Many of the WTM high school board members utilize the Great Courses (The Teaching Company) lecture series in crafting their homeschool courses. For my students, I know TTC lectures add a depth and a richness that I, as the teacher, probably could not achieve on my own. I count on coming to the board to ask for course recommendations and suggestions on how to best utilize the materials and am at times frustrated with the search when looking for what I need. What I propose is to create a Great Courses Master Class List with four separate posts at the top under this original one: history and literature, science, mathematics and technology, fine arts (music, art, architecture) and religion and philosophy. What I envision happening is that members would write about their favorite TTC course, talking about what they and their student liked about it, what subject they used it in, how they used it, and any supporting materials that they think might be useful. For example, if someone wrote about using Philip Daileader’s Early, High and Late Middle Ages series in conjunction with SWB’s History of the Medieval World book for the tenth grade Great Book work in TWTM, I would edit the post that contained “History and Literature†to name the lecture series and then the post number of the reviewer. Eventually, if a member were looking for suggestions for planning a year of ancient history using some Great Courses lectures, they could go to the thread, find the history/literature post, look under “Ancient†and see History of the Ancient World: A Global Perspective #7, 21, 25. Post 7 would show that Swimmermom3 used it for a semester with an AP World History and thought it was great. Post 21 would show that Mtn. Teaching’s son got through the first 4 lectures and loathed the professor because of A, B, and C. (Sorry Mtn., I just used you as an exampleJ) Hopefully, you all get the idea. One other thought would be to maybe go ahead and post TTC priority codes and other offers here. Perhaps maybe list if you are looking for some particular courses. That way if Swimmermom is perusing Amazon or ebay and sees a good price, she can pm you. I may be getting ahead of myself too. Please let me know if you have ideas for making this a more useful tool. *For courses that members have used successfully with middle school students, please see Post #28. thru 17

80 Great Courses are on sale for 6.95 each at audible. (Through May 8, I think.) If you have an Amazon account, you can buy them without being an audible member. I'm not an affiliate, but I am addicted. :)

The Inexplicable Universe, a Great Course by Neil deGrasse Tyson is $1.95 today as Audible's daily deal. Sorry this is so late in the day. I don't get paid anything to say it. :) HTH Edited to fix a weird comma.

Hello~ I have a question . . . am I dreaming or does TTC/TGC go down more than 70% after Christmas? I thought I remembered receiving a catalogue last year with 90% off. I received an email stating "lowest Prices of the year" ends tonight at midnight. :confused1:

There are four different Great Courses about Shakespeare. At this point we are not specializing in any one facet of Shakespeare or any specific play(s), so any or all of them are totally fine. Though they all deal with slightly different subject matter, I was curious if anyone had specific likes or dislikes about any of them. # 273 Shakespeare: The Word and The Action by Peter Saccio # 280 Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies by Peter Saccio # 2752 Shakespeare's Tragedies by Clare R. Kinney # 2711 How to Read and Understand Shakespeare by Marc Connor Thanks!

I'm trying to improve my own education and would like to read a few books that connect math, philosophy, literature, art, etc. and how to find the beauty in these subjects. I would be (hopefully) getting some of these for Christmas.:001_smile: Would anyone please help me make some good selections? I would appreciate any help. Also, if you have any other suggestions or better ones, I would love to know about these too.What do you think about the books linked? I would like a good book on ethics but saw so many online that I couldn't even decide where to start with this book. Philosophies of Art and Beauty: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226348121/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=A6W2MH374NXYJ The Good,the True and the Beautiful: A Quest for Meaning http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1847061575/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&smid=A3HSH43ECRCXLZ Restoring Beauty: The Good, the True and the Beautiful in the Writing of C.S. Lewis http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1606570986/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&smid=A19STHRQVFXE98 Why Beauty is Truth: The History of Symmetry http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465082378/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&smid=A26J6JNN8TGTL9 Mathematics and Beauty: Aesthetic Approaches to Teaching Children http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080774722X/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&smid=A1KUFZLJ107W44 Thank you!!

Can someone point me to an explanation of how to build an entire course around a series of lectures? I'm thinking something like has been written, but I haven't yet found it in the archives. I love the idea of the videos. It would be a great opportunity to start ds15 on note taking. But he's going to need bookwork, questions and/or worksheets. I would also need quizzes and tests. I plan to submit this course portfolio to Keystone for a transfer credit. I am looking at regular courses, not high school courses. I believe I understand a course guidebook comes with high school classes but not regular classes?

What do you think about The Teaching Company courses?

I've been perusing the TC lectures for literature for our high school studies. I've heard many great things about Elizabeth Vandiver's lectures, so I'm sure I'll be buying those. My question, though, centers around lectures that could coordinate with the Great Books study laid out in WTM. Three lectures overlap in their coverage of many of the titles, but I have no idea as to whether or not they would be helpful for "literature analysis & interpretation" and worthy of high school credit. Do any of you have any experience & feedback on the following titles? Western Literary Cannon in Context by Dr. Bowers History of World Literature by Dr. Voth Great Authors of Western Literary Tradition by varied professors (Vandiver included) Thanks, Jennifer

I got a catalog in the mail, and the prices are greatly reduced. Many of these look interesting, but I don't want to buy them if they aren't all that "great." :D Thanks in advance for your responses!

I hope you all don't mind me asking a question here. My oldest is taking APUSH next year. I am looking at some Teaching Company lectures to enhance our studies--History of the United States and American Bestsellers. He is also taking American Lit. Does anyone have any opinions on these? or other recommendations? Would it be ok to just have the audio, or do you think we need the video, too? Thanks for your help.

My kids are studying Ancients this year. I ditched TOG and decided to with K12/WIAT series with gr5 and SOTW1 with my younger. I'm looking to purchase some TC courses for that time period. I've picked out the high school level history one for my kids but found a coupon (that had come in the mail) for a buy 2 courses, get 1 free. :hurray: I'd like to get a couple courses for myself (history themed) Help me spend some money- which 2 other courses should I get? My oldest is gr5 so I don't think we're quite ready for the SuperStar High School Student one.

I'm interested in the following courses: The Art of Public Speaking The Art of Reading Museum Masterpieces:The Louvre Books That Have Made History Our NIght Sky The Great Ideas of Philosphy Classical Mythology Most of these are for me. Night Sky and Philosophy would be for dh. Eventually dd11 may use all of them. I'd love to hear your opinions. Thank you, Carolyn

There is a huge sale this weekend only for 70% off some DVDs from The Great Courses. I am thinking of math and science especially. Anyone have experience with these DVDs? Are they worth buying?

I'm sure this has been asked before but searches didn't come up with much. Some of you probably have them in your subscriptions so links would be appreciated. But I would love to hear some of your favorite courses. Did you use them as a supplement or a credit class? I am looking at Classical Mythology and a Brief History of the World so far. And is Linwood Thompson good or bad to listen to? This would be for a 13-15 tr old boy if that matters. I'm leaning towards the audio when possible. Thanks!

I ordered the Mental Math DVD on a whim thanks to those dang advertisements the company is always sending out. Just want to give a thumb's up to it! DS watched the first lecture yesterday, reluctantly, and is now continuing the series entirely on his own--not sure whether to stop him or not since he should be doing his work.:tongue_smilie: But he has learned some amazing tricks and was almost able to do some multiplication problems faster than DH yesterday, who is a math teacher but wasn't aware of some of these "secrets."

In another thread Swimmermom3 mentioned a TC course that she felt is accessible to a 6th grader for Medieval history. I was wondering if there were any other courses that you felt your Logic stage child would be able to benefit from, or that would interest them while not being completely over their heads? For me, this would be with an advanced 5th grader and I'm hoping specifically for Ancient history but would also like to have a list of other resources to consider buying for the Logic stage years. TIA!

KarenAnne mentioned in another thread on the K-8 board that the Teaching Company had a new course entitled Analysis and Critique: How to Engage and Write about Anything. When I looked it up, there was only one review and it was a one star. However, as we like another series that Professor Armstrong has done, I decided to check it out anyway. I figured that for $25 for the audio download I couldn't lose. I am so glad I did. While I have found the course helpful and enjoyable for myself, I can easily see using it to give your seniors a great overview of what will be expected of them for their college writing courses. KarenAnne, if you end up checking this out, I would love to hear your review as a professional. Thanks for the recommendation. Newer reviews rate the course much higher.

I just purchased the audio download of The Old Testament to supplement my SOW studies in Genesis. I want to SERIOUSLY tackle note taking. This course provides an outline of the lecture, so I'd like to concentrate on the best way to take notes when given an outline, by an organized lecturer. Later on I want to tackle how to take notes on a lecture that is disorganized and entered cold turkey without any prep, but not now. I'm willing to spend up to 3 hours preparing for the lecture, taking notes on the lecture, and processing the notes, if need be. I want to practice the ultimate note taking scenario.

I get that they sell lectures, but why do people like them so much? How do you use them to homeschool your high schooler?

Hi, is it my imagination, or is today and tomorrow's sale at TTC super-duper good?!?!?!?!? It seems like I looked at some science courses on sale a few weeks ago and the prices were higher, though around 70% off. Are today's science course prices unusual? IOW, should I stock up NOW???

I was so tempted to get a couple of these with the sale and all for not only school, but for DH as well who teaches math. Are they at a level pretty much any middle schooler would understand? Or be interested in? What are some of the best for the logic stage? How do you use them in your homeschool? I'm thinking that since DS loves audio books as much as he does, that he may actually be ok listening to lectures if the topic truly interests him.

Hi all, My dd who is in 10th grade has finally begun to express an interest in her education! Never thought that would happen. Now she has expressed an interest in an in depth study of Greek history. Next school year we are going to do a year long study of Greek mythology with TTC dvd lectures. But I was thinking of doing a semester of Greek history in the spring to get us ready for next fall. Can anyone recommend so resources we could use in the spring? Thanks so much!

What are your favorite teaching company videos that would be appropriate for middle schoolers?

.