I felt this same way. Making that leap was very difficult for us especially since I had been using SL from the beginning. We finally dropped SL 15 weeks into core 3. It just wasn't working for our family. We are much happier, learning a lot, and doing okay without SL books for history (although we are catching some here and there). In fact, we've discovered a few others out there that we like just as much! :grouphug:

I'm Central Texas too but in theTemple/Belton area.

I've started buying these for my TOG units. I have to label the tabs by week myself. I find they are much more durable, but what I truly love are the pockets. I've printed out all the maps for each week and just stored them or anything else for that week plan in the pocket with the divider.

I'm looking a coupon code for insect lore. We are going to raise butterflies again, but boy! are those boogers pricey to ship! Anyone have one they'd share with me?:001_smile:

I'd love to pick your friend's brain for awhile.;) :lurk5:

Found them! Thanks, ladies!:grouphug:

Thanks! I'll try that! :D

I know I saw on my year 2 DE the pages you can print to make a binder label to slide down in one of those clear pocket binders for a notebook. For the life of me, I can't find it again. If you know what I'm talking about, can you point me in the right direction. I'm trying to print some things get ready for our next unit, and that is one thing I want to print out!:D

This is exactly what I did. I needed to try it so that I could either move forward with TOG or just put it out of my mind. The constant wondering and being intrigued with it was driving me batty. I know I was driving dh batty:tongue_smilie:. We have loved out unit trial run. So much so, that I feel comfortable about buying a year plan now.

:lurk5:

My ds just learned to tie his shoes by watching a Blue's Clues video. It has a cute little song sung by Randy Travis that he attached to and finally got it!

I'd recommend a starting in Y2 U3 or 4. We started in U4 and have really learned a lot. It was a great place to get our feet wet with TOG. Plus, I love the American Revolution.

I did a little diagramming throughout my schooling, but not enough! The bulk of diagramming experience came from taking Advanced Grammar in college. It is the one class in college in which I truly had to work. I can imagine if I hadn't had it, I'd feel very inadequate to teach my kids as they entered the logic or rhetoric years.

I loved them too! Listening to the lectures allowed me to let the rest of the stuff go. It's was freeing! Took so much pressure off of my dc and me. I must say our school days are so much better since we've dropped everything except narrations and dictations.

I wanted to mention that before I jumped into OPGTR I checked it out at my library. It proved to be a great way to get my hands on it before buying it to see if it would actually be something I wanted to use. I offer that as a suggestion before you buy.

We are using WWE right now. When we start our next year plan, I plan on giving some of the writing portions a try. I'm also looking for a used copy of Writing Aids or a good sale at Lampstand Press!:)

You're right. I don't have my dh listed in my siggy. I gathered from her siggy and the way she has posted that she is not.

I wondered this as well. Why would a college student who has NO children (marriage hasn't been even mentioned, so I don't think she is) even circulate these boards? The only thing I can think of is that she is writing a paper and needs to do some surveying for her class. UGH!!!!!!:glare: I really feel the OP posted naively. She can't possibly even have the life experience that marriage, parenting, and life with your own family can possibly give. Which, I think, may be the heart of why I find the OP is so irritating.

This has not been our experience at all. I'm sorry that it was for you. We started with Y2U4 though. We use the teacher maps to fill our maps at the LG and UG level. I'm trying introduce the places on the map at this point. Give them a basis for where the weeks history reading are happening. Mapping has been fun! Even my K'er has loved the mapping. I usually print off little labels for him to glue on his map instead of writing the places. We haven't had any problems locating the people in our readings either. Some of the people are in the in-depth reading and not in the core part. i.e. in Y2U4 John Harrison was covered in an in-depth LG reading, but not in the core reading.

:iagree:My list is very similar to Tina's. The poetry aspect is also important to me b/c I want my children to not be afraid of reading poetry. Starting them while they are little with poetry is one way I hope to encourage the idea that poetry isn't scary! I dreaded poetry in high school and college simply b/c I hadn't had enough exposure to reading it. My plan here is to choose the poetry books that SL offers for each core and use those as a base for reading poetry to my kids. We have taken to tea time on Thursdays for this and it's a lot fun! The memorization is easy enough to plug in, but it sure would be easier if it said memorize XYZ this week. I don't worry too much about this b/c my kids are memorizing scripture weekly, memorizing poetry in FLL, and memorizing in other places where appropriate. IMO, the strengths of TOG outweigh the cons. I found more reasons to choose TOG than to not.

:iagree:

I know TOG recommends not doing a timeline with LG and UG, but we are. We had started a timeline with our SL studies, and I just couldn't let my kids give that aspect up. They LOVE looking through it. When we made the switch, I bought the Homeschool in the Woods CDs and then printed the figures out on 8 1/2 x 11 sticker paper. The are just continuing to add figures to the SL Book of Time that we already had. It's working well here.

We made the switch from SL to TOG and honestly, it has saved me time. It takes a bit more planning for me b/c I need to prepare more by reading the teacher's notes and come up with something to do with the vocabulary words, but our school time has cut down having us all on the same topic. I am no longer reading 2 cores which is saving me lots of time. I bought most the books we'd need for the 1st unit simply b/c I am so used to have all my SL books right there on the shelf when I need them. It was convient, but not necessary.

That's definately one to keep. How cute!

For 5 years old, I think that is asking a bit much. Honestly, the whining is probably his way of saying that.