comama Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 My oldest will be beginning Kindergarten this fall. I have also have two toddlers (1.5 and 3). I have spent HOURS and DAYS poring over different curriculum options. My husband leans heavily toward a classical approach with lots of "life experience" and "hands-on" learning. I am on board but enjoy unit studies and I'm a huge charlotte mason fan. TOG seems like a wonderful combination. I have looked extensively at the 3 weeks that are free to download. Here are my hesitations. While I would love to spend all day everyday on history/bible/geography, I need to spend time on handwriting, math, and reading as well. If I do start TOG this year, at half-speed, are we taking on too much for a Kinder year? Will I be able to bring my little girls into some of the hands-on activities? Is the material too heavy for a 5-year-old? Have others used a separate science curriculum or just tried working science into the units? Has anyone done year 1 at half speed with a 5-year-old? What else did you have time to do each day? I don't want to overwhelm myself or him with more than 2 - 3 hours of school, four days/week. Please share your thoughts/experiences both good and bad. Thanks! Melissa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankcassiesmom Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Oh you really don't need to do TOG with ones so little. The only reason I would have my first grader doing it is because I have a 6th and 3rd grader doing it and I integrate him. But if I didn't have older ones, I wouldn't even think of starting TOG yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewel7123 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Welcome to the board, and I sent you a PM! I agree, you could just use the booklist and read the books on your own if you want. I have purchased the R books for myself, and I will be doing some of the R level work along with the LG level for my 2 dd. I figure actually using it at the upper level will really help me to see if this is the direction I want to head in our homeschool. However, it's completely unnecessary, as you could just pick a spine like A Child's History of the World and use the TOG booklist. ESPECIALLY for K.....you don't want to overdo in K. For our K year we have just taken History easy.....just fun books checked out from the library or books I have here at home about America, American figures and symbols, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Melissa, It is really easy with TOG to do too much. You have to pick and choose. My advice would be to wait and do something simpler, unless you as the teacher will do the R level work, as TOG recommends to prep for future years. I personally would have never followed through with it. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewpeaceful Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 EVERYTHING I have read, including the author of TOG herself, states that this program is designed for olders and has assignments for youngers but if your oldest is a younger, wait. GREAT programs exist for first up. My family fell in love with SOTW - and frankly, I wasn't excited at my previews. Once we got into it - well, it is a great fit for my 1st and 3rd. We will look at TOG on our second or third cycle ... that is if I don't go with Mystery of History and or SWB's newest high school program... too far off to think about. :) Good luck. There is PLENTY of fun in SOTW activity guide to keep your youngsters busy. Let's not forget about the fun of mudpies either. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comama Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 What can you tell me about SOTW? Does it require a lot of planning? Are there hands-on activities? Is it appropriate for a 5yo? Yes, I hope there will be lots of mud pies as well. I'm pretty sure that's why I'm hesitating with TOG for this year. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankcassiesmom Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 No no no SOTW doesn't require a lot of prep. It's designed to be mainly a read aloud to younger ones (though olders can do it reading it themselves). The activity book has narration questions, map work, coloring pages, activity suggestions, etc. It's PERFECT for a 5yo. The only real prep is to go through and copy coloring pages and maps. If you choose to do an activity now and then making sure you have the supplies as well. But it just about open and go aside from copying coloring pages, maps, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 I am doing TOG full speed with my dd5 this year. But--and this is a big but--she is a crazy about history and geography. She absolutely craves it. Unless you have this situation, my recommendation is to wait at least until 1st grade and spend K doing geography. (We actually did geography for pre-K due to dd's fascination with the subject.) Geography is a superb basis for history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comama Posted March 15, 2011 Author Share Posted March 15, 2011 I am doing TOG full speed with my dd5 this year. But--and this is a big but--she is a crazy about history and geography. She absolutely craves it. Unless you have this situation, my recommendation is to wait at least until 1st grade and spend K doing geography. (We actually did geography for pre-K due to dd's fascination with the subject.) Geography is a superb basis for history. Did you use a curriculum for geography? My ds does seem keenly interested in geography. In fact, I'm fairly certain he would enjoy TOG...but all other subjects might suffer!! And, I want to make sure we get some basics solidified. I would love to hear what kind of geography work you did for pre-k. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 I would wait until first grade, if nothing else, to give yourself a year to get used to "school" and dealing with the littles (which is not easy!). Geography is a great idea! If your DH is wanting to follow a classical education, it's pretty normal to wait until first grade to start history. It's also pretty easy to mesh ideas from WTM and CM. WTM is actually pretty gentle in the early years. I know it might sound like a lot sometimes, but for example, our "grammar" lesson takes about 5 minutes (and is done orally). Our writing lesson (composition) takes 5-10 minutes. So much of language arts is done in 10-15 minutes, and it's amazing how much you get done in those few short minutes. I've actually been doing 3 lessons/day of FLL1 the last couple weeks (because we just switched to it), and even that only takes us 10 minutes at most. But for K, I'd recommend focusing on the 3Rs, because you're going to want that reading R in there if you're doing TOG later. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Did you use a curriculum for geography? My ds does seem keenly interested in geography. In fact, I'm fairly certain he would enjoy TOG...but all other subjects might suffer!! And, I want to make sure we get some basics solidified. I would love to hear what kind of geography work you did for pre-k. Thanks! I did not exactly use a curriculum. We started with FIAR, doing the mapping for each book. But I quickly saw that it was not enough. So, using our big wall map, I had dd (then 4yo) choose a country, and I found books to go with that country. You can find my book list on my blog. I only included living books in that list, because you can use whatever cultural or historical books that your library has. After we had a few under our belts, we started to play what we call the "Think of a Country" game. I would think of a country and give clues until she could correctly guess the country. I would use things that we learned from the books we read. We finished a formal study of geography last spring, and we still play that game all the time. (DS3 is now trying to get into the game. His latest is, "I'm thinking of a country in Wyoming." lol!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 If you want a very gentle intro to map skills, Follow That Map is a good choice. If you look it up on Amazon, I think I have a full review up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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