Jump to content

Menu

The Great Courses, anyone use them, heard of them? I just got a catalog....


Recommended Posts

Search the forum. Great Courses come up often.

Many of us use them extensively.

Many courses are excellent. Worth the money if you buy them on sale. Every course goes on sale at some point - never pay full price.

Libraries have them. Amazon has some used.

 

I own and have used twelve courses. Loved ten, luekwarm on one, disappointed with one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, yes, and yes! We love the Great Courses here, and we've used several of them as either supplements to a course or as a framework for a course. The GC used to be called "The Teaching Company", so if you do a search on these boards for "The Teaching Company", you'll find all kinds of threads that talk about how these courses can be used in homeschooling.

 

Just FYI, all of their courses go on sale for at least 70% off at least once/year. So if you see something you like, you might wait for a sale. Used courses can also be found on the sale/swap forum here, and often public libraries have some of the courses. Once you've bought something, they put you on their email list, and you will get offers for discounts and sales through email as well.

 

HTH,

Brenda

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think they are worth the price when you get the sale price. The full price would make me reconsider.

 

I've been using the classical lit lectures by Elizabeth Vandiver, they are excellent and I think I paid either $15 or $25 for them as downloads. She has excellent class notes which comes as part of the download. The little booklet that came with another course was less excellent and I don't know if that is the teacher or if there is a better set of notes on the discs for that other course.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We're fans of them here, and I love the sales. We've used many of their courses here over the last couple of years and pretty much gave them all an excellent rating. Dd, found one pretty dull, but it was still a good course.

 

(Yesterday, I placed another order; I just couldn't pass up the monster sale;).)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a sale right now that is 80% off. http://www.thegreatcourses.com/
I just couldn't pass up the monster sale

Can you guys post the Priority Codes and Coupon Codes that you have? They send different codes to different people; the most recent ones I have are just the "normal" 70% off selected courses. How "monster" is the monster sale??? :bigear:

 

Jackie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think they are worth the price when you get the sale price. The full price would make me reconsider.

 

I've been using the classical lit lectures by Elizabeth Vandiver, they are excellent and I think I paid either $15 or $25 for them as downloads. She has excellent class notes which comes as part of the download. The little booklet that came with another course was less excellent and I don't know if that is the teacher or if there is a better set of notes on the discs for that other course.

 

:iagree: DS is working his way through the "Iliad" and is loving Prof. Vandiver. We have also used several other courses and I have purchased several during sales for future use.

 

The lecture format was something my ds needed to experience and we have also used them to learn how to take notes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jackie,

 

The sale I used expired yesterday, the code was 63775:crying:.

 

They had a number of Special Set offers that were incredibly low priced. (The Secrets of Mental Math + How to Become a SuperStar Student, 2nd Edition both for $59.90.) I called and talked with a rep. (already have TSoMM) and ended up upgrading my 1st edition SuperStar Student for only $40:001_smile:.

 

I always rec. calling them to see what they can do, and I'm usually pretty pleased.

 

 

 

 

Can you guys post the Priority Codes and Coupon Codes that you have? They send different codes to different people; the most recent ones I have are just the "normal" 70% off selected courses. How "monster" is the monster sale??? :bigear:

 

Jackie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't forget folks--you can go into your library with a list of Great Courses or any other materials and request the library purchase them. They may not do it or it may take a while but if there are enough requests or the librarians like the look of the materials, who knows? Many librarians who manage acquisitions keep lists of requests from the community.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We used several. It is one of the three ways that I teach my kids to create outlines and take notes from lectures.

 

Some of the art history ones are QUITE good and the youngest ds, the 11 year old, devours anything I am willing to buy concerning physics.

 

For the most part, I think they are worth the money when on sale. But, I will have to say this, we have the World History Fertile Crescent to the Revolution (at least, I believe that is the title) on VHS from about 8 years ago when dd was studying that period. Ds was NOT impressed when the professor chose to appear on camera to lecture on the ancient Greeks and Romans dressed in a toga and laurel wreath. Now, the guy is a pretty good lecturer however, in my family's opinion, he definitely NOT TOGA MATERIAL!! :lol: I wonder if that course has since been updated sans costume?????? It would be an improvement! :D

 

Faith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We used several. It is one of the three ways that I teach my kids to create outlines and take notes from lectures.

 

Some of the art history ones are QUITE good and the youngest ds, the 11 year old, devours anything I am willing to buy concerning physics.

 

For the most part, I think they are worth the money when on sale. But, I will have to say this, we have the World History Fertile Crescent to the Revolution (at least, I believe that is the title) on VHS from about 8 years ago when dd was studying that period. Ds was NOT impressed when the professor chose to appear on camera to lecture on the ancient Greeks and Romans dressed in a toga and laurel wreath. Now, the guy is a pretty good lecturer however, in my family's opinion, he definitely NOT TOGA MATERIAL!! :lol: I wonder if that course has since been updated sans costume?????? It would be an improvement! :D

 

Faith

 

He also did the first half of an American history series. The second half was never made as far as I can tell. He also dressed up in costumes for that--we loved it. In fact, he (wish I could remember his name) was our intro to the TC dvds.

 

Laura

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...