Amy C Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 I have tried several TOG units at various point over the years. My ds15 is in 10th grade - the dialectic books are too easy for him, but the rhetoric books are a little dry for him. He loves history, so I don't want to turn him off by forcing him to read books that appear to be college level. I am wondering if anyone has been successful just using the history questions and maybe some of the literature? It seems expensive, but might be worth it if it helps with accountability and writing. Our current system is that he reads a book and is then supposed to summarize it...he will read the book and talk about it, but getting the written summary is like pulling teeth! I purchased TWEM recently to help get him going, but might need a back-up plan. We are secular homeschoolers - there just doesn't seem to be much out there for high school history. He could read SWB's high school books - but I don't know how to get him writing about what he has read. Any ideas would be appreciated. I should add that he can write - he worked his way through SWI C this summer with no problem. Thanks. Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elise Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 We are having a lot of success with the WTM approach and SWB's history books so far. It's simple and efficient! After reading each chapter, my girls do the following (this is pretty much exactly from WTM): 1) list the important dates in the chapter and why they stand out 2) include the names of 2-3 most important individuals in the chapter 3) detail 3-4 events that stand out in the chapter 4) list two events/people/ideas you'd like to investigate further That's it! It's very doable, and my girls are each creating a pretty cool history "book" of their own, just from the summaries. We plan to do some longer research papers on topics of their choosing (probably from the list generated from #4.) We're also doing the WTM Great Books plan, so we have a separate section in the notebooks for context papers and essays related to those works. We're only about a month into our year, but so far I couldn't be happier with how this is working at our house! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lang Syne Boardie Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Amy, if you want secular I would steer you away from TOG. We're using it (rhetoric level for 9th grade) and generally enjoying it, but it is certainly very religious. Several of the weeks use the Bible as the main text for history, literature, and government. You'd be thumb-twiddling and wondering why you bought TOG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Well... not all of them are dry. My history loving kid did TOG year 3 rhetoric in 7th and year 4 rhetoric in 8th. He LOVED the Civil War books!!! But, neither of my kids were rhetoric level for year 1 which I think is dry. But there is a TON of religion in this curriculum... If you are secular, I'm not sure you want it. Christine I have tried several TOG units at various point over the years. My ds15 is in 10th grade - the dialectic books are too easy for him, but the rhetoric books are a little dry for him. He loves history, so I don't want to turn him off by forcing him to read books that appear to be college level. I am wondering if anyone has been successful just using the history questions and maybe some of the literature? It seems expensive, but might be worth it if it helps with accountability and writing. Our current system is that he reads a book and is then supposed to summarize it...he will read the book and talk about it, but getting the written summary is like pulling teeth! I purchased TWEM recently to help get him going, but might need a back-up plan. We are secular homeschoolers - there just doesn't seem to be much out there for high school history. He could read SWB's high school books - but I don't know how to get him writing about what he has read. Any ideas would be appreciated. I should add that he can write - he worked his way through SWI C this summer with no problem. Thanks. Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elinor Everywhere Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 We are having a lot of success with the WTM approach and SWB's history books so far. It's simple and efficient! After reading each chapter, my girls do the following (this is pretty much exactly from WTM): 1) list the important dates in the chapter and why they stand out 2) include the names of 2-3 most important individuals in the chapter 3) detail 3-4 events that stand out in the chapter 4) list two events/people/ideas you'd like to investigate further That's it! It's very doable, and my girls are each creating a pretty cool history "book" of their own, just from the summaries. We plan to do some longer research papers on topics of their choosing (probably from the list generated from #4.) We're also doing the WTM Great Books plan, so we have a separate section in the notebooks for context papers and essays related to those works. We're only about a month into our year, but so far I couldn't be happier with how this is working at our house! This sounds so simple and wonderful...part of me is jealous! I'm using TOG and we all love it, but sometimes I do yearn to simplify. I think I'm too afraid! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy C Posted October 3, 2011 Author Share Posted October 3, 2011 Thanks for the responses. We will try the WTM approach and see how it goes. Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battlemaiden Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 This sounds so simple and wonderful...part of me is jealous! I'm using TOG and we all love it, but sometimes I do yearn to simplify. I think I'm too afraid! :iagree: TOGing here too. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I want to say, "isn't there a movie?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 :iagree: TOGing here too. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I want to say, "isn't there a movie?" I had a dear friend who sold me all of her older edition TOG stuff for a great price. Great enough that I feel ok with just using it as a base guide for how we should stay on track scheduling wise (ie, this week is the Rise of Absolute Monarchs, and next week is the Glorious Revolution). But what I did was to use library resources and our own copious book collections to choose the books that I really wanted us to read. Sometimes it's the TOG suggestion. But often I have a text that is just as good, but OOP, so TOG won't list it. To be honest, I use few of the discussion questions. We are pretty good about discussing what we read. I did pick up a set of AP US History flashcards and we are using those to stimulate discussion about the high points of what we read. I'm not 100% sold on the activity sheets with TOG, so I have been substituting with outlines or notebooking pages as needed (either when the TOG sheet is for a book we didn't read or when I'm not fond of the format or point of the lesson). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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