taffnus Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 OK....I started TOG last year with my 2G dd after 2 years with SL and trying History Odyssey. We jumped it in Year 1, Unit 2 and loved it. We are in week 2 of Year 2 and it's even better. I love the books for lower grammar. This year, my girls are 3G and K and I'm bringing the Ker into all the readings and she'll be doing the crafts as well. I love how the Christian perspective is woven throughout....love it!! In 1 1/2 weeks, we've read two non-Chr. titles (Usborne is one) and 4 books on Chr. figures (St. Brigid, St. Patrick, St. Valentine, and a poet). The books are on their level, interesting and beautifully illustrated. I also don't find the reading too much to handle. SL was too much for us. It's also quite easy to lessen or add to the schedule to suit our needs. I know that so much of TOG is geared towards older learners but the books are so rich, just reading the LG list to younger students seems like a great intro to history. I just can't say enough about TOG. I understand that the format makes it not the best choice for some but, for us right now, it's perfect. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3Blessings Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Are you getting any UG books for your older children? I just wondered because I've been planning TOG and attempting to decide which books. I had planned (thanks to the smart moms here) to do LG for read alouds and then get several UG for ds8 and dd6. Both started reading early and are now reading quite well. Have you tried UG books? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matilda Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Are you getting any UG books for your older children? I just wondered because I've been planning TOG and attempting to decide which books. I had planned (thanks to the smart moms here) to do LG for read alouds and then get several UG for ds8 and dd6. Both started reading early and are now reading quite well. Have you tried UG books? You could add in UG books easily, especially if you were willing to use them as more read alouds if they turn out to be too hard for your 6yo. I use STOW (a UG) as a read aloud for everyone, even my D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taffnus Posted September 21, 2011 Author Share Posted September 21, 2011 Are you getting any UG books for your older children? I just wondered because I've been planning TOG and attempting to decide which books. I had planned (thanks to the smart moms here) to do LG for read alouds and then get several UG for ds8 and dd6. Both started reading early and are now reading quite well. Have you tried UG books? My girls are 8 and 5. The older is an advanced but picky reader. :001_smile: The only UG book I added last year was SOTW. This year I decided not to add it again after seeing the LG books. There are so many that I thought they'd be all that's necessary. I'm not using TOG yet for her readers. I'd think that next year I'll bump her up to UG. It may really depend on how you plan on using TOG. It seems that it would be easy to add library readers for your kids or mix in some UG books. I haven't found it necessary yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEMama Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 A lot of people posted that TOG was overwhelming. Did you find this to be the case? Did you have to do a lot of planning beforehand? I really liked the materials and activities that I saw for the rhetoric stage, so I was thinking of using it later on. Maybe I should take another look at what is there for LG again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhaddon Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I have a first grader and we are beyond trilled with it. No way can you do it all. To get it all figured out we are not on a weekly schedule and move up as needed. He is having a blast and loves it. The books are excellent and we are loving it. I bought the lapbook and maps, perfect for his age. I was reluctant to buy because eveyone said it wasn't worth it, but I feel it is a perfect fit for us. I am learning a lot as is dh just from talking to us lol. As far as hard to implement, yes. The problem is (for me) no Set schedule telling you what to do and boxes to check off. But, it is because not everyone is going to do all components. Like we do maps, lapbooks, reading, sap's, and the activities that we have time for. If we had older children it would be so much different so you can't make out a schedule for every family. I haven't found it to be too overwhelming just different and getting used to it. Figuring out our grove right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3Blessings Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I was wondering if you could share how many books your children read independently from LG? I got the idea that the LG books were meant primarily as read aloud so I am planning to do that with those books. How much time do you think you spend reading books to them- I mean just TOG books. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SewLittleTime Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Glad you are enjoying it! We made the move from SL last year, and it's been a good move for us. I love how customizable TOG is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taffnus Posted September 21, 2011 Author Share Posted September 21, 2011 A lot of people posted that TOG was overwhelming. Did you find this to be the case? Did you have to do a lot of planning beforehand? I really liked the materials and activities that I saw for the rhetoric stage, so I was thinking of using it later on. Maybe I should take another look at what is there for LG again... I plan for school on Saturday and that's when I sit down and go through all of the subjects and type out my weekly schedule. I find TOG quite simple to understand although I can see why it "looks" daunting. It has A LOT of information but you can use as much or as little as you want. There are some weeks that I don't even read the teacher's supplement which is the full, lengthy history lesson. We do everything in the core (history, history in-depth, literature, arts/activities and worldview). There are times when I substitute books because I depend on our library. I then add from the extra resources column if they're available from our library. We don't do the lapbooks and we adjust the maps to fit our level. We found the salt maps to be a huge hit here so we'll do more of that this year. We also use our wall map and globe more than the printed maps that come with TOG. I do use them some though. So, the books are laid out for me - no issue there. I then pick the suggested activities that I think will be a hit and that we have time for. This week I had an activity on my schedule for every day of the week but that's the first to go if we don't have time. I'll then decide at the end of the week if it's worth delaying moving to catch up on the activities. So, I find TOG easy to understand and, for the wealth of info and the awesome book selection, I LOVE it. I can only speak to the LG stage...the upper levels look really intense. I'll have to defer to others for that. Anyway, hope that helps. I'm off to teach the girls the art of Medieval calligraphy and stationery decoration. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taffnus Posted September 21, 2011 Author Share Posted September 21, 2011 I was wondering if you could share how many books your children read independently from LG? I got the idea that the LG books were meant primarily as read aloud so I am planning to do that with those books. How much time do you think you spend reading books to them- I mean just TOG books. Thanks! I read all of the books as read-alouds. It could certainly be adjusted based on the children but, I have a 5 yo as well so I read them out loud. Plus, I'm enjoying them as much as the kids are. I find that I like to add what I know to the stories (which isn't always very much). We do all of our TOG reading at lunchtime so, I'd say it takes 10-20 minutes each day. Today for instance, we're reading 2 pages out of an Usborne book and a small book called I am Eastern Orthodox. That's it. Yesterday, we read 1 page from Usborne, 2 pages from another history book, and a book on St. Patrick. Tomorrow we read The Night Before Christmas and Across and Dark and Wild Sea. It's all very doable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsrevmeg Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I LOVE TOG in the younger years. Yes, it is more rigorous and intense for the older students. But for the younger ones it is fun. The books have gorgeous illustrations. There are so many hands on activities. Today my son is going to make a crown. He is learning about Napoleon crowning himself emperor. Lower grammar is very gentle. It seems to ignite a love of learning so that when they come to the heavier levels they feel more prepared. They have learned about Romans gods and goddesses and read about the emperor Nero being bad. Later on that helps to prepare them for learning just how bad Nero was and to see the darkness of his heart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baybedaul Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 So good to hear! We're just starting out in LG with Y1U1. We've been pleased with the reading selections thus far, and it's nice to hear that we have more to look forward to. :) We're still getting the hang of it here... I didn't buy any books this first unit just because I didn't know what to expect. Now I think I have a better idea of what things I can substitute for and what are probably worth purchasing. I set aside a week in between units for planning periods and I already find myself really looking forward to perusing the new material! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warneral Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Would someone please explain - is there a spine that is written into the curriculum? I downloaded samples at one time but still was a bit overwhelmed with how it works :) I've also watched the videos LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taffnus Posted September 21, 2011 Author Share Posted September 21, 2011 Would someone please explain - is there a spine that is written into the curriculum? I downloaded samples at one time but still was a bit overwhelmed with how it works :) I've also watched the videos LOL Someone with more experience may jump in here but, I haven't seen one single book used yet for LG. We seem to use multiple books that serve as the "spine" and then other books to support and flesh it out. For instance, in Y2 LG, we're starting out using Usborne Internet-Linked Medieval World as the spine. I've also added The Middle Ages from the supplemental list. It looks like UG uses The Story of the Middle Ages by Harding. We will spend weeks, maybe months reading these. Then, we'll move onto another. It would be very easy to add a book like SOTW to serve as a spine. It's in the schedule as a supplemental resource so page numbers are given to mesh with the schedule. We did that last year for Y1. It may be different for the older kids - I'm not sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhaddon Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 She has a list for each level. The main books are what the student activity pages questions come from. She has extra books listed as well. We also use some we have had or can find in the library. I bought a few and I'm sure they will be well loved. I use sotw and chow as a main spine right now. As they progress maybe an usborne dictionary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAutumnOak Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Are you getting any UG books for your older children? I just wondered because I've been planning TOG and attempting to decide which books. I had planned (thanks to the smart moms here) to do LG for read alouds and then get several UG for ds8 and dd6. Both started reading early and are now reading quite well. Have you tried UG books? Not the OP, but I will share what we are doing...I am using both LG and UG because I have kindergarten, 1st grade, and 5th grade boys...My fifth grader uses the UG reading books...I would think the LG books would be better for a 3rd grader...My 5th grader has a lot of reading to do with the UG books and the subject matter is more suited for his age, and 4th grade if you have a strong reader...But this is just my opinion and others may disagree... A lot of people posted that TOG was overwhelming. Did you find this to be the case? Did you have to do a lot of planning beforehand? I really liked the materials and activities that I saw for the rhetoric stage, so I was thinking of using it later on. Maybe I should take another look at what is there for LG again... It is not overwhelming to me...It is the easiest in the LG stage...I wanted to use it for high school, so it made more sense to me to get a feel for it now and be very much use to it by the time I get to high school...I didn't want to have to jump in at the high school level when it is more difficult...I use the books as read alouds for my LG boys...They really don't need to do anything else, but we read the vocabulary words and the geography work...They do the mapwork with their older brother who is doing UG...They just sit and watch him label and copy it for their work...I like the program and think it is fine... I was wondering if you could share how many books your children read independently from LG? I got the idea that the LG books were meant primarily as read aloud so I am planning to do that with those books. How much time do you think you spend reading books to them- I mean just TOG books. Thanks! My LG boys are not reading independently yet so I read all of the books to them...They have a children's bible that is the same as UG, so my older son reads that particular book to them...I would also use the books as read alouds at the LG level if they were reading on that level though... I plan for school on Saturday and that's when I sit down and go through all of the subjects and type out my weekly schedule. I find TOG quite simple to understand although I can see why it "looks" daunting. It has A LOT of information but you can use as much or as little as you want. There are some weeks that I don't even read the teacher's supplement which is the full, lengthy history lesson. We do everything in the core (history, history in-depth, literature, arts/activities and worldview). There are times when I substitute books because I depend on our library. I then add from the extra resources column if they're available from our library. We don't do the lapbooks and we adjust the maps to fit our level. I agree with the above...The only thing that it different for us is that I have not substituted a book yet at this point (I bought all of the books for unit 1 LG and UG so far except the extra resources) so it has not been necessary to substitute...We do listen to SOTW audio that corresponds to the week while the boys are playing one day a week, but other than that I don't use the extra resource list...I also do not do lapbooks (for any subject ;)) Would someone please explain - is there a spine that is written into the curriculum? I downloaded samples at one time but still was a bit overwhelmed with how it works :) I've also watched the videos LOL There is no one spine that is read throughout the year...The children read different books throughout the year based on the subject...There is a lot of books to obtain during the year, which can become expensive, but I love the books selected and the program is worth it to me at this point...There are a few books that are read for several weeks though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 So excited there are so many of us loving TOG for LG and UG levels! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warneral Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Sounds similar to Sonlight but meatier. When I first discovered TOG I thought that the author had written a large text for the program so I kept that thought with me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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