Calvert School

For other uses, see Calvert School (disambiguation).

Calvert School
Location
Baltimore, MD, USA
Information
Motto	Curiosity, Mastery, Purpose type = Private,
Religious affiliation(s)	none
Established	1897
Headmaster	Andrew D. Martire
Faculty	65 (42 K-4, 23 5-8)
Enrollment	533 total (372 K-4, 161 5-8)
Campus	Urban, 13 acres (5.3 ha)
Color(s)	Black and Gold
Athletics	13 sports
Mascot	Cavalier
Website	calvertschool.org

Calvert School is a kindergarten through 8th grade co-educational private school with a day school operation in Baltimore, Maryland and an associated homeschooling division that administers a curriculum shipped to families around the United States and the world. Developed in 1906, the home school curriculum grew by being advertised in the National Geographic magazine as a kindergarten program for those wishing to offer a better education to their children.

Homeschooling history

In 1905, Virgil Hillyer, a Harvard-trained scholar who had served as Head Master of the Calvert Day School since shortly after its founding in 1897, convinced a Baltimore bookstore owner to sell the school’s kindergarten curriculum to parents who, unable to send their children to Calvert School, could give their children the same educational advantage by purchasing the lessons and teaching them in the home. That led to the birth of formal homeschooling.

Before long, Hillyer placed advertisements in National Geographic magazine announcing the course's availability through the mail, for the sum of five dollars. The response to his initial offer suggested to Hillyer that parents both near and far were interested in a well-rounded home-instruction course for their school-aged children.

By the following year, the Calvert Home Instruction Department was formally established and in full operation, offering complete curricula. Head Master Hillyer himself edited and approved each lesson, and these were delivered to parents with detailed instructions for the use and care of the materials. That first year, the school received more than two hundred inquiries from parents in 42 states. Within five years, nearly 300 children were enrolled in Calvert courses.

By the 1930s, the Home Instruction Department had customers worldwide, shipping lesson manuals, textbooks, workbooks, and school supplies—all packed in a single box and marked with the now-familiar "Calvert silhouette"—to students in more than 50 countries. Calvert curricula reached the farthest outposts of civilization, delivered to parents by dog sled, camel caravan, even parachuted from airplanes.

As one young boy who lived with his lighthouse-keeper father off the Alaskan coast reported in 1952, "The boat brings our supplies every month from the mainland—and my Calvert lessons, too." That same year, the young daughter of an American missionary in Africa wrote to apologize that she was behind in her Calvert home school studies, because "the lions roaring all night keep us awake."^{[citation needed]}

In the late 1940s, Calvert's curriculum began being used by dependents of soldiers assigned to military installations in Japan and Korea. The military’s use of Calvert material grew and continues today. The U.S. Foreign Service also recommends the Calvert curriculum..

By the 1950s, Calvert shipped more than 85 tons of educational material every year. Performing artists, athletes, missionaries, and others received the Calvert school box no matter where they lived.

Current status

In 1997, the Day School celebrated its centennial. In 2001, Calvert Education Services (formerly the Home Instruction Department) moved to nearby Baltimore County, adding staff and upgrading technology. In 2003, Calvert Day School's Baltimore campus opened a new, state-of-the-art Middle School for fifth- through eighth-graders.

In 2006, Calvert celebrated its 100th homeschooling anniversary, having helped children at homes and in various schools throughout the U.S. and the world. In 2007, Calvert partnered with Jemicy School to create Verticy Learning, a comprehensive homeschool curriculum specifically for students with language-based learning differences.

Homeschool curriculum

Calvert provides all-in-one curricula, which means it includes textbooks, workbooks, lesson manuals, access to various online resources, and other supplies needed for a full year. The curriculum (Pre-Kindergarten through Eighth Grade) is comprehensive, covering the three Rs – reading, writing, and arithmetic – as well as science, art, history, geography, music, technology, and other areas of learning. The day-by-day lesson plans allow homeschooling parents, referred to as Learning Guides, to focus on teaching time, not researching and writing lessons.

Calvert routinely reviews major educational publishers to find textbooks and other educational materials. Calvert introduces new lessons to the curriculum each year after conducting a rigorous review.

Calvert School includes teaching support with enrollment in the program. Education Counselors are professional teachers experienced with Calvert's curriculum and methodology. Families can call, e-mail, live-chat, or fax questions and concerns.

Calvert's Advisory Teaching Service (ATS) is optional, for an additional cost. It provides one-on-one guidance. Each child who participates in the program is assigned an individual ATS teacher, who grades tests and provides constructive instruction and correction. This program often helps families meet local and state accountability requirements and ensures that their teaching succeeds. Families receive a certificate of completion only if they use ATS.

Calvert School has been internationally recognized as the first homeschooling curricula accredited by the Commission on International and Trans-regional Accreditation (CITA). Courses are approved by the Maryland State Department of Education and accredited by the Commission on Elementary Schools, a division of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. Calvert’s materials are used in all states and numerous countries.

Calvert also operates a virtual and distance learning program. Calvert partners with virtual schools, such as Columbia Virtual Academy, to provide online instruction that students access at their own pace. This instruction supplements the parent’s home instruction. The Calvert Partners Program puts students in grade-level, online classrooms where they join with other students and a teacher each day for live instruction; the Learning Guide supports instruction by helping the student with independent study.

External links

• Calvert School Official Website
• Calvert Homeschool Curriculum
• Calvert Day School
• Verticy Learning
• Calvert Partner Schools