3Blessings Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 (edited) I haven't actually started TOG, but I have all the material and want to start in January with yr 1. I have been thinking/looking at books and trying to make a decision about where to begin. I understand that LG is for early/non-readers. My ds8 and dd6 have been reading for some time now. They both read quite well and comprehension is not an issue, BUT since they would be "reading to learn" and I expect many of the books will contain new vocabulary, perhaps I should start LG instead? I honestly don't know many of the books on the book lists and the library at my disposal does not carry many English books. I would be buying these books and carrying them back from the U.S. I really appreciate the wisdom of this forum's experience. Thanks for taking the time to help! Edited September 13, 2011 by 3Blessings To change dd8 to ds8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amanda_Jo Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 We are almost done with unit 1 of year 2. I am finding that my oldest daughter, who is almost 8 and reads very well, is doing best with using a mix of both levels. For literature she is reading the Upper Grammar books independently after reading the lower grammar literature books out loud to her 6 year old (non-reader) sister. We are listening to SOTW 2 as it is scheduled in the Upper Grammar alternate resource list while reading aloud the Lower Grammar history books. For the most part the Upper Grammar History books have been a bit over her head while the Upper Grammar lit books have been really enjoyable for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom&nana Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Well I have Yr 1 Unit 1 and I was going to use it with my 7th grader. I had ordered books and was going to have her in a mix of UG/D. Even TOG says you can use the Encyclopedia of the Ancient World with D kids if you are on a budget. So I bought the Ancient World Encyc. Here are some things to consider. Do your dc like to read? Will they want to read 40-50pages in two days with the core readings? The Encyclopedia is the Core readings and Marcia says Core readings should be read on the first two days so the student has time to do the other activities during the week. Week 2 is one of the busy weeks, 50+ pages from the Encyclopedia, The book Pyramid (which is 80 pages), then 5 chapters from the Lit book "Peeps at many Lands". So if you think you're children can handle that, UG might work out fine. However, if you feel that might overwhelm them, then I'd go with the LG. I think with the ages of your children LG would be just fine. Anyway, I've chickened out of TOG for the second time before actually starting...lol. So I might not be the best person to get advice from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 I would suggest doing LG and adding UG book here and there as they desire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 I haven't actually started TOG, but I have all the material and want to start in January with yr 1. I have been thinking/looking at books and trying to make a decision about where to begin. I understand that LG is for early/non-readers. My ds8 and dd6 have been reading for some time now. They both read quite well and comprehension is not an issue, BUT since they would be "reading to learn" and I expect many of the books will contain new vocabulary, perhaps I should start LG instead? I honestly don't know many of the books on the book lists and the library at my disposal does not carry many English books. I would be buying these books and carrying them back from the U.S. I really appreciate the wisdom of this forum's experience. Thanks for taking the time to help! When we lived overseas and I didn't have access to a library I just previewed books as best I could online. I used Amazon, Rainbow, CBD, Google and wherever I could see some preview pages of the books. I mostly used Amazon because of the reviews also. I have a soon to be 8 year old who is also an advanced reader. I am just adding some UG books here and there for now. He likes reading the LG books and I find them age appropriate :). I am transitioning him gradually. We are also using SOTW (TOG has it on the alternate resources list at the UG level) and taking it slower. This year we will be finishing Year 1 and moving onto Year 2 next year, which we will also take two years to complete in order to incorporate SOTW and Canadian history. I may fully transition him to UG when we start Year 2 next year. ETA: We are also adding CHOW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyNellen Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 I would suggest doing LG and adding UG book here and there as they desire. This would be my suggestion, as well. It is much easier to beef up the reading load with a few extra books than to find the reading over the heads of your children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3Blessings Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 Thanks for the feedback. I had suspected that the best way would be starting at LG and supplementing as needed with UG. I have looked at some books on Amazon, etc., but not all. I will most likely be doing more looking in the next month and a half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
didadeewiththree Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 I would suggest doing LG and adding UG book here and there as they desire. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsrevmeg Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 I would suggest doing LG and adding UG book here and there as they desire. I agree with this line of thinking. My middle son (who taught himself to read at age 3) was doing upper grammar in third grade, is now doing dialectic in grade 5. My youngest son, on the other hand, used to say at age 6 that he didn't need to know how to read by himself since he has a mom and dad who can read. He is 8, in 3rd grade, and doing lower grammar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 I think you need to consider your goals. Do you want your kids to be reading the TOG books? Or do you want to be reading to them? Also note that the UG books are chosen for young but fluent readers to read on their own. The LG books, on the other hand, are chosen as read-alouds, meaning the books have more complicated language and plots than the UG books. One might assume that the LG books are simpler, but it is quite the opposite most of the time. What I have been doing with my advanced reader is to keep her in LG, but occasionally I will ask her to read just a page or two of the easier, high-interest books and then narrate to me. Maybe I am selfish, but I don't want to miss out on reading all of those great picture books with her while she is of an age to really enjoy them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 I think you need to consider your goals. Do you want your kids to be reading the TOG books? Or do you want to be reading to them? Also note that the UG books are chosen for young but fluent readers to read on their own. The LG books, on the other hand, are chosen as read-alouds, meaning the books have more complicated language and plots than the UG books. One might assume that the LG books are simpler, but it is quite the opposite most of the time. What I have been doing with my advanced reader is to keep her in LG, but occasionally I will ask her to read just a page or two of the easier, high-interest books and then narrate to me. Maybe I am selfish, but I don't want to miss out on reading all of those great picture books with her while she is of an age to really enjoy them. Great point. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 I think you need to consider your goals. Do you want your kids to be reading the TOG books? Or do you want to be reading to them? Also note that the UG books are chosen for young but fluent readers to read on their own. The LG books, on the other hand, are chosen as read-alouds, meaning the books have more complicated language and plots than the UG books. One might assume that the LG books are simpler, but it is quite the opposite most of the time. What I have been doing with my advanced reader is to keep her in LG, but occasionally I will ask her to read just a page or two of the easier, high-interest books and then narrate to me. Maybe I am selfish, but I don't want to miss out on reading all of those great picture books with her while she is of an age to really enjoy them. Great point. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3Blessings Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 Wow- thanks for that perspective. Truthfully, I love reading to and with my children (and they love it, too), but my two oldest read for 1/2 hour every day on their own already and I love that they have some silent reading experiences. And it is fun, too, because they will tell me about the books they have read on their own with excitement (because of course I haven't read them!). So, I'm up in the air again! Still, I think it would be wise to get some LG for read alouds and include my dd4 AND get some UG for the two big kids for them to read on their own. This wouldn't be so difficult if I had a good library! :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 (edited) Also note that the UG books are chosen for young but fluent readers to read on their own. The LG books, on the other hand, are chosen as read-alouds, meaning the books have more complicated language and plots than the UG books. One might assume that the LG books are simpler, but it is quite the opposite most of the time. I just read or heard that somewhere in the Lampstand website. Before that I had never thought about it that way. I spent quite a bit of time on there yesterday after AngelBee posted a link to one of Marcia's videos in another thread and I realized I had not been on there in a while to check out what new information is on there that I may have missed ;). Anyway, I am rambling now. Thank you for posting it for others :). Very good point! Edited September 14, 2011 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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