[Apologia's Accuracy]

I've used many different science programs over the three years I've been hs, and while some have been good (and some not so good!), I really think Apologia is one of the better ones out there. If you don't believe God created the earth, or if you don't want to take the time to explain that every book written is influenced by the writer's personal beliefs, then it may not be for you. Academically, it seems sound. My daughters are learning a lot - including good study habits and critical evaluation - from these books. I like the fact that the author also makes clear that he has personal beliefs, and while he tries not to let them influence his writing, that the reader should evaluate and make their own decisions (particularly on young/old earth, catastrophism/uniformitarianism and other "hot topics"). That is only in the higher level books, however. In the elementary books, you need to make that clear to your child. This has never been a problem for us, because we take that approach with all of our schoolwork. History, science, literature, all are written by humans, and all are subject to their viewpoint. Read 3 books about anything, written by 3 different people, living in 3 different countries, and you'll get 3 different stories! It's up to you to piece it together.

[Another TOG Question]

I have been reading all the of threads lately and it has helped to clarify some of my questions regarding which curriculum I am going to use next year for History.

 

I am almost settled on TOG, Year 1 Redesigned.

 

I have two children. One UG, 5th Grade, barely on grade level with reading. The other, Dialect, 8th Grade, gifted in Language Arts.

 

I would really prefer to use a spine for the History Core and In-Depth, such as SOTW Ancients for UG and Streams to Civilization for Dialect. I see in the TOG samples that these are optional.

 

So here is my question:

Can I replace the History Core and History In-Depth with the Optional spines mentioned?

 

Does anyone else do this? Can anything think of why this would be a bad idea?

 

I used TOG for the first time this year - loving the redesign! - and we used the "main" books listed. I tend to be a follow the rules type of person and was a little afraid to vary too much from what was the first choice until I had some experience with TOG under my belt. Having said that, I see no reason why you couldn't use the alternate books instead of the main ones. TOG is very thorough, and they wouldn't list anything that didn't cover the material. In fact, you are encouraged to take the plan and change it to suit you! They even say (somewhere) that you can just go to the library and get whatever books are available on the topic that you are studying. TOG uses topic based lessons, not book based, so you have a lot of freedom. One word of caution, though. If you do choose to switch books around, then you run the small risk that not all the answers to the questions will be in the resources you use. As far as I'm concerned, that's not a big deal. Just go over the info with them and call it good.

 

We also tweaked the discussion idea to better fit our style. Instead of a weekly discussion on the reading they did independently, we follow more of a Sonlight approach. I read the UG (i have UG and D levels) aloud to both girls and we discuss as we read, then my oldest reads her books as supplementary info and does the worksheet. It turns out that quite often she's calling for me to "listen to this.... isn't that cool/crazy/interesting" on her reading. Seems to be working well so far.

 

Anyway, to sum up, you can use the optional resources as spines without fear! As you gain some experience with the way TOG works, you'll find yourself altering things to better fit your style anyway. That's what I like about it - I can change things around, and as long as I'm covering the topics, I know that my kids are getting a thorough education.

 

Hope this helps!

[Need French curriculum suggestions....]

Not sure which Latin you're using, but I saw that Latina Christiana has a French program. I plan on trying it out myself, but you need to like their Latin program because it is set up along the same lines. Hope this helps.

[TOG-- what books do you buy and which do you check out?]

Marie,

Boy, can I sympathize! We are just finishing up our first year with TOG and if you buy everything, especially if you have different levels, it can be expensive. What I did was take a LOOOOOONG look at the book list and the bookshelf listings; copy or print out all the books, authors, copywrites, etc; and then go to my library's online catalog and search for them. A surprising number of them were available, and it really helps keep the cost down. Next, I went to Rainbow Resource and searched for the rest. RR usually has things at a better price than anywhere else. Anything that I couldn't get at the library or through RR, I bought from the bookshelf.

 

I would recommend buying the books that are used all year, and the ones that are used multi year. We did that, and when I was looking at the first Q books for next year, my cost is way down because I already own a lot of them. Another way to ease the pain is to buy the books one quarter at a time. I really recommend that, because you'll find yourself tweaking things here and there, or omitting this or adding that. Buying by quarter means you won't have books you didn't use after all sitting on your shelf.

 

Just a word of encouragement - my husband almost choked when I told him how much the books were going to be, but he is glad we went with TOG. It's a really strong program.