LAmom Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 My dc that will be schooling next year will be 8 and 6 (3rd and 1st). If I waited to start TOG until possibly 5th grade (2 years), what year should I start for SOTW? Does it matter? TOG Yr 1 is Ancients. Or should I just continue with MFW ECC, and then _____? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAmom Posted March 25, 2011 Author Share Posted March 25, 2011 Anyone have some insight for me? SOTW 1 now and then possibly Ancients in 2 years seems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelissaMinNC Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Are you wanting to start with the ancients when your oldest is in 5th grade? You could do MFW ECC next year (or something else for the geography foundation, if you don't care for MFW [we love it!]) and then do SOTW 1 w/activity guide the following year. Then start TOG year 2 when your oldest is in 5th grade. You'd still follow the 4-year history cycle, but not take on the whole of TOG before you're ready. HTH, Melissa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemongoose Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Are you wanting to use TOG with SOTW later? Personally I have not waited to use TOG with a 1st grader as my oldest child. We are loving it, and I am so glad I am getting the hang of using TOG while it is still easier stuff. I also love that I have the time to read all the older level books myself and self educate. I know this would be harder to do later! If you decide to just use SOTW now and then start TOG in 2 years, you will not (unless you are speeding through) finish a rotation. So you will be doing something like Ancients-Middle Ages-Ancients again. If you were planning to use TOG with SOTW, you will be starting SOTW over again at book 1 after just finishing book 2. OR you could just start TOG Yr 3 with SOTW book 3 and stay in sequence. However, if it were me, I would go ahead and start TOG with SOTW right now:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 OR you could just start TOG Yr 3 with SOTW book 3 and stay in sequence. But they don't line up... TOG Y2 uses SOTW 2 *and* 3, I believe. TOG Y2 has more in it than most programs do in Y2. I was originally planning to start TOG in Y3, as I wanted to do TOG for Y3 and Y4, with SOTW as a supplement, but looking at how TOG is laid out, I decided it'd be easier to go ahead and start TOG next year in Y2. Otherwise, it'd have been easiest to wait until the cycle was over (or maybe Y4? I didn't research that option) and start in Y1 with ancients, but with TOG lust, I figured it was best to go ahead and TRY IT now, even though I have a youngin'. Doing it half pace and using my library, I'll spend no more money on history than I did this year, so it's all good. And if we don't like it, I'll know now so I can look at something else for the logic stage and up, rather than finding out when we get there and having to scrounge around to figure something out (for grammar and logic stages, as I'd have 3 students at that point). To the OP, if you want to start TOG in 2 years, what about doing 2 years of American History? SOTW1 and TOG Y1 cover the same time period, so doing SOTW1 now and then TOG Y1 in 2 years would be hitting ancients pretty close together, which is fine if you love ancients, of course. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemongoose Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 But they don't line up... TOG Y2 uses SOTW 2 *and* 3, I believe. TOG Y2 has more in it than most programs do in Y2. Oops...Had not thought about them not lining up:D. I did mention that I do not use SOTW and TOG, just TOG, though. So I guess I had included a disclaimer!:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAmom Posted March 25, 2011 Author Share Posted March 25, 2011 Thanks for the replies. It has been driving me crazy trying to decide what to do! Seems like many people simply use SOTW w/AG in younger years. I heard TOG is really an expensive book list for younger years. I know it is more than that. Who am I kidding that I will read and learn on my own! Hard enough to find time for devotions. MFW ECC is part of my debate- then using TOG when I have a 4th grader and 2nd grader. I just really got sick if the same wksheet with Adventures and supposedly it is the same thing with ECC but with countries instead of states. I would want to start TOG from the YR 1. So that is the problem. Not sure what year to start with SOTW. Wouldn't want to do Ancients again in 2 years. Thanks for listening to my ramble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna A. Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 I just skimmed all the posts about TOG and don't really have a comment about that, but will share my thoughts on the MFW side. Couple of questions, though.... 8yo will be a 3rd grader? So are you trying to decide what to do for 3rd and 4th, and then plan on going with TOG for 5th? Are you considering the MFW history years at all? They're different than ADV and ECC which have the repetition of 50 states and then the countries. (Btw, there's lots of ways to make those repetitive states and countries more fun! ;) ) You could do ECC next year (3rd gr.?) and begin the 4-year history cycle with either MFW or TOG in 4th, but then you'll have a gap year for 8th. If you follow MFW's sequence, you'd do ECC again in 8th with the junior high supplements. Or you could choose something entirely different and let it be interest-led that year. Or you could do interest-led history/social studies for 3rd, ECC in 4th, then start the history cycle in 5th. If you stay with MFW, you won't use SOTW 1 unless you add it as a Book Basket option, but they do have volumes 2-4 of SOTW scheduled in RTR thru 1850-Modern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemongoose Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 The TOG Book list is extensive, but much can be found at the library. Plus if you are using SOTW, which is on the TOG alternate list, you would be using that in place of the History Core books. That leaves lit, art, bible, and history in depth. Lit is primarily picture books-these are very easy to come by at the library. Art is usually 2-3 books for the whole year. Bible is different based on the year. In Yr 1 it is mainly a childrens picture bible and a book about Jewish celebrations. Other years have books about missionaries or church history. The history in depth books are the ones I have the most difficulty finding at the library, so they would be the ones you would likely have to purchase, or you may find SOTW to be plenty. So I guess if you really dont want to do TOG now, and you want to do SOTW without repeating the ancients, then it makes sense to do SOTW 3 and 4 in the interim. And I went and looked up in my TOG yr3 since boscopup brought it to my attention that TOG does not start yr3 at the beginning of SOTW 3. TOG schedules SOTW chapter 29 for the first week of yr 3. Dont know if you care...but I thought I would throw that out there;). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAmom Posted March 25, 2011 Author Share Posted March 25, 2011 The TOG Book list is extensive, but much can be found at the library. Plus if you are using SOTW, which is on the TOG alternate list, you would be using that in place of the History Core books. That leaves lit, art, bible, and history in depth. Lit is primarily picture books-these are very easy to come by at the library. Art is usually 2-3 books for the whole year. Bible is different based on the year. In Yr 1 it is mainly a childrens picture bible and a book about Jewish celebrations. Other years have books about missionaries or church history. The history in depth books are the ones I have the most difficulty finding at the library, so they would be the ones you would likely have to purchase, or you may find SOTW to be plenty. So I guess if you really dont want to do TOG now, and you want to do SOTW without repeating the ancients, then it makes sense to do SOTW 3 and 4 in the interim. And I went and looked up in my TOG yr3 since boscopup brought it to my attention that TOG does not start yr3 at the beginning of SOTW 3. TOG schedules SOTW chapter 29 for the first week of yr 3. Dont know if you care...but I thought I would throw that out there;). As a TOG user with little ones (3?), do you think that right now it is too much and you could have waited to start later? I am sure you are happy with it, but what do you find to be your pros, cons with using it. I know I am getting a bit off topic....but it all applies. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemongoose Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 As a TOG user with little ones (3?), do you think that right now it is too much and you could have waited to start later? I am sure you are happy with it, but what do you find to be your pros, cons with using it. I know I am getting a bit off topic....but it all applies. :tongue_smilie: I do have 3 children, but I am only using TOG with the oldest right now who is 6yo. I also have a 4yo who I am working on reading and math with, but nothing very formal. My youngest is 2yo, so he is all about creating mischief during school:001_smile:. In answer to your question, no I do not feel that it is too much, and I am very glad that I didnt wait to start later. My DD really does love it, as do I. IMO TOG might be too much for a 5yo and is definitely too much for those under 5, but it is very doable for 6yo and up. Pros: *One time purchase (with the exception of the books) *Teachers Notes *The overview and charts make it easy to plan my week *The books are interesting. There is only one book that DD didnt like so far, and it was a picture book that was only used 2 days. *It is flexible to what I need *I can do some self educating-I know you mentioned that you might not do this, but if you could find a little quiet time, it is so worth it! *I can use it with multiple kids at multiple levels in the future (this also applies to the one time purchase) *You can change it up to fit your childs learning style. It can be very hands on, very visual, or lots of reading (well there will be lots of reading anyway-it is lit based:lol:) *It is easy to find many of the books at the library, paperbackswap, used bookstores, RR, or amazon for little to no money. *It includes so much-Bible, History, Geography, Writing, Vocabulary, Arts... *I can tell DD is learning a ton, is having fun, and I love learning all these things with her. *Other kids, who are not technically participating yet, are still picking up on info here and there because they see how interested older sis is. They stop by to listen to the story I am reading, or hang out next to the table as she is building a salt map. Cons: *Some weeks feel like there is a ton to do, other weeks can be sparse (at least at the LG level anyway). Of course with the flexibility, you can always speed one week up and slow another one down. *I wish the teachers manual included pronunciation help with some of the longer/more unusual names of peoples and places!:tongue_smilie: *Sometimes the list of things to find in Geography do not line up with the teachers answer map. I am sometimes confused...but this could just be me:001_huh:, and it is not a big deal if we wing it a bit. *Sometimes the history books are more challenging to find in a library or used. My biggest expenses with the books has been having to buy these full price at RR or Amazon. *I wish they had a way to print the SAPs from the loom for the whole year by level. And the maps as well. I loathe having to click each week and hit print for each one. I would love 1 document could just hit print and come back when it was done, and all that would print is the SAP for the whole year of the level I chose. But not everyone prints the whole year in advance like me! Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAmom Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 Wow!! Thank you so much for this helpful post! I really appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemongoose Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 You welcome!:) Just one other thing I just remembered. Making a block schedule that we followed every week made the whole thing much easier and less overwhelming. It helps to know which day each part happens on upfront, then all the reading is spread out over the week and other activities like maps and projects can happen on the days that are not as book heavy. Does that make sense?:confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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