Glad someone says they like Calvert 3 & 4. We thought about leaving Calvert for grade 3. I have to adjust the plans so much for DS.
There isn't enough built in review & test. A test every 20 lessons just isn't enough. We do a lot of language work on our own. This makes DS's school day so long. We also pitched the poetry & art. There just isn't enough time w/ the additional review DS needs.
If 3 & 4 help complete the language process, then we will stick with it. I like the math, but it isn't a major weak area for DS.
I do not like the history. I find that the 2nd half of the year's program is racially slanted, but I don't want to stray from the package.
Calvert science is ok. DS said he is like that guy with the crazy hair (Einstein). He likes to do his experiments in his head. I can't get him do physically do the experiments, but he does like to read them & discuss them. It has pretty good activities. I find that they tend to dumb down concepts that can easily be understood by a 2nd grader. That is an easy fix.
I never went crazy with the science...just had them read through it. Honestly, I think my older children learned more science from Magic Schoolbus in the early years than anywhere else...and guess what? One is majoring in science now and the other is headed that way when he enters college. In the meantime, I have patched in the Sonlight Science with child #3 and he begs to do science every day.
Math: other than one year of Calvert Math (back in the day before they wrote their own program) I've always used Saxon Math. I also like the DIVE cd's that go along with it. We do have the Teaching Textbooks HS geometry program too.
History: the unit/workbook that goes with History of the World is great. My chldren enjoy the optional history cd's with Calvert too. The books with Sonlight are quite enjoyable...I usually do some crossover from year to year depending on what's being studied.
Calvert writing: I love, love, LOVE it, and haven't seen anything that comes remotely close (although the WIN series---Writing In Narrative---has some similar elements). It really teaches them how to compose and write. Can't say enough good things about it.
Art cards: oh, don't skip them completely! Have some fun with them; no need to test. But part of the joy of a classical curriculum is exposure to art and music. The Hillyer series goes on too in the later grades, with Child's History of Art and a couple of others I can't remember right now. Make it fun, keep it light, but don't throw them out altogether. (funny story: my mother was a young girl using Calvert overseas; she came back to the states to have her tonsils out at age 7; as they wheeled her down the hallway of this hospital in Nebraska she was pointing out the pictures on the wall and naming them....all the works of art she had studied in Calvert!).
Grammar: Calvert wrote its own 2 year program, for grades 4 and 5 I believe?? Anyway, I love it too; as good as the writing program. At times they've offered it for sale as a separate unit.....something to keep in mind if you switch curriculums later.
Testing: JMHO, but I never went too crazy over the tests. Yes, we reviewed a bit and took the test, then reviewed it again afterwards. But it wasn't all that big a deal to me. If a child is reading well, understanding math, and absorbs some of the rest of it, life is good and he/she is on the way to becoming a good scholar. Second grades tests aren't going to make or break a college career. Were you using the advisory service? I always just used the "at-home" tests...way less pressure that way.
And as I posted earlier, Sonlight is lots of fun and we'll take a break now and then from Calvert to enjoy SL too. In general though, Calvert provides an excellent education.
YMMV, but good luck!!!
