Comparing TOG and BP?

[CAmomof4]

I'm having a hard time finding this on the forum although I am certain someone must have posted on this in the past...

 

I would love to hear from anyone who has used both products and can compare them for me?  I like VP a lot but am looking to get into a 4-year cycle as my 2nd child will be starting 1st grade next year.  My oldest will only be 3rd grade, but I would love to not buy something now and have to buy a different program again for dialectic (in case you were going to say TOG is too much for lower grades).  If I can avoid it, that is.

 

So what I would love to hear is, what did you find were the pros and cons of each?  Was BP "enough," or did you find it was a little skimpy?  Did BP bring in a significant amount of other subjects - like art history, or philosophy, etc.?  (Yes I realize that you won't be doing a lot of this for UG level, but I am thinking about the future, or in case we want to just mention a topic.)

 

Really I am looking for a basic roadmap that I can add to - I just worry from the sample that BP is just too little info.  Assuming the hefty price for TOG is not an issue, I'm just wondering whether it would be worth it.  Because while I hate to pay that much for our history curric, I would REALLY hate to pay it, and then not use 90% of it (I mean ultimately - not for our 3rd grade year), or to buy it and scrap it all together the following year to try something entirely different...

 

Thoughts from experienced folks?

Thanks Hive!

[CAmomof4]

bump

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

I haven't used either yet (so take this with a grain of salt), but I looked at both, and I plan to purchase Tapestry of Grace when we are finished with SOTW.  One thing I liked about BP was the ability to integrate so many other resources, such as the VP materials you have.  But overall, I didn't like the projects that I could see (make chain maul out of paper clips???) and the giant resource of info they give you to go with it seemed like reinventing the wheel.  I'd prefer to read those from different pieces of literature.  I'll admit that part of it was also their aesthetic appeal.  Ultimately, I liked the reading selections of TOG better, and I liked the flexibility it afforded.  I also really liked how they spent more time on the last 200 years than other four year history rotations.  I got all the samples, and read through them extensively, and we decided that is what we wanted to do.  I liked the Biblical history woven into the ancients and I really liked everything about the program.  My only negative that I currently see is that they don't have literature or q and a for their alternative book selections.  

 

There are some I know who found it expensive or didn't use it fully based on their personality.  One I know switched to Ambleside Online afterward.  

 

I looked extensively at MFW too, which pares things down and has a schedule, but I ultimately knew that it didn't afford me the flexibility I wanted.  History is my passion in our homeschool, and I wanted to be able to chart my own way, but I didn't want to reinvent the wheel.  I like that TOG is a buffet. If you are a box checker and have to do everything in TOG, it may not be for you.  If you want it to be really simple and streamlined, maybe not either.

 

I plan to purchase the digital edition so that I can get the updates.  I also use the library a lot, so when you consider the number of kids and the number of years it will be used, it doesn't seem as expensive to me.  Some other programs cost $70 for one year with consumable workbooks for one student.  And Sonlight is outrageous and within specific ages.  However, TOG doesn't include all the books.  That does make it more expensive if you want to buy all the books.  Look at the classified list here for people clearing off their bookshelves, and you'll probably find several.  

[Saddlemomma]

I've never used BP, but I did look at it a couple times.  For some reason, I just didn't feel compelled to try it. This is our second year of using TOG, we're only schooling one student, and we love it.  I find it so much more than just a history program.  In addition to history, we use their geography, literature, and worldview classes.  Once DD hits high school, we'll add their government and poetics classes.

 

I've heard some complain that most of the lit in TOG is historical fiction -- not so.  Of the 15 lit books we'll read this year, 3 are poetry, 10 are classics such as Frankenstein, Hound of the Baskervilles, Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass, The Importance of Being Ernest, Island of the Blue Dolphin, and so on.  Only the remaining two are historical fiction.

 

I also don't find it as expensive as when I was purchasing curricula for each class separately.  Since I only purchase the DE version with Map Aids and Evaluations, I only pay $210 per year for 4 classes.  I either get my books from the library or used through Bigwords.com which saves me a ton of money.  If the books are only used for one to two weeks, I substitute with something else which covers the same topics-no sweat. 

 

By the end of next week (after getting paid for babysitting), I will have purchased Y4 for next year.  That will give me the rest of this school year to review and pick out which books I want/have  to purchase (due to unavailability at the library) and buy them slowly over the year using my small babysitting income.  After that, I only have to purchase Y1 (we started with Y2), and then I'm all set for high school, and the only expense we will incur will be to purchase the Rhetoric books.

[domestic_engineer]

This blog has reviews of both programs and reasons why she switched:  http://gratefulforgrace.com/2013/02/why-i-left-sonlight-tapestry-of-grace/

[CAmomof4]

I haven't used either yet (so take this with a grain of salt), but I looked at both, and I plan to purchase Tapestry of Grace when we are finished with SOTW.  One thing I liked about BP was the ability to integrate so many other resources, such as the VP materials you have.  But overall, I didn't like the projects that I could see (make chain maul out of paper clips???) and the giant resource of info they give you to go with it seemed like reinventing the wheel.  I'd prefer to read those from different pieces of literature.  I'll admit that part of it was also their aesthetic appeal.  Ultimately, I liked the reading selections of TOG better, and I liked the flexibility it afforded.  I also really liked how they spent more time on the last 200 years than other four year history rotations.  I got all the samples, and read through them extensively, and we decided that is what we wanted to do.  I liked the Biblical history woven into the ancients and I really liked everything about the program.  My only negative that I currently see is that they don't have literature or q and a for their alternative book selections.  

 

There are some I know who found it expensive or didn't use it fully based on their personality.  One I know switched to Ambleside Online afterward.  

 

I looked extensively at MFW too, which pares things down and has a schedule, but I ultimately knew that it didn't afford me the flexibility I wanted.  History is my passion in our homeschool, and I wanted to be able to chart my own way, but I didn't want to reinvent the wheel.  I like that TOG is a buffet. If you are a box checker and have to do everything in TOG, it may not be for you.  If you want it to be really simple and streamlined, maybe not either.

 

I plan to purchase the digital edition so that I can get the updates.  I also use the library a lot, so when you consider the number of kids and the number of years it will be used, it doesn't seem as expensive to me.  Some other programs cost $70 for one year with consumable workbooks for one student.  And Sonlight is outrageous and within specific ages.  However, TOG doesn't include all the books.  That does make it more expensive if you want to buy all the books.  Look at the classified list here for people clearing off their bookshelves, and you'll probably find several.  

 

Your impressions of the two are similar to mine.  I realize that TOG may be more than I want to do with a 3rd and 1st grader, but I didn't want to buy BP if I already knew I was going to want to scrap it a year or two down the line.  

 

I AM a box-checker, but I usually plan the entire year in advance by week, and even using VP as I do now, I don't try to do all the things listed.  I don't even try to read all the recommended books, and I'm sure I wouldn't attempt to do all of them with TOG (that would be, according to Bookshelf Central, $1300+ for the books alone for next year!).  But I would much rather buy a curriculum that is too much, and cut it down, than a curriculum that is too little, where I'm constantly having to search for supplementals.

 

Bottom line, BP seems like it would suffice for grammar years, but it seems to kind of thin out as the years go on, IMO.  Their rhetoric level lit reading seems quite sparse.  But either way, TOG or BP, it is quite easy to add in literature supplements from either VP's program, or Progeny Press, or some other guide.

 

I agree that TOG is more polished looking.  Not that that is a deal-breaker.  I did not care for BP's coloring pages or their maps, in particular.

 

I was leaning TOG, but you know how people on here will say 'NO!!!! DON'T DO IT WITH GRAMMAR AGE!!"  :-)  Maybe they are right, I'm still waiting for someone who has used both programs to tell me I'm wrong!  I am always open to persuasion!

[CAmomof4]

This blog has reviews of both programs and reasons why she switched:  http://gratefulforgrace.com/2013/02/why-i-left-sonlight-tapestry-of-grace/

 

This post is awesome, thank you.

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

I had a friend using it with her grammar age boys, and she loved it.  I don't see why I wouldn't do it with grammar age, although I do think it is geared toward the older ages with the grammar age resources tied in.  But when my oldest is in dialectic and rhetoric, I will be doing it with my younger children in grammar age.  If it is good for my younger kids then, it should be good for my older kids when they are in grammar age.  The only reason we aren't doing it now is because I find SOTW adequately fits our needs with just one child, and I can use SOTW with TOG for my younger kids.  But I do add things from pinterest, etc., where I probably won't have to with TOG.

[ByGrace3]

Here are some thoughts from when I was making this decision

 

http://onemagnificentobsession.blogspot.com/2012/10/why-biblioplan-over-sonlight-and_24.html

[CAmomof4]

Here are some thoughts from when I was making this decision

 

http://onemagnificentobsession.blogspot.com/2012/10/why-biblioplan-over-sonlight-and_24.html

 

 

Great blog, ByGrace3!  Very very helpful.