The phonics road to reading and spelling?

[bbrandonsmom]

Has anyone used this curriculum? I'm looking at it, and then some one told me about the Calvert curriculum, which looks very similar. I can't find any reviews here on the first one though. Thanks.

[cappuccinosmom]

I reviewed a curric from that company. I really liked the concept but from what I remember it was harder for me to follow than Calvert. However, I'm admittedly mentally disorganized.

[sbgrace]

Where can I see what the Calvert is like?
I know Phonics Road is based on phonograms, spelling rules, etc. using Spalding techniques. That's what I want for my kids because posts on the Well Trained mind really attracted me but due to cost I'm doing a combination of O-G and Spalding on my own right now. Is Calvert Spalding or Orten Gillingham?

[bbrandonsmom]

Here is the Phonics one-I do believe it's both O & P combined.
http://www.thephonicsroad.com/freque...questions.html

Here is the Calvert
http://homeschool.calvertschool.org/index.php

I think they are similar to the The Phonics Road to Reading and Spelling, in that they do use phonics and rhyming/singing as a learning tool. That is one thing I liked about the TPRRS was the singing. Dh went to a house and he said the mom was singing all about nouns and pronouns and the kids were singing along. That was the first thing he liked about h/s and I think started to let him think it was ok to try.
I have the sample cd for TPRRS and just got the pamphlet for Calvert. Under the Verticy Learning part they have, they state they use the Orton-Gillingham methods. I don't know if they use it in the regular language arts though, it's not in the pamphlet that I can find.
I never heard of this Calvert until a friend of mine mentioned she started using it for K and will continue with it, so I looked into it and am now comparing the two programs. I like that Calvert has online instruction as well, and I don't think Barbara Beers offers that in her program. Both send the materials, Calvert has financial aid-though the cost goes up significantly as the grades go up. BB says you need to start with her level one, because all the other levels are based on that. I'm wondering if the two curriculum are close enough to use Calvert in the lower levels and then also try a level of BB? Calvert seems to have more available in the higher grades, from my brief look, but they are pricey to me.