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Jackie in AR---I noticed on your blog a link to TOG---questions


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Do you use TOG? If so, how do you like it? I'm considering TOG for next year for my youngest (although homeschooling is a bit up in the air now, due to several other reasons--grad. school possibly for myself, dh's health problems, etc.). Year 2 of TOG---would it cover quite a bit of American history? That is something I'd really like to focus in on for my youngest, if possible. We've always done SOTW in the elementary years, and my other two started Omnibus in 7th and 9th grades. But, I don't think my youngest would be ready for Omnibus in 7th grade. I'm not implying that TOG is easier, but it seems to cover all the different levels of classical education.

 

Anyway, any information you can give me on TOG would be great! It seems like a great idea, to give parents a free trial! :)

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Do you use TOG? If so, how do you like it? I'm considering TOG for next year for my youngest (although homeschooling is a bit up in the air now, due to several other reasons--grad. school possibly for myself, dh's health problems, etc.). Year 2 of TOG---would it cover quite a bit of American history? That is something I'd really like to focus in on for my youngest, if possible. We've always done SOTW in the elementary years, and my other two started Omnibus in 7th and 9th grades. But, I don't think my youngest would be ready for Omnibus in 7th grade. I'm not implying that TOG is easier, but it seems to cover all the different levels of classical education.

 

Anyway, any information you can give me on TOG would be great! It seems like a great idea, to give parents a free trial! :)

 

Michelle,

 

We just started TOG after Christmas so I don't have a lot of hands-on experience with it. We attempted the Classical version of Year 2 (Unit 3) last fall, but after a couple of weeks I decided to wait until the Redesigned version of Unit 3 came out in mid-December. (The Redesigned version works much better for this mom as all the answers are provided in the teacher notes.)

 

Here is how Year 2 breaks down:

 

Unit 1 - The Middle Ages

Unit 2 - Renaissance and Reformation

Unit 3 - Colonial America (includes happenings in Europe at the same time for older dc)

Unit 4 - Age of Revolutions (goes up through the writing of the U. S. Constitution)

 

Here's a link to the weekly breakdown: Year 2 Topics by Week

 

TOG is sold in Year Plans or by Units, so you can begin wherever you choose. Year 3 Redesign will begin release in August this year so if you wanted to start with Y2 Unit 3 for the American history portion, there will be a full year's worth of the Redesign available for you next year.

 

To get an overview of the curriculum, I suggest two things to start:

 

(1) Get this Multi-Media Packet, and

 

(2) Print out the free 3 weeks of the actual curriculum. Year 1 and/or Year 2 (this Year 2 sample is the first three weeks of Unit 3).

 

The Multi-Media Packet really helped me to understand the big picture of the curriculum. TOG schedules history (including church history), literature, philosophy, geography, art (with related activities), and writing. (I hope I'm not leaving out anything!) You choose which areas you want to include in your studies, and then choose which resources you will utilize from those areas.

 

I envision us using TOG all the way through High School. This week dh and I met with our small group from church and we were discussing the role of the Church during the Reformation. One of the moms mentioned that during their school years, most people get bits and pieces of history, but they don't ever get the big picture of it all tied together. Well, TOG does tie it together by bringing in church history alongside secular history, noting what is happening "here" while that was going on "there," discussing the origins of the idea(s) that led to the current actions being taken, etc. (That reminds me: I need to talk to this mom about TOG. ;))

 

There are many parents on the boards who have much more experience with TOG than I do, and I hope some of them will chime in here. But these are the things I would do to get started investigating TOG for yourself.

 

If you have any more questions, just ask away!

 

Jackie

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appreciated the links you provided, Jackie! When I looked at your blog, I saw the featured TOG link for Colonial America, plus the free 3-week trial. This is really a great idea! I'm printing out the pages now. I just know that if we homeschool next year I'll need to do more than SOTW for the youngest but definitely not Omnibus yet! I like the idea that TOG covers all the levels---it seems to be a very comprehensive curriculum. And---it's pretty neat that you can "jump in" at various units---because before too long, my youngest will be ready to tackle Colonial America!

 

Thanks for your help, and for providing the links! (I haven't yet figured out how to add internet links to these new boards!)

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Jackie's blog, I realized that TOG allowed you to do that---which I hadn't known before! I may well do that with Colonial America. I love SOTW---don't get me wrong---but I sometimes think with my youngest that more of a "unit study" approach that TOG appears to be would be helpful in her retention of the facts.

 

Thanks for your suggestion! :)

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Remember TOG has a lot of pieces, and you don't have to use it all. It is a buffet for you to choose what you need from. :D

 

Though I can't claim to have used TOG much longer than Jackie, just since July and all my experience is with classic and not the re-design.

 

Blessings,

 

Heather

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TOG---the "buffet" aspect that you mentioned. It sounds like someone can use as many or as few elements of the program as they wish! I think it does use SOTW, also, for its readings (history) but someone might help me incorporate the mapwork and literature and even art into the mix.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Exactly. Use what you want and easily customize your hs to what YOU want. That is the whole idea.

 

SOTW is listed as an alternate choice. As I understand it it wasn't a main choice because in their choice of weekly units SOTW is heavy some weeks. Kind of like Story of the Thirteen Colonies (S13C) that I am using. There is one two three chapters per week up till the American Revolution then there is about 12 chapters that cover two weeks. :eek: In the redesign S13C is also now listed as a alternate.

 

I simply spent a few extra weeks in the American Revolution.

 

Heather

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