A home for their hearts Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I've gone back and forth on TOG for years. The 2 things that have kept me away from it are: the price, and well, it just looks overwhelming. However I really really need something for my older dd13. I feel like I'm holding her back while I concentrate on my 2ds's that struggle more. I need something that I can basically throw at her and she can go off and do it on her own. Would TOG be this? If not, what else would? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 My 12 year old is doing it independently. The only way to do it totally hands off is to enroll on a TOG online class. You would have to spend at least one to two hours in weekly discussion. Otherwise, ds has a workbook that I formatted with the questions he is supposed to answer, timelines figures he needs to place, and maps for him to complete. He sets up his own schedule and does it on his own. I've done this with him for upper grammar readings also when he was younger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehogs4 Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 It can be very independent at that age, but I agree-you have to spend a couple of hours in discussion with your dd. It takes a fair amount of preparation, which is where I believe most people become overwhelmed. As the pp said, she formatted a workbook with various things in it for her child to do each week, and I have done something similar, but these things take time. If you have time over the holidays to take on something like that (i.e. spend a chunk of time working on school planning) it might be a good time to segue into TOG. An option to help with the cost would be to buy only one unit at a time, and reduce the cost that way. Remember, if you buy the DE or DE / print edition you only have to buy it once and you have it for the rest of their school career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristi26 Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 We are doing TOG year 2 classic this year and ODS does it almost independently. We usually sit down and discuss the day's history lesson for 15-20 minutes and then I give him a list of questions and something to read (sometimes it's a paperback book, or a book online, or even one on the Kindle App or my Nook. I then also have DS9 read a chapter from SOTW to his sister who is 6. I like the idea of him practicing his reading aloud skills as he struggles with it though he is an amazing reader on his own. We don't typically do many of the suggested projects though I do like the map ideas (we have a book of outline maps here) and we DID recently build our own castle (out of paper of course, lol). I also like to add notebooking pages and am thinking of adding some homemade history pockets to the mix as well. All in all, I think the $45 I spent on it (I got the classic used for an awesome price obviously!) was worth it to give me confidence to teach my kids about history in a fun way. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeegal Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I've gone back and forth on TOG for years. The 2 things that have kept me away from it are: the price, and well, it just looks overwhelming. However I really really need something for my older dd13. I feel like I'm holding her back while I concentrate on my 2ds's that struggle more. I need something that I can basically throw at her and she can go off and do it on her own. Would TOG be this? If not, what else would? It's working very well in my house. I put hang the assignment sheet on the wall, and the older 3 children plan their assignments for the week. We sit down on Wednesday or Thursday to discuss history, and on Friday to discuss literature. My 4th grader is able to complete the readings on his own, and then we sit down on Friday to complete his lapbook together. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 It really is going to depend on the child's time management and organization skills. Remember that TOG gives a week's worth of work, and then you, or the student, have to divide that into daily work. I believe that most students using TOG independently work up to that, with the parent sitting with them for years showing them weekly and daily how to do it and slowly working up to complete independence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaymom Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I am currently using Year 1 and we are in Unit 2 for my 10 year old son--using the upper grammar and some dialectic. I really like the meat of the curriculum but it does take some getting used to and there is a learning curve. It is not open and go. There's really more there than most anyone could do in a week, so I think you would have to sort out what you think is important for your child to get out of it. We don't use their writing, but do use the history, church history, literature and geography. I think it could be made fairly independent if you were to help with the lesson plans but of course we are not at the upper levels yet. I think once you get used to the format, it gets fairly easy to manage. The biggest thing with Tapestry that I have found is figuring out what you have to leave out to keep your sanity :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.