Guest Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 I was talking to a friend today who totally loves the idea of Tapestry of Grace, but cannot afford it. (Ha, that's me, too!) What out there is most like TOG? (Definitely looking for Bible-based) ETA: Grammar age Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 Thinking.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 Grammar stage of TOG is mainly living books mixing in the Bible. Biblioplan is sometimes considered "TOG light", though my experience with it was that we didn't make the connections between SOTW history and Bible history, and there was sooooo much Bible to get in there that we were racing through Bible stories and having trouble getting to the SOTW stories. When I split them up and just started reading straight through Egermeier's Bible Story book (one story per day) and did SOTW separately, my son and I both started actually seeing connections between the two better. Go figure! Mystery of History mixes the two, though I'd probably want to use it for upper grammar stage rather than lower. It's doable, but I think most people say it's best for 4th grade and up? Looking at the samples, I thought it'd be a bit much for first grade, so that's why I didn't use it this year. After trying to get the history/Bible stuff mixed at a young age, I've decided not to worry about it until logic stage. :tongue_smilie: Don't know if that helps any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 What do you like about TOG? That will help me answer. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 Grammar stage of TOG is mainly living books mixing in the Bible. Biblioplan is sometimes considered "TOG light", though my experience with it was that we didn't make the connections between SOTW history and Bible history, and there was sooooo much Bible to get in there that we were racing through Bible stories and having trouble getting to the SOTW stories. When I split them up and just started reading straight through Egermeier's Bible Story book (one story per day) and did SOTW separately, my son and I both started actually seeing connections between the two better. Go figure! Mystery of History mixes the two, though I'd probably want to use it for upper grammar stage rather than lower. It's doable, but I think most people say it's best for 4th grade and up? Looking at the samples, I thought it'd be a bit much for first grade, so that's why I didn't use it this year. After trying to get the history/Bible stuff mixed at a young age, I've decided not to worry about it until logic stage. :tongue_smilie: Don't know if that helps any. Biblioplan has always befuddled me. I just went on their new website today and was more impressed by them than I ever have been in the past. My friend had for some reason dismissed it, as well, but she didn't mention why. That is definitely a thought, although after what you are saying, maybe I'll just suggest to her to read Egermeier's along with SOTW. We were discussing MOH, but both had the same thought, that it is for older grades. What do you like about TOG? That will help me answer. :) What *I* love about TOG is the teacher's notes. (I need some major teacher help!) I love that the program is a thorough history that runs God completely throughout. Those are my big favs about the program. :) My friend is looking for basically the same thing; she about fell over when I told her how much TOG costs, for just the Teacher's Guide.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 Biblioplan has always befuddled me. I just went on their new website today and was more impressed by them than I ever have been in the past. My friend had for some reason dismissed it, as well, but she didn't mention why. That is definitely a thought, although after what you are saying, maybe I'll just suggest to her to read Egermeier's along with SOTW. We were discussing MOH, but both had the same thought, that it is for older grades. Here's a table that coordinates SOTW and Egermeier's. I think it was around chapter 15 or 16 in SOTW that we got so bogged down and I gave up. :tongue_smilie: A friend of mine, who was also trying to line up SOTW and Egermeier's had the same thing happen - they got bogged down and weren't getting much SOTW in. When they stopped trying to coordinate the two and just started reading them both at a normal pace completely separately, her 3rd grade daughter started making connections between the two. We were just discussing this today, actually, as we both think it's interesting that both our kids started making the connections once we separated the two. I just figure I have plenty of time to get the two coordinated. I mainly wanted to do it for MY benefit, but I could always just read MOH myself or something like that. I am starting to see connections as it is, and next cycle, I'll try to be more explicit in coordinating them (possibly using MOH or something else). I also like the TOG teacher's notes, though I don't know that I'd ever get around to reading them. I really need the coordination to be in the student text. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 So, do you think that reading MOH would be like reading the TOG teacher notes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 I think MOH is your best option for less expensive, ready-to-go biblical integration :). However, it isn't at all like reading TOG's teacher notes. The lessons are only around 600-700 words long (two to three paragraphs) and are not written to an adult, they are written directly to the grades 3-8 student. TOG's teacher notes are...long...and definitely written to the adult/teacher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamato3 all-boy boys Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 What *I* love about TOG is the teacher's notes. (I need some major teacher help!) I love that the program is a thorough history that runs God completely throughout. Those are my big favs about the program. :) My friend is looking for basically the same thing; she about fell over when I told her how much TOG costs, for just the Teacher's Guide.... Take this for what it's worth...you have early elementary aged kids, right? Don't buy TOG for the ages of your kids. The teacher's notes are overkill for lower grammar. Read history aloud to your kids thru 3rd grade or so. Read historical fiction, SOTW, Bible stories, etc. Buy SWB's high-school/adult history books and read those on your own. Sneak a peek at Sonlight's upper level (5th grade or so and above) history read alouds and history books and read them yourself. Do google searches to answer your own burning questions. Save your money until your oldest is in 5th or so grade....THEN buy TOG. TOG's teacher notes are wonderful -- and necessary! -- for dialectic and rhetoric level students (middle school and high school). The notes help you as a teacher so you do not have to read ALL the reading that your students are doing. THey help you have discussions with your students. They are fabulous and worth. every. penny. to me. I tried using TOG when my son was in 1st grade. For lots of reasons, I realized it was more than I needed. Instead, we used SOTW, Egermeiers, and lots of libaray books. I loved it, my son LOVED LOVED LOVED it. I'm now using TOG with my 6th grader, 2nd grader, and preKer. At the lower grammar level, it is really just a reading list. However, because I have the dialectic student, using TOG keeps us all on the same topic and we can talk about things together. JMHO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMom2One Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 Take this for what it's worth...you have early elementary aged kids, right? Don't buy TOG for the ages of your kids. The teacher's notes are overkill for lower grammar. Read history aloud to your kids thru 3rd grade or so. Read historical fiction, SOTW, Bible stories, etc. Buy SWB's high-school/adult history books and read those on your own. Sneak a peek at Sonlight's upper level (5th grade or so and above) history read alouds and history books and read them yourself. Do google searches to answer your own burning questions. Save your money until your oldest is in 5th or so grade....THEN buy TOG. TOG's teacher notes are wonderful -- and necessary! -- for dialectic and rhetoric level students (middle school and high school). The notes help you as a teacher so you do not have to read ALL the reading that your students are doing. THey help you have discussions with your students. They are fabulous and worth. every. penny. to me. JMHO :iagree: I completely agree with this. You have hit the nail on the head exactly -- I couldn't have said it better myself. Blessings, Lucinda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dulcimeramy Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 I've never used TOG for younger grades, but we are loving it at the Rhetoric level. Honestly, no other curriculum that I've seen can match TOG in open-and-go Rhetoric-level discussions across the curriculum. I have some Scott Foresman high school textbooks from 1950 that offer the same level of analysis, but I know of nothing on the market today. And my Foresman textbooks do not integrate subjects. TOG does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom@shiloh Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 Truthquest would be another option for her. The guides are fairly inexpensive. This isn't an open-and-go curriculum and doesn't really integrate Bible, however it is definitely a Christian perspective and imo it would be fairly easy to integrate Bible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 Truthquest would be another option for her. The guides are fairly inexpensive. This isn't an open-and-go curriculum and doesn't really integrate Bible, however it is definitely a Christian perspective and imo it would be fairly easy to integrate Bible. Is it useful if you have young elementary kids? The guides said they were for older grades, IIRC. They had American History guides for the younger grades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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