initial lesson planning time for TOG after purchase

[Heather in OK]

This will be our first year to use TOG (Year 1). I will have two LG, one UP, and one D. I was hoping to have it purchased by now but house selling & buying expenses have taken priority. It's possible I will be able to purchase it sometime in July, hopefully the middle of the month.

 

Will a couple of weeks give me time to be ready for school starting the first of August?? Or should I wait and give myself more time with planning and aim to start in September? I know there is a lot to this curriculum and we won't cover everything they offer. I just have no idea of what kind of time I'll need to do the initial planning to get us going.

 

Thanks!

[siloam]

This will be our first year to use TOG (Year 1). I will have two LG, one UP, and one D. I was hoping to have it purchased by now but house selling & buying expenses have taken priority. It's possible I will be able to purchase it sometime in July, hopefully the middle of the month.

 

Will a couple of weeks give me time to be ready for school starting the first of August?? Or should I wait and give myself more time with planning and aim to start in September? I know there is a lot to this curriculum and we won't cover everything they offer. I just have no idea of what kind of time I'll need to do the initial planning to get us going.

 

Thanks!

Heather, (love your name!)

 

It took me a whole week to plan my very first week. Now it didn't continue at that pace. I think it took me a day to do the second week, but I really think it would be smart to give yourself more time.

 

Though you can also plan by unit, which is what I do. Even then you might need 2 units done to get to Christmas, then you would have to plan to set aside time during Christmas and sprint break for planning. Not sure if that would work with the rest of your lifestyle...

 

Heather

[HappyGrace]

I am doing a little planning right now for TOG1 for my 5th and 2nd graders.

 

It is actually laid out so simply (Redesigned, anyway!) that if you needed to pick up and go for the first couple wks, you could. It would be easy to just do the exact reading they lay out, and print out the maps from MapAids and have them do that. Even the Student Activity Pages would be a cinch to print out and have them do. That would buy you some time so that during those first couple weeks in the evenings or whenever you have a minute you could familiarize yourself with the more in-depth things like the Teacher's Notes, etc., so you could add in those elements little by little over a month or two.

[siloam]

I am doing a little planning right now for TOG1 for my 5th and 2nd graders.

 

It is actually laid out so simply (Redesigned, anyway!) that if you needed to pick up and go for the first couple wks, you could. It would be easy to just do the exact reading they lay out, and print out the maps from MapAids and have them do that. Even the Student Activity Pages would be a cinch to print out and have them do. That would buy you some time so that during those first couple weeks in the evenings or whenever you have a minute you could familiarize yourself with the more in-depth things like the Teacher's Notes, etc., so you could add in those elements little by little over a month or two.

 

I do like things to be just right, so if you don't mind winging things then HappyGrace is right, it could be much shorter. I am the sort who would figure out there was something that I didn't do that I really wanted to, and that would short circuit the whole thing and I would want to just drop it till I got it right. Now I can force myself to push through if needed, but I would much rather to have it just right, especially with a new program.

 

Heather

[HappyGrace]

Wow, Heather (siloam)-I don't know how you can manage to do TOG with that mindset-lol! There is just SO much there to pick from! I'm actually the same way about planning (or should I say overplanning) but forcing myself to pare TOG back to the bare minimum so it doesn't consume us. And then telling myself to put. the. planner. down. (and walk away quickly :leaving:)

[siloam]

Wow, Heather (siloam)-I don't know how you can manage to do TOG with that mindset-lol! There is just SO much there to pick from! I'm actually the same way about planning (or should I say overplanning) but forcing myself to pare TOG back to the bare minimum so it doesn't consume us. And then telling myself to put. the. planner. down. (and walk away quickly :leaving:)

 

LOL! Actually there is enough that I just don't have any interest in doing, that it isn't a big deal. Writing and Literature analysis, for example, is done for us in CW, so that is a huge chunk gone. Most of my scheduling (now) is just working out which books to use and how long to take to go through them, which doesn't take long. I automatically use the mapping, timeline work and vocab.

 

When I first got TOG, though, I needed to figure out each piece and then take the time to figure out if I wanted to use it and how to implement it if I did. That is why it took me a week. Yes I may overdo it a wee bit at first. :D

 

Heather

[HappyGrace]

Yes I may overdo it a wee bit at first.

 

:lol::lol::lol:

[Shelly in the Country]

I think it would depend on your "planning style". As HappyGrace pointed out, you can really just pick up the Reading schedule and go. The supplemental materials for mapping, the student pages in the Loom, and the quizzes in Evaluations (if you are using them), are all pretty self-explanatory. Personally, I like to have everything entered in my HST+ program, so I can't do that :lol:. I have to have my lesson plans done for the year before I can start anything. I am not recommending my way though...I probably overdo it as well.

[Heather in OK]

When I first got TOG, though, I needed to figure out each piece and then take the time to figure out if I wanted to use it and how to implement it if I did. That is why it took me a week. Yes I may overdo it a wee bit at first.

That is me. Especially if I'm going to pay that much for curriculum, I want to know what each piece is and how to use it (even though we won't be able to use it ALL).

 

Thanks!!! :)

[HappyGrace]

That is my exact style too! You don't know how much it goes against my grain to try to do it the way I am doing it! But I told myself I couldn't use TOG unless I did it this way or it would take over our lives. :D And we need to have time to do skill subjects.

[AuntPol]

Ugh. I got TOG today. I was fooled. I thought from the samples that there was a basic day by day pacing schedule. Nope. Now it seems I have to wade though 76 pages of notes to figure out what goes where and read all the books so I can figure out when to ask the questions. I like the content but this is a mess.

[Guest]

LOL! Actually there is enough that I just don't have any interest in doing, that it isn't a big deal. Writing and Literature analysis, for example, is done for us in CW, so that is a huge chunk gone. Most of my scheduling (now) is just working out which books to use and how long to take to go through them, which doesn't take long. I automatically use the mapping, timeline work and vocab.

 

When I first got TOG, though, I needed to figure out each piece and then take the time to figure out if I wanted to use it and how to implement it if I did. That is why it took me a week. Yes I may overdo it a wee bit at first. :D

 

Heather

 

 

Heather, I like you :D! Have I told you that before ;)? We have so much in common in our way of thinking and I am headed down a similar path with some of my choices.

 

I will be starting our planning at the start of July. I have had some issues with the Year Plans on my main computer (some kind of software Internet Security issue it seems, from our end) and I would prefer not using the laptop. I also have HST+ on this computer, which I want to finally start using this year. So anyway, we still have lots of time since we won't be starting before probably mid to late October so I should be ahead of the game by then. Of course I do also have to prepare for other new programs we will be starting so I have to get moving with that also :).

[siloam]

Heather, I like you :D! Have I told you that before ;)? We have so much in common in our way of thinking and I am headed down a similar path with some of my choices.

 

I will be starting our planning at the start of July. I have had some issues with the Year Plans on my main computer (some kind of software Internet Security issue it seems, from our end) and I would prefer not using the laptop. I also have HST+ on this computer, which I want to finally start using this year. So anyway, we still have lots of time since we won't be starting before probably mid to late October so I should be ahead of the game by then. Of course I do also have to prepare for other new programs we will be starting so I have to get moving with that also :).

 

Marie,

 

But I adore how honest and upfront you are, just like now. :D

 

Planning has gotten interesting around here. I still love it but I have so much going on I am just barely keeping up. In fact I ran out of timeline figures the last week we did hs. There was a time I was always a unit ahead, if not two units ahead. The funny thing is I am having a hard time because we have become so much more consistent in actually getting hs done on a regular basis. No more taking days off just cause and to avoid guilt working on planning. :smilielol5:

 

Oh well! It always seems to work out in the end.

 

Heather

[siloam]

Ugh. I got TOG today. I was fooled. I thought from the samples that there was a basic day by day pacing schedule. Nope. Now it seems I have to wade though 76 pages of notes to figure out what goes where and read all the books so I can figure out when to ask the questions. I like the content but this is a mess.

 

Your kids are on the young side, I personally would place them in UG. You don't need to read the teacher notes to do UG, that is really for either your personal growth or for being able to keep up with the D and R level questions without reading their books.

 

Stick with the schedule pages. I personally don't even use the Student Activity Pages (SAP), other to pull the mapping off of them. Sounds like you would want the literature pages, but those are easy to print off.

 

What is it that you do want and what year did you buy? I might be able to help you over the initial hump a little. It might also be easier on you to listen to the introductory audio files TOG now provides, that way you don't have to read through anything.

 

TOG is a big program. It isn't open and go for most people, it does require picking and choosing from lots of good stuff. It might not be what you are looking for.

 

Heather

[Guest]

Marie,

 

But I adore how honest and upfront you are, just like now. :D

 

Planning has gotten interesting around here. I still love it but I have so much going on I am just barely keeping up. In fact I ran out of timeline figures the last week we did hs. There was a time I was always a unit ahead, if not two units ahead. The funny thing is I am having a hard time because we have become so much more consistent in actually getting hs done on a regular basis. No more taking days off just cause and to avoid guilt working on planning. :smilielol5:

 

Oh well! It always seems to work out in the end.

 

Heather

 

You have 4 kiddos, I only have two and only one is currently doing school. You are still my hero ;). As for the planning, if school is getting done that's the important thing right :)? We have had many changes in our life this past year and it has been difficult to keep up with my planning also. It was one of the main reasons why I attempted to follow the SL IG for K without changes (just supplementing). It was fine at the start but did not work for long. Anyway, I am off topic now :tongue_smilie: but I am just getting myself back on track. I am hoping that HST+ will help streamline certain aspects of my scheduling at least so that I can focus my attention on setup and planning. There's so much to do I actually started today, after reading this thread and you comments ;).