TOG Grammar Stages History Question

[TheAutumnOak]

Do you read the history core as well as the history in depth books for the grammar stages?...I will have lower and upper grammar students this year and I am trying to figure out what I need...I don't want to get caught without books I need, but I also don't want to purchase books I won't really need...

Thanks so much in advance!

[SewLittleTime]

I think it depends on your kid. But I didn't know this until I actually put TOG into practice. For my UG, he will devour every book I put out for him. My LG is good with just the core reading. He's young and really doesn't need or want that much in-depth. My time is better spent reading aloud good books to him.

[TracyP]

Do you have TOG in your hands yet? It is much easier to get a feel for the books you need once you can scan through each week.

 

How tight is $$? Do you plan to use the library? You could get through Year 1 (if this is where you are starting) with a Bible and less than $100 in books. Of course, it would be more fun to spend much more and some people prefer not to use the library.

 

My personal rule of thumb...I buy any book that gets used 5+ weeks. From there I work on a curve. I will buy a $5 book that gets used for 2 weeks but not a $15 book. I am more liberal with the lit selections because so many of them are books I want on my shelves anyway.

[bluemongoose]

My DD was LG this last year, she is moving up to UG this fall. We did read both, but she is an enthusiastic learner! My DS will start in another year, and I may have to pare things down for him. I think it depends on the kid. If your kid is interested and has the attention span to sit through both, then plan to read both...if not, don't. The books that are listed are very good, there was only one book that my DD didn't care for in all of year 1, and we did all the reading listed!

[baybedaul]

I'm interested in this too. I'm following along with SOTW 1 this year as well though, so it looks like we have a ton of books to choose from each week. We're strictly Lower Grammar though, so I'm trying to be pretty low key about it. *Trying* being the key word... I'm not generally a very low key person. :rolleyes: But I don't want to be that box-checker that everyone seems to warn against with Tapestry. I've only sorted through the books for Y1U1, but so far I bought Old Testament Days and the Usborne Encyclopedia of World History (which is actually a SOTW resource, the TOG resource is just the Encyclopedia of Ancient History - but the content is identical. Page numbers are different, but I plan to use the book through all 4 years so I thought it was a better buy than getting the years separately). I figure between those and SOTW, that would actually be enough to cover in a week if that was absolutely all we could get our hands on. I'd say our library carries about 75% of the other books, so anything I can check out is just gravy. I might feel differently though as we move through the units and up in levels.

[melmichigan]

Only if my library carries the selection, LG can always listen in to parts of UG that I read to all. I can also easily sub in with something else that my library does have on the same topic. History for LG is gravy for me.

[Tracy]

I think it also depends on what year-plan you are doing. We did Year 1 with an LG student last year, and we read all of the books, even the alternates. But looking at Year 2 now, I don't think we will be able to do that, even though my dd will want to read them all.

[HayleyKC]

I have a UG and LG student. We used all the books last year and have them all for this coming year as well. I will say from experience that there is lots of redundancy between both sets. You could definitely get away with sharing some books if you're on a budget or just don't want to be bogged down. It's nice having more than enough material if you can, just because you never know if there's a particular area where one or both of your kids get really into and can't get enough. However, like I said, if you need to trim down costs, you could definitely share. You may want to look at them before buying to determine if it's best to share the LG book or UG book. You may decide to buy the history core books that are used multiple weeks and then only pick one, either LG or UG for books that are used just one week. Same thing with the "In Depth". Maybe just get one of those. If I recall correctly, LG often doesn't have those so you'd probably be safe just getting UG. And again, you could just skip those if needed. There is sufficient info in the core history, I think.

[mhaddon]

I printed the list and went to the library online catalog and wrote down all call numbers. So I have the list of books needed. A few were used many weeks so I bought those. Next I looked at the ones used a few times and prices. Ordered all the first unit and will get the rest as I figure out the ropes

[JSnow]

Last year was our first time using TOG. My UG daughter (5th gr) read both core and history books. She went into the year as a child who didn't enjoy reading and finished saying "I love TOG books! Can we do this next year?" She used the whole program including literature and worldview books. Didn't seem overwhelming at all.

 

I bought all the books last year (majority used), but this year I have bought some and will be using the library some. I did resell all my books from last year for roughly 75% of what I paid so I believe it was a good investment. :)

[TheAutumnOak]

Thanks everyone...I am going to get both history and history core...To save $$$, I am checking the library for the LG books, since I won't have to reuse them...The UG books I will use again when my younger two are older, so I will buy those...