Calvert Homeschool offers self-paced learning for students with step-by-step lesson plans for parents. Calvert Education was acquired by Edgenuity as part of their Glynlyon purchase in 2019 and currently offers mainly digital curriculum (K-2 is still print-based). According to their website, the new curriculum includes:
- Best-of-class digital resources.
- Step-by-step lesson plans.
- An online learning platform with 24/7 access to lessons, assessments, progress tracking tools, and more.
For grades K-12, families can enrolls students in the accredited Calvert Academy online. For grades 3-12, families can sign up at more affordable rate to use the Calvert online curriculum without enrolling in the academy. For grades K-2, a colorful print-based curriculum is available for purchase.
Before investing in any homeschooling resources, please read "How to Choose the Best Homeschool Curriculum."
Reviews are solely the opinions of the contributor.
Cons: everything else
Grades Used: k, 3
I had heard good things about this school, and was happy when our district provided it through their new online option. I had homeschooled my older kids for a few years with CAVA using k12, so thought I knew what to expect.
One week in, and we have ordered Seton and will disenroll after the new books arrive.
It’s a nightmare. NO BOOKS. Online only, but the lessons refer to activities on paper books, like take a sticky note and place it in the text when you reread the story. So confusing. Many typos and serious grammatical errors like they wrote it in the middle of the night and didn’t proof it. Really long lessons, with projects that take 47 days for a kindergardener?? My 3rd grader just refuses to do the work. I am overwhelmed. There are no lesson plans for the parent, just “notes” on a different computer that you would need next to you, and they are just not that helpful. A lot of busy work in each lesson which is broken down to be a days work in that subject, and it is hard for me to find the focus for that lesson, it jumps around trying to gloss over ideas, asking the child to demonstrate their skills without really teaching the idea. And I don’t know what the point of it is either so I can’t teach it.
I really like the Houghton Mifflin Science and Social studies digital texts that are linked in, they were confusing at first with so many places to click just to get the lessons…it was weird that they would do the online worksheet, then move to the next screen and their answers disappear…so if I wasn’t right there I wouldn’t know they did them, and then they couldn’t refer back to their own answers…but I think they are work learning how to use, and they taught the concepts extremely well.
I forgot to mention that for 2 days of the last 5 the website was down and we couldn’t actually access the curriculum? That it loads slow or just stops other times. My husband says it is just the first week and give it a chance. But this is not what homeschooling should be, it is not even what a curriculum should be from a teacher’s perspective I am overwhelmed and confused.
Cons: Unless parents handle it correctly, there can be some problems with companionship, but that is easily overcome with the proper attention of the parents.
Grades Used: 2'7
I am an “old” alumna of Calvert School. I was enrolled for grades 3 through 7 in the 1940s, believe it or not. I could not have had a better education. I went from the 7th grade into 9th, High School , seamlessly. In fact, I kind of “coasted” for the first year or more. I heartily recommend this school. It prepared me academically in every way possible. My mother only had a 12th grade education, and she was the primary teacher at home, although I also had the teacher from Calvert. In this pandemic situation today, if I were a parent, I would find the money however I could and enroll my child in Calvert.
Cons: Loss of a wonderful curriculum
Grades Used: K-6
I used Calvert curriculum when my children were in elementary school. They are now 27 years old. We all loved it because of the content. The reading books for first grade were colorful with wonderful stories. The social studies portion skipped the “community helpers” drivel that was so present in other first grade curriculum materials and went straight to Greek mythology and stories about King Canute and King Arthur. By sixth grade, they had read a shortened version of Robinson Crusoe and were learning about the Battle of Hastings and the Hundred Years War. It was SO interesting, and they loved knowing about things that the kids in public school were never exposed to. They have kept those books all these years. I liked that we could either follow the enclosed teacher book or (after I got the hang of teaching) use whatever seemed appropriate at the time and could supplement with other things I found. We could also take vacations whenever it suited our family. My children did eventually attend a public high school, where they graduated as valedictorians. I was thinking of recommending Calvert to a neighbor whose son is entering kindergarten and will be homeschooling, but after looking at the “new” curriculum, I see that the early social sciences has changed to “My Friend the Fireman”. The wonderful mythology and world stories books seem to be gone. Homeschool learning seems to have changed from a family bonding, interactive experience to handing your kid a workbook or sitting him in front of a computer screen for hours at a time. What a shame to lose what made Calvert such a unique and wonderful curriculum.
Cons: customer support is non existant
Grades Used: K-5
I have no idea if the software is effective or not…I can’t accomplish a simple task of importing my student roster. The user guide is a joke. I’ve been on hold for over an hour. My school dropped $50k on this software and I’m getting about $19.99 out of support for it. RIDICULOUS.
Cons: really none
Grades Used: P-K though 12
Our Son started in P-K now a senior in Calvert. His GPA is 3.8. I was the teacher until 6th grade. Then his dad took over until 9th. Our son started interactively by himself. We had to watch him be sure he got all his work done on time. If he had questions he would ask his dad. We worked at home so he was with his dad. We did art classes, he is a 2nd black belt. he played 6 years at the local middle school and high school football. We did homeschool science classes at the local zoo. Until he thought he was too big to go. We had camps in all subjects in the summer. He played all sports but his love was football. He will no longer be with Calvert come October. But I would have never done anything differently. We are now starting our granddaughter for 1st. grade. I’m looking forward to being with Calvert again. starting with her. I’m so lucky.
Cons: Lessons can get long sometimes
Grades Used: 8th
My daughter has found so much success with Calvert Academy. She struggled socially in public school and Calvert has been a safe place to watch my child blossom and grow academically. We just received her standardized test scores and she scored above the national average! I never would have dreamed that possible with my daughter before. I attribute that all to Calvert Academy, the teachers and the curriculum.
Cons: Poor quality teachers, boring curriculum
Grades Used: 5th, 6th
Poor Quality with Calvert!! We utilized Calvert for my daughter for 5th grade (2018-2019) and 6th grade (2019-2020). Basically for 6th grade they changed to an entire new curriculum. They send you NO books. It is boring, SO boring! No videos! No activity pages. Everything is online. You read 4 pages of small type, with boring photos, and then answer questions. My daughter hated it! It is not engaging at all. (I found it boring!).
The worst part is that ALL her teachers were changed several times during the year. The final English teacher . . . gave feedback with POOR English! [edited to comply with guidelines] That is right, an English teacher who cannot write in proper English!! I tried repeatedly to provide example of this to the Principal, who said they would “train her more”. Good Grief! I tried to give examples of how boring it was, etc.
Do NOT waste your money! It was very disappointing!
Cons: High level of reading content
Grades Used: 7th
My son loves Calvert Academy! After moving from a public school program (due to COVID-19) we were at a loss of what to do. Our school district did not provide us with curriculum resources and I was not confident that I could find the right resources for him to continue his studies. We decided to finish the school year at Calvert Academy in the safety of our own home! Although my son was a high achiever at public school and found school to be “easy,” he was surprisingly challenged by Calvert’s curriculum. The teachers were helpful and provided feedback on assignments. Students were allowed to set up private appointments with their teachers and the school even provided an afternoon live virtual office for students to walk in to get help with their work. We were concerned about giving this school a try after reading some reviews, but it is clear that the current administration has made a big difference! We are seriously thinking about staying with Calvert for the new school year.
Cons: Software run "academy."
Grades Used: 9 and 10
We had heard such wonderful reviews about Calvert and it was nothing like we had heard. Unfortunately we enrolled just after the school was bought by Odysseyware and it’s basically a computer program running the entire educational model. There wasn’t any, I repeat, ANY flexibility on how much / what kind of work that my two high school students had to do for each class. The amount of work was absolutely ridiculous – most of it computer graded. After spending every day on the computer for 6+ hours, within a month they both burned out, and got behind over one long weekend with all of their assignments and never could catch up. There’s no option to skip any material that they might pre-test out of. Endless written projects. My son literally had 10+ essay papers to write for P.E.!! So many hours on the computer that there was no way we could monitor how much work they were really getting done versus just doing whatever they like online, which led to many family arguments and unhappy parents and unhappy kids. Our son got so depressed that he needed intervention. We sent in a hospital form showing he was hospitalized for depression for two weeks and the school didn’t change the deadlines for any of his assignments and simply asked for another $300 to extend his semester. It’s not a school, it’s a software program with teacher support – but no teacher can fix that broken system. We withdrew after not even one semester finished. Both of my kids only finished two classes during the time period and only got halfway through the remainder. What a waste of thousands of dollars.
Cons: A lot
Grades Used: 6th
This online program is horrible, my 6th grader has had major issues with this curriculum, lots of busy work, one teacher does or says one thing, and another does something the complete opposite. The expectations with the typed essays and no keyboarding classes for sixth graders is ridiculous. And again the amount of work, is just too much. I’m sad I didn’t find this review board earlier, because I would of never signed up for the program. PLEASE DO NOT SIGN YOUR KIDS UP FOR THIS PROGRAM. IF you like busy work for your kids and your kid to be stuck at a computer everyday for 4-6 hours a day, this is the program for you.
Cons: Support, grading, online platform, price, quality of curriculum
Grades Used: K-9
We had used Calvert Curriculum for 11 years. We had always been pleased with their curriculum (the older version). Recently, they changed their curriculum not once, but twice. The newest version being the online platform. My oldest was starting high school so he started the online high school academy. Initially, we thought it was going to be a great program. However, as he got more into the course we found that it wasn’t all that great. Very long essays and easy grading with little to no feedback. We were so disappointed because we had been using Calvert for years. My daughter’s 8th grade program wasn’t much better. We have moved on to another curriculum and will never recommend this program to anyone!!! I’m so disappointed and frustrated that they took something great and made it worthless.
Cons: That we did not have this two years ago.
Grades Used: 9th and 11th
We are very happy with Calvert. I have two high school students and we have a great experience. The curriculum has set them up to score well on their ACT test and also they qualify for some really substantial scholarships. You do have to be involved with your students as you would in any other school. I love the projects as I have colleges sharing that is what will help them be successful as they will have many papers and projects to prepare in college. Teachers have been super nice and we take advantage of the booking sessions if need more individual teacher help. I did my research in detail and this was by far the best school for our family. I previously paid $6000 per student and did not get half the support in Calvert a couple of years ago. We love the changes. We are not a book in hand family and prefer it all online. We do print out math assignments when needed and do them on paper and then key in the answers. Thank you Calvert Academy. Thank you for listening and taking my feedback. Much improved over the past.
***PLEASE DO NOT BUY!!!***
I loved Calvert when my son was in 7th grade 2 years ago. There were textbooks, workbooks, paper assessments to turn in for grading, and an entire online component for school on the go. It was well organized, rigorous, and my son was happy and thrived. His teachers through the ATS service were responsive, pleasant and very helpful.
Fast forward to his 8th grade year with the “New Calvert.” It was mostly online, and instead of paper assessments, there were required assignments to turn in all throughout each lesson. The way that Calvert designed the New curriculum made it impossible to finish. I think they knew this. They HAD to know!! The ELA portion required very lengthy essays weekly. I remember my son had to write a 3 page short story, complete with quotations, and ‘evidence’ about whatever topic we were on at the time. This was just for ONE subject. We fell so far behind trying to complete the ELA portion and the other subjects were often just as lengthy. You would have to school 7 days weekly, for 8+ hours to barely keep up. I would often play phone tag with the ATS teachers. They were scarcely available, and when they did call me back 4-5 days later, it was too late! And they were NOT helpful at all!! After months of both my son and I being totally frazzled and stressed out, we withdrew from Calvert. He transitioned to traditional high school and is doing wonderfully.
Please do not waste your time or money on this New Calvert Curriculum. They make it absolutely impossible to finish. It’s the equivalent of Honors COLLEGE courses for 7th and 8th graders!!! Ridiculous!
DO NOT BUY!!!!!!
I will absolutely second all of the negative reviews here. I chose this curriculum very very carefully 2 years ago. Though not perfect, I liked it enough to buy the program for the following year during one of their “sales”. Little did I know that they were basically just clearancing out all their old materials, grabbing money as fast as they can, and taking us for a ride as they “transitioned” to this newer way of doing things.
Previously, the work was a combination of textbook and online work. I was promised that the student view and teacher/parent view would be different, but there were only ever 3 (often incorrect) questions given at the end of their “graded” lessons. When a question appeared within the lesson, the answer was written immediately after in italics. DUH. What kid is going to critically think or answer a question when all the answers are already done????
Next, they promised math help with online publisher sites. Somehow these sites never “worked” and despite how many times I called, no change. We ended up going with a whole other math because this one was so bad.
THEN, during their “sale”, they bought commercial textbook programs (many of which didn’t work properly), gave us online access and called it a day. BUT what no one really realized is that the conversion to the newer curriculum was already well in the works. This “curriculum” they sold me was their old outdated experimental curriculum.
To make it worse we never were even allowed to finish that next year’s program. I had my child in 5th grade. Bought the curriculum in December for 6th grade with the promise we had already “bought” the program and it was ours for the following year. However when I called, they told me I had to complete it THAT year…Wait…You mean you sold me two curriculums, then expected me to complete both in one year???? To make it worse, they would not give me my money back. I called MULTIPLE times to no avail.
Very bad practices. And we were their victims. Deceptive, unfair, and I would NEVER EVER EVER go near them again.
Please, if anyone sues them, let me know. I’ll be the first on the list to join.
Cons: The worst program ever
Pretty much what they did was take a generic template and plug the curriculum. Spelling is a repetitive bee saying the word, then typing a few sentences using words, then taking a test. Science is projects that who knows what supplies you need until project or even if the kid is supposed to do the project because part of it is on video. Lots of typing paragraphs even for 2nd and 3rd grade. Very basic descriptions on all the courses. TONS OF TYPOS EVEN IN SPELLING!!! Lastly is the part they mostly enjoyed.
Collect $1200 for a $10 a month program from the old Calvert parents and give “one year free” and charge $400 for new families per year. Why those of us that paid $1200 didn’t get 3 years is beyond me.
I WILL NOT be renewing after my time is up! Class Action lawsuit I’m in.
Cons: There is a short learning curve when you start using the Calvert Academy format.
Grades Used: K, 2nd, and 4th
My 3 elementary aged kids have used Calvert since K. We started using Calvert Academy this year. I was worried at first because it was a big change from Calvert Homeschool. But, we absolutely love it!! It is so much better for all of us. The information is better laid out. For my 4th grader, he learns the more complicated lessons better because he is reading and taking notes simultaneously. He is really learning the information. He likes knowing what is coming up in his assignments, he feels more in control. For my 2nd grader and Kindergartner, they use the workbooks still. Both like the way the information is presented and both are learning so rapidly. I like it because it is easy to follow and the teacher manuals explain everything as you go along.
The content is challenging but achievable. We are really happy with the new system!
Cons: Lots
Grades Used: 8th & 9th
We loved Calvert, until they changed their program. Both of my boys were confused at first when learning the new program, but eventually got it down. It’s nothing like the old program and neither is the schooling itself, it’s completely different. This new program is so hard, too hard, confusing, unrelated questions and highly demanding. We did it for two months and never finished what was expected of us to do in one day, sometimes not even in two days. Projects after projects, 250 to 500 words essays at least once sometimes twice a week. If you have a child that loves a great challenge, go for it, it will definitely challenge them. My 8th grader was so bored, it was too much to read and too many questions, nothing fun about learning at all. I printed most of it out, to try and help him, but we just kept falling further behind, which stressed us all out, because there is a dead line to finish the semester. It’s very sad to write this, because we recommend Calvert to everyone, I would never recommend it now. We won’t be getting any of our money back and we’re obligated to pay for the rest of the semester…that’s another $2500 out of our pockets. Like I said, if you have a very smart child that has nothing else to do but schoolwork all day long and wants to be challenged daily, this program is for you. If your like us and want a relaxed type atmosphere and the day is done by 2, Calvert is not for you. Calvert is rigorous, college prep, tons of typing and projects and essays. Lots and lots of reading long lessons, tons of research papers and you have to stay on a timeline or you will not finish the semester. I hope this helps in your decision.
Cons: dishonest conduct, rudeness, sub-par curriculum
Grades Used: 8
This is followup to a review I posed in June after we withdrew from the sub-par OdysseyWare /Gynlyon monstrosity that Calvert morphed into. We withdrew our daughter, who is in 8th grade, from the horrible curriculum, lost 500.00, and moved on to Laurel Springs and Keystone and resumed our Teaching Textbooks/ Kahn Academy math curriculum.
Then today, out of the blue, and certainly without our knowledge or consent we recieve these emails:
Course Registration
Dear [student name redacted],
This email is being sent to you to confirm your course registration.
Course name: History And Geography 800 B
Teacher: [teacher name redacted]
Start Date: 9/30/2019
End Date: 2/16/2020
If you have any questions, contact your teacher at [email redacted].
Connect with us:
Phone: 877-789-2766
© 2017 Glynlyon, Inc. 804 N. 2nd Ave. E. Rock Rapids, IA 51246.
So, I contacted [email redacted]: Maire Durkan
To:
studentsupport@calvertacademy.com
Sep 25 at 3:02 PM
To Whom it may concern:
Is this a new Glynlyon scam? We NEVER signed up for this course. Delete this error immediately or I will take whatever legal action is necessary. It’s bad enough that we lost 500 dollars to your sub-par curriculum in the spring. Take [student name redacted] from your data base, contact whoever made this error and have them amend it and send me assurance you have done so, and make very very sure that we have not been billed for a course we neither requested or signed up for.
Sincerely,
Maire B Durkan
I then called the contact number, waited for almost half and hour to talk to someone. When I called the first time, the women hung talked over me . She said that a manager would call as I was “yelling at her” (I wasn’t) and, although the new platform is Odysseyware/Glynlyon, she denied ever hearing of Glynlyon. Then she hung up on me.
So I called back: She said that she wasn’t going to take someone “yelling” (again I wasn’t yelling) at her and said she’d refer me to the manager, and then she hung up again.
She was rude to a fault and would not let me talk without speaking over me. I work in an office; here are ways to respectfully deal with a customer and she seemed to have no interest in courteous customer service. Yes. I believe that it’s time for a class action lawsuit. To quote Hamlet, something is rotten in Denmark.
Cons: Not what we paid for
Grades Used: High School
Since Odysseyware/Glynlyon is accredited through AdvancED and Calvert Academy is accredited through Middle States, bringing your complaints to these accreditation organizations would be helpful. Accreditation requirements are very rigid, and I am sure they would want to know if one of their schools was not following standards. You can contact them at:
AdvancED – http://www.cognia.org
Middle States Accreditation – http://www.msche.org
I am sure Calvert/Odysseyware/Glynlyon would not want to lose their accreditation since they use it as a selling point.
Good luck!
Cons: lot of mistakes / horrible transfer from old to new platform
Grades Used: grad 8
Like many of you, we were caught in Calvert’s unexpected, short-notice changes as they moved to their new platform. Our son has been with Calvert since the 3rd grade. He was almost finished the 8th grade when we got notice of the platform changes in June. We scrambled to complete what we could before the June 28 cut-off date, arranged for him to test out of math, and was still left working on Social Studies/History and Science. I am so frustrated because he/we spent our summer doing the new work. In fact, it’s September 5, and he’s still trying to complete the 8th grade!! When we called to complained to Calvert, I can’t say they didn’t take the time to talk and listen, it just felt empty, cold and unapologetic. Basically, I got the feeling that these were the changes, we could accept them or walk away.
On the pros side, our son likes the new online platform. He’s doing most of his work unsupervised and if we continue with this program next year, he should finish the school year before the scheduled time. I’m actually confident we can free up our Fridays so he can start pre-college classes or to sign him up to do some hands-on art, sports or computer courses.
I am concerned he’s spending so much time in front of the computer and never opens a textbook. This is a kid who spends a lot of his personal time playing video games, so I’m not thrilled he’s also spending more time in front of a computer during school.
We have found many problems in the tests. Questions are asked that were not covered in the course work, and it’s assumed that he should know information from some obscure means. There is also LOTS of typos. Yes, typos!! But don’t tell anyone at Calvert this… teacher advisors tell you that are not responsible for the course content, and the people who are never follow-up. My son is a good test taker. We got to a point where, it my son got an 89 or somewhere in the 90s, we didn’t bother to say anything because we were just trying to complete the course work.
If you are looking for a hands-on experience, you better get it some place else. We will probably use Calvert this year because I’m too busy right now to look for an alternative, (our home in the Bahamas was hit by Hurricane Dorian), but I am curious what choices/curriculum some of you are considering if you leave Calvert.
Our son was doing very well with both platforms. He averages around 93-96 in all of his test and subjects. Even though I have some concerns about this new platform, it seems to simulate what he will be doing in college.
Cons: Online learning- been bought out and didn't tell us????
Grades Used: Grades 2-9
Calvert was bought out by another company? I was not aware and have been getting the runaround for months regarding the “new platform” which they decided to inform us 2 weeks prior to June 28, 2019. We bought the curriculum in late February of 2019. They informed me that my 3rd grade child will need to finish her year before the new curriculum was to start June 28. She began in February and was one-third of the way through. Unacceptable. Now i have received her new platform and we cannot access the work to complete her lessons! What is going on? I am now on hold one hour with Calvert to resolve. We have been using Calvert for 8 years and loved the school. We are a traveling family by sailboat and learned immensely using Calvert Classic. As we were hit with a cat 5 hurricane two years ago, we thought we would give the digital program a try as we were helping and rebuilding our lives on one island for the season, and it has been a nightmare. I think i will demand the Calvert Classic books for this year asap and see if that option is even avail???
Cons: Boring platform and sneaky business
Grades Used: High School
It seems that many of you have shared the same frustrations about Calvert/Glynlyon. It would be a good idea to contact your state attorney general and BBB about this company. If we all band together, we might be able to get some of our money back. Our state attorney general’s office has informed us that they have been looking at other complaints about this company. So it is on their radar.
As of now, I still have not seen my daughter’s transcript even though I have asked many times. I am not even sure if what they give me will be accurate.
Cons: Every con you can imagine
Grades Used: K-5
Like others have mentioned I would be interested in a lawsuit as well. I was sold a product knowing I wouldn’t be able to use it. Please report to BBB and let’s get this company in trouble.
Can anyone tell me the research that has been done for young ones to stare at a computer all day for 12 years? Not learning how to write? Pushing buttons and saying that’s better than pencil and paper. Seriously this is absurd to make everything online so you can collect $400+ for bare minimum education and $300 per month for “teacher guidance.” Why can’t I see the teachers degree like a regular employer since I’m paying for my child to be taught by them? This company is a scam. I don’t believe they actually hire teachers since none of the teachers have ever answers basic elementary school questions. They always say they need the exact lesson so they can look in the manual. They could even tell me whether the math is common core or not. Who actually came up with this stuff?
Cons: Glynlyon
Grades Used: 9-12
Terrible experience when the company was bought out by Glynlyon/Odysseyware this past summer. We had been loving the old Calvert Academy, but with the big company buyout, all the great things Calvert was known for are gone. They have been horrible during the transition – unhelpful, unkind, and unreasonable. Very sad. http://www.glynlyon.com is the website of the company that bought Calvert. Of course, no one at the new Calvert is letting the parents know this because they are ensuring that lawsuits don’t come their way, I would guess. Very sneaky, dishonest company.
Cons: no support for students and their families during the transition.
Grades Used: 9th and 10th
Students were totally left in the dark – no support. A certified letter should of been sent to all families enrolled in this program – very sneaky and poorly handled.
Cons: All
Grades Used: High School
I used to encourage people to try Calvert, but now I do not. It has changed and not for the better.
Cons: Just about everything
The company was bought by another company, Odysseyware, which does not resemble the old Calvert at all. Since then, they lost my son’s work and made him redo work he had done on the old platform. They also signed him up for classes he did not need. They were never upfront about the change as they took thousands of dollars. The new platform does not align with the old one at all. It has been a nightmare, and the people at Calvert Academy have been rude and unhelpful. It is nothing but boring busy work for the most part with no guidance. Your best bet is to find another home school program.
Also, Odysseyware fired all of the old employees once they purchased Calvert. So the one-on-one help we used to have is nonexistent now.
Cons: cannot afford the cost at the moment
Grades Used: 8
We had an excellent experience with Calvert, no doubt. Near the end of semester, we had to move to another state, which left my son a lot of lessons to catch up. On top of that, in the middle of this process of moving and settling in the new state, the Calvert changed the platform. As you possibly imagine, we were lost, yet not for long. Soon after, we found that the Calvert was extremely helpful in assisting us and the new platform worked so much better for my son. He really liked it and enjoyed his last month in Calvert a lot and wished to stay there. With kind support, words of encouragement from Calvert, as well as my son’s hard work, he was able to complete all of his lessons by the time we had to transfer to his new school. For us, Calvert was in overall a great experience in both Academic and Administration. We are truly grateful. Thank you for reading and we hope you can experience what we did with Calvert.
Cons: Odysseyware took it over
Calvert just was bought out by another company. Suddenly they changed their whole platform. The new platform does not resemble the old one at all. My daughter was almost finished with high school, but now on the new platform, she has so much more she needs to do. A lot more. Please do not buy this product. As of now, I will be contacting the better business bureau. I would be happy to participate in a class lawsuit if anyone should go that route. This is not what we signed up for. I feel really terrible that I told a friend to use Calvert a year ago.
Cons: everything
Grades Used: K-9
My child was with Calvert from K-9th grade, we loved the challenging coursework and ATS service with the advisory teachers and transcripts. Mid way thru 9th grade we found out Calvert was sold to another company. After many phone calls and poor communication with the new company we decided to rush thru the remaning assignements and get copies of transcripts. Thankfully we did becuase his peers who weren’t finished got hit with less than 2 weeks notice to finish or be pushed into a new system and the courswork would not carry over. And all of the teachers were being let go as well as the high school academic advisor. Parents were sold a curriculum and told they had 52 weeks to complete it and the new company did not honor it. I used to be a Calvert advocate and told anyone I knew to purchase it. Now I tell people to run not walk away.
Cons: expensive
Grades Used: 3rd Grade
My daughters studied with Calvert Curriculum with ATS since KG until Elementary. I was in love with the Curriculum and they learned a lot more than the public schools. The problem came in 2019 when they switched to Online and no manual books etc. I was little bit confused by the change as my girls love to open the Calvert Box with brand new books each year and unfortunately it’s no more.
I was upset too like other parents but after having a conversation with Education advisor Ruby Anne Bello 877-789-2766 gave me a hope and made me understand the new style of learning through computer. Well I was reluctant but then I realized there’s no harm giving a free trial for 30 Days and to my surprise this new version came out to be a lot easier and very practical. At first, my daughter hated it since she didn’t like to sit on computer all day long but then she picked it up in one week and got hold of it. Now she loves it and finished her work way earlier than the required time. I would suggest parents that they should give a try and believe me it will be an awesome experience. Anyways now a days kids do waste their precious time on playing video games then why not learning beneficial and fun way educational games as well.
I hope my review will be beneficial for anyone who is confused about the change.
Cons: Un-reliable, Deceiving
Grades Used: 6-7 ATS
I am writing with utter shock at the decision that Calvert made at the last second. Now I am wondering what will happen to the grades of my son’s 7th-grade coursework. When a few weeks left for the completion of year 2018/19, we got a letter with an URGENT subject line saying that we must complete all the work before June/28 or else we will be moved to a completely new curriculum. At that point, we had some lessons still left to complete on ELA, SS, and Science. My son managed to complete SS. He literally had one essay to complete ELA with a B+ grade. He had about 3 units to go in Science. On Monday July 01, I logged into the new platform and shocked to see tons of work assigned for my son for all 4 subjects!! After shouting and screaming over the phone at the customer service, I was able to remove SS and Math from the list because he had completed them. For ELA, he has been assigned one entire unit with 39 assignments to complete which is no way equivalent to one essay that he missed! For Science he has been assigned 4 units which is going to take more than a month to complete. I had made overseas travel plans and we were supposed to complete the Old Calvert Program by July 15th and we will be flying out of the country on July 15th. What a mess!! How am I going to push my son to do all this within this short period of time? His grades are crucial for a selective magnet school we are targeting for his 9th grade. I am doubtful that Calvert has any evidence of my son’s completed work. It seems that they may have lost all past data. I was planning on purchasing this product for my middle schooler. After this horrible experience, no way. There are plenty of other cheaper and more reliable options. I won’t be surprised to see several legal actions against this company!
Cons: Price, Grading
Grades Used: 7th
Like others we received a letter mid-June that all coursework must be completed by June 28th due to the new system. We were supposed to have until August 1st (when our 12 month period started). It’s absolutely ridiculous! We still had quite a bit of work to do but we pushed through it. When I reached out to Calvert they just kept urging me to go to the new system. I wasn’t too thrilled with the curriculum as it was so I already knew we’d be switching next year.
Furthermore I have not been too happy with the grading. My daughter struggled with math so I reached out to math teachers I know who helped work her through problems and she’d still receive 0’s or low scores. And the Quick Checks! I hate the Quick Checks. It could be a 4 step Quick Check that she got 1 portion wrong and the whole entire thing gets marked wrong. Quick Checks are counted towards the final grade.
Cons: Cost, quality, customer service, support, platform
Grades Used: Pre-K through 8th and Algebra I
Bait and Switch! Do not purchase! I have been using Calvert since 2003, and the product being sold today is nothing like the old Calvert that we all knew and loved. Three years ago, Calvert sold out their homeschooling division. It is no longer affiliated with the excellent private day school in Baltimore, Maryland. Since selling out, the quality of the curriculum has steadily gone down hill, and today is unrecognizable from the amazing product upon which Calvert built its reputation. This year, like always, we purchased a full textbook program with the optional Advisory Teaching Service, so that we could have the proof of completion of an accredited program to submit as our proof of progress for the school district. Our purchase contract says that we have a full year from starting to finish the curriculum, which for us would be September 5th. Mid June we received an email saying their platform will no longer be supported and that all school work must be submitted by June 28th. This is breech of contract, plain and simple, and I will be contacting the Better Business Bureau. We still had two modules to go in language arts, because we home school year round. So finishing by then is simply impossible. They said they will switch us to their all online platform and give us extra time, even though it will not utilize any of the books we’ve already purchased and will start completely different material in the middle of a module. All online school work will not work for my family. I have 3 teenagers and only 1 computer. My high schooler needs that computer to do her work. I purchased their textbook option for a reason. So now I am out the money wasted on ATS, because we will not finish the course ware before they lose their teachers, and we will not get our certificates for proof of progress for the school district. That’s $1,000 I’m out for two kids. And it leaves me scrambling trying to find and pay an evaluator for my kids because it is too late to do standardized testing. Not to mention that they should really be giving me a prorated refund for the portion of the curriculum that we will not be able to complete due to their last minute platform change. They are switching everything over to Odysseyware, which is essentially public school online. If I wanted that, I could get it for FREE from my local public school district. Why in the world would anyone pay thousands of dollars a year to chain their child to a computer all day? Calvert used to be so excellent, and such a great deal. But their quality has gone in the toilet, even as their prices have skyrocketed. They have become the homeschool version of a degree mill. They will not get another penny from this family. Please do not waste your money.
Cons: Everything
Grades Used: 9
I cannot believe how disappointing and sneaky Calvert Academy was this year.
They took our $3600.00 for teacher advisory homeschool through Calvert Academy and guaranteed us a full 12 months of access to Calvert Academy curriculum .
Well, in June 2019 we got a letter saying that Calvert Academy curriculum was being ” upgraded ” to Odysseyware.
Calvert Academy was going to be dissolved in a couple weeks do you need to complete everything before dissolution.
Then, they proceeded to tell us that Odysseyware is a less money.
I asked if I was going to get reimbursed. They said no.
I told them I didn’t intend to purchase Odysseyware, that Calvert has been the gold standard for years.
They said Calvert, it’s classes , it’s teachers and everything were going to be gone by June 28th.
What a mess. Complete waste of money and now Odysseyware is a ” teach to the tests ” common core, dumbed down curriculum.
I would not be surprised if they get hit with a class action lawsuit.
We are our all of our completed work and thousands of dollars.
Nightmare.
Cons: Lack of support and communication from teachers, the need to complete physical worksheets and assignments
Grades Used: 10th grade
We are extremely disappointed with Calvert program this time. The program was all online. This made it easy for studying anywhere that had internet access, but it also made it hard to stay on track of the working progress. Some work needed to be printed out then completed on paper, then scanned or photocopied and sent over again. This made it easy to loose track of completed assignments and completing them very messy.
Another function on the student platform that made progress easily muddled up was the fact that students were able to move onto any assignment they wished, irregardless of which assignments or lessons were completed beforehand. Since students are able to access whichever assignment or lesson whenever, but cannot repeat previous assignments to improve their grade except through emailing redone work to the teacher and not on the student platform, their grades relied pretty much entirely on their first attempt on an assignment or test.
Contacting the teachers and supervising personnel was only possible through email or other external contact. This made communication between students & parents and teachers not only limited but also confusing and troublesome. Any additional work to a lesson or assignment must be done so in the same way. Any comments a teacher had for a student on any assignments were also done through emails or other external contacts. So if a student was unable to access their email or other methods to contact their teachers, any notes, suggestions, or other things a teacher had to tell their student would be unaccessible to them.
Cons: Poorly written lessons with little few explanations or practice questions/problems
Grades Used: 8
I have been using the Calvert Classic curriculum for 25 years with our 9 children (33-13). Our youngest, who is 13 , just completed the last year of the traditional ATS program. We then enrolled in the new Calvert Academy which is now just a subsidiary of Glynlyon which supposedly “provides comprehensive online curriculum solutions to school districts and students” It was a disaster. First the program an is academically with short, inadequate lessons, and dated videos, quizzes and games. They have cut corners in every way that they could. When you sign up for the academy, you have 21 day from the date that your child begins to make a decision and even then, Calvert Online/Glynlyon will retain 500 of your purchase (which runs around $1700). Getting our child out of this horrible program was worth the loss. An example of how bad this curriculum is follows.
Assignment 14 Experiment Calorimity,
My son who had degrees in chemistry and biology and was assisting his 13 year old sister states:
“She is being given boiled down ideas with complicated and complex thoughts which the student hasn’t seen before with no practice problems or examples. Anything with specific heat or balancing equations are week long, even month long topics not quick, easy assignments.” It took three sessions with Shelly Bruce (who by the way is the one great thing about this experience). Also, the test for this lessons set had a question about building and using a coffee cup calorimiter when she had been given no instructions on how to make one. Also, the lack of hands on experiments is a minus. You need more examples and practical problems from the student to work. The only good thing about this p[program (as still not worth the money , stress, or aggravation) in the online blackboard–in which the teacher has office hours and the student and the teacher can share a screen to solve problems
The reality is that the teacher must constantly work through problems with the students. The reality is that No one sits down, reads a math textbook, and then launches into quizzes and problems without many practice problems. Colleen graduated from Calvert 7 ATS, the defunct and far more developed program, with honors but we will have to look elsewhere for a good solid curriculum for 8th grade as Calvert no longer offers one.
I used Calvert homeschool curriculum (grades K-8) for 19 years to homeschool our four children and loved it. My youngest child finished 8th grade with the 2017-2018 school year, so my review does not include the current Calvert curriculum as I have no experience with it.
I liked that everything we needed was shipped to the house— textbooks, workbooks, lesson manuals, supplies. The lesson manuals were easy to use, and the curriculum was thorough. I especially liked the emphasis on writing skills. (In college my oldest daughter was asked by a professor where she learned to write so well!)
The education counselors were very helpful whenever I called with a question.
I was happy with he Calvert experience that we had.
Cons: Math book needs to show work for solving problems.
Grades Used: 6
Hello my name is Trina. I enrolled my son in the 6th grade curriculum with teaching assurance. It has been incredible. I was terrified taking o homeschooling but they make it so easy. The teachers are helpful and grade assignments quickly with good reviews. It helps me know if my son is on the right track with learning. I’m really impressed with the program and we will be continuing for 7th grade.
Cons: www.calverteducation.com - Thumbs down
Grades Used: prek - 6th
Depends on which Calvert you are talking about:
1. http://www.Calvert Education.com – The “Calvert Education” brand is now apparently not associated with the 100+ year old Calvert Education Services or The Calvert School. Is apparently now owned and run by GlynLyon / Odysseyware and rebranded as “Calvert Academy”. It is online only and requires you to complete a plethora of “projects”. So you really have no flexibility. Interaction with their “teachers” is robust and frequent as they grade everything you submit. Doesn’t leave for much flexibility on how much time you spend on each particular topic. For example you might spend hours or days on these projects that you as a home school parent don’t feel are worth the time investment and you could be better served focusing on other topics. But they are required so you have no choice. The material and online lessons are dry and dull. The students disliked it.
2. http://www.CalvertLearning.com / http://www.calvertforschools.com – This is still apparently associated with the Calvert School and the 100+ year old Calvert you are familiar with. They used to offer Calvert ATS, where you did all of your work with real books and supplemented with online activities and checkpoints. The online activities and check points are optional. You have a great deal of flexibility in where you spend your time and on which topics you cover in more detail. All you have to do to is be able to pass the tests every 20 lessons. This is the best of both worlds. An accredited program, online optional work, and flexibility in your daily work. Unfortunately this no longer appears to be available to home school parents directly. Not sure if it is available at all? They still have a contact page where you can inquire. https://calvertforschools.com/contact-us
Grades Used: 1st
The Calvert Education name for homeschooling was sold to the company that now owns Odysseyware. It is now only Calvert by name. This new company has treated Calvert’s existing homeschool customers horribly and have tried to hide the change in curriculum and ownership from us. It is now an ALL online untested unknown curriculum. The only way to get the Calvert of the last few years is through a Calvert Learning public charter school. The old Calvert that existed for decades no longer exist other than buying used books online. We are currently customers using the Calvert 2018-2019 curriculum which is available next year only through public Calvert charter schools and I do not recommend it either. For 1st grade there is very little grammar, no phonics practice, no spelling. No english/reading worksheets at all. I have had to supplement a lot. I guess as a free charter resource it might not be bad depending on the public school requirements, just know you will HAVE to supplement the English portion and what is provided is repetitive busy work. I do not recommend anything bearing the Calvert name unless it is more than a couple years old.
Cons: credit recovery program
Grades Used: 1,2
We’ve used Calvert for 2 years (1st and 2nd grade) and we were lucky enough to use the “old Calvert” curriculum.
We were about to enroll for 3rd grade this year when the new changes took over and we found out that Calvert was sold to GlynLyon and using Odysseyware – a credit recovering program that has a very bad reputation.
Moreover, their textbook option is completely gone for grades 3 and up. Everything is now online.
The old Calvert was great but these new changes made us look somewhere else. If you’re looking for a solid program just look someplace else. The old, rigorous Calvert is gone.
Cons: new online curriculum is repetitive, boring with poor customer service
Grades Used: K-7
We have used Calvert Curriculum with the ATS for my four children for grades K-7 with good success.
HOWEVER, in the past two years, the curriculum has changed significantly as the company has changed hands. The curriculum has gone from a book / paper / writing / rhetoric based curriculum with emphasis on critical thinking to a fully online / no books / no paper / no ATS “virtual school”.
We have been able to use our “Old Calvert” curriculum (before the changes to an online program) with excellent success with all our kids. The new, online curriculum looks very much like a credit recovery program and the Calvert Homeschool customer support has been poor and we will NOT be continuing.
With the changes and the terrible communication about these changes from Calvert, we will only be using our old Calvert curriculums. I cannot recommend the new Calvert based on the recovery software/Odysseyware-like program and the terrible treatment of their current homeschool families.
Caveat emptor.
Cons: None
Grades Used: K-5
I can attest to the success of children being homeschooled. When my mom realized how the Public Education System was failing my brother, my sister and myself she opted to homeschool us, from elementary through high school. I also received my Bachelor Degree online. As soon as I realized I was expecting my first child, there was no hesitation to homeschool my son. I’m glad I chose Calvert, throughout my son’s school years, the Calvert staff and teachers have given their full support. When we go to Museums and other excursions my son wears his Calvert clothing (Polos, sweater, Pants, and FleeceJacket) with the Calvert Emblem on the clothing. People always question us about the school, and they’re surprised when we tell them, Calvert is a private school and about the curriculum. I’ve given parent Calverts contact information. I can say I’m very happy with Calvert and plan to continue my son’s education now and through High School.
Cons: units choppy, we extended each lesson further than required
Grades Used: 6 & 8
I really am grateful for the flexibility of home teaching with the Calvert homeschool curriculum (with the ATS (advisory teaching service). The first time I used the courses was to complete my daughters second half a 6th grade when we moved across the country. We enjoyed the ease of accessing the information both within the textbooks and online, weaving the most comprehensive experience for her without having to repeat work that she had already completed. After that, we used the textbooks and the ability to access the courses online well into her seventh grade year as review. As soon as my daughter identified that the work that she was being given in eighth grade, did seem robust enough to meet the challenges of high school, we reached out again for the online courses only to use a a supplement and review yet again. Calvert has designed a program through the grades that serve the student brilliantly and one that is easy for the student to navigate even on their own. Thank you.
I have used Calvert homeschool curriculum with ATS (advisory teaching service) for 13 years. (yes, we have 7 children and we have used their program exclusively with multiple children enrolled year after year). This will be our last year. We have accepted the slow progressive changes to the program over the past decade, however the changes in the last year and planned changes for next year are too drastic and intolerable. The program is completely for profit and appealing to public school dictated state requirements and to be honest the curriculum has incorporated inappropriate video links and set ridiculous requirements. They have completely crossed boundaries. To restate, we have have been adapting to the changes in good faith. It’s just no longer a good program incorporating morals or academics. The one advisory teacher was so difficult to work with (my 9 year old daughter’s 4th grade advisory teacher) that we had asked for a different teacher. Their response was we will not accommodate your request. You won’t get a refund, but you may discontinue the program if you wish. For the rest of the year we did not communicate with the ATS teacher…this was since Thanksgiving! But, my daughter finished the year with completion certificates for each class. So disappointing. It truly was a great program. Not anymore!
Cons: Not a huge selection of electives; can be pricey
Grades Used: 4-11
We have always homeschooled. When my children were little, I used a variety of homeschooling curriculum, including Oak Meadow and Saxon Math and Phonics. However, when my oldest was in sixth grade and her sisters in fourth, we switched to Calvert and never looked back. The support is awesome and the curriculum is challenging. We had an algebra tutor who said that the “regular” algebra from Calvert was comparable to Honors algebra in a public high school.
Yes, it’s a little more expensive. They offer sales and a sibling discount. It’s worth the investment.
I loved Calvert. I homeschooled my daughter from 1st grade thru 7th grade using their ATS and Calvert’s curriculum of books and online resources. It was such a warm, loving experience. And than….it went corporate. They sold out to a cold corporate entity. No more books, no more discounts to the poor, single moms with no support from their dead beat dads. Even their website is shallow, grey and cold. It’s so depressing to lose such a wonderful friend to my childs education. Prices skyrocketed so only the rich can afford to homeschool. Good-bye Calvert! You’ll be belly up in a few years as your CEO’s collect all the money they can, realize it’s not working and either sell out or go bankrupt like so many other failed corporations. Ya don’t need a crystal ball to foresee that one coming.
Cons: Online only, not homeschooling, is odysseyware with calverts name on it. Bad customer service.
Grades Used: K, 2
We started our Homeschooling journey in fall 2018. We used it for 2nd and K. I liked the interface but the books provided were overpriced through Calvert. They could have been purchased for half the price on amazon.
It was very English heavy and was too much work at times. The grammar and spelling was weak or non existent. I had to supplement with other curriculum. The books provided very little reading and really varied from too easy and short to too advanced. I ended up using the same assignment for different books through another curriculum because they would ask you to read the same book 5-6 times. It was ridiculous.
The science interactive components no longer work and tech has been working on it forever. They said they fixed it then said the email was sent in error. They provide links for videos and the speaker has such a heavy accent it is heard to understand. They rely on things that are free. It still doesn’t work. It is very dry and boring. Social studies is also very boring. We ditched it.
Health was boring and the videos were miserable to listen to. The cadence of the speaker was so boring and monotonous I can’t believe people pay for that. Art was ok.
The worst part of all of this is I worked out all the kinks and knew how to make it work for us and without notice they sold the company and the new company won’t even admit it. THEY WERE BOUGHT BY NORTHWELD/GLYNLYON/OFYSSEYWARE. The treatment of the customers is horrible and the lack of transparency. They lied and still don’t admit they aren’t even the same company.
I sat through the seminar on the academy and it is ODYSSEYWARE down to the teachers having email from the company. It is no different than odysseyware. They read a boring passage and answer questions. They get to talk to the teacher but they raise their hand and wait their turn like a real class. Parents aren’t even needed apparently. It is OW with calverts name slapped on it. They have no idea what the homeschool option is. Still in development but based on customer service, I doubt it is good.
We are piecing together a curriculum next year. OLD CALVERT IS DEAD. They still won’t admit it.
Cons: digital only, terrible pacing, very little reading, science is a joke, awful customer service
Grades Used: 1,2,3,4,5
I have used Calvert for my two children for the past three years. This year will be my last with them for many reasons. Partly because our educational needs have changed but mostly because Calvert is unrecognizable from when I started using it. I started with Calvert because it was well organized and completely offline. I did not want my children on the internet all day. Without notifying their customers (I found through some online sleuthing), they have gone completely digital starting 2019. I am still using the paper workbooks and textbooks from last year but those will no longer be available if you buy now or in the future. I don’t like that they are going only digital but what I like even less is they didn’t say a word about it- if I hadn’t done my own research (checking on glassdoor.com to read how everybody who works there hates it so much) I would have repurchased the curriculum for next year. Besides the massive change to online only, the quality of materials has gone down significantly. The pacing of the math curriculum is maddening- speeding through multiplication (2 weeks only for third grade) and crawling through basic geometry that most kids would know in first grade. Also, the customer service has gone to complete pot this year. In the past, if I had a problem, I could call and get the help I needed often in one phone call. Now, good luck getting anyone on the phone and forget leaving your information, no one will ever call you back. It’s a shame that they have gone downhill so quickly- I believe the massive changes are mostly due to the fact that they have added thousands of charter schools to their programs. And again, they didn’t inform me of this, I had to find out myself. I am switching to Sonlight- a program I know that I can trust not to change on a whim and leave me to find out on my own. Don’t waste your money.
Cons: unrecognizable from the Calvert a few years prior. complete waste of time and money. zero workbooks. zero response from customer service after numerous complaints. no flow.or freedom in lessons. actually quit using it. spent $2500 on a headache.
Grades Used: 2nd and 8th this year. 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th in the past
Calvert was great in years past but has completely changed its format and has only become convoluted and cumbersome at best. when i reached out to Calvert with my utter frustration and disappointment they responded with an explanation of how to “navigate portals” and that I must not understand how to work their new system and find the materials embedded in the lessons. the truth is much more simple. their entire new system is inane. just dumb. they ruined a good thing and offer no apologies and certainly not a refund. we spent $2500 on 6 library books, a massive headache, and brain pop jr. we spent weeks trying to tough it out. Luckily, this is not my first year homeschooling and i have enough of my own materials and experience to draw from, as well as some Calvert (actual) textbooks from years past. awful curriculum, awful customer service, awful experience.
Update to my November review.
Highly inappropriate materials have been removed from the daily assignments, but are still accessable through the curriculum -as the option to click on them pops up after student views other history videos used in daily assignments.
Cons: See Below!
Grades Used: 5,6,8,9,10 (Skipped 7th)
My wife and I …and our daughter, LOVE Calvert homeschool. My daughter has been attending for about 5 years… She is in High School Honors classes and just turned 13. She is doing very well. imagine my disgust this morning to find out, by accident, that THEY HAVE SOLD THEIR HOMESCHOOL DIVISION without any notification to parents or students.. and information is not being given to us now that we know.. They say, “They aren’t able to share the details.” WHAT!!! My kid has been going here for 5 years and planned to graduate from here… Parents need to know WHO the school was sold to, what changes will be taking place – if teachers will remain .. Or if we need to find other schools to attend next year. This late in the school year will make it almost impossible to find an alternative school. I’m furious at the secrecy the irresponsibility of how the school is handling this. They are giving parents NO information.
Cons: Expensive and antiquated technology lessons
Grades Used: K-7
We used Calvert with 2 kids—from kindergarten-7th grade. We tried to order 8th grade today and were told it is now an entirely online curriculum. As inconsistent as their online platform is now for HOmeschoolers, I cannot imagine forcing my kids entirely online. We are jumping ship to Moving Beyond the Page.
Grades Used: k - 6, since changes 4th and 6th
We have used Calvert for 5 years prior to this year. I thouroughly enjoyed the curriculum until this year. They totally revamped the program for the 2018-2019 school. While I understand that there is bound to be problems with such a large overhaul, that is not my concern. The content is. In my 6th graders SS unit, I don’t know how to say this discretely, there was content saying Catherine the Great of Russia died tring to have sex with a horse (not our first problem with highly inappropriate materials). Obviously I do not recommend Calvert Homeschool and am currently trying to figure out what I am going to do for the rest of the school year.
Cons: Too expensive, not a complete curriculum, lacking old Calvert quality
Grades Used: 3rd and 5th this year, K-8th previously
My family has been using the Calvert homeschool curriculum, grades 3 and 5, for the 2018-19 school year for almost 2 months now, and I am ready to throw what there is of it in the trash and start again. We will not be using it again next year. A little background on our history with Calvert: this is the 14th year I have homeschooled my children, and we have exclusively used Calvert for the lower grades. Over the course of 13 full years of using the Calvert curriculum, we have covered the entire range from Kindergarten to 8th grade. We are not new to Calvert. I have always been happy with the education my kids were getting, even as things began to slip the past year or two. This year is an entirely different matter.
Calvert has revamped their curriculum to the point that it is not recognizable as Calvert anymore. Gone are the rich science and social studies/history texts that covered topics in depth. Now, the texts provided give a few paragraphs on a subject and ask the kids to learn more by doing a project. The projects can be done by a single student, but, based on the manuals, they appear to be geared towards a classroom setting because students are encouraged to share their work/ideas/findings with other students. This curriculum was obviously not put together with the single homeschool student in mind.
The enrichment subjects that augmented a student’s learning and became a highlight of the school day, like Greek mythology in 3rd grade, have been replaced with a physical education subject, most of which used to be covered in science.
Grammar and spelling are a thing of the past. There may be a paragraph or two in the manual each day regarding some grammar rules, but often the rules they introduce are glossed over so there is no real understanding of them. Forget about being able to put the rules into practice. There are no workbooks, worksheets, or any form of practical usage in which to apply the rules and build a solid foundation in grammar. Spelling does not exist. At all. My kids actually asked me to supplement spelling for them because they missed it – and this is a subject that one of them doesn’t even particularly like. When kids can see something is lacking in their education, there is a problem with the curriculum.
One bright spot is that Calvert has kept its own art curriculum. Unfortunately, even if you bought the physical books for the 2018-19 curriculum, like we did, the art text is not included. It is only available online, and the links to the current chapter take you to the beginning of the book, so you have to scroll down to get to the appropriate chapter. Every. Time. This might not be an issue for the first couple of chapters, but there is no reason why a student should have to scroll through an entire book to get to the last chapters. Luckily, my family has a physical copy of the book from previous years, so this is not an issue for us, but it would be a great annoyance if we did not have that available.
In their quest to push everything online, the Navigator that students can use to access their daily schedule and online materials, such as videos and texts, is fairly useless. Calvert does not, in my view, provide adequate assessments anymore. There used to be short online quizzes for each subject that students could take after covering that day’s material. Then there would be longer online quizzes at the end of a unit that were used to review material before taking an in-depth, offline test on the material that had been covered to that point. I’m not one for subjecting kids to a lot of testing, but providing the short quizzes did allow the students to see if they were understanding the material. Now, the only assessment on a daily basis for a large portion of the material is answering the question, “How well do you feel you understand the concepts from this lesson part?”. There are some longer quizzes that briefly review material at the end of a unit but no formal tests, which may or may not be a positive, depending on your view of testing.
Links to videos, activities, and online articles are often broken. They either won’t open a page, or if they do, the page is broken, or it is the wrong page, or it requires a login, or the page is filled with ads, or the video just won’t play. A lot of time is being wasted with a poor product. BrainPop is a big hit in our household, though, so there’s that.
The Navigator also does not allow the home teacher to clear out assessments, so if a student enters a manual answer, that day’s lesson will always stay as pending. I guess Calvert is expecting all of its students to use the ATS program.
Manuals are filled with errors. It is obvious that no one took the time to proofread them with mistakes like the following sentence being common: “What do ou think it are?” That’s an easy mistake to just laugh off, but when the manuals consistently get the page numbers for math work wrong, too much time is wasted trying to figure out what information is supposed to be covered and what workbook pages are supposed to be used. Quite often, titles that are used in the manual for subjects such as English, science, and social studies do not match titles that are used in the texts, so, again, a lot of time is wasted trying to get your kids on, literally, the same page as you.
As a long-time Calvert user, I am disappointed to say that I can no longer recommend it to anyone. The company has decided to put profits over performance, and it shows. The program is too expensive for what it provides, and your money would be better spent putting together your own curriculum.
Cons: So much busy work
Grades Used: Preschool-4th grade
Let me preface this by saying that I was a Calvert homeschool kid. Most of my relatives were also Calvert kids. We all transitioned easily into college, which was the biggest reason why I choose Calvert for my kids. But we won’t be coming back next year. They switched to a new “project based learning” model which might as well be code for massive amounts of busy work. I’ll give an example, my 1st grader was assigned to read/listen to the children’s book Stella Luna every day for several days. The point was to be able to understand plot/characters etc. He understood that on the 1st day. Every day after that just made us both hate the poor book. Also there is no phonics, for my 1st grader! There are, however daily paragraphs assigned for him to write. Similar issues with my 4th grader. She has no spelling words assigned, and once you wade through the ocean of busywork; math, history, and geography are a solid 1-2 years below what she last year in Calvert 3rd grade. I’m so very disappointed. This is not the private school education on a budget that it used to be. It’s public school busy work that’s even been dumbed down. I had two kids who loved school, now they dred it.
Cons: Tons
Grades Used: K-1
I highly recommend staying away from this program. That is, unless you want to spend a ton of time(wasted time) trying to figure out how to use it, want your child to be bored, enjoy unnecessary repetition, have 8 solid hours a day to commit, have no other children also needing attention, want your home schooled child to be bombarded with public school propaganda and more.
I am so disappointed in Calvert I am considering spending time setting up a Facebook page and a couple other avenues to warn parents to avoid this program.
I badly want to go another direction but they don’t give refunds and we used(wasted) our funds for the year so we are stuck.
Cons: Confusing platform, expensive for the quality of the material
Grades Used: Kindergarten thru 5th
I used Calvert Kindergarten-5th Grade. We are in our 5th Grade year now. I have witnessed the steady decline of Calvert over the last three years. They changed their format to a more online presence. It used to be a nice blend of books and online. I am a single working mom and I was happy to pay more for Calvert as they made my life so much easier. The curriculum was solid and all organized for me. Now, however, that has all changed. The schedule is all online and very confusing to follow. I spend a lot of time looking for links that don’t exist. Most the time the videos that I spent 15 looking for are a one minute and thirty seconds long and not worth the effort. They have made a decision to switch most of their academics to online only. The people, like myself, who still value books and working offline are finding this to be a very difficult transition. The schedules exist online, and is confusing anyway. So I gave up on that and decided to course out my own schedule. Which, was the reason I wanted to do Calvert in the first place. After a few days of working in the 5th Grade curriculum it is sub par what I have experienced in the past. I was so dissatisfied with their Social Studies and Science curriculum I decided to drop those. It was as if someone just copied from an Encyclopedia. It was very dry and not written in an engaging or even interesting way. There are so many better programs for those subject for much cheaper. Next year I will not continue with Calvert. The quality of their support, education and platform have all gone down hill. Which is very upsetting for someone who thought we would use Calvert from Kinder through high school. I feel like they are choosing profit over product right now. I would not recommend them.
Cons: too much busy work. not enough basics. too time-intensive
Grades Used: k-3 this time, k-7 and 5-8 used in the 90's, royal road used in the '50's.
it’s okay, but disappointing compared to the Calvert of old.
my grandmother was in the Calvert day school as a child, she purchased their ‘royal road’ devices and some other helps to assist my dad when he was a child, and my brother and I were both fully homeschooled with Calvert in the late 1980’s and early ’90’s.
now my mom is using Calvert with my nephew who is 8. She started with Kindergarten and they’re now up to 3rd grade. Compared to the older version this has basically been dissapointing. We love that everything you need still arrives in the box. Unfortunately this is so strongly geared to checking all the boxes and looking exactly like a public school. It is filled with extraneous, unnecessary extra ‘busy work’ with lots of pages to fill in and tons of ‘make a chart. fill in a graph’ while missing out on some key foundations that should be there for a true Classical education. There was WAAAY WAY too much writing at far to early an age. There should have been copywork and fun story reading instead of this making up stories. Mom has cut out things along the way to try and handle this problem with math and writing. Meanwhile there should be more basic memorization, and less insistence on learning sheer masses of data. it is so like modern curricula that try to teach STEM and all kinds of things that amount to parlor tricks done by a child whose brain isn’t developed to understand and manipulate and truly use that information yet.
It sadly contains most of what we look to avoid by homeschooling. We want more time with the sand table, poking sticks in the woods, and going along with the adults on errands, and less time wasted in needless form fill-ins. more memorization of times tables, less coloring of picture graphs. more foundation, less flimsy styrofoam-style walls of clever information that ultimately means nothing.
More of Hillyer’s amazing designs for things like art history, grammar, truly basic math skills, mythology, etc. Less of the modern nonsense and fewer textbooks that clearly are marketed straight for classroom use in the dysfunctional American modern school system. More latin (or preferably Greek), less first-grade science. A lot of the things included are great for middle & high school but simply don’t need to be included in the youngest grades.
We want school to fit our lives and this has been 3 and a half years of tying ourselves in knots to fit life around the school. too many books, 5x the amount of teacher manuals there should be, and just plain too much. After hoping it would change we are now giving up for 4th grade and will be shopping other curricula.
Unfortunately there are sections of this we intended to use with the second child. We were told we’d be able to purchase re-supply kits of just the consumable items for child # 2 and now have been told they’re overhauling the system and we have to re-purchase the whole thing. UGH. now we have 3 bookcases of saved texts and teacher manuals that are useless??? sad for the planet, and really sad for us.
Cons: None
Grades Used: 4-9 and continuing
My son is a freshman in Calvert and we have used the program since 4th grade. We enjoy the fact that this program is complete, secular and accredited. If you graduate from high school at Calvert you get a real high school diploma. You do not have to explain your homeschool lessons or worry about Calvert is less like homeschool and more like a regular school provided online. We like this format since we have no opposition to traditional schools and only homeschool so that we can travel frequently. With this program you have to do the work. If you like free-range homeschool or simply want to skip lessons, or you do not have the ability to understand and assist your child in learning, this program will probably not work for you. This is especially true at the high school level. That said, even though t the format is rigid, you do have 12 full months to complete any given grade in school. That is plenty of time to slow down where your child is struggling and focus on those areas. Conversely, you can fly through areas your child has already mastered. As with any program there are some quarks but that would be true in any bricks and mortar school too.
Cons: Expensive, poor communication, no refunds given
Grades Used: 9-10 ATS
2nd year with Calvert highschool ATS program.
We used the middle school ATS full time and really liked it. The highschool transition becomes an all online program which is nice. However the school needs to work out alot of issues still. We did full time for ninth grade and the core classes for tenth. We are just more then half way through and have already dropped 3 of the 4 classes. There are so many problems that we will not be returning after finishing our last class. There is a way too common of a problem with teachers not following the schools policy’s for grading papers on time. We dropped two classes because of this. It’s taking several weeks to get work graded. Also when asking for help one of the teachers would just direct my kid to sources to figure out our on her own. We dropped the history class before even starting it because of how they grade the lessons. While reading through the lesson your student would come upon 1 to 3 questions to answer. Is you miss just one of them, them you get an F. So you either score an A or an F. Then you do a quiz after the lesson which is typically 5 questions. And every day is like this, two grades. The classes are all set up that way, a very test happy curriculum. The teachers often missed the DBA appts, so they called them way back this year, so will see how it goes with the one class we have left. We are only keeping this one because the teacher actually responds back in a timely matter and usually grades things up to about a week out. The others teachers were taking 3-4 weeks to grade assignments. Also, getting Calvert to refund money is next to impossible! Once you pay them you will never get it back even though the teachers are horrible.I Seriously DO NOT recommend Calvert for your high school option, unless you maybe do the classic where you are the teacher and don’t have to deal with them. A total waste of time and money for us!!
I used the Calvert program for K-2 with my daughter. For kindergarten it was great, especially the Calvert Math. First grade was ok, if you don’t count the Singapore Math. Second grade required so much restrictive writing that she truly hated school even though she likes to write stories on her own. We have since changed schools. She has now completed 4th grade. She still loves to write short stories on her own for the fun of it. So I think that for her age and attention span Calvert simply required too much writing. The readers were excellent and built reading mastery. The science books were nicely illustrated. I would highly recommend this program to anyone for kindergarten. Beyond that, it would depend entirely upon each family.
Cons: Not balanced
Grades Used: 6
This is our first year of using Calvert curriculum. I chose it because I wanted something more rigorous in composition and writing. I definitely got that! Although we haven’t completed the year, I feel we have been with it long enough to give an objective review.
I feel the grammar is really weak. It is only teaching the basics – things he learned in 3rd and 4th grade – like subjects, predicates, basic diagramming (no adverb/adjective phrases) etc. Yet the composition and writing are quite rigorous and almost overkill. The reading is so tedious that he can’t even enjoy what he’s reading. He is required to take detailed notes and complete numerous activity pages, as well as answer essay questions after every lesson. Though these are not graded, they are things that he is tested on.
I’m not really as concerned that all the classes match with regard to topic (history matching geography matching reading material, etc.) but that the classes are challenging, yet interesting, without being overwhelming. At 6th grade he is expected to take DETAILED notes in history and reading as well as being expected to answer detailed essay questions on tests. For a 6th grade boy, this is torture. We are enrolled in the grading program, so there is no getting around this as he is being tested in the same way. It’s seriously torture, did I mention that?
The math is great! I feel the online lessons are well done and plenty of practice is provided. We can skip what is not needed or use the extra practice if needed as well.
Spelling is also excellent.
Science also seems well balanced – challenging but not overwhelming. Science is my son’s favorite subject, though, and he gets it easily. For some it could be too challenging.
Geography is good as well – challenging, requiring note taking but in an age appropriate way. The test was balanced and not overwhelming.
I like that the lesson plans are written out – it’s easy to add enrichment or skip unnecessary busy work. But, there are things that can’t be skipped due to the rigorous testing, which is ONLY every 20 lessons. This is a LOT of material to cover in one test. I would prefer a test every 10 lessons instead. It takes us 5-6 days to prepare and then take tests. That is crazy.
Any kind of factual test question is answered with ease but the essay questions we have to rewrite over and over. I just don’t think it’s a skill that a 6th grader, especially a boy, has yet to master, and should be required to do at the level it’s required in this curriculum.
If you use this curriculum, unless you have to, I would not recommend the testing service. This gives you the freedom to tailor the curriculum the way you want without having to worry about what they will be tested on.
Cons: Repetitive, designed for large group
Grades Used: Kindergarten
I ordered this curriculum because I wanted an all-in-one program for my first year homeschooling. In that respect, this was great. All the bases are covered. I didn’t like that some things are designed for a classroom or that some of the supplements point towards “traditional” schooling (a book about riding the bus to school, or picking a lunchbox, or children depicted in a classroom setting). If you’re looking for something that has everything planned out, this may be for you.
Cons: Pretty Much everything
Grades Used: 6-7
I was very disappointed with the Calvert program. I found that the Calvert program provided a lot of busy work. For the online resources, the computer class was a complete joke. My daughter has learned how to use MS Office programs in the fourth game. The Spelling online froze and she couldn’t get pass the one chapter so we couldn’t use it anymore. The curriculum didn’t go together. My daughter was learning about the Easter Hempisphere and then Geography about North & South America. It would have made more sense to me if the geography went with the history topics. The Literature they had me read didn’t go with the time period either. We were reading about the Middle Ages. The Grammer book was confusing and didn’t have enough exercises for practice so I had to spend time trying to find additional material for Grammer. I am very happy that I am no longer using the Calvert program.
Cons: very structured, scripted lesson plans
Grades Used: pre-k
The positive of calvert is it really is all in one. A complete package of school for the year, even the crayons are included. I tried to use this curriculum for two years in a row though and in theory I rally like it but in actually practice I just couldn’t make it work.
If you want something more structured, that tells you exactly what to teach and how to teach it this program might be for you. Personally I found that the topics introduced were either A)What i felt were inappropriate academics for a preschooler B) concepts already mastered by my two year old (such as color identification) or C) intended for more of a group setting rather then a single child.
Now the ‘extras’ that came with calvert are FANTASTIC! My now almost 4 year old son still loves to use the letter puzzle that came with the program and it was a main tool used to learn is letters. The packets with songs / stories / and such were very good. The craft packet had some excellent printable to use.
Overall I give the pre-k a 2 1/2 stars and I suspect that if you have an OLDER child who needs a lot of structure and instruction calvert may be the program for you but for pre-k I wouldn’t buy it again.
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