Can I use TOG and only the library?

[Mosaicmind]

No matter how I add it up I cannot buy too many of the books to go with TOG, but I can find quite a few books to go with it at my library, allbeit not the ones they reference.

 

If I chose to use it but not buy too many of the books, can I make it work by just using the library for our resources?

[specialmama]

Yes, it is possible, but it depends on how you are wired. If you can fly by the seat of your pants, substitute books, skip a week of one subject, then it will work. I do this all the time, but I buy about 80% of the books. If you're on a strict deadline, must do every subject TOG offers and when they say to do so, then using the library will not work. HTH. :001_smile:

[Guest ME-Mommy]

Yes, it is possible, but it depends on how you are wired. If you can fly by the seat of your pants, substitute books, skip a week of one subject, then it will work. I do this all the time, but I buy about 80% of the books. If you're on a strict deadline, must do every subject TOG offers and when they say to do so, then using the library will not work. HTH. :001_smile:

 

:iagree: -- and if you have to choose what to buy and what to borrow...buy the Literature books!! History books are MUCH easier to substitute, IMO. (especially if you want to utilize the Literature Worksheets)

[specialmama]

:iagree: -- and if you have to choose what to buy and what to borrow...buy the Literature books!! History books are MUCH easier to substitute, IMO. (especially if you want to utilize the Literature Worksheets)

 

:iagree: I'll match that agree, and add one pound of books used for 3 weeks or more! :D

[jewel7123]

How good is your library? Also, have you checked your local thrift stores for books? I've recently hit a gold mine at our local thrift store.........only today I found Castle by David Macaulay, Life in Ancient Greece coloring book, Now we are six by A.A. Milne, the Chronicles of Narnia (the entire 7 volumes in the series in one book!) Seriously, check yours out to see what gems are waiting for you.

[siloam]

No matter how I add it up I cannot buy too many of the books to go with TOG, but I can find quite a few books to go with it at my library, allbeit not the ones they reference.

 

If I chose to use it but not buy too many of the books, can I make it work by just using the library for our resources?

 

TOG was originally written to be used with the library. It has only been by popular demand that it changed to more of a pre-selected program.

 

The only problem you will have is at times some of the topics in the discussion won't be covered in the books you have available. My advice is to just have an informal lecture at those points.

 

You can also look into some of the alternative spines. I picked up a used copy of Western Civilization for around $25. Not bad for a text that I believe is scheduled through all 4 years. Now there will be weeks TOG focuses on the East, and you would need different books from the library, but that would give you a solid R level text.

 

Heather

[Guest aquiverfull]

Since I didn't actually use TOG, take what I have to say with a grain of salt. I really loved the look of TOG, I had been wanting to try it for a while. My library has very few of the books, but there were some from the alternate lists that my local branch had. I could get more of them if I had them moved from the different libraries in my parish system. So I bought 1 unit of TOG yr 1 to try. However, I never used it because it became very complicated to get those books. I could not even get a straight answer from my librarian on how long it would take to get books moved from one library to another from the local branches. So then I could not figure out how I was going to juggle the books, how far in advance I needed to get books reserved, etc. I didn't really want to have to substitute because then the discussion questions/worksheets would no longer work. I couldn't see spending that kind of money on TOG, and then be able to use only a small portion of it.

 

Not being able to see the books up front was making it impossible for me to be able to schedule them. I didn't know how difficult or long they would be. Therefore, I had no idea on how to break that up daily, or would they be easy enough for my dd to read in the first few days so she could use the rest of the suggestions in TOG for the remainder of the week. Without being able to see them in advance I could not schedule anything. That would have meant weekly scheduling on the fly and I don't have time for that. Also, since coming from SL and WP, I always thought I'd schedule TOG books over the whole week, but then it seemed like that wouldn't work. In order for my dd to do those worksheets, questions, etc., she would need to read those books in the first one or two days of the week and that seemed like a lot to cover in a short time. Maybe, I'm wrong about that, but when I started searching I found more and more people who said they were having their children read in 1-2 days or over the weekend so they could do the other work during the week. I just didn't want to do that.

 

Then again, I never actually used it, perhaps that would have gotten better. I could not get past the stress of picking and choosing, substituting, trying to plan without the books in hand, and the thought of trying to reserve a ton of books. I just knew I didn't want to have to be worrying about whether I could get a book on time or not for a full year. I don't have the money to buy all the books. If I could have bought them, I'm sure it would have made it so much easier.

 

I think it's probably something you will never know until you try. I recommend getting one unit at first and trying it out with your library. Then you will see first hand whether it will work for you or not. I couldn't get TOG out of my head. I had to try it, now that I know it didn't work, I don't feel like I'm missing something everytime TOG is mentioned. ;)

Edited September 29, 2010 by aquiverfull

[Michelle My Bell]

I do. I buy only 1-2 books each unit. I do have an excellent library system however. I search for my books 3 weeks in advance that way if my library doesn't have a title, I can get it through my state loan program. If I can't find it there, I go for Inter-library loan. After that I purchase the book or substitute.

 

I have also learned that I can substitute once in a great while and it doesn't change much.

[Heather in OK]

I am and so far, so good. :)

 

At the beginning of a unit I make a list of the books used. Then I get online with the library and look up each title. If the library has it, I put the title/author in bold. About a week and a half before I need them, I go to the library website, look over the coming week's reading assignments, and the ones I know they have I put on hold.

 

If it's something that is used 3+ weeks, I consider buying it. If it looks like a great book to own, I consider buying it.

 

Substituting books hasn't been a big deal. If it's a book on a specific topic, say mummies, any library book about mummies will do.

 

We have had to skip some of the student pages and discussion topics because the library didn't have a book and I didn't want to buy it. I just don't stress about it. My kids will be fine if we don't do a discussion about Tirzah. We do what we can and move on. :)

[johnandtinagilbert]

We're mostly using the library. I also took about an hour to sub. books from our library this year. We're in Y3, so it lends itself nicely to most any topic area. Generally, I simply divided pages to read according to the topic area. I also own some encyclopedias, so we can always use those as back-up, or use the internet.

 

I have bought books over time that I know I'll use again and again, but only as budget allows.

[Tracy]

I think it depends on which level you are using. I am doing LG only, and I use the library almost exclusively. I bought just a few books that were used for multiple weeks (the activity books in particular). I have a great library system, and 95% of the books I order are in within a week. I think the higher levels have more books that are used for multiple weeks. At my library, I can only get them for 2 weeks, and if someone else wants it, I can't renew it beyond the 2 weeks. So I have started to gather the R level books that I will eventually need, by buying used or trading through PaperbackSwap.com.

[Aubrey]

TOG was originally written to be used with the library. It has only been by popular demand that it changed to more of a pre-selected program.

 

The only problem you will have is at times some of the topics in the discussion won't be covered in the books you have available. My advice is to just have an informal lecture at those points.

 

You can also look into some of the alternative spines. I picked up a used copy of Western Civilization for around $25. Not bad for a text that I believe is scheduled through all 4 years. Now there will be weeks TOG focuses on the East, and you would need different books from the library, but that would give you a solid R level text.

 

Heather

 

Looking at the curriculum, this idea (bolded) makes sense to me, but...over on Bookshelf Central, some books are described as "directly tied to the Student Activity Pages" & "not easy to substitute."

 

That's really bothering me tonight. :001_huh:

 

I guess what I'm wondering is...w/out clicking on EACH title, how would you know (before purchasing the curric) which titles are "easily substituted" & which ones aren't? Honestly, from the adaptability that I read about here, this statement was rather...startling.

[siloam]

Looking at the curriculum, this idea (bolded) makes sense to me, but...over on Bookshelf Central, some books are described as "directly tied to the Student Activity Pages" & "not easy to substitute."

 

That's really bothering me tonight. :001_huh:

 

I guess what I'm wondering is...w/out clicking on EACH title, how would you know (before purchasing the curric) which titles are "easily substituted" & which ones aren't? Honestly, from the adaptability that I read about here, this statement was rather...startling.

If you substitute you will have to sometimes bridge gaps on the discussion questions. The questions they give are tailored to the book. In the classic it wasn't a many people didn't like the little things that their choice of books missed. I personally don't think it is a big deal. I just decide to skip it, give a mini lecture or we both work through it together. These questions are only an issue with D level and above.

 

The literature worksheets are not generic, but are based on the specific book. If you substitute those you just won't have a lit worksheet for that week. Now you can substitute the same title by a different publisher without a problem, unless you use and abridged version and they use the whole that won't be a problem.

 

Heather

[Aubrey]

If you substitute you will have to sometimes bridge gaps on the discussion questions. The questions they give are tailored to the book. In the classic it wasn't a many people didn't like the little things that their choice of books missed. I personally don't think it is a big deal. I just decide to skip it, give a mini lecture or we both work through it together. These questions are only an issue with D level and above.

 

The literature worksheets are not generic, but are based on the specific book. If you substitute those you just won't have a lit worksheet for that week. Now you can substitute the same title by a different publisher without a problem, unless you use and abridged version and they use the whole that won't be a problem.

 

Heather

 

With lit it doesn't bother me as much...I guess I figure some of those could be skipped entirely if necessary. W/ the history...titles that cover a larger period of time...seem like they might *really* be hard to substitute.

 

I mean one week of "Ancient Maya" might not be too different from "Life in Ancient Maya" --lol--but...other titles...could pose a different problem.

 

I guess I'm wondering a) have you found any titles (esp in history) that couldn't be easily substituted & b) shoot. I forget b.

[siloam]

With lit it doesn't bother me as much...I guess I figure some of those could be skipped entirely if necessary. W/ the history...titles that cover a larger period of time...seem like they might *really* be hard to substitute.

 

I mean one week of "Ancient Maya" might not be too different from "Life in Ancient Maya" --lol--but...other titles...could pose a different problem.

 

I guess I'm wondering a) have you found any titles (esp in history) that couldn't be easily substituted & b) shoot. I forget b.

That is hard for me to answer because to date I have only used the classic (year 2 units 3 and 4, year 3 and finishing year 4). And it also depends on how picky you are about the discussion questions being right on. Overall I substitute quite a bit and don't have a lot of problems.

 

For example this winter we are coming back to year 1 and it will be my first time with Redesign. I happen to love MOH so I am going to use that as a spine for my younger kids and my oldest hated the couple of D books I ordered for her to sample. She prefers story based texts, so I ordered Guerber for her spine. TOG schedules Story of the Greeks but not Story of the Ancients or Story of the Romans. With Guerber it is more detailed than the text they chose so I am not overly worried about having problems. I do have to order individual texts for the weeks where they cover India, China, South America, etc..., but often times they use separate texts for these anyway. I figure those parts out later. :D

 

I am on the relaxed side, and if we only get to half the discussion questions, that would be good enough for me. That allows me a lot of wiggle room. I think expectations are everything sometimes, KWIM?

 

Heather

[Aubrey]

That is hard for me to answer because to date I have only used the classic (year 2 units 3 and 4, year 3 and finishing year 4). And it also depends on how picky you are about the discussion questions being right on. Overall I substitute quite a bit and don't have a lot of problems.

 

For example this winter we are coming back to year 1 and it will be my first time with Redesign. I happen to love MOH so I am going to use that as a spine for my younger kids and my oldest hated the couple of D books I ordered for her to sample. She prefers story based texts, so I ordered Guerber for her spine. TOG schedules Story of the Greeks but not Story of the Ancients or Story of the Romans. With Guerber it is more detailed than the text they chose so I am not overly worried about having problems. I do have to order individual texts for the weeks where they cover India, China, South America, etc..., but often times they use separate texts for these anyway. I figure those parts out later. :D

 

I am on the relaxed side, and if we only get to half the discussion questions, that would be good enough for me. That allows me a lot of wiggle room. I think expectations are everything sometimes, KWIM?

 

Heather

 

I'm a strange combination of relaxed & OCD, lol. I've read a lot about how Classic is different from Redesigned, but not regarding this issue--is classic less dogmatic about book choices?

 

Also...the descriptions I'm reading are on Bookshelf's site, not TOG. I wonder if that has something to do w/ it? Not that it's a $--where the books can be found free online, they seem to say so.

 

Thanks for your thoughts. I haven't said much, but I've been reading a LOT of your posts lately. ;)

[HSMom2One]

I do. I buy only 1-2 books each unit. I do have an excellent library system however. I search for my books 3 weeks in advance that way if my library doesn't have a title, I can get it through my state loan program. If I can't find it there, I go for Inter-library loan. After that I purchase the book or substitute.

 

I have also learned that I can substitute once in a great while and it doesn't change much.

 

I am SO JEALOUS! Our library system is not all that great, and on top of that we live out of the city limits and must pay a spendy annual fee in order to use the system. Due to this, I don't use the library all that much. We purchase our books in advance, most a unit at a time whenever I'm not able to find them on book swapping sites online or get them cheaply at used book stores. I will often sell the ones we don't want to keep at the end of the school year, then I'm able to recoup some money for buying the next round of books. Our home library is growing all the time and we really love our books! Even so, I think I'd much prefer to have a good public library to utilize -- and I'd do it often with TOG if I could.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

[siloam]

I'm a strange combination of relaxed & OCD, lol. I've read a lot about how Classic is different from Redesigned, but not regarding this issue--is classic less dogmatic about book choices?

 

Also...the descriptions I'm reading are on Bookshelf's site, not TOG. I wonder if that has something to do w/ it? Not that it's a $--where the books can be found free online, they seem to say so.

 

Thanks for your thoughts. I haven't said much, but I've been reading a LOT of your posts lately. ;)

I have my issues where I am OCDish as well. :D

 

Yes Classic was more relaxed about book choices, but the net effect is the same, from what I hear. Either way you are going to have gaps where some of the questions aren't covered in the text you choose. With Classic it was because they tried to keep it more open and in Redesign it is because the questions are book specific.

 

Classic also would sometimes use the same book for two levels, and didn't always offer alternative choices, so the net effect is that Redesign offers more book choices. Though if you want to get your feet wet Classic is a good way to do so. I know there are some people for whom the redesign made all the difference and they couldn't make heads or tails of classic, but both make sense to me. Redesign is just easier to use, but all the same basic pieces are there. The one exception is they really upgraded the D level work in the redesign.

 

I actually haven't used the Bookshelf a much, but I already own TOG so I have all the books listed there.

 

Heather