Blueridge Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 I'm considering my options to use with my younger daughters. This fall I'll only have 2 to teach. :( I want it to be a beautiful, engaging year together. Can you tell me your thoughts about it? I am also considering a total WTM plan for 8th and up, as well as SL and TOG. I still dream about HOD but can't figure out the placement. I love to use a spine text and literature for history, and since I tend to over-extend myself, I should probably keep things more simple...hence Truthquest. Thanks for your opinions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 I have a number of TQ guides and use them for book lists. I don't care for the commentary, but that's just me. They now have samples on the TQ website, so you can see for yourself. So this would be for ages 11 and 13? We're doing modern american right now plus the VP online self-paced MARR plus some geography (yes, we're nuts), but when we finish that, sooner or later haha, we'll head into Omnibus I. I don't know if you considered that or not. It's aimed at 7th and up, but you could flex it a bit and make it work nicely for those ages. And seeing the Konos, I'm thinking you might like the history projects at http://www.enrichment4you.com They will go great with Omnibus and are what I plan to use. (I actually have them in book form from http://www.socialstudies.com search Henrich) Omnibus is pretty flexible, so you could add in or take out books and really make it suit you. Yes, you'd use the history spine of your choice along with it. There's a budding VP_Omnibus yahoo group if you want to check that out too. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vp_omnibus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueridge Posted April 20, 2011 Author Share Posted April 20, 2011 Oh, thank you! I've been meaning to check into Omnibus and I will today! I've heard good things about it. I just finished reading through several Truthquest samples, and I see what you mean. ;) I am really looking for a trustworthy spine that I can add literature around, but TOG has nearly killed me in the past lol, so this may be a much nicer choice. I've never heard of those enrichments so I have lots to look at over coffee. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narrow Gate Academy Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 We use Truthquest for history. My oldest uses Guerber for a spine and also Famous Men from time to time. My younger two are using SOTW 2 for a spine as well as the History Lives series for church history. I love the graded book list because it helps me narrow down my choices. (Otherwise I might just check out every single book on the topic to make the best choice.) There is also plenty of historical fiction to chose from for the oldest. Her book comments help me decide which books I may need to pre-read. For my current 6th grader, we use a pretty basic system. One chapter topics get outlined. Two-three chapter topics get summarized. For four+ chapter topics she takes notes on the information. We discuss her notes and I point out any information that I deem essential that she misses. We organize the notes into a rough outline and then she spends one day writing it up. I throw in map work whenever I have a good map for her to work from, and we use Homeschool in the Woods timeline figures for a timeline. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gratia271 Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 I have a number of TQ guides and use them for book lists. We have done the same thing here. There are some great suggestions on the list I acquired. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueridge Posted April 20, 2011 Author Share Posted April 20, 2011 Thank you for your helps! I've been pouring over all kinds of samples this afternoon. Just makes the ol' heart pump a bit faster to think of the choices we have available. I did make the mistake of showing my dd17 sample pages from the Omnibus, and now she thinks she simply *must* read the books from it that she has not yet read. Of course, I reminded her she is graduating in June, and she said she would have to read all summer so she wouldn't miss anything. Funny girl. :) I like the idea of TQ being a helpful book guide! It's reasonable...maybe I should just get one ordered. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNC Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 I love TQ. I have used the AHYS guides for the last three years and I'm starting the older guides in the fall with a four year schedule per WTM. I love her commentary and her guides include a more thorough go through history than anything else I've seen - more subtopics etc. We have collected books from retired homeschoolers "living books" home libraries and we own a plethora of TQ recommended OOP treasures. I'm thrilled that TQ is now offerering materials for notebooks and mapwork. That should make my notebooks per WTM logic recs easier to pull off. We will also outline our spines as WTM recommends. The notebooking and mapwork for the older guides should be available on the website this summer, the younger guides w/ samples are ready now. Michelle Miller also announced a new guide covering Creation-OT history. She will merge her short Ancient Egypt unit (which is now in the Ancient Egypt/Ancient Greece guide) to the Creation/OT history guide. The Ancient Greece Guide will stand alone. I plan on covering all of Ancients in one year though - through Rome. HTH! http://www.truthquesthistory.com/store/products.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueridge Posted April 26, 2011 Author Share Posted April 26, 2011 Oh, I am envious of your library! :D Thank you so much for this information. I take forever to make my decisions and this really does help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennyradmer Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 I love truthquest I have a 7th grader and a 3rd grader and they beg to do history every day. My problem is finding the books in the library and then actually returning them on time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyandab Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Several years ago we used Truthquest, and I found it to be overwhelming. Of course, my boys were in 2nd/3rd grade, so I was having to read the majority of books to them. My problem was, I got waaaay too many of the books, and then got frustrated on which ones to use. Now that my boys are older (7th), I occasionally consider going back since they would be able to do all of the reading by themselves. I've used TOG for the past 2 yrs (yrs 3 and 4) and really like it; however, I mostly use it for a book list, and there is so much more there that I don't utilize, especially considering the cost. I also find myself using their alternative list a lot, meaning there are no study guides with those (which would basically be just like Truthquest!). However, next year I'm planning on using the dialectic level for everything (only using that level for literature right now, not history), and the discussion questions and depth of history/worldview in TOG is truly amazing. I think I personally need a smaller list of books to choose from and a weekly schedule to stick to....so....probably staying with TOG. If you are good at making your own schedule and sticking to it, not getting overwhelmed with the options, and not needing literature analysis, then TQ would probably work for you. TOG's choices overwhelm a lot of people, but to me, TQ seems even more overwhelming. She has suggestions for every little tiny thing...not necessarilly a bad thing...just bad for me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueridge Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 I'm considering my options to use with my younger daughters. This fall I'll only have 2 to teach. :( I want it to be a beautiful, engaging year together. Can you tell me your thoughts about it? I am also considering a total WTM plan for 8th and up, as well as SL and TOG. I still dream about HOD but can't figure out the placement. I love to use a spine text and literature for history, and since I tend to over-extend myself, I should probably keep things more simple...hence Truthquest. Thanks for your opinions! I had to smile when I saw this old post of mine! Spring of 2011...ah, the memories of excitement with that blank canvas of fall prep before me. :drool: I never could decide on a history program lol, and we ended up using SL Eastern Hemisphere and emphasizing geography instead! It was a fantastic year. Yearning to jump back into the 4 year cycle again, I began my history quest again in the spring of 2012. :drool: I purchased several things and finally decided to over-extend myself by combining several programs...please, I beg you not to do this! It's December and my brain is on fire. My dd19 says that I simply must write my own program. I'll save that project for my later rocking chair years, though. And so the search continues... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynful Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Thanks for letting us know what you ended up doing. I've done the same, over extended and tried to combine too many programs at once - I agree DON'T. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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