There is only one book, which is the teacher's manual. All student materials are things that you find commonly around the house, and there are recommended reading lists of books that you can find at your library. There is no student text or workbook. Tracy

I haven't started TOG yet, but FWIW, I would speculate that you could do this more with the LG/UG levels. They do not have discussion questions, but the D/R levels have discussion questions that are tied to specific books. And I could see doing this with the LG/UG levels, because there are sooooo many books at that level. The D/R levels use fewer books for longer periods of time, making their purchase less prohibitive. Clearly, there are people out there that do it, as I have run into a few. Whether you get the same benefits, I will leave to the pros. Tracy

Here is an example of a TOG unit planned out using MOH as the spine. http://abountifulchildhood.blogspot.com/2009/06/tapestry-of-grace-year-1-unit-1.html Tracy

I have read of many that use a spine like SOTW or MOH when they don't have access to a good library. There are also cheaper ways than Amazon to get the books. Many people use www.paperbackswap.com and other similar resources. They buy all of the books for the first unit. They keep the ones they love and then sell the others so that they can afford the books for the next unit. Tracy

We have all been there. You are doing way more than public school would be. I think the risk is more in over-scheduling a child this age rather than in not giving them enough, although there are times that I fear I will not be able to keep up with dd. Best of luck, Tracy

The book states that the earlier lessons are geared toward the K level, with successive lessons getting more advanced such that the later lessons are for the 2 level. So while the book does not overtly claim to cover three years, the implication is that it can. I love the flexibility that it has. You can do the bare minimum or include the many suggested activities, writing assignments and books. I guess it depends on your family. I could see some kids wanting to race through it, and others will want to skip things. But if you do everything, it could take up 3 years. There are over 40 lesson plans, each about 6-8 pages long, single-spaced with no pictures or diagrams. Most of the lessons look to me to require 2-4 weeks, with ample opportunity for additional supplementation. As with any program, though, you can go through it faster or slower. Tracy

If you have a 5yo, then I would totally get the book. It is so inexpensive compared to other programs, and you get 3 years worth of material. Even if you just use it to supplement, it is totally worth the money. And I think there is plenty for an older child to work with. My husband is a high school physics teacher, and we were going through the book and marvelling at how there are topics in there that his high school students have never heard of before taking high school physics. (For example, weight v. mass.) Tracy

We are doing K this year with our almost 5yo. We actually ditched the phonics since her reading level was accellerating faster than the phonics curriculum and opted to just do spelling. We are doing Spelling Workout A, but we do it together, and I do all the writing. (She is capable of the writing, but she gets very distracted, wanting to doodle and turn her letters into people.) I put her words on www.spellingcity.com so she can play spelling games, and she does her tests there, too. That seems to be a good compromise between the seatwork that would be required for that level and her actual age. For reading comprehension, we are doing Five in a Row followed by narrations on the last day of the week. She likes to act out the story, so that is very enjoyable for her (and age-appropriate). We also use this for vocabulary. The first day, we choose half a dozen words from the book that she doesn't know and talk about what they mean, and I print out a list. Then each day we read the book, she finds the words in the book as we read. She likes to go back and review the old words on her own. For handwriting, we are just doing copywork. I make up a worksheet using a sentence from the Five in a Row book we are doing that week. As for writing and grammar, I decided not to do them until she is at least 6yo, not because she can't do it, but because I want to preserve her time to be a little girl and not bog her down with too much that is academic. She has an aptitude for these things, and a mild interest. If she showed a real passion for these things, then I might change my mind. There is an occasional activity in Five in a Row touching these topics, so I feel like she is at least being exposed to literary ideas. In the meantime, we are pursuing things that she has a greater interest in--music, history, reading, pretending, etc. HTH Tracy

The author recently posted on his yahoo group that it is expected to be available this summer. As for what to start with, I would post the question on the yahoo group. The author responds personally to every post. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K5science/?yguid=12164133 Tracy

Here it is: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1447434&postcount=5 Tracy

Not exactly. I am not starting until Aug, so I am not entirely sure how it will all play out. A lot of people use a spine with TOG, like SOTW or MOH. I may use SOTW as part of TOG but not instead of TOG. (SOTW is one of the books on the TOG LG reading list.) It would just be part of the TOG curriculum. (One of the reasons that I don't want to just use SOTW with dd is that she really doesn't like to color, which I understand is a large part of SOTW AG. When we did the activities in the TOG free samples, those seemed to suit her better.) But we would still do TOG core history reading at the very least, and probably the in-depth readings, too, since dd loves history and reading. But during a hectic week, perhaps we could just do SOTW. If it were just learning how to use TOG, I might wait until the second rotation of history. But this is about teaching me the material itself. For example, someone gave an example on one of these TOG threads of the different levels. LG/UG kids were learning about Queen Elizabeth; D kids were learning about the House of Tudor; and R kids were learning about the politics between Queen Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots. I don't know anything about any of these topics, and I am not sure I want to wait until I am teaching an R kid (or even a D kid) before I learn it. :iagree: If you have never been a student where the Socratic method is used, it might be difficult to appreciate how powerful it is. Perhaps it is just my own personality or learning style, but after graduating from a school that used this method, I feel that the money for TOG is completely worth it if it helps me to teach in this manner. I couldn't come up with these questions on my own. Another poster suggested that the specific points made in TOG are not what is important but the discussion that is had, which I completely agree with. But I don't feel that I could lead an equal discussion without those teacher's notes.

Imagine copying someone else's artwork. I suppose that for a child just learning to read and write and spell, it is a similar experience.

I decided to start TOG with my oldest (who will be LG) next school year. I have read advice that SOTW is sufficient for this stage if you have no older children, but my feeling is that I am the other student here. You see, I hated social studies and literature in school. For history, I took only Modern History to fulfill history requirements, and I did very poorly in literature, because I couldn't bring myself to read the books. But I liked art and ended up taking an AP Art History course as a senior, and that opened up a whole new world to me. Suddenly, I understood things that I never did before-historical and cultural references that would have completely passed me up before. It was such a great feeling. I realize now how much I missed. If I were looking for something just for my dd5, I would use SOTW. But I need to spend these years learning something about what I will need to teach when dd is at the R level. I know that TOG has great teacher notes, but what am I going to say to her when she doesn't want to read something that I haven't read, especially if I haven't read any of books? I don't expect that I will be able to cover everything, but I have to learn what I can now, and this is the time to do it. If I wait until I am teaching an R level student, it just won't happen. Here is a post at the Lampstand Press site that really convinced me: http://tapestryofgrace.groupee.net/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8201059621/m/7101018012 HTH Tracy

The WTM memorization suggestion comes to mind. Have him say/sing the alphabet just once per day until he knows it. You could use a song on CD to help. Kids memorize things quite quickly this way, and it is a very gentle approach. HTH, Tracy

I am doing K with my dd4 right now. We started with MCP Plaid Phonics and ditched that after the first semester, because her reading level was accelerating so much faster than the book, and I was looking to decrease her writing requirements. I opted to stick with Spelling Workout A, for both phonics and spelling, and we do that orally, and she takes tests on the internet at www.spellingcity.com. We are using Horizons K Math, and it is a good advanced math program, but once again, too much writing. And I still have to eliminate some parts of the assignments as being too easy. Next year, we are switching to CSMP math. Our favorite part of K has been Five in a Row. As part of FIAR, we do weekly geography and narration, vocabulary work every day, daily copywork created from a line from the book. There are also art and science lessons that I rely heavily on in case we don't get to formal art or science during the week. For science, we started with BJU Science, which is a very good program, but I recently came across something much better--Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding. It is a quarter of the price (less than $25) and covers three years instead of just one. It is no frills, but I am finding it very easy to implement, and dd is so excited about it. She liked science before, but BFSU shows the child that science is everywhere, and dd is really enjoying that concept. For social studies, we do unit studies. DD chooses either a country or a person, and I get books at the library about it. Next year, we will start Tapestry of Grace so we will start with the ancients for history. In addition, we memorize one poem, scripture or song about every two weeks. I am also teaching dd to play the piano. Tracy

Kerri, What about WA makes you want to use more of next year, as opposed to WWE? Is it just that it is easier when everything is integrated with TOG? Tracy

Do you do all 4 yrs of FLL before doing WA? Tracy

DD will be in 1st grade in the fall, and I also have a ds2. I have decided to take the jump and start my oldest with TOG from the beginning. I am wondering what add-ons I should use. I will definitely use MapAids, since dd is really into history and geography. I don't think that the lapbooks will work for us. Should I get WA? Has anyone done FLL with TOG? Part of me wants to do FLL, and part of me wants to try to pull the memorization portion of FLL out of TOG reading. If I do that, then I am not sure that FLL would still be worth it. Any thoughts? Any other advice for someone starting TOG from the beginning with the first child in LG level?

We just started Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding by Bernard Nebel. My husband is a physics teacher, so we were very particular about what we wanted. I am absolutely blown away by this text! There are no frills--no pictures, diagrams, etc. But Dr. Nebel understands children and how to reach them. I would characterize this text as a spiraling science text, the likes of which I have never heard of before. Rather than focus on one area for a whole year, you spiral through four "threads," each time building upon prior lessons. To me this is the perfect compromise between the classical approach and the traditional random approach. Everything is connected, and it is designed to help children make those connections in their mind between the different fields of science. The text is for K-2, and the one for 3-8 is scheduled to be available this summer. Tracy

My dd is almost 5yo, and we are doing Kindergarten right now. I found that I had to focus more on her interests than on her learning style. She loves to read and be read to, which has led to a love of history. She loves music. She loves interacting with other people. So I have chosen curricula and structured school around those things. Consequently, our home school is structured strongly around literature and history. I chose math and science programs that require us to work together. For example, she was plodding through Spelling Workout until I started to do the exercises with her orally. Now they are a breeze. HTH, Tracy

I'm afraid that I have little to add to this thread, but can I just say, I feel like I should kneel before you and kiss your feet? :) I struggle with teaching just two. How do you folks do it? I just hope you can give yourself a little slack to take the pressure off, because what you are doing is amazing! Tracy

We have it in our dining room, and everyone that comes thinks it is great. Its location is part of what makes it such a wonderful addition to our home school, because we can see every time we eat. And with littles, that means 4-6 times per day that they can't help but look at it. I kind of wish we could put it lower, since most of the map is too high to reach, even for me. So dd4 knows more about Africa and South America then any other region, just because they are in the southern hemisphere, where she can see and reach. But for anyone looking to buy this, remember that the dimensions are 6 feet high by 9 feet wide! I think the only reason we were able to find space for it is that we just moved into a new house and hadn't put anything on the walls, yet.

:iagree: We were using BJU Science 1, which is a good program. I purchased BFSU for next year. But when I got it, I was so excited that I couldn't resist just jumping in. (But it was painful to to ditch the $100 program!) Just a heads-up, though, about BFSU--it is a very different way of teaching science than the stand-alone lessons that you are used to. BFSU is about seeing science everywhere and in everything. It is a wonderful way to teach science to this age group, but you, as the teacher, have to either be on the constant lookout for teaching opportunities, or you need to plan teaching moments into your schedule ahead of time. A big plus is that it is so very affordable. For less than $25, you get three years' worth of lesson plans, which include lots of ideas for games, hands-on activities, and enrichment reading lists. Also the next level is due out this year, and it is planned to cover grades 3-8. Tracy

LOL! That is exactly the one that we purchased. It seemed like a really great deal (and it eventually turned out to be), but it came in three pieces with instructions to paste it to the wall like wallpaper. :ohmy: I was quite skeptical, as I had never done anything like that. But my very resourceful dh took over, and it turned out wonderfully. :D We have been very impressed We have considered adding a mock frame to it so that it looks like a huge picture. I would imagine that it will last longer if the walls are smooth. If they are textured, you might want to talk to someone who knows something about wallpaper. But I hope that you can make it work, because it has become such a blessing to our home school. Tracy

I am really surprised how much geography my dd4 knows simply by having a large map on the wall. (You can see a picture of ours if you go to this page and scroll to the bottom.) We don't use a curriculum, but dd just chooses a country and we get books from the library. I try to get a mixture of non-fiction, fiction, and biography. We have found some wonderful children's literature this way. Sometimes it is challenging to find material (like when she wanted to study Yemen!), but I can always find something. Sometimes we study that country for just a day and other times for a few weeks, depending on what I can find. We have started to play guessing games to see if we can guess a country from certain clues. It has been a lot of fun.