Funny TOG Keener Question: LG/UG

[SnMomof7]

Hi TOG Ladies!

 

I have Y1U1 here to play with in anticipation of next, next year's homeschooling. So that will be oldest DD 9 - grade 4, second DD 6 - grade 1, when we get there.

 

So my question is this.

 

When do you place your children in UG? I'm thinking my oldest might be there by then. She is already starting to read independently to learn from books she's interested in. Right now she's reading something about tornadoes with lots of high interest pictures.

 

I'm curious, moms who have actually worked with the LG and UG books, what reading level does your child need to be at in order to move into UG work?

 

For example - she's about to start the SL Intermediate 2 readers (now called grade 3), and that's about where she's at. In a year or so she'll be done, and then we'll be starting TOG. Will her reading be good enough at that point for UG, or should I aim for her to complete more of the grade 4/5 readers at SL before we do UG?

 

I'm playing with my unit to make up a tentative book list so I can start scoping out the used bookstores/sale boards etc.

 

Thanks for helping this keener TOG wannabe! :D

[kchara]

I start mine on UG when they're reading fluently, and starting to read on their own for pleasure. From the sounds of it (going off of her general grade level, since I've not used SL), she'd be fine in UG. The general recommendation is LG for K-2/3, UG for 3-5/6, I believe. I've not used a lot of LG stuff yet, though, we started our oldest 2 off in UG this year (they're 8 and 9 now), but I'll have a very young LG following along next year.

[Guest]

I already posted this in the other thread but I will post it here to and follow your thread ;). I am being lazy and just copy/ pasting what I posted there :tongue_smilie:.

 

I will be working on a gentle transition from LG to UG in literature next year. I have about five titles I think, the rest will remain LG. With History we are already using SOTW along with many of the LG books so I will be flipping back and forth between UG and LG but will stay primarily LG for next year.

 

Thinking of Adrian two years from now at the age of 9 and given his current reading level I would probably jump straight into UG.

Edited April 10, 2011 by Guest

[SnMomof7]

Thanks ladies! I AM expecting DD to make big strides in her reading over the next year, so in my playing I'll figure her as an UG, and younger DD as an LG. I plan to have them share some books though instead of doing two totally distinct sets ;).

 

Hey Marie, when does your Adrian turn 8? Our oldest daughter (Kaelynn) is turning 8 tomorrow :). Oh wait...it is tomorrow now!

[Guest]

Thanks ladies! I AM expecting DD to make big strides in her reading over the next year, so in my playing I'll figure her as an UG, and younger DD as an LG. I plan to have them share some books though instead of doing two totally distinct sets ;).

 

Hey Marie, when does your Adrian turn 8? Our oldest daughter (Kaelynn) is turning 8 tomorrow :). Oh wait...it is tomorrow now!

 

Adrian has a late October birthday. He will be 7 1/2 this month. I will update my signature when he does ;). I only update at the mid point and birthdays. Malcolm turned 2 in January.

 

To your girl.

 

For us it is still today :p. Just after 11pm.

[HSMom2One]

My daughter did YR-1 while at UG level when she was 10-11 years old. Although she started reading on her own in kindergarten and has always been a very strong reader, we found that the history reading for UG that year was very, very rigorous. She did get through it, but it was very hard work - especially the Usborne encyclopedia assignments. She absolutely thrived on the literature, but the history was the toughie.

 

Because of this, I'd be inclined to suggest that you split your dd between LG and UG for the first year, then transition her all the way to UG for YR-2. By splitting I mean do the LG history reading or just use SOTW and not the Usborne and other choices, then offer her the UG literature selections. I have done this with my own dd as we transitioned from UG to D level and it worked beautifully.

 

I hope this helps. Have fun collecting the books! You have a lot to look forward to. :~)

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

[SnMomof7]

Thanks Marie! :) Aww, 2 yr olds are so cute!

 

Thanks SO much Lucinda. That is exactly the kind of info we need to know!

 

I think what I'll plan out might be to do the LG history with both children. Do SOTW as a spine (or MOH, Heather sent me a schedule for that I need to look at). Get the UG literature - I might even like to do those as read alouds because they look fun! But I'll let her read some on her own too...I can't hog them all!

[RobinF]

We have a 9 yo this year and he is doing the LG readings by himself and some of the SOTW readings. Our 11yo is doing the UG and some D readings by himself. I don't think my 9 yo would be able to handle the UG readings completely on his own. But he is just moving into (this past year) the I want to read on my own stage.

[Guest]

Thanks Marie! :) Aww, 2 yr olds are so cute!

 

Thanks SO much Lucinda. That is exactly the kind of info we need to know!

 

I think what I'll plan out might be to do the LG history with both children. Do SOTW as a spine (or MOH, Heather sent me a schedule for that I need to look at). Get the UG literature - I might even like to do those as read alouds because they look fun! But I'll let her read some on her own too...I can't hog them all!

 

Jennifer, I think you will have a clearer picture of what you want to do as you get closer to starting. What I would suggest is first familiarize yourself with the materials. You have lots of time, so you can take the time to check out the UG and LG titles for all areas and then about six months prior to starting you will have a clearer picture of where you older girl is at ;).

 

Bumping this for you because I feel that others' experiences will help you see clearer, when the time comes :).

 

ETA: I know you don't have a very good library system. What I do is open Amazon and Rainbow and get as many preview pages of the books I cannot find at my library. I read reviews and then decide if I will use a book or substitute. HTH

[Roxy Roller]

We do a mix. I end up reading a lot of the books out loud, because the youngers don't want to miss them. My DD11 has other literature that she does on her own. Generally, history is done together.

[Honey Bee]

:bigear:

 

This has been really helpful. My oldest is 8yo 3rd grade next year, so very close in age for OP oldest. Thanks for asking a great Q!

[SnMomof7]

Oh, I agree Marie! It is all very theoretical right now! One of the things I'm trying to figure out with the unit I have though, is if I'll be able to plan TOG! We are using SL right now, which is all pre-planned, and I *think* I can pull TOG off, I just need to dig into it and make up some theoretical weekly plans for where my children will be (theoretically) in the future.

 

I'm basically doing it as a confidence building/mom-training exercise more than I am doing it for ACTUAL lesson plans for my children! I hope that makes some sense ;).

[Guest]

Oh, I agree Marie! It is all very theoretical right now! One of the things I'm trying to figure out with the unit I have though, is if I'll be able to plan TOG! We are using SL right now, which is all pre-planned, and I *think* I can pull TOG off, I just need to dig into it and make up some theoretical weekly plans for where my children will be (theoretically) in the future.

 

I'm basically doing it as a confidence building/mom-training exercise more than I am doing it for ACTUAL lesson plans for my children! I hope that makes some sense ;).

 

Yep, I know exactly where you are coming from. Not sure if you are schooling through the summer or when you are done your SL year but you could do a trial run at the LG level getting some of the books and see how the planning goes :). Keep in mind that, at least from my very limited experience, you will more than likely be adjusting as you go, until you find what works the best for you.

[SnMomof7]

Heehee, I actually have been getting...SOME of the Y1U1 books when I can get them at a good price, which is another reason I'm tentatively planning now :).

 

We do school year round because we take breaks whenever we feel like it :). Right now our SL K is on pause while we do Canada, My Country (planned to do this a long time ago, but moves, babies etc. bleh) because DD was begging for "Canada studies!"

 

Once we do that, it'll be back to Core K (we started this January), or if it's fall by then, on into our Core 1+2 which looks like a lot of fun. THEN we'll have TOG :), so this is super-advanced planning, but still lots of fun! I might still run Core K very casually for fun, lots of great read alouds in there :).

 

I've so appreciated hearing everyone's thoughts on this thread so far!

[Guest]

Heehee, I actually have been getting...SOME of the Y1U1 books when I can get them at a good price, which is another reason I'm tentatively planning now :).

 

We do school year round because we take breaks whenever we feel like it :). Right now our SL K is on pause while we do Canada, My Country (planned to do this a long time ago, but moves, babies etc. bleh) because DD was begging for "Canada studies!"

 

Once we do that, it'll be back to Core K (we started this January), or if it's fall by then, on into our Core 1+2 which looks like a lot of fun. THEN we'll have TOG :), so this is super-advanced planning, but still lots of fun! I might still run Core K very casually for fun, lots of great read alouds in there :).

 

I've so appreciated hearing everyone's thoughts on this thread so far!

 

I considered Canada, My Country but changed my mind. I want to run Canadian history alongside TOG so that we don't have too much on our schedule. We already have a full one with everything we are doing :tongue_smilie:. That said I did do some Units to cover local PLO's. I just put my own together. It was a lot for work for me but Adrian had fun and learned a lot. I now have a small order planned for next year. For now anyway. I have some books from the library we picked up today and will be planning my course of action :). Ah... I am sick and still losing sleep over research and planning. I never learn :lol:.

 

Hope you get more input. Bump again tomorrow (Monday ;)). Some people don't post much on weekends.

[SnMomof7]

Yeah, we did it because I don't want to wait 4 or 5 years to get to modern Canadian geography!! It is really important to my grandmother too - I know that sounds strange, but she's one of our biggest fans, and we all love her to bits. I really wanted to get some basic Canadian geography under her feet, so we're sort of Sonlighting it by the seat of our pants. We have some of their book recommendations that we read with each lesson, but I also have some of my own lit I'm just grabbing off the shelf. We are reading Owls in the Family for our read aloud, and it is SO SO funny! They love that! I also have a book of Canadian children's poetry that is pretty fun. DD really likes the worksheets that come with it....I can't believe my daughter loves worksheets so much....maybe it's because we don't have a schedule FULL of them? LOL! It's going really well in any case :). After Owls in the Family is over I think I'm going to start reading a short narrative history of Canada to them for our read aloud, just to touch base with it :).

[Guest]

Yeah, we did it because I don't want to wait 4 or 5 years to get to modern Canadian geography!! It is really important to my grandmother too - I know that sounds strange, but she's one of our biggest fans, and we all love her to bits. I really wanted to get some basic Canadian geography under her feet, so we're sort of Sonlighting it by the seat of our pants. We have some of their book recommendations that we read with each lesson, but I also have some of my own lit I'm just grabbing off the shelf. We are reading Owls in the Family for our read aloud, and it is SO SO funny! They love that! I also have a book of Canadian children's poetry that is pretty fun. DD really likes the worksheets that come with it....I can't believe my daughter loves worksheets so much....maybe it's because we don't have a schedule FULL of them? LOL! It's going really well in any case :). After Owls in the Family is over I think I'm going to start reading a short narrative history of Canada to them for our read aloud, just to touch base with it :).

 

I had the opportunity to speak with Donna Ward about it at our convention last summer. I had the opportunity to preview the book and even went back to buy it but the convention was over by the time I got back. I guess it just wasn't meant to be because after I went home and researched our PLO's for the year I decided to do my own thing.

 

I stumbled across The Spirit of Canada: Canada's Story in Legends, Fiction, Poems, and Songs and thought WOW what a great find. I just recently found out it is one of the recommended resources in Modern History Through Canadian Eyes. I also borrowed from the library, The Kids Book of Canada (love these books, I ended up buying this one), Kids Book of Canadian History, Kids Book of Aboriginal Peoples of Canada and Kids Book of Canadian Geography. I want to collect all of these eventually. I can't remember the other resources but I have them all listed in my schedule if you want to check them out I can PM you the titles and ISBN numbers, although you probably know most of the books already. I made Adrian a basic lapbook, or should I call it more of a mini-office. I made it myself because at the time I was working on my planning for the year and could not spend too much time with Adrian. We were doing a few hours a day (about 4 I think) and then I was off with my planning again. I think my unit was about 6 weeks if I remember correctly but I have all that in my file, I am just feeling too sick to go dig it up right now :tongue_smilie:. Oh, and I used some of the Complete Canadian Curriculum grade 1 for worksheets. With all this we exceeded expectations in the PLO's we were covering.

 

We were also studying the seasonal habits of the BC Aboriginal peoples, my favorite part of our studies :D. We had and still have a very vibrant First Nations community. We were going to go to Stanley Park's Klahowya Village anyway, so when I saw the PLO's it was such a great opportunity to incorporate it as a field trip. The last day was a day before schools were opening and the weather wasn't the greatest but we had a beautiful day the day before they were closing. It was so much fun :D! I love the Art and we got to watch a show and speak to the dancers and carvers and got to see a big wooden mask being carved and a totem pole. I have so many pics, including some of Adrian with the dancers and I videotaped their performance. I have been wanting to blog about the experience at Stanley Park (we will be going again this year) and our Canadian Unit that we did but I just never seem to get around to doing it.

 

http://vancouver.ca/parks/events/klahowyavillage/index.htm

 

Adrian had the opportunity to learn the National Anthem (:blushing: living overseas we had not worked on that yet), important facts about Canada, all the provinces and territories and their flags... In order for him to learn some facts about the Aboriginal Peoples of BC I made him flash cards of the three different groups (People of the Northwest Coast, People of the Plateau and People of the Subarctic). On them I had important facts about their life going beyond just their seasonal habits. We saw the type of homes they built, what they ate and the list goes on. I get excited just remembering it, it was so much fun! I spent several nights googling images for the mini-office and the flashcards, and then researching the info I wanted to include on each flashcard. It was a lot of work but I have to say I enjoyed learning about our native local peoples.

 

I better stop because I can go on and on... and I am way... off topic and rambling now (thankfully you are the op in this one so I hope you don't mind ;)). I am definitely glad that things worked out the way they did because knowing me I probably would have tweaked Donna Ward's program anyway :lol: and definitely would have added the Aboriginal People's study in there.

Edited April 11, 2011 by Guest

[SnMomof7]

That DOES sound fun Marie! Donna Ward actually recommends you follow Canada, My Country with her study of First Nations peoples, so it sounds like you've done much the same thing, but your-style :). I am SUCH an over-planner, I don't think I could pull it off without some sort of outline. I'm glad to have Donna's work, and just pull things off the shelf to supplement/tweak as we go :).

 

Yup, you know me - I totally don't mind! I'm a serious hi-jacker (snicker!)

 

Hope you are feeling better soon! I saw on another thread you weren't feeling so well!

[Guest]

That DOES sound fun Marie! Donna Ward actually recommends you follow Canada, My Country with her study of First Nations peoples, so it sounds like you've done much the same thing, but your-style :). I am SUCH an over-planner, I don't think I could pull it off without some sort of outline. I'm glad to have Donna's work, and just pull things off the shelf to supplement/tweak as we go :).

 

Yup, you know me - I totally don't mind! I'm a serious hi-jacker (snicker!)

 

Hope you are feeling better soon! I saw on another thread you weren't feeling so well!

 

I like Donna's work also. I like that her programs can be used to meet many/ most of the social studies PLO's. I toyed for quite a while about getting Courage and Conquest for next year but then I would also have to get Native People's and since we are using TOG I would still have to tweak it and would more than likely end up frustrated for not using more of it :tongue_smilie:. It is why I have decided to go with Modern History Through Canadian Eyes. The one book has recommendations for all levels and should work well with how I want to use it, in combination with TOG. I currently have Janet Lunn's book from the library. I like the book but not sure I want to use it next year. It is recommended for grades 4-6 in MHTCE. I need to look into it some more. For grades 1-3 they recommend My First History of Canada by Donalda Dickie. I have seen it recommended in the SL Canadian forum also and have found a local supplier that carries it but I have not seen preview pages so if I do order it I would be getting it blindly. I have to check if I can stop over and check it out first before getting it. Decisions, decisions... :lol:.

 

We have had a bad case of the flu. It has hit the grown ups in our home worse than the kids thankfully. I hate seeing my little guys sick. Anyway, I suffer from migraines and the flu has not helped. I better run. Nice talking with ya eh :). What Canadian studies will you be doing next year?

[SnMomof7]

We traded for a copy of Isabel Barclay's "The Story of Canada" (yep, there are a lot of books with this title, eh?) with a local mom who is on the boards here, so I'm going to toss that into the mix this year for a brief grammar stage intro to Canadian history. I won't lit it up though, there's only so much of that I can do! I'll just use it as is :).

 

I'm actually NOT planning on doing Canada studies next year! Just our SL 1+2, then in 4th it's on to TOG Yr 1! Maybe in 4th I'll throw in Donna Ward's higher level geography program (forget what it's called?), and then I'll wait to do a more in depth history study with MHTCE with TOG (by the seat of my pants) when we get to it in the appropriate year plans! LOL! That's some VERY long term planning, eh? ;)

[Guest]

We traded for a copy of Isabel Barclay's "The Story of Canada" (yep, there are a lot of books with this title, eh?) with a local mom who is on the boards here, so I'm going to toss that into the mix this year for a brief grammar stage intro to Canadian history. I won't lit it up though, there's only so much of that I can do! I'll just use it as is :).

 

I'm actually NOT planning on doing Canada studies next year! Just our SL 1+2, then in 4th it's on to TOG Yr 1! Maybe in 4th I'll throw in Donna Ward's higher level geography program (forget what it's called?), and then I'll wait to do a more in depth history study with MHTCE with TOG (by the seat of my pants) when we get to it in the appropriate year plans! LOL! That's some VERY long term planning, eh? ;)

 

Yep, there are many Story of Canada books, yet none are available through Amazon :tongue_smilie:. If you want to add some nice stories without any heavy literature (that's what I did), check your library for The Spirit of Canada.

 

http://www.amazon.ca/Spirit-Canada-Canadas-Legends-Fiction/dp/1894121147/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302749291&sr=8-1

 

The more I look at Janet Lunn's book the more I like it. Our library has several copies but most are reference only, only two can be checked out. CHER carries the book for $34.95 and I would have to pay shipping so I think I will wait and see what I can get at our convention. I really want to check out Donald Dickie's book first though but I can get that without shipping from my local supplier. My order could run anywhere from $100 - $200 for next year depending on if I decide to buy certain books that my library already carries or use the library. I want to add something Canadian every year. For Year 1, when we cycle through history again there are good chances I will get Donna Ward's Geography, Province to Province (;)). I am going to take a look at it at the convention again this year. Since TOG Year 1 is Ancients and does not have anything Canadian, I can stick Canadian Geography during that year. This is what I have been thinking in order to cover Canadian Geography but have not decided yet if I will use Donna Ward's program for it. We shall see. It's for ages 8-12, so if I do not use it by Adrian's fifth grade we will not be using it.

 

There's nothing wrong with long term planning. It at least gives you a starting point to work with, even if the plan changes along the way ;). I have seen MHTCE recommended as a good resource, so I don't think you can go wrong there. It is a guide however, which I like because it will give me the flexibility I want, much like TOG :).

 

ETA: Year 2 of TOG includes two titles, one a RA for LG and UG levels and the other in the LG literature list, that are set in Canada :). Thought I would mention it.

Edited April 14, 2011 by Guest