice would be to look for ways to make it personalized and enjoyable beyond the box. Have fun with it and make time for the enrichment activities. (In a month my son will be joining other VLAC kids in a Robotics competition.)
And who knows, you might discover that your child loves art history, or sentence diagramming, or writing newspaper articles. This is our only year for the VLAC before returning to public school full-time, but it's going well.
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