INDEPENDENT LEARNERS

'O Allah increase me in knowledge,
amin.'


Monday 2 June 2008

Calvert: Our review!


Assalamu alaykum,

so we are in lesson 30. That was so quick!

We already sent back one test (lesson 20) and we are now getting ready for test lesson 40. Test lesson 20 was 'easy-peasy' as my son described it. The teacher sent us back her feedbacks and she was very impressed with my child's progress. She pointed out about how easy my child found Math.

In fact my lad here likes so much Math and he is also doing fine with Science and English. But he doesn't really like Geography. At least so far, he is always complaining about learning names of Continents, oceans, the compass rose etc. He's finding hard to remember where all the continents are and the single countries. He never learnt about Geography before so i guess he needs time to adjust to this very new subject.


I must say, I am very happy with Calvert. It has proven to be a good, well structured and laid out programme. The workbooks are really well made, full of exercises and reviews for the child. The actual text books, Science, Reading, Maths, Geography, Poems, Social Studies, and Phonics are full of colourful pictures, good quality paper, hardbacks and made special for the grade my son is in. E.G. the reading book is full of colourful pics and it teaches kids not just about reading, but also, new vocabulary, fiction and non fiction stories, learning about the author of each story, related themes and working around each theme.

Also Calvert offer full support for the kids, a list of websites the child can use for further studies, online support and list of good reading books divided into grades.

I found that Maths is a bit too easy for my child age. I was told grade 2 would be ok for a 7 years old but I can now see that it is not the case for my child. I am still happy as my child is just repeating what we have been doing last year, at least in Maths.


I love the Reading Books : Delights and Adventures. They are both big, sturdy books. The stories are great. My child does truly enjoying reading the stories.

Science text book and the worksheets booklets is full of experiment to do and make with easy to use resources that you can find around your home.


As for myself, the home teacher manual is what I really needed! It's just an easy ride for me. All I have to do is to sit with my child for around 1 1/2-2 hours and tell him what to do by following the manual. It tells you exactly what you should do in each lesson and also gives you some very good tips and hints.

It's a great fun, as up till now I had to prepare my own lessons. I don't have anymore such a hard time. It all comes in a big box deliveried by UPS directly from US and it costs around £500-£600 depending on the rate exchange. I am paying around £60 a month as I chose to pay by payment plan.

Also, I am sorry for all those sisters who asked me about taking pics of Calvert books, but I don;t think I can do that as the books are copyrighted. You can still look in ebay.com (US site) to see some pics of the books' covers.
Insh'Allah this helps all those who decide to become a Calvert homeschooling family!

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