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SewLittleTime

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    TOG clarification-

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    The $199 combo sale is only on yr 1. Y2 combo is on sale for $223.70. y3 and y4 combo remain at their list prices as of this writing.

     

    Pop Quiz is so worth it at our house. I also listen to it each week just to give my brain another input of the main threads. My hubbie likes asking the kids the Qs, too.

    Fiddle! I so wanted the Y3 to be on sale for $199! I'd swoop it up right now!!!!

    Some more specific ToG questions / ...from a SL-user

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

     

    The issues I have with SL are the following:

    - The Readers are just not enough, particularly for ds. He could read much more than what SL is offering him. Given that we do not live in the US, hitting the closest library is not an option, I need to be organized enough to have everything on my shelf...

     

    I am adding in some SL books in with our TOG b/c my ds devours books. Part of the appeal of TOG is that it is flexible in that way. I can give him a book and can read the whole thing in one day. I'm not tied to SL's boxes. We do utilize the library quite a bit for extra reading. Your options may be a different and much more expensive living overseas. TOG is expensive if you want to have it all sitting on your shelf. But given that you will likely reuse the books with younger kids, it might be a worthwhile investment to you.

    - I regret not having any worksheets/tests. As much as I appreciate the "real life approach" of reading along, I would appreciate having a means to follow-up in a more academic way...

     

    The discussion questions in the D and R levels are there for you to have that.

    I do not mind spending time on planning for school, but I do need the kids to work more independently on a daily basis than they do now...

     

    TOG is not meant for you to read all of it to them like SL is. Although I gave a lot of the SL books to my ds to read on his own b/c he wanted to (Saved me some time there). Tina may be able to speak more to this aspect of TOG since she has a broad spectrum of kids using it.

     

    What specific questions did you have exactly?

    Academically speaking, why did you choose TOG over SL?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    We just left SL. My main reason for choosing TOG (I've been wanting to for 2 years) this year is that doing 2 cores with SL has been just too much for me. TOG has allowed me to do things with my family that we had been missing with SL--namely learning together in history. But we also longed for meaningful hands-on things to do. TOG has streamlined our days being on the same topic, and I love it!

     

    Here are some other reasons we chose to move to TOG:

    1. The classical approach is much more rigorous. DH and I both wish now that we had been classically educated. We want this for our children. TOG fits the classical model.

    2. My kids needed more meat than SL provided. I spent a lot of time supplimenting SL with non-fiction titles to add to the historical fiction. TOG uses books that ARE meaty. My boys are drawn naturally to non-fiction, so this fit us better.

    3. I wanted my kids on the same topic to allow for deeper learning throughout our family. Now that my kids are both doing the same time period, they have much more interaction with each other and their school work. It has added a lot of depth academically.

    4. The vocab is meaningful as it is coming right from history readings.

    5. Self-education-I am trying to read some of the D and R works as we go.

    6. Picture books-TOG has a lot of fantastic books for the LG age that are really well worth our time!

    God's Design for Science: Tell me why you like it

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I used parts of the the two Chemistry books (Ecology hadn't been written yet) and parts of 2 of the 3 Physics books for my ds when he was in 3rd grade. I also supplemented with appropriate pages from the Usborne IL Encyclopedia of Science to provide better visuals. (The new full color editions weren't out then). I read the lesson to my ds and then we did most of the experiments/activities. Honestly, a lot of it went over ds's head despite the fact that he likes science and is advanced in most subjects. He also keeps periodic chart place mat at his place at the table. I definitely think the Chemistry and Physics books are meaty enough for him to do again. In fact they are one of my top choices for ds to do for science next year (6th grade).

     

    At the same time I was doing the Chemistry and Physics with ds, my dd was in K. I did not read any of the God's Design Science to her that year. I read from library books on related topics as I had time and could find good stuff in the library. Some of the books I read included Let's Read and Find Out books, Rookie Read About Science books, and the Berenstain Bears Big Book of Science and Nature pages on Chemistry and Physics. She also enjoyed watching/doing the experiments and activities. I don't know that she learned all that much from them though.

     

    Although the Chemistry and Physics books are one of the top choices for ds for next year (6th) I'm pretty sure that most of the material will be over dd's head next year (3rd) and I don't know what to do about that. I would like to cover Physical Science I(Physics and/or Chemistry) with both next year, but I have yet to find anything that is meaty enough for ds, but simple enough for dd. The God's Design for Earth and Space has worked really well for us this year with dd using the Beginner section supplemented with picture books, but alas, the Chemistry and Physics books do not have the beginner section.

     

    If anyone knows of a science curriculum that covers Chemistry and/or Physics that is good for both an advanced 6th grader and an average 3rd grader I would love to know about it.

    You've hit on the biggest issue I'm having with science and that is finding something that is meaty enough for the older one and yet reachable for the younger. Where, oh where is that curriculum?:confused:

    Another science ?: Anyone use just the rec's from WTM?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I've looked at so many science curriculums. I want to move to more of classical cycle. I want to combine my kids if possible. I want some meat. None of the programs I've looked at seem to fit our needs. I'm back to leaning toward using the WTM recs and putting together my own schedule.

     

    If you used the WTM recomendations for books for grammar stage science, can you share about your experience with that?

    God's Design for Science: Tell me why you like it

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I taught the Life series last year to a K/1 class in co-op. It went fine but I didn't continue on in the series. I like the Christian focus but I did find it really simple and too brief. The experiments were typical and fun, easy to implement. I didn't find the electronic resources helpful at all - definitely not K/1 level. Aside from the experiments, it's basically a good read, with nice pictures. If I were to do it at home with my children, I'd feel the need to supplement it with other resources (library).

    Thanks for this review.

    You are welcome to check out my review of the curriculum on www.amazon.com :)

    I'll check it out!

    I like what I see of God's design for..Science.

    Specially the physics and chemistry ones got my attention.

     

    Finally I chose something else because:

    - I'm not sure the physics and chemistry series are the level I need.

    - As far as we are, unitstudies -multilevel programs don't fit, never: I buy and I try but they don't fit, I don't want misbuy nr. xxx because of that.

    - I read only reviews of the first 2 series, not the physics and the chemistry one (the ones I need).

     

    So after a lot of thinking I buy 'safely': I stick with BJU Science, I do the grades I need, in the order I need...

    I appreciate your input. I wonder if it will work combining my boys for science.

    This is a question I have as well. I have the Life Science set (for next year), and at this point, I think I'll be happy using it for 1st and 5th. IMHO, a 5th grader who has been through all that material should have a good handle on life science; it is certainly more life science than I had before public high school.

     

    I have a concern regarding the Chemistry and Physics levels, though. From what I've read, those do not have the same Beginner section that the Life and Earth Science sets have. Is that correct? If that's so, then the main part of each lesson would be the same for grammar and logic stages (except that you would add the challenge activity for logic stage).

     

    Has anyone used/plan to use the Chemistry and Physics sets in both stages?

    I'd also like more input on the Chemsitry and Physics sets.

    God's Design for Science: Tell me why you like it

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    :bigear::bigear:

     

    Science has me stumped. I want something Christian (or at least something that I can supplement a secular program with), but there aren't many options for PreK-1st grade.

    I'm stumped too! We've been using SL science up to this point, but my kids are BORED! We're in week 17 of science 3 and ds is yet to have an experiement. My K-er is doing SL science K and is just saying "we already did this." True. He's been sitting in on brother's lessons his whole life!

     

    I'm looking to combine my boys. I want something that follows a classical cycle. One complaint of my oldest is that SL science seems to cover the same topic every year. Not true, but it gives him an excuse to complain about the Water book that he loathes!:glare: He has covered some of the topics in that book, but not all.

    What I like:

     

     

    • goes through all the four major areas of science (biology, earth sciences, chemistry, physics) in elementary--can be used very well with a 4 year WTM sequence if that is your thing.

    This is something we moving toward. I want a classical cycle if possible.

     

    • very easy to combine older and younger children (first two series have sections for beginners and older children)

    I'm looking to combine my kids. They'll be 4th grade and 1st. A little far apart, but doable I think. Do you have to supplement much?

     

    • the experiments are easy to do, so they actually get done

    Does each lesson have an experiement? How often are they scheduled? Again, I couldn't get a feel on the website.

     

    • adaptable--I have been able to condense some parts, linger over some others with no great strain on my brain. It is well planned--so it gets done with not much prep on my part.

    I like this! My brain needs all the help it can get!;)

     

    • reasonable price, especially compared to some other programs out there.

    I thought it was reasonable too!

     

     

     

    • I would highly recommend getting the newest, updated version; the color pictures and the layout/design are much better. The cd's with the tests/quizzes/worksheets are nice; my boys were not ready for most of the tests/quizes, but the worksheets were mostly usable for us. We plan on going through the series twice, and adding in more WTM logic stage science on the second time throough. I have the whole series, and consider it a great investment.

     

    Do you find it meaty enough to go through twice? The samples don't give me much to go on there?

    The best thing about them, for me, is that they are creationist and not ashamed of it. I love that part.

    This is great!

    Are the teacher's material necessary? Well, they are more necessary for an older student; I think you could wing it for the little guys, but you wouldn't have any of the worksheets or other papers that are put down as activiites in the lessons. You'd have to do your own--which wouldn't be too taxing for a 1st and K'er. The teacher's books also detail the methods outcomes of the experiments better, so that is helpful. I bought the whole thing as a set, so I haven't tried to use the books without the teacher's stuff, but if you need to cut corners (and $) you probably could do the first two series (life sciences and earth sciences) without the teacher's materials and not want to beat your head against a wall too much. I wouldn't try to use the last two series (chemistry and physics), or any of the series with an older child (9 or so and up) without the teacher's materials. I feel that they are necessary for those topics and ages.

    Good info!

    :bigear:

    Loving this post - I've been using Abeka Science for my dd11 and it is making me crazy. Yesterday I was checking out AIG's website and wondering what it was like and how it compares to Apologia.

    Thanks to the OP for this topic:)

    We're Apologia dropouts! We started with Astronomy, but we were using it with another program. Turned out to be too much! I'd like more of classical cycle too. So, in that respect, Apologia is not what I want.

    If Rainbow Resource is going to carry AAS Deluxe Kits...does that mean?????

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I saw on my newsletter that Rainbow Resource that they are going to carry the AAS Deluxe Kits (with the magnets, phonogram CD, ect). Does that mean they are going to carry AAS in its entirety? :confused::confused: Will the books and the student packs eventually be available there too?

     

    Oh, please say yes!!!!!! That would be such a great help to me as I order for next year!:001_smile:

    Initial Thoughts on TOG DE

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    Tina--

    Your post is very timely. Just last night I sat dh down to discuss DE, print, or both. I'm using the DE/print right now, and I see the advantage of both. Printing it out for my self though really might be just the cost saver I need to stretch our curriculum budget even farther! Thanks for your detailed post and thoughts!

    TOG extras

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    The only extras I have are Map Aids which I consider an essential. We are doing the lapbook for this unit, but I don't consider them necessary. I'm not sure I'll even purchase them each time. For this unit though, our lapbook is our unit long project.

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