Mammy5 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Okay, so I see that some people like TOG in the elementary years and others say it's better to wait until the middle grades. I keep going around in circles with this. I have 4 children in the early grades, ages 5,6,7 and 8. Now, my 8 year old looooves history and is a Competent Carl (Cathy Duffy term) so wants to continually connect things. I love the WTM and want to stick with something that is close to those principles. I am going around in circles right now trying to figure out what to do. I seem to always come back around to TOG. I heard someone say it's textbookishy in the elementary years, or maybe I misunderstood them, I really don't like that idea. I have read the guide and looked at everything online and read the 3 week sample. I would really like more opinions on this from people who have had experience with the program. I am also looking into Easy Classical, which I did use some last year, but I find that the read-alouds are awesome for my older 2 I'm afraid the choices for history would be a little advanced for my youngest 2. I am glad to have so many wonderful options though! And of course there is the SOTW and activity guide? Help please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 We start in a week and a half, but I've thoroughly read through everything and planned all books for the year, etc. I don't see it being text bookish AT ALL. DS and I both are very excited about this upcoming year. If I wasn't planning on continuing to use it through logic and rhetoric stage, I wouldn't get it for grammar stage, I'd just do SOTW. But, since I am planning on continuing with it, I figured I might as well learn the ropes now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgrubbs Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I will be using TOG for the first time this upcoming year with 7th, 4th and 1st graders. I purchased the first quarter we will be using (Year 2, Unit 3) and been preparing. I don't feel there is anything textbookish about the elementary years. We will be reading LOTS of great history living books. I will use a spine with the 4th grader (and 1st may or may not listen it to those). Story of the World is listed for each week as an alternate spine, which I think I'm going to use as audios in the car for all of us to listen in on! The main motivation for me was I that I wanted to keep all my kids together on the same time period and I wanted to cover American history thoroughly. We've LOVED Mystery of History and if it covered American we would have stuck with that but since it doesn't I've had to look elsewhere. I found a program that I loved for the middle school years but couldn't find any way to incorporate the youngers easily and I really didn't want to run 2 programs. I also love that I have lit, geography and discussion helps in this program. Good luck with your choice. I know I've agonized over it for months and finally decided to try one quarter. Now that I have it I feel certain we'll stick with it but I won't decide for certain until we are several weeks into this first quarter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvnlattes Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 We just finished our second year with TOG and my youngest has been working at the Upper Grammar level. I have not found it to be textbookish at all for that level. There were some things at D level in Year 1 that were textbookish but not at UG level. I love the way TOG is set up for UG and the book selections. They click with my 11yo as well. I often wish that I had done TOG with my olders when they were younger. Having said that, it is expensive which is why I think so many people steer you away from it in the younger years. You're paying quite a bit of money for a book list and schedule. But if you have the desire to go through the Teacher's Notes and/or D level discussions yourself to see what connections you want to bring to your son, it would be offering you a lot more than a book list and schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 (edited) double post Edited June 21, 2012 by besroma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I agree with other posters that TOG is not textbookish at all. If it speaks to you, I would go for it. We love it for all levels. I do understand what people are saying about the expense, but if you stick with it, you will be using the books over again given the ages of your children. Your 4yo will likely not sit and listen contentedly to each book you read. My 3yo plays with blocks, dolls, etc. during our lesson and has absorbed quite a bit listening in! If you are concerned about cost, order the books you will use for multiple weeks and reserve others at the library. If you find one you like a lot, order it used from Amazon, or keep a list of those books for when you come back around to it. I keep all of the books I own for a current unit on a bookshelf and allow the children to read them as they want to (I follow the order...I just don't make them wait to read it). Sometimes we end up kind of reviewing the books because they have already read so many of them. I keep the library books for that unit in a basket specifically for TOG. It will get expensive if you think you need every book on the list. It will get overwhelming if you feel like you need to read every book and lecture on each one. You can get some good deals if you find someone selling a lot (box) of books rather than picking them up bit by bit. Try to remember that it is like a buffet....take what really interests you, leave what does not. If you are studying the Romanlibrarys fine to check out books at the library Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemongoose Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 We use TOG in the LG stage. In fact the last two years I used it with only one LG student. This coming school year we are adding my 2nd DC to the mix and my 1st DC is moving up to UG. We have absolutely loved TOG in these lower years, and I do not regret using it. In lower grammar it is almost all picture books. They are well done and we have enjoyed them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I have only used LG. I do find some of the history books to be a bit textbooky. Perhaps that is because there is not a lot out there for that age group? Nevertheless, I have a dd7 that absolutely loves these books. She picks them out of a larger stack of books that I pick out for as if they have "TOG" stamped on them. If I wasn't planning on continuing to use it through logic and rhetoric stage, I wouldn't get it for grammar stage, I'd just do SOTW. But, since I am planning on continuing with it, I figured I might as well learn the ropes now. :iagree: I feel very justified in using TOG for the grammar stage because I will continue to use it for the D and R stages. Otherwise, SOTW would be perfect. We actually supplement with the SOTW audio CD's. You're paying quite a bit of money for a book list and schedule. But if you have the desire to go through the Teacher's Notes and/or D level discussions yourself to see what connections you want to bring to your son, it would be offering you a lot more than a book list and schedule. :iagree: If you are looking to TOG to help your G level children make connections, you are going to have to do a lot of prep yourself. The Socratic discussions are not tailored to this age group, so you will have to look through the upper level material and figure out if and how you can use it for your younger kids. It is important to note that the books that younger kids are reading are sometimes only tangentially related to what the older kids are learning. So sometimes it may be hard to adapt the Socratic questions to the younger group. Honestly, while I have lamented this gap in TOG, I haven't been able bring myself to care enough about it to do anything about it. There isn't anything else out there that offers Socratic discussions for LG kids. And with the reading, we are already spending way more time with history than I think we need to at this age. Even if TOG offered questions for Socratic discussion, I am not sure that I could justify the amount of time it would take to prepare for them. So, yes. Right now, TOG is a book list, a schedule, mapping activities, and crafts. It seems a lot of money to pay for that, but I continue to feel drawn to it even after using for 2 years. I still see it as a program that we will gradually grow into and ultimately get the most out of at the R level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mammy5 Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 (edited) I appreciate every ones replies. Does anyone use SOTW with their grammar school students and then plan on using TOG starting in the middle grades? I'm wondering your point of view on this also. Thanks! Edited June 22, 2012 by Mammy5 grammar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smgwynn Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Tog has more than a book list. If you look through the weekly schedule under the student activities section, you'll find discussion questions to talk over with your ug/lg students. You'll also find worksheets for the lit component, some of which have sparked great discussions in our home. I use tog for lg, ug, and d levels and it is all of their favorite subjects. My 3 y.o. Even sits in to listen to the lg reading. As a side note, there are quite a few tog co-ops out there. You can try to locate one on the tog find-a-friend site if that's something you're interested in. I have found that to be the best way for my kids to interact with all the wonderful materials tog offers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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