?? how to best use Teaching Company dvd's

[Guest thsaj]

Hello,

I'm curious how any one here has used the Teaching Company's resources for homeschooling. For instance Algebra 1 and World History got good reviews but wasnt sure if it is a stand alone course or a supplement to your own text(s).

 

Thanks,

Heather

[TravelingChris]

SOme I am using as mostly a stand alone class and some I am using as part of a more total curriculum. I don't use the high school level so I don't have any knowledge of those lectures. Here is what we did with some: The Introduction to Music lecture series along with listening to longer pieces and attending concerts. Class called Intro to Music History. Right now, my daughters are viewing the How the Earth Works lectures. I will add field trips and make a review sheet and then a test. Done. On the other hand, my dd watched the History of the United States and also used a text and is doing AP test practice along with the AP test.

[Corraleno]

Hello,

I'm curious how any one here has used the Teaching Company's resources for homeschooling. For instance Algebra 1 and World History got good reviews but wasnt sure if it is a stand alone course or a supplement to your own text(s).

Alg I and HS World History are definitely supplementary. I think some of the college-level courses could count as a full HS credit if the student also did all of the recommended reading and you had some kind of assessment (exams or research papers).

 

We recently finished Bob Brier's History of Egypt course as part of our Ancient History studies, and we'll be using several TTC courses on Greek and Roman history, as well as the Elizabeth Vandiver audio lectures on the Illiad, Odyssey, and Aeneid. We're combining all of these courses with texts, documentaries, and other readings. I'm not requiring any written work, just lots of discussion, but that's because DS is in 6th grade. I would use the same set of materials in HS, but would require more reading and several papers for a full credit. We'll be using the four TTC Medieval courses plus the Viking course next year, supplemented with the OUP medieval history books and various other resources.

 

For science next year we're using 2 TTC geology courses: How the Earth Works, by M. Wysession, and The Nature of Earth by John Renton. We'll also be using Renton's intro (college) level textbook. I would certainly count that as a HS credit if the student did the work in the textbook.

 

Keep in mind that the lectures are only 30 minutes each, so a typical course with 36 or 48 lectures would only account for 18-24 hours of study time. You would need another 100-130 hours of work to make a typical HS credit, so even with the college-level courses, the student would still need to do a lot of reading and additional work.

 

Jackie

Edited April 11, 2010 by Corraleno

[TravelingChris]

WE do How the Earth Works and each 30 minute lecture actually takes us about 45 minutes since we discuss things, pull out globes or atlases, etc. There are 48 lectures and that will be 48 school hours. Then we have field trips,which in our case will include most of their two plus weeks of summer vacation in the Northern Rockies plus trips to local geological sites. That is a good amount of work for a half credit in Earth Science which is what I am aiming for. The level of teaching is above that which occurs in high school classes too. I am completely comfortable to have all this equal the 60-90 hours of class time a normal half credit class takes.

[Jeanine in TX]

So far, I have used Iliad, Odyssey, and World Literature. Both of us read the books and then watched or listened to the lectures. I normally read in advance, so I sometimes included information from the videos in our discussions.

 

I also used the discussion questions in the accompanying guide as essay questions for her.

[AngieW in Texas]

My 14yo is using Philosophy of Mind for a 1/2 credit course. There are 24 half-hour lectures for the course. The booklet that comes with it has suggested supplemental reading and some websites to visit. It also has 2-3 discussion questions for each lecture.

 

My goal has been to find about 3 hours worth of work for each lecture. Sometimes I find a lot of supplemental reading for a lecture and other times I can't find anything that I can actually get my hands on.

 

I'm fortunate that a friend in my hsing group has a dh who teaches Philosophy of Mind at a local college. He has had a few email discussions with my dd and has also been able to dig up some of the articles when I couldn't find them without spending a fortune.

 

A few books that I have thrown in that weren't mentioned in the recommended readings are:

Does the center hold? : an introduction to Western philosophy (Donald Palmer)

Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser (Irwin and Davis)

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Sachs)

 

I am also looking for Philosophy of Mind: A Beginner's Guide. I have it on my wishlist on paperback swap.

[Storm Bay]

Dd is currently doing The Illiand with this, a text (and the Illiad on tape, but she's frustrated because it's been abridged). She's answering the questions in the booklet.

 

Next year she's going to do the college level American History, but we're going to have a text that includes questions (or even a workbook, horror of horrors, but history is just the facts for her). She'll do about 2/3 of it for American History I, and finish it along with doing Government for US Hist 2 the following year. My middle one, who loves history, will do the college level course, but ideally a lot more with the history when it's her turn, and hopefully all in one year. My middle one is going to start the WTM high school history rotation a year early to allow for a year of US history and still get to do the whole WTM rotation.