NoPlaceLikeHome Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I am thinking possibly of TOG but am unsure since I prefer secular materials. Any secular users of TOG? Would you say that their history presentation is balanced and accurate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindyz Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I looked at it quickly at a used curriculum shop and didn't see how it could be made secular. Maybe someone who knows it better will have a different opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted May 25, 2011 Author Share Posted May 25, 2011 I looked at it quickly at a used curriculum shop and didn't see how it could be made secular. Maybe someone who knows it better will have a different opinion. How do you like History Odyssey? I like STOW and have thought about History Odyssey as well:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kchara Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I use TOG and love it, but I'm not thinking it can really be made secular, either. For example, most of our readings this week are strictly Scriptural. We've had a few weeks like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I had a quick look at a local homeschooling mom's TOG binder and she said I could just skip the Bible portion of the schedule and that would make it secular. Of course, for History, I think TOG will not have any pre-history (neither does SOTW). I am going to print the sample weeks and try it out this summer. The thing to consider is, do you like scripted, scheduled curriculum or do you prefer some freedom in conducting your lessons? The mom I referred to also uses AAS. I looked at that too, and I immediately decided I would not like it. So I am on the fence reg. TOG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matilda Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I am planning to use TOG secularly. You can do a search on the board and find others who are doing it also. I looked at the titles of the weeks for Year 1 on the Tapestry site, and I was pretty sure I couldn't do that very easily, so we skipped to Year 2. As I have looked through my materials, I think that Year 2 will work. There will obviously be things that I will skip, but I couldn't do everything anyway, so that should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clover11 Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 We use it as a secular curriculum. This is only our 1st year, and we are only 8 weeks in. So far, we just adjust a few of the discussion points and skip the church history. It's been super easy to do and doesn't take up any extra time. I think that Year 1 (from what I've heard) will be harder to do, but we're okay with that. I really don't mind spending some time learning and reading from the bible. I think it's something my ds should know so that one day he can choose his own belief. We also may do some of the church history in the future, we will just tailor it to suit our family. We prefer secular programs, but seem to have a hard time finding ones we love. Apologia is another one we are using this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clover11 Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I am planning to use TOG secularly. You can do a search on the board and find others who are doing it also. I looked at the titles of the weeks for Year 1 on the Tapestry site, and I was pretty sure I couldn't do that very easily, so we skipped to Year 2. As I have looked through my materials, I think that Year 2 will work. There will obviously be things that I will skip, but I couldn't do everything anyway, so that should be fine. I would be interested in someone who has done this with Year 4 and what they thought of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tohru Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 It can be done, however it's much easier with Classic than Redesign. My friend did Classic 1,2, and 3 secularly for 4 or 5 years, covering Grammar and Rhetoric levels. She upgraded her Y1 to the Redesign and wished she hadn't because it is a lot harder to secularize the Redesign. Discussions and notes are more evangelical and there are more Christian books on the booklist. We've used Classic Y2 for Grammar/Dialectic and it was very easy to secularize. We had even had our Medieval Feast. This year we picked up TOG Classic Y1 for Dialectic/Rhetoric, but skipped about 10 weeks because it was all bible background. Then life circumstances changed and I got busy and tired, so we switched back to Sonlight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiztrezzLyn Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I am finishing up ToG Y1 and while I am able to use it secularly, it *is* difficult to do. I am not adverse to reading some of the bible stuff as I want my son to know about it anyway, we even have a children's bible stories book. So I'm not against studying it, just as we studied Greek mythology. Please, no offense intended to anyone in my comparing it to Greek mythology :) It has been pretty enjoyable, although like I said, Y1 has been a bit difficult to strike a balance for our studies. Y2 looks like it will be a nice, refreshing change though :) **ETA: Oh, I forgot to mention, I am using it for LG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tohru Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 ...We prefer secular programs, but seem to have a hard time finding ones we love. Apologia is another one we are using this year. I love the Apologia Elementary books and just grabbed a Sharpie and marked through all the content that was religious. I can never, ever resell it, unless some one wants a pre-edited book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntchaos Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I was actually looking for the answer to this very question once and found this - probably linked from this very forum- http://www.caerdroia.org/116/archives/2010/04/using_tog_secul.html It is a blog post and she details the use of it in a secular manner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I was actually looking for the answer to this very question once and found this - probably linked from this very forum- http://www.caerdroia.org/116/archives/2010/04/using_tog_secul.html It is a blog post and she details the use of it in a secular manner. :iagree:with the statements made by the blogger. I have only used Y1U4 for the reasons she mentioned, I'm not sure if I will try adapt the rest of Y1 when we come back around to that again or not, depends on what happens with the coming update. We are finishing Y2, on U4 now, and will move to Y3 next. Religion has great impacts on our history, I teach that portion of religion (it's amazing how much of that was ignored in my Catholic school upbringing). I also teach the general beliefs of the different religions and the History of World Religions they use is a good reference for that. I don't think you can have a true understand of the Reformation without understanding the basic of religions of the time, etc., and I loved the bloggers reference to Galileo. I find it very easy to leave out the church history and avoid the few biographies that are religious unless I feel they are important to history. For me it is easier to secularize than SL was, especially in the higher cores, (we are aligned to parts of Core 100 right now, that IG :svengo:). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindyz Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 How do you like History Odyssey? I like STOW and have thought about History Odyssey as well:D History Odyssey is ok. I'm not in love. It basically uses SOTW and Usborne World History Encyclopedia but it takes things in chronological order (which SOTW does not). We do much from the SOTW activity guide as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delaney Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I use TOG year 2 secularly. I don't do the church history and any scripture. The books can be religious related but I use them for the literature that they are. I plan on using Year 3 and maybe 4. I may look into Classic now that someone said it was easier to use this way. Not sure what I will do about ancients but Trisms is looking promising! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clover11 Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I was actually looking for the answer to this very question once and found this - probably linked from this very forum- http://www.caerdroia.org/116/archives/2010/04/using_tog_secul.html It is a blog post and she details the use of it in a secular manner. Thanks! I love the Apologia Elementary books and just grabbed a Sharpie and marked through all the content that was religious. I can never, ever resell it, unless some one wants a pre-edited book. I didn't think I'd be able to use Apologia with my youngest dds- I prefer to only use secular texts in the elementary years. I never thought about using a Sharpie! I'm going to give it a shot :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
April in NC Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I've been using TOG more or less secularly for the past year, with no trouble at all. (I say more or less, because I am not teaching from a particular religious point of view, but I do think that religion is important to learn about, because of its influence throughout history and into the modern era.) I did avoid TOG for a few years when I first heard of it and looked into it, because I was concerned about it being heavily biased in a particular religious slant. However, when I looked at the samples for year 3 that are available on the website, I realized that it would probably work just fine, and that I really loved the way it put things together, and all the thought and work that had gone into creating it. I've used Year 2, units 3 and 4, and Year 3-unit 1, mostly for UG so far. LOVE it. It's loose enough for me to tinker, but with a framework that keeps me from having to reinvent the wheel, which is important for me, due to chronic health reasons.. There are a lot of religious references in the teacher's guide, but many (if not most) of the books are mainstream neutral. Some books may have religion in them, but as a depiction of the historical reality. A few books I skipped, but as someone else said, there were more than I could use anyway. Thankfully, TOG is not the type of program that avoids difficult topics or controversial situations. (prehistory may be an exception, but then again, that's PRE history, and TOG is just history, lol) If there is something that they disagree with, they usually explain the other side's point of view, too, and I have so far been able to easily modify their conclusions to mesh with my own. Even the teacher's materials are mostly based around excerpts from the World Book encyclopedia, with sidebars added that highlight spiritual implications of things. If it bugs you to see bible verses in your teacher's materials, though, then that will certainly keep you from being able to fully enjoy this program. If you can look past that without resentment, then you may very well be able to get a lot out of it. I even created a TOG Secular Yahoo group at one point, with several members. However, there doesn't seem to be an urgent need for a lot of support in adapting it, and so the group is mostly quiet. It is pretty straightforward - you just skip the stuff you don't like - there is MORE than enough to just work on the secular assignments. The consensus is that Year 1 is the toughest to adapt, and many choose something else for Ancients. Also, D and R levels may be different - we haven't gotten there yet. But I haven't heard of many problems with those levels either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted May 25, 2011 Author Share Posted May 25, 2011 So which is better TOG DE or Classic for secular users? I actually plan on teaching about Church history and read the Bible with ds:) I am just concerned that about a particular world view coloring the curricula. For example, I looked at a sample of Veritas Press literature guide for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and was surprised to see all the questions about Biblical stuff for the chapters in this book:001_huh: I do not recall this book to be mainly about religion unless my memory is bad:tongue_smilie: I cannot help but think that this literature guide was artificially focusing on the religious stuff to the exclusion of the main ideas/themes in this book:( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I have no experience with Classic, we use Redesigned without a problem. I like DE for the unlimited updates. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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