OK TOG pros (or TOG pro wannabe's)...I need your insight.

[Melissa in CA]

My ds is currently in 7th grade, but lately I have been trying to figure out how we are going to use TOG for our high school. Here is my delimna...

 

Our ISP says my ds must have one year of American History, one year of World History, and one year of Government/Econ. We plan on him graduating early, in 11th, so that gives us three years to accomplish his required high school courses. No problem.

 

He is currently in Y2 of TOG (7th grade)

 

Here is my problem...

My understanding is that Y3 is mostly American History. This would work well for his high school American History in 9th. And Y4 is 20th Century World History which would be fine for his high school World History in 10th. But then what do we use for 8th grade??

 

If we use Y3 (Am History) in 8th and Y4 (World) in 9th, what would I then use for his high school American History course?

 

And Government?? TOG mixes in Government...I have no clue how I could work that one out with our ISP. We might just have to use a separate Govt. course in 11th.

 

So, I am wondering if it would be best to skip TOG in 8th grade and do something else....what, I have NO IDEA...and pick TOG back up in 9th at R level with Y3.

 

ALSO, I am wondering if we should stop what we are doing now (we are just coming to the end of Y2, Unit 2) and do something else for the remainder of the year....what, I have NO IDEA...and then spread out and finish Units 3 & 4 in 8th grade leaving Y3 for 9th.

 

Can you see how confused I am? :confused: Anyone willing to help me work this out or have recommendations? (I think I'll post this to the other board as well)

[PeterPan]

Well the other standard filler course for that history slot is world geography. But you realize that the theory of a course like TOG is that you do the guides as written then go back and assign labels... (At least that's the way I understand it.) There is actually some justification for that, in the sense that you can take a non-standard progression and put it into TERMS the transcript evaluator (which I once was) will understand. Some people rearrange their transcript to avoid placing grade levels beside each thing. So they'll put Social Studies and then list under it all their history and geography units. They'll put Language Arts and list all their english stuff. In that way you communicate what was covered.

 

So in CA do you HAVE to use an ISP? Guess I sort of heard that and wasn't sure. Can you ask them if getting it all covered in the end, though spread out over several years, cuts it? And even though it is terribly nosey (sorry), can I ask if you're SURE graduating him a year early is the way you want to go? Is it just a huge pain and he's going to be doing cc stuff anyway? I don't know, none of my business. I just thought it might be that holding him that 4th year would be another way to solve your TOG rotation problem. :)

 

If you can't figure out how to make TOG do it, you can find all sorts of other stuff. Have you been haunting the high school board yet?

[lovemykids]

I had to laugh at your post title!

Elizabeth, why is it a huge pain to have a child graduate a year early?

[PeterPan]

Uh, I think I was ASKING if it was a huge pain to continue him in the context of reporting in a restrictive state that requires isp's, hoops, etc. and easier to just graduate him asap.

[lovemykids]

Oops, I see now. LOL.

:leaving:

The reason I ask is because I am toying with this idea myself, but I am not sure if it’s what we want.

[lovemykids]

“ALSO, I am wondering if we should stop what we are doing now (we are just coming to the end of Y2, Unit 2) and do something else for the remainder of the year....what, I have NO IDEA...and then spread out and finish Units 3 & 4 in 8th grade leaving Y3 for 9th.â€

This sounds like a good idea, why not? I am sure you can come up with something else to do. :)

What about Mapping the World with Art at a faster pace? Four times a week instead of two?

[TracyP]

I don't know if this helps but if they can handle the rhetoric level reading you can give them high school credit even though they won't be able to have r level discussions. Martha describes how to do this in the introduction. HTH!

[M&M]

Many people use the D level with some R level mixed in for the first year of high school, couldn't you just do that in 8th grade. If you read the intro notes in TOG, you will see that Marcia really spells out how to do high school credits, she even talks about giving hs credit in earler grades if the student can do the work. I don't know what an ISP is, but if you do TOG 8th-11th gradually building up to R work in 8th, you should be fine for all of your credits. Many people feel that the R level really reaches into college level work.

 

If you love using TOG I would stick with it.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

..

[Melissa in CA]

So in CA do you HAVE to use an ISP? Guess I sort of heard that and wasn't sure.

No, you do not have to be in an ISP in CA. The only requirement is to register each year with the state as a private school. With only one student in my "private school" I feel more peace belonging to an ISP. Our ISP really is not at all restrictive, they are very good about letting me do my own thing in K-8. But in high school they require what our local high schools require. After graduating two other children through the ISP and how tricky it was when grading SL assignments and keeping records, and such. I am not wanting to revisit that. I just want to keep it simple and straightforward.

 

And even though it is terribly nosey (sorry), can I ask if you're SURE graduating him a year early is the way you want to go? Is it just a huge pain and he's going to be doing cc stuff anyway? I don't know, none of my business. I just thought it might be that holding him that 4th year would be another way to solve your TOG rotation problem. :)

 

My ds will go to cc first or to trade school. We have no desire to send our children off to a 4-year university right out of high school. In my circle of friends I have seen nothing good come of that course. ;) My oldest ds homeschooled through 12th grade, but my middle son graduated in 11th and went right into cc. That is what I am going to PLAN with my youngest, but if we get through 11th and I feel he is not ready to graduate, I will hold him in that 12th year. I would rather plan to graduate him early, than not. Make sense? And no, it's not a pain at all...I will MISS schooling when he graduates. Gosh, I have no idea what I will do with myself. :confused: Go into a state of abject depression? :lol:

[Melissa in CA]

Have you looked at this page from the old TOG site?

 

http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/tog_fast/Stages/lvl_c.htm

 

It has great ideas for how to "name" your courses in TOG for a transcript while still staying on the four year cycle. Scroll down and look for the color coded year chart.

 

Thanks Shari! I had forgotten about that chart. That was very helpful.

[Melissa in CA]

“ALSO, I am wondering if we should stop what we are doing now (we are just coming to the end of Y2, Unit 2) and do something else for the remainder of the year....what, I have NO IDEA...and then spread out and finish Units 3 & 4 in 8th grade leaving Y3 for 9th.â€

This sounds like a good idea, why not? I am sure you can come up with something else to do. :)

 

 

I have been thinking about this all night...

 

What if I back-tracked a bit and added in some Teaching Company World History video classes (which I own) and had him watch one of those a week as review and answer the essay question for each, along with some biographies etc. from netflix. (Now, had I KNOWN I was going to consider this I would have added those in beforehand and stretched our Y2 out...which is exactly what I will do with Y2 units 3-4 next year if I decide to go this route)

 

I also thought about a geography study, but he's been doing geography all along with TOG, so I don't think that will interest him.

 

I own a high school level SOS California History course which I could have him try to complete.

 

I could do an age appropriate US Government course with him. We really haven't covered much government related stuff yet, so this might be a good time to get a little foundational knowledge in. I am looking at my CBD catty and see several options.

 

Or how about a Unit Study like Further Up and Further In. I know nothing about this though. Nothing. But it covers a lot of stuff that TOG covers in that in has bible, science, history, and geography woven in.

 

Gosh, I just don't know. Someone please tell me what YOU would do...that usually helps me work out my own plan of action.;)

[PeterPan]

I would get a vision for something radical, expensive, and time-consuming to plan so you can go out with a bang, glad to be relieved of the burden of homeschooling. :)

 

Maybe Omnibus would do the trick?

 

I'm just being ornery, but seriously, doesn't he have any bents or interests or anything you could play to? Or maybe you need to find some courses that could DEVELOP interests for him? I remember being much more interested in what I was taking (read picky, particular) by that point. You would think there would be something he likes by that point that you could play to. I wouldn't make his high school education just pulling straws from a hat. Have you looked at Starting Points? That might be just the thing for him, very guy-friendly.

[Melissa in CA]

I would get a vision for something radical, expensive, and time-consuming to plan so you can go out with a bang, glad to be relieved of the burden of homeschooling. :)

 

Maybe Omnibus would do the trick?

 

I'm just being ornery, but seriously, doesn't he have any bents or interests or anything you could play to? Or maybe you need to find some courses that could DEVELOP interests for him? I remember being much more interested in what I was taking (read picky, particular) by that point. You would think there would be something he likes by that point that you could play to. I wouldn't make his high school education just pulling straws from a hat. Have you looked at Starting Points? That might be just the thing for him, very guy-friendly.

 

I'm really not looking for anything for high school. :confused: I've pretty much got that one figured out. I want to use TOG....just trying to figure out how to fit it in in the right sequence and whether to stretch out Y2.

 

What I am looking for right now, is what I could use for the rest of THIS year if I decide to hold off and finish TOG Y2 next year.

 

Sorry if my post was confusing. My brain is confused, so needless to say my writing is more so. ;)

[lovemykids]

I have been thinking about this all night...

 

What if I back-tracked a bit and added in some Teaching Company World History video classes (which I own) and had him watch one of those a week as review and answer the essay question for each, along with some biographies etc. from netflix. (Now, had I KNOWN I was going to consider this I would have added those in beforehand and stretched our Y2 out...which is exactly what I will do with Y2 units 3-4 next year if I decide to go this route)

 

I also thought about a geography study, but he's been doing geography all along with TOG, so I don't think that will interest him.

 

I own a high school level SOS California History course which I could have him try to complete.

 

I could do an age appropriate US Government course with him. We really haven't covered much government related stuff yet, so this might be a good time to get a little foundational knowledge in. I am looking at my CBD catty and see several options.

 

Or how about a Unit Study like Further Up and Further In. I know nothing about this though. Nothing. But it covers a lot of stuff that TOG covers in that in has bible, science, history, and geography woven in.

 

Gosh, I just don't know. Someone please tell me what YOU would do...that usually helps me work out my own plan of action.;)

 

I think I would use the TC World History videos and stretch out my curricula, if I owned them. (and if my student was interested in watching them)

 

Is California State History Required? Would your son like doing SOS? Perhaps he would be more apt to enjoy a self-designed course for the rest of the year, along with a US Government course that you both choose together. I agree with Elizabeth that he should have a say in the matter; this will make things easier on the both of you!

 

Further Up and Further In looks very interesting; I haven’t perused Cadron Creek materials in ages. Maybe you could ask about it on the high school forum.

 

I hate those sleepless, curricula confused nights. :ack2:

Edited January 13, 2010 by lovemykids
small errors

[Melissa in CA]

I think I would use the TC World History videos and stretch out my curricula, if I owned them. (and if my student was interested in watching them)

 

This is what I am leaning toward at the moment. My two older boys used the TC videos and learned a lot. They are very engaging. Of course they did them in high school, and my ds is only 12....so there IS that to consider.

Is California State History Required?

I think this is a requirement in public school, but my ISP does not require it. So, it's definitely optional.

Perhaps he would be more apt to enjoy a self-designed course for the rest of the year, along with a US Government course that you both choose together. I agree with Elizabeth that he should have a say in the matter; this will make things easier on the both of you!

I agree, but I doubt he'll come up with anything HE wants to study for history. Is there something on the history of video games or Air soft guns? :lol: The one aspect of TOG that he is really enjoying is the biography books on people like Wycliff, Calvin, Tyndale and the like. He really does enjoy reading about their lives. I suppose we could do more biographies....:confused: But, of course, he'll get more of those as we move along through TOG next year.

 

Ugh. I hate decisions.

[PeterPan]

Have you looked at Starting Points? It would be a great filler year. You could do that plus some biographies.

[Melissa in CA]

Have you looked at Starting Points? It would be a great filler year. You could do that plus some biographies.

 

Nope, I sure haven't. I'll take a look-see at that as well.

 

I had my ds watch one of the TC videos, he really liked it. The teacher dresses in character and delivers the history lesson in an engaging way. He thinks it might be fun to watch one of those each week along with some History Channel documentaries. So I am seriously considering doing just that. Keep history low key. He also thinks it wouldn't be so bad to pick some lit classics to read....such as Treasure Island or Swiss Family Robinson. He has not read those two (and others) yet. So perhaps we can take a break from historical fiction and do that for the remainder of the year.

 

Still trying to get it all worked out. I think I have definitely decided to stop our TOG when we get to Unit 3 and pick it up again next year though. And if the TC videos are a big hit, I will purchase the Early American History set from the same teacher to help us spread out our Y2, units 3&4 next year. They should fit in nicely.

 

One nice thing about taking history to the low-key status is that we'll have more time to really dig into our Latin. That seems to get pushed aside on days we are busy.

 

I will look into Starting Points before making any final decisions... thanks for the suggestion! :D