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What age for Great Courses?


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I'm curious about this too. I think my 7yo is not far off - his aural comprehension seems to be pretty solid. I think it would have to be a high-interest topic, and I wouldn't expect him to pick up everything on the first listen through.

 

All the best with your planning!

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We only discovered Great Courses recently. Oh, how we love them.

 

For my 11yr old, the ones we've done have been great. I love that it's high-level input, with no mandatory output. Some we just listen to and discuss. Some I then seek other things to complement it. Some we then go on to work on some output that I've chosen eg an essay.

 

There could be adult content in some though, depending on the topic. Our Mozart one had some adult content, but it wasn't anything I felt uncomfortable with for my 11yr old. A year or two ago, maybe I would have. Actually, yes, I probably would have.

 

 

Pegs, do you have Audible Australia? We get our Great Courses for $15 on there. Bargain.

And I was pleasantly surprised that we get the pdf of the written coursebooks with the audio, all for the $15. 

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My 7yo loves them, and has for about two years. It really surprised me as I generally find the lecture format fairly dry and didn't expect them to hold her attention at all. She generally requests Great Courses lectures in the car when given access to everything I have on Audible, which includes quite a bit of high-interest fiction as well.

 

However, I'm not requiring any output regarding them, which would probably change the equation for her.

 

ETA: The mild adult content we've run into so far has gone over her head. I do think we may stop listening to a current course, though, as I'm suspecting the adult content in it may be more than we've otherwise run into.

Edited by Jackie
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The Joy of Mathematics doesn't have any adult content. We found the videos on YouTube and my local library also have many Great Courses DVD sets,

http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/joy-of-mathematics.html

 

Understanding the Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy doesn't have any adult content that I can think of. http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/understanding-the-universe-an-introduction-to-astronomy-2nd-edition.html

 

We went by what our kids are curious about instead of age.

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Pegs, do you have Audible Australia? We get our Great Courses for $15 on there. Bargain.

And I was pleasantly surprised that we get the pdf of the written coursebooks with the audio, all for the $15.

Yes, I've spent my audible credits on GCs for myself in the past. I had no idea they came with PDF notes as well. I'll go looking. Thanks a lot!

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My 7yo loves them, and has for about two years. It really surprised me as I generally find the lecture format fairly dry and didn't expect them to hold her attention at all. She generally requests Great Courses lectures in the car when given access to everything I have on Audible, which includes quite a bit of high-interest fiction as well.

 

However, I'm not requiring any output regarding them, which would probably change the equation for her.

 

ETA: The mild adult content we've run into so far has gone over her head. I do think we may stop listening to a current course, though, as I'm suspecting the adult content in it may be more than we've otherwise run into.

Would you mind sharing some of the titles your daughter has enjoyed, please?

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My 7yo loves them, and has for about two years. It really surprised me as I generally find the lecture format fairly dry and didn't expect them to hold her attention at all. She generally requests Great Courses lectures in the car when given access to everything I have on Audible, which includes quite a bit of high-interest fiction as well.

 

However, I'm not requiring any output regarding them, which would probably change the equation for her.

 

ETA: The mild adult content we've run into so far has gone over her head. I do think we may stop listening to a current course, though, as I'm suspecting the adult content in it may be more than we've otherwise run into.

 

I'd also like to know which ones she liked.  And what is the name of the one you're listening to now that should be saved for older audiences?

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Celery watched The Inexplicable Universe on Netflix shortly after he turned 9, iirc, and loved it. I don't really recall if Broccoli watched it and what he thought of it if he did. Celery loves Thinking about Cybersecurity, and he's okay with How to Become a Superstar Student and Nonverbal Communication (all three started at 9y11m). I haven't had Broccoli watch any (other than that he maybe watched some or all of The Inexplicable Universe)... he's 6.75yo and just too young imo to benefit from watching these (actually, he sat next to us when we started the first Cybersecurity lecture and left after 20 min or so because he was bored... I was surprised he lasted that long, tbh). Obviously, YMMV, as both kids and courses are different. 

 

ETA: The Inexplicable Universe and Cybersecurity were Celery's choices (he's finished 10 lectures of Cybersec thus far), whereas Superstar Student and Nonverbal Comm were my choices (he's finished 5 and 1 lectures of those thus far respectively).

Edited by luuknam
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for girl or boy ?

 

my ds liked one quite young the title of which I don't recall, but had to do with spying and so on that fit his interests in James Bond and related.

 

Otherwise until around at least age 10 or 11 the presentation tended to be too dry.  There are a few meant for high school kids but we did not try those.  The basic math one was good, and so is Taunton's algebra one..  My ds did not at all like the way the guy who does the mental math secrets acts, but some people love that.

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Error above.  The basic math one, the algebra one by same guy,  and the geometry one with Australian whose name is along lines of Taunton, but maybe not quite that.

 

Around 13 my son really liked some of the history ones. Part of geology (from library, and never got it back after having to return it).  And cultural geography. 

 

He prefered them as Audible audio to having to watch, if that was possible for the subject.

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How to Become a Superstar Student is by a middle school teacher, aimed at middle school students, but I wouldn't really make kids younger than about 5th grade watch it, because it's all about those kinds of study skills that younger kids, even gifted ones, typically don't need to worry about (if they're not doing a bunch of homework independently (and needing to schedule when to do it, using a planner, etc) and doing group projects and all that kind of stuff, it's probably not really worth it to discuss it yet). 

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We started using them around age 10 just because they had some great ones that aligned with what we were doing. We absolutely loved the Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World that day but they do mention many adult activities. DD stopped and asked me what some were, and I answered honestly.

 

She's 13 now, and I can't even begin to count how many we've used on just about every subject--study skills, history, science, math, literature, Spanish, etc.

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I'd also like to know which ones she liked.  And what is the name of the one you're listening to now that should be saved for older audiences?

 

The Other Side of History is the one I'm shelving for now.

 

A handful of courses by Robert Greenberg (the narrator drives me bonkers, but she loves it)

Your Best Brain, John Medina (I think we skipped one chapter focused on sex)

The Inexplicable Universe, Neil DeGrasse Tyson

 

There were a couple on video from the library, but the only one I remember for sure is Understanding the Human Body: An Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology.

 

Also, not TGC, but we found Hakim's History of US on Audible and she happily listened to all ten volumes over the past year or so.

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My DS is 10 and we have a subscription to The Great Courses Plus. We adore it, but it totally depends on the lecturer. Some are really engaging and others a little dry. So far we have really enjoyed the ones by James Tanton and Arthur Benjamin for math. He also loves the Chess course. 

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