High School Literature... TOG vs Stobaugh's

[butterfly113]

As i look to the coming years of middle school and high school, TOG is appealing, for many reasons. The teacher notes, discussion questions, literature analysis and works... and then repeating this in high school.

 

However, from a literature standpoint.... which would you say is more rigorous, or thorough. Does TOG take the student through the classics like Stobaugh's? Is one 'better' than the other? Why??? I am looking for ds to go through the 4 year cycle, yet also read the great classics, learn literary analysis, etc.

 

Any thoughts or suggestions... I'm all :bigear:

[butterfly113]

:lurk5:

[Susan C.]

I looked at Stobaugh's materials at a book fair, and I didn't like them.... do a search, I think others didn't as well.

[April in CA]

Good Morning!

I am a happy TOG user! My older son has done all 4 years of TOG redesigned at the R level; he is graduating high school in June, and he says that TOG history and literature have really thoroughly taught him how to think and analyze. Throughout the 4 year rotation, students are actively reading, thinking about, discussing, and writing about great literature. TOG does a great job of getting students to think about worldview issues in addition to literary analysis. I highly recommend it! As a testimonial, my son was able to take the SAT 2 Literature test with only a few days to look over practice tests - he scored a perfect 800. He has also been selected as a National Merit Finalist. He attributes much of his academic success to TOG.

 

I really appreciate the chronological nature of TOG's literature studies. Putting the literary works in the context of their times is very helpful and enjoyable for me. One other benefit I have notices is that my boys are great readers and appreciate the difference between great/good literature and something that may just be fun to read (that kind of stuff has its place, but shouldn't be the only item on the literary menu, so to speak). I am sure they will be lifelong readers and will be able to think about the merits of what they are reading, even without a literature guide!

Hope some of this is helpful to you!

Blessings,

April

[Quiver0f10]

I looked at Stobaugh's materials at a book fair, and I didn't like them.... do a search, I think others didn't as well.

 

 

:iagree: same here.

[ChemMommy]

TOG really does more hand-holding for the mom. It provides background reading, discussions questions/answers, and a broad range of topics. Strobaugh seemed hard to implement and I was FAR less certain that I was doing enough with it or doing it right.

 

I've been very satisfied with the lit choices in TOG, even if we have missed some classics (Have you looked at Veritas Press' classics program? They do a lot of classics). In my opinion, we have covered many classics at a good depth in TOG.

 

I didn't order the next level of Strobaugh. HTH!

[SS in MD]

Good Morning!

I am a happy TOG user! My older son has done all 4 years of TOG redesigned at the R level; he is graduating high school in June, and he says that TOG history and literature have really thoroughly taught him how to think and analyze. Throughout the 4 year rotation, students are actively reading, thinking about, discussing, and writing about great literature. TOG does a great job of getting students to think about worldview issues in addition to literary analysis. I highly recommend it! As a testimonial, my son was able to take the SAT 2 Literature test with only a few days to look over practice tests - he scored a perfect 800. He has also been selected as a National Merit Finalist. He attributes much of his academic success to TOG.

 

I really appreciate the chronological nature of TOG's literature studies. Putting the literary works in the context of their times is very helpful and enjoyable for me. One other benefit I have notices is that my boys are great readers and appreciate the difference between great/good literature and something that may just be fun to read (that kind of stuff has its place, but shouldn't be the only item on the literary menu, so to speak). I am sure they will be lifelong readers and will be able to think about the merits of what they are reading, even without a literature guide!

Hope some of this is helpful to you!

Blessings,

April

 

Hi April,

Our two oldest dds used TOG this year (year 2 units 1 & 2). THey enjoyed it. I'm considering continuing TOG this fall (Y2 units 3 & 4, Y3 units 1 & 2). My oldest will be using the rhetoric level. When your son started doing the rhetoric level did he do history core & history in-depth (that's what we did last year for dialectic)? That seems like so much reading (avg 60-80 pgs of reading, but perhaps that's expected in hs?) Another question I had was did you use TOG literature as written?? Did your ds read Nortons Anthologies or entire works? Also, did you pre-read any lit books? Anything objectionable (Tartuffe by Moliere? - I've just heard it's questionable?)

Any other pointers you can give??

 

Thanks!

Sangita

dd(14),dd(12),dd(9),ds(6)

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Here's a link to another thread about Stobaugh.

 

You can perform a search on Stobaugh and get quite a few threads.

[Brigid in NC]

I am a huge Tapestry of Grace/literature fan. I have used the literature selections as a guide and spine in the past for the local homeschool English classes I teach. The high school reading list is rigorous. I found TOG to be very helpful in determining just how much to expect at the high school level, and also to be helpful as a "safety net" in trying to avoid books with overtly objectionable content (particularly contemporary lit).

 

It's a great resource. The discussion questions are adequate, not fantastic. But the whole orientation of TOG is very homeschooler-friendly.

:001_smile: ~Brigid

[Leanna Tomlinson]

Hi April,

Our two oldest dds used TOG this year (year 2 units 1 & 2). THey enjoyed it. I'm considering continuing TOG this fall (Y2 units 3 & 4, Y3 units 1 & 2). My oldest will be using the rhetoric level. When your son started doing the rhetoric level did he do history core & history in-depth (that's what we did last year for dialectic)? That seems like so much reading (avg 60-80 pgs of reading, but perhaps that's expected in hs?) Another question I had was did you use TOG literature as written?? Did your ds read Nortons Anthologies or entire works? Also, did you pre-read any lit books? Anything objectionable (Tartuffe by Moliere? - I've just heard it's questionable?)

Any other pointers you can give??

 

Thanks!

Sangita

dd(14),dd(12),dd(9),ds(6)

 

Our co-op usually moves the kids to rhetoric level one thread at a time. They may do rhetoric history one year and then move to rhetoric lit the next. I like that some of the readings come from Norton Anthologies. The readings are fairly thorough and give exposure to the plot, style, and flavor of the work without having to spend the time needed to read the whole work - which would then eliminate other works.

 

You may want to start out the rhetoric level with the history core and lit readings and then add the history-in-depth as your dc becomes used to the load.

 

Tartuffe was hands down my lit students' favorite book of the whole year. Some of the themes do refer to seduction, but not in a lewd way at all. This work is a comedy. Be sure to get the version recommended by Tapestry. The original French play is written in rhyme as is the English translation in Tapestry. One of my students used a version without the rhyme and she did not understand much of the humor.

[unity]

Anything objectionable (Tartuffe by Moliere? - I've just heard it's questionable?)

 

Would you find Shakespeare questionable to use with high schoolers? Moliere is great--funny, smart, biting, and sometimes baudy. Think Shakespeare's comedies and you'll have a good feel for Moliere.