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Calvert School CD Enrichment Courses
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Product tags:
CD
Publisher: Calvert School
User Level: 1-5, 6-8, Pre-K/Kindergarten
Subject Area: History, Language Arts
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Ratings Summary:
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Category
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Average
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Count
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| Effectiveness |
2 |
1 |
| Usability |
2 |
1 |
| Price/Value |
3 |
1 |
| Overall Average |
2.33 |
1 |
Calvert School's computer-based enrichment courses are ideal for the child who loves to learn on the computer. History, Grammar, and Vocabulary are all covered in an engaging and interactive way through their CD courses.
http://www.calvertschool.org
User Reviews
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| Reviewed by archive |
All reviews by this user
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Message this Reviewer
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Created at
10:36 PM EDT on
November 2, 2007
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Category
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Score
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| Effectiveness |
2 |
| Usability |
2 |
| Price/Value |
3 |
| Overall Average |
2.33 |
In 2006, the Calvert School, an accredited nonprofit organization, celebrated its 100th year of serving homeschool families. The Calvert School believes that while the fundamentals of education have not changed in the past 101 years, the educational tools available to homeschool students and teachers have. http://www.calvertschool.org
The Calvert School builds lessons by integrating subjects, and they have taken this approach with using technology within their curricula. They have enhanced grammar and science by adding online resources and they have developed optional CD enrichment courses. These $20 CD courses – History, Grammar, and Vocabulary – work well for children who enjoy the engaging and interactive learning style the computer courses offer.
Currently, seven courses are offered: A Child’s History of the World, King Arthur through the Ages, Ancient Greece, Calvert Mastery Series: Spelling, Vocabulary for Life, and Fourth Grade Grammar. There is also a series of Computer Skills and Applications, one CD for each grade from K–8.
On Homeschool Christian’s website, Martha Robinson reviews the Calvert School’s Interactive 4th Grade Grammar CD, saying, “Students may learn or review grammar basics with Calvert Schools Interactive 4th Grade Grammar CD-ROM. Using an underwater motif, the program offers 56 lessons and eight reviews for a total of 64 days of work ... The review lesson has both written and oral exercises. For example, the student reads sentences and adds punctuation, and then a teacher’s voice reads sentences and asks the student to choose whether it is a statement or question.”
http://www.homeschoolchristian.com
Robinson goes on to give her recommendation: “Interactive 4th Grade Grammar could be an interesting supplement to help a grammar reluctant child or a child needing extra reinforcement. Typing skills are very necessary to use this CD without frustrating the child. The depth of programming was a bit disappointing to us. My fourth grade daughter guessed the mystery sea animal very early, and despite the correct answer, the program continued to give clues for that same animal and wiped out her answer so it had to be ‘guessed’ again. I found the program less than intuitive as the screens have to be carefully read and one has to pay close attention as to whether to press the ‘continue’ or the ‘next screen’ button. I received the ‘This program has performed an illegal operation and must be shut down’ message several times when moving from one lesson to the next. Still, even taking into account the issues mentioned above, Interactive 4th Grade Grammar is a reasonably priced way to generate interest and increase grammar knowledge in your computer-oriented child.”
Concerning the basic computer requirements; you only need the CD-ROM for Windows 95 or higher, Pentium 150 processor with 32MB RAM, a sound card, and 40MB of free disk space.
The Calvert School’s CD Courses receive a 2 in Effectiveness because the CD would work well as a supplement, but is not as in-depth as it could be. It receives a 2 in Usability because good typing is necessary to use it, and the CD did have some “technical difficulties.” It receives a 3 in Price/Value because the CDs are reasonably priced.
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