Jump to content

Menu

Using TOG Dialectic for 9th grade?


Recommended Posts

I am thinking of returning to TOG for high school. However, I think the Rhetoric level history will be way too much for my DS. He has Asperger's and in-depth/abstract thinking is very difficult for him. I'm thinking of using the Dialectic level for all of 9th grade, and then transition to Rhetoric in 10th. We'd do the following:

 

9th grade: TOG Year 2 Dialectic

10th grade: TOG Year 3 - start out Dialectic and hopefully transition to Rhetoric

11th grade: TOG Year 4 - Rhetoric

12th grade: TOG Year 1 - Rhetoric

 

I've heard that Year 2 is very intense, with a lot of information covered, which is another reason I'm thinking of keeping him at the Dialectic level.

 

In reference to literature, I think TOG Literature at the Rhetoric level is way too much for him, and I don't really care for the lit at the Dialectic level, so I will probably use something else for him. I haven't decided about that yet.

 

I have a DD that's a year younger. She does not have DS's challenges, so I'm not as worried about her transitioning to Rhetoric as a freshman.

 

Does this look adequate for high school? And what if he's not ready for Rhetoric in 10th?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's what we did around here...sort of ;) I think in your boat, that sounds great.

 

We are currently using the R history, but reading either D or R lit for our 9th grader, only completing the D lit. discussions. I plan to transition into full R next year, but I won't do the lit. every year. We may read the books, but I intend to do full discussions in only 1-TOG subject matter each year (history + lit/philosophy/church history). We'll even go light on history discussion, relying more on writing, if the other areas are lengthy discussion weeks.

 

It's nice to have the variety in your case :) You can pick and choose and the D content is rich enough to provide high school level content, especially compared to other curricula options.

 

Best wishes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Though I am selling my TOG and moving on to....gasp...textbooks for highschool history, I have always felt that the D level TOG history would be perfectly fine for 9th and even 10th grades, but that the D level Lit would be far to easy for highschool. Even this year in 8th, some of the lit books scheduled for TOG have seemed awfully simple.

 

My plan for next year...before my ds threw the, "I want to use textbooks for history" monkey wrench into my plans a few months ago...was to use a mixture of the TOG lit and perhaps a Lightning Lit pack, or some choice hand-picked classics with Progeny guides, I wasn't really happy with the childrens versions of the classics that TOG had scheduled in D (ex. Classic Starts Frankenstein, Gullivers Travels, Usborne's Tom Sawyer) All great choices but not at the 8th grade and above levels. And I wasn't sure my ds would be ready for the Rh level Lit.

 

All that to say...I think your plan to use D for your ds would be perfectly fine. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, everyone. I'm glad to know some people do use a mix of D and R in high school. I know that even the D level covers things I never learned in high school, even in honors classes!

 

We're going to use LLLOTR for lit next year, which I think will fit in nicely with TOG Year 2. After that, I'm not sure. I'd like to do some R level lit at some point, but boy is it intense!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are currently using the R history, but reading either D or R lit for our 9th grader, only completing the D lit. discussions. I plan to transition into full R next year, but I won't do the lit. every year. We may read the books, but I intend to do full discussions in only 1-TOG subject matter each year (history + lit/philosophy/church history). We'll even go light on history discussion, relying more on writing, if the other areas are lengthy discussion weeks.

 

So you'll do history discussions, plus either lit or philosophy or church history? Am I understanding correctly?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So you'll do history discussions, plus either lit or philosophy or church history? Am I understanding correctly?

Yes, you are understanding. Our years are atypical, so we complete TOG levels within grades, not at the end.

 

I think I even have my plan. The years will involve 3 students (boy currently 9th grade), boy (currently 8th honors doing R level history), girl (currently 7th grade doing all D work):

 

Year 4 history + government/economics -- 9th/10th; 8th/9th They'll read the Rhetoric literature, but we won't do any discussion beyond dinner table.

 

Year 1 history + philosophy -- 10th/11th grade; 9th/10th; 8th/9th (maybe D history, but R philosophy, I'll have to gage readiness)

 

Year 2 history + literature -- 11th/12th; 10th/11th; 9th/10th (hopefully all R by then)

 

This plan kinda knocks out the 3 electives at time periods that work well for our family. I want to learn about early philosophers; renaissance lit oooh la la!; and American government focus from year 3 (they've been reading this w/ mini-discussions and a lot of written work already).

 

I hope that makes sense. In my fantasy world, or at least one where I don't have 8 dc running about, I may go for broke and do more at once, but then again, maybe not. I do want to have a level of enjoyment and I prefer fewer classes, deeper content in high school. Fingers crossed!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...