Ds 8 doesn't like TOG book selections and wants to do Sonlight

[JadeOrchidSong]

We started TOG 4 in early November after using SOTW for three years. Ds 10 is doing upper grammar TOG 4 while ds8 (well, turning 8 in a few days) is doing lower grammar history reading and upper grammar literature. Ds8 doesn't like TOG non fiction books because they are boring in his words. We have always been using Sonlight Read Alouds and Readers (from PreK to Core E now) with SOTW and now with TOG. Both boys love fiction books. I wonder if I should stop using TOG and only do Sonlight. On the other hand, I like the accountability questions for the dialectic and rhetoric levels. What would you do?

[coffeegal]

You can stick with SOTW and additional reading before switching over to TOG. Of course if your family is happy with Sonlight, you can always use it all the way through. But if you want to know what I'd do, I'd stick with only the core history reading for TOG and augment with lots of fun fiction books. :)

[Mom22ns]

I'd switch to SL at least for a few years. Let them love history right now. There is plenty of time for questions and accountability. If you need more accountability, there are questions for most of the SL spines out there that you can add in.

 

You may want to return to TOG or something else more rigorous by high school, but for now, see if you can't make history lovers out of them. It will pay off if you succeed.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Drat, it looks like the downtime ate my previous post.

 

There is nothing wrong with substituting books in and out of any curriculum. If TOG is working for part of your family and adding some nice story based books will help your 8 yo, then do that. Some of the non-fiction in TOG is dryer than the literature based selections in SL.

 

So what about picking the minimum non-fiction that your 8 yo needs to read and then adding some great literature or biographies.

 

Remember that the selections in most programs will reflect the books that are readily available, either new or at the library. But that doesn't mean that great books aren't sitting at your local library branch or on ebook sites like The Baldwin Project ready for you to pick them up. One of our favorite series is the We Were There series, which was published in the 1950s and 60s. They are great fun, but aren't on anyone's lists because they are harder to come by.

[Jennefer@SSA]

Drat, it looks like the downtime ate my previous post.

 

There is nothing wrong with substituting books in and out of any curriculum. If TOG is working for part of your family and adding some nice story based books will help your 8 yo, then do that. Some of the non-fiction in TOG is dryer than the literature based selections in SL.

 

So what about picking the minimum non-fiction that your 8 yo needs to read and then adding some great literature or biographies.

 

Remember that the selections in most programs will reflect the books that are readily available, either new or at the library. But that doesn't mean that great books aren't sitting at your local library branch or on ebook sites like The Baldwin Project ready for you to pick them up. One of our favorite series is the We Were There series, which was published in the 1950s and 60s. They are great fun, but aren't on anyone's lists because they are harder to come by.

 

Yup! If TOG is working for your older child I would be hesitant to have two history programs going at once...but substituting books is what I would do. If your 8yo isn't ready for lots of non-fiction then keep him in historical fiction and/or biographies and just try to select some of the better non-fiction until he develops a "taste" for non-fiction. This is how I preferred to study history until recently! :) We have really enjoyed a lot of the UG history selections this year but my son is 11 and we are in Year 2 right now so I can't compare with Year 4. I think Ambleside would have a lot of great suggestions as well.

 

I agree that the discussion in the Logic and Rhetoric stage of TOG is amazing, rich, and worth the wait. But if your little guy learns to dislike history before you get there it's all for naught. Good luck!!

[AngelBee]

I am fortunate and own SL cores and use TOG. We use SL books often and it have worked great for last two years. :) TOG is a buffet. Easy to use other resources and pick and choose from their options.

[AngelBee]

We also still use SOTW with TOG.