yarrow Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 I'm still trying to decide what to use for this coming fall for my son. I was leaning towards MFW World History but then I came across TOG. If anyone is aware of how they differ/are similar explain it to me, that would be great. I'm not entirely sure I know what I want (part of the problem) but I do know we want a literature-based program with some sort of a guide. Yes, I've looked at Sonlight & Beautiful Feet. Obviously, I want to be involved and discuss and guide but I can't have something that requires lots and lots of teacher planning. Anyone want to give me they're opinions on whether TOG might be a good match? And if it's worth the cost with one high school aged child at home to use it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 I've only glanced through TOG, so I can't really speak to that. My ds is using MFW World History this year. I have read through the entire scheduling book and I am very impressed. There is not a lot of prep work on my part needed. The parent/teacher is supposed to meet with the student once a week to talk about the literature and history reading. Sometimes there are specific things that you are supposed to talk about, other times the directions for this meeting are more general. They encourage you to plan a block of time to do this discussion but do say that the time needed will vary. I am planning 1 1/2 hours and I think that will be more than enough time for my son. Of course, if you read the materials you can have more in depth discussions. I don't think this is entirely necessary though. The student should be able to explain their work to you. Some of the assignments are papers, so you will know their level of understanding through those. I plan to read some of them, but for the others I am going to read summaries online from Glencoe, Spark Notes or Cliff Notes. I am planning about 1 hour of prep time for me to get ready for the discussion every week. Keep in mind though, some of what he is reading I remember from earlier readings of my own. There is a research paper assigned at the beginning of the year & they state that the parent should plan to meet with the student whenever a new concept in this process is introduced. They say you should read the assigned pages of Writer's Inc. together & you can then answer any questions the student has. The number of pages assigned at one time looks to be fairly small, so I don't think it will take any more than 20 minutes to go over that when it comes up. Yes, I think the cost of the package from MFW is worth it. I will only be using it for one student & don't mind it a bit. I also saw that the prices on most of the books are very competitive with amazon, so I don't think you'll be losing out on any deals by buying through MFW instead of Amazon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeegal Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 I suspect TOG might include more teacher prep than MFW. TOG gives us the reading assignments, writing assignments, worksheets, teacher's notes for me to read, and discussion outlines. I needed to pull together what books I'd have my dss read, what writing level they should work at, and print all student accountability pages they'd need. To prep during the school year, I need to take time to read through the teacher's notes to be ready for the weekly discussion. The selling points of TOG for me: The weekly discussion - I love, love, love it Being able to have all 6 children involved. My littles can do some of the crafts and enjoy some of the LG literature books. My older children read and have quality discussions. I don't know if I would use TOG for 1 high schooler. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 TOG feels bigger to me when I look at MFW samples, but I have not done MFW so there maybe more to their materials than their samples. I strongly suggest download the samples of similar levels (high school) and if possible get as many of the books used from the library and do a side by side comparison. Without the books you won't get a good sense of the difference in materials used. A lot depends on what you mean in a "literature based program." I always look to the book lists. TOG appears to use more and higher level books in some high school levels. They do not use any "historical fiction" past the D level after that the lit is the lit of the time. Studying ancient Egyptians? Read Ancient Egyptian poetry, and so forth. I'll even say that Tapestry has been described to me as being history centered vs. book/literature centered like Sonlight (this was said by a Sonlight user). I think that is a valid description; Tapestry is driven first by history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 I strongly suggest download the samples of similar levels (high school) and if possible get as many of the books used from the library and do a side by side comparison. Without the books you won't get a good sense of the difference in materials used. This is an excellent idea. I'll have to keep this in mind for future years. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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