Great Courses?

[razorbackmama]

How do you use these lectures?

 

My oldest does best with an instructor actually TEACHING information to him, in addition to being able to read from a book. He has auditory issues, so just having a book read aloud doesn't help much - he needs someone to actually TEACH.

 

So as I look through the Great Courses catalog, I began to envision some possibilities for his high school years. Would it be possible to use some of their history courses alongside a book of some sort (a straight lecture format wouldn't do any good for him either, since he has trouble picking out the main point from things he hears)? Is it possible to use a Great Courses course as a spine, and then add books around it? Would you say that their courses are equal to a credit? Half credit? Not even that?

 

Has anyone done this sort of thing (so I don't have to reinvent the wheel:lol: )?

[pianoplayer]

I have used The Teaching Company's Great Authors course to supplement our reading of the Great Books, e.g. In addition, we have used Daileader's series on the Middle Ages while going through that time period. The combination of solid instruction (Teaching Company) and great literature (The Great Books) has been a goldmine for us.

 

FWIW, I have also used other Teaching Company resources -- e.g., several music courses for a half credit of Music Appreciation; the Anatomy course to supplement Biology; Physics in Your Life and the High School Chemistry course to supplement Physical Science. Oh yes, and we went through Professor Benjamin's "Joy of Math" course as a family for fun! When going through the material as supplemental, we do a significant amount of discussion to make sure the kids are really learning what the professor is teaching.

 

P.S.: I believe that all of the Teaching Company course books come with recommended reading material.