Mommyfaithe Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Maybe "Somebody" is trying to tell me something.....this is the 3rd time i am trying to post this with my lappy shutting down on me...sigh.... I have some questions about TOG DE.... Is anyone using this? What are your thoughts as compared to the print editions? Are they now more conducive to jumping in at any unit? Moreso than Classic? I really hated that the classic edition constantly refers back to earlier unit lessons. I always felt like I was "catching" my kids up. Are the lessons more organized and easier to implement? Are there any hands on projects, notebook exercises? worksheets? literature study questions? My only experience with TOG was the Classic editions....Tell me about the changes and which were for the better and which were for the worse? I now have children in all 4 stages....how do you Moms of many find the integration of your children into this program? Do you have time for ALL of your children to benefit? I need to change some things around and I need to choose what i am coming back into this year doing. I have hired some help in my office, so I will have 3 full days a week to devote to my kids...rather than teach....assign...run to do the next office task. We will have to deal with less money...but i am willing to sacrifice at this point some money for some time.... I used TOG at its very inception...years ago...Unit 1 Year 1...when it was posted freeish..LOL.....and I have used Classic Year 1,2 and 4.....BUT I found year 2 extremely disjointed and difficult to implement without my head popping off. Does the DE revised edition still have the head popping feel??? Thanks...and feel free to add in any other comments...I don't really want to hear the gush of someone who just bought the program to use next semester. Sorry....I want to hear from those who have implemented ....the good, the bad,...the ugly.... Oh, I will still be using CLE for Math, LA, and their reading programs for my youngers. LOVE...LOVE...LOVE these. OH...Is SOTW scheduled in?? Thanks! Faithe Tell me about TOG and do you think ikt will help my situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Lynx Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Maybe "Somebody" is trying to tell me something.....this is the 3rd time i am trying to post this with my lappy shutting down on me...sigh.... I have some questions about TOG DE.... Is anyone using this? What are your thoughts as compared to the print editions? The setup on the computer was/is irritating. However, once you've got it working, it's fine, and their customer service is very responsive. It's exactly the same as the print edition, except that you're looking at files instead of thumbing through pages. Are they now more conducive to jumping in at any unit? Moreso than Classic? I really hated that the classic edition constantly refers back to earlier unit lessons. I always felt like I was "catching" my kids up. I've never seen Classic, so I can't compare. However, we jumped in at Year 2 Unit 3, and it was easy to do. They occasionally refer back to earlier work, but certainly not constantly. Are the lessons more organized and easier to implement? Again, I've never seen Classic. I go through each unit of TOG beforehand, and pull out all the reading assignments for my students. I make copies of any maps, worksheets, study questions, or activities we might do, and put those in folders. Then each week we do the reading, and whatever's in the folder. I still have to choose what we're going to read and how we're going to do it, but I don't find it difficult. Are there any hands on projects, notebook exercises? worksheets? literature study questions? They don't really have notebook exercises, but all the rest, yes. I now have children in all 4 stages....how do you Moms of many find the integration of your children into this program? Do you have time for ALL of your children to benefit? My older two work mostly independently - they do their reading and assignments, and then we have a discussion once a week. I read the books to my younger kids. Now ... my family does not do full-on TOG, we just do the history and maybe half of the literature. I have children in 3 stages. OH...Is SOTW scheduled in?? Yes, for the Upper Grammar stage :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Maybe "Somebody" is trying to tell me something.....this is the 3rd time i am trying to post this with my lappy shutting down on me...sigh.... Yea! It worked. I have some questions about TOG DE.... Is anyone using this? What are your thoughts as compared to the print editions? Are they now more conducive to jumping in at any unit? Moreso than Classic? I really hated that the classic edition constantly refers back to earlier unit lessons. I always felt like I was "catching" my kids up. I own years 2 and 3 digital and years 2, 3 and 4 in classic. I haven't used the digital versions a lot yet. Just for planning purposes (coordinating MOH volumes with TOG). I adore the ability to use the search feature to look for key words. I which I had year 1 and 4 digital for that alone. Though you still have to open up each week, and you can only have two or three weeks open at a time, so it does still have limits. My guess it that it continues to refer back. I am using the LG and UG levels, and I haven't really had a problem with it in the classic version. I don't use the student activity sheets and read the teacher notes haphazardly, so most of the time we just read and enjoy the books which don't refer back to anything. Are the lessons more organized and easier to implement? Are there any hands on projects, notebook exercises? worksheets? literature study questions? Compared to the classic, yes. Compared to the in print redesign...well that depends on the person. If you like in print you probably prefer print. If you are comfortable working with the computer then you probably would like DE better. The classic had hands on for both co-ops and individuals, and so does the redesign. I don't remember any notebook exercises, but not sure what you mean by that. The student activity pages that were in the classic are also in the redesign. They are more clearly defined. Generally you have a to do list, with a literature worksheet. The older students (D and R levels) have questions listed. In the classic the R level had this, but the D level was lacking, IMO. My only experience with TOG was the Classic editions....Tell me about the changes and which were for the better and which were for the worse? I now have children in all 4 stages....how do you Moms of many find the integration of your children into this program? Do you have time for ALL of your children to benefit? In the classic they color coded the pages based on what there were for. The overview pages are yellow, the writing was purple, the teacher notes were write and the student pages blue. The color coding used in the redesign is more detailed and more effective. Each level has its own color, so you can tell at a glance at the bottom of the page what age level it is for, or if it for all ages. The 3 week samples are very much what you get in the DE, just with the DE you don't open each piece separately. You open a week, then have an index on the left of what pieces you can navigate to. You also don't have the yellow post-it notes popping up with hints. I don't have a child in each level, but TOG meets my goals. SL was the main program I used before TOG, and I wanted more mapping, less fiction (especially the emotional fiction as I have two very sensitive kids), and the ability to substitute easily my own books as we want to use our favorites. TOG meets all those needs. I probably don't use TOG like most people, though. I read the LG history outloud to all my kids daily at lunch. Then I assign additional reading for my oldest. All three girls do mapping, my oldest does the UG/D lit and worldview (mostly UG, but moving up to D next year, so getting some early exposure), my 2nd dd does the LG lit. We do hands on together as we have time. I don't hesitate to take more than a week, if needed to cover a topic. :001_huh: I have bigger issues to deal with than to worry about staying on a 4 year history cycle. Yes SOTW is now scheduled as an alternate choice. The best thing I think you could do right now would be to try one of the three week samples. TOG might work for your current needs, but I have doubts. It is still probably going to overwhelm you, and unless you can dig in and figure out the pieces then it won't work. I am one of the few for whom TOG clicked, but I knew exactly what I wanted, and could see how TOG would fit that. At the time there were whole pieces of TOG I didn't get and didn't use for almost a year. I just knew that it had the mapping I wanted, would allow me to substitute books and give me more depth if I had the time to read it. The rest I figured out over the next year to a year and a half while using TOG. My point? If you expect to hit the ground running, then you will first have to invest the time needed to figure TOG out and plan how to make it work for you. If you take a more relaxed approach, then you can start up with a bare minimum and then add more depth as you figure pieces out. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karenciavo Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 TOG has an FAQ page that compares Classic and Redesign. Stephanie, have you downloaded a unit lately? It's much easier now, no more manually deleting and moving files into proper folders, I installed Year 4 Unit 3 a week or so ago and it was a cinch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Lynx Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 TOG has an FAQ page that compares Classic and Redesign. Stephanie, have you downloaded a unit lately? It's much easier now, no more manually deleting and moving files into proper folders, I installed Year 4 Unit 3 a week or so ago and it was a cinch. I guess I haven't! The last thing I downloaded was one where I had to more files into folders. I'm glad they fixed that. For Christmas I got a new computer, and we're having some issues with getting my new computer licensed, although that's likely my fault. DH migrated all my files over to this new computer. I contacted TOG about a license for it. Can't get new license to work. Tried to dump all my TOG files to start over; computer won't let me delete them. :001_huh: In the meantime, I can't access my files. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 I guess I haven't! The last thing I downloaded was one where I had to more files into folders. I'm glad they fixed that. For Christmas I got a new computer, and we're having some issues with getting my new computer licensed, although that's likely my fault. DH migrated all my files over to this new computer. I contacted TOG about a license for it. Can't get new license to work. Tried to dump all my TOG files to start over; computer won't let me delete them. :001_huh: In the meantime, I can't access my files. :glare: Ugh! DH just rebuilt my computer. Just today I went in and downloaded all the new stuff (there is a lot more work to do there), and then, of course, my licenses wouldn't work. I e-mailed Ray and he had it working in no time. PM me if you need Ray's e-mail. He is the get it done man. :D Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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