INDEPENDENT LEARNERS

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amin.'


Thursday 27 March 2008

Unschooling to Calvert

Assalamu alaykum,
so how exactly do you go from totally unschooling to Calvert school? Good question!
We started with Calvet just few days ago, so far so good. I am a bit worry that we may slip into the old habit of unschooling! Unschooling my children has been, helpful because after I had my 3rd child I did not have much time to sit and do thing and I felt very guilty, so i approached this method using it daily and really creating an environment for my kids where unschooling was THE METHOD!
Now that we opted for Calvert, I feel that i have to put down some rules and need my children to sit and do their work just like in secular school.
I like them to sit and read, write and learning with me, I also like the idea of unschooling them because i can see how effective it has been. On the way, while using unschooling my kids have learnt how to look after a baby, and all that includes (changing nappies, feeding, washing, changing clothing etc), cleaning the house, the importance of hygiene, cooking and the danger and hazards in the kitchen, how to make shopping using real money and calculating the change, how to write a shopping list, how to read road signs, recipes, how to answer at the door and at the phone (although I won't allow them yet) and lots of other useful life things.
Secular teaching will bring back memories of our old days, the very first few months we started officially to homeschool, the tears, the good, the bad, and why not the ugly!
But hamdulillah, I believe that my decision was at the right time, as I can see already few minor changes in my kids. Both are slowly adjusting to the new routine, they wake up a bit earlier, and because they understood that our schedule is tight they get less into fighting. So that's the other side of the coin, as they say.
In the months to come, many things will change insh'Allah good changes.
In the meantime our timings and activities needs to be modify. We will have to control, when we are going out and what sports we can afford to do. With Calvert the programme is very intense and the child is required to read and write everyday. Also Math play a very big role in our daily lessons.
So there you have it, unschooling to Calvert is like going from 0 to 10 without counting the numbers in the middle.

4 comments:

Happy Muslim Mama said...

Assalam-alaikam,
I have never heard of the Calvert Model of education, I will be interested to see how you use it.

A Muslimah - Another Stranger said...

Assalamu alaykum sister,
Calvert is very popular in the US. Here in the Uk we don't have such a programme. the ones we have are not so complete and cost more than double the fees.
Withis programme you can opt for ATS(Accredited Teacher Support) or just do it by yourself.
You can find out more at http://calvertschool.org
Insh'Allah this helps. If you do need more information about don' hesitate to contact me. I would be happy to help you.

Umm Raiyaan said...

Assalamu Alaikum Sis,

Excellent blog masha'Allah. So glad you went public with it. If at all possible, could you post some pics of some of the resources that Calvert sent you. It would give other mums like me an idea of what is included insha'Allah. Take care, my love and duas with your family.

Umm Raiyaan

A Muslimah - Another Stranger said...

Assalamu alaykum sis Umm Raiyyan,
mash'Allah happy to see you here!
I don't think I can take pics of the actual resources. But even if i could it would not make justice to the resources they sent me. You only have to imagine great books, very tick, full colours, lots of them. I received about 10 different ones. " Home Teacher Manuals for the first part of the year and the second part. One booklet about Tests (this one is only if you choose teacher support), one booklet specially to explain Math to your chidl, one book about Phonics, one book about Geography, one about Social Studies,one book about science,2 books about Reading as tick as you can imagine more than 360 pages with lots of stories full page images and lots of colours, then you have few books only full of worksheets incl. Maths, Science, etc and lots more 4 pads of paper made special so the child can write neatly in the lines, pencils, clorful blocks to use with calvert math, and much, much more. I couldn't believe it. Ok I paid £600 about but about £100 or maybe a little bit more was for the delivery, then there is a registartion fee included in that £600 and the teacher support! WOW sis, you cannot imagine. We are so over the moon. I found my little happy island! All I have to do is spare 2-3 hours max a day with my child and just follow what the curriculum say. they even send you a certificate!!!Mash'Allah!