Mama Geek Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 I received a catalog in the mail today saying that alot of their courses are 80% off. Has anyone tried any of them and what did you think of them? Here is a link to their website. http://www.shopgreatcourses.com/greatcourses.aspx?ai=80039 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PachiSusan Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 I don't know but the ancient Greece/Turkey one sounds fascinating!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica in OR Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 My husband and I are being tempted by the catalog we received recently too. There are some past threads on this, particularly that you can get even better deals by using coupons with the sales. There are a lot of fans of these courses on the forum. We searched our library system for the videos to try some out before we buy. Right now we're watching The Joy of Mathematics. Erica in OR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 A lot of us on the high school board use them. I just bought two that were on sale today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nscribe Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 High schooler here, have used them since early middle school. Libraries often have some of them as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faithr Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 I've been using them for the last 9 years. It isn't homeschooling at our house unless we've got a Great Courses lecture series to watch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 I want this one SO badly! http://www.shopgreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=3810 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PachiSusan Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 I want this one SO badly! http://www.shopgreat...l.aspx?cid=3810 That one sounds awesome!! I want this one: http://www.shopgreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=3231 It helps that we have been to many of the places and I think it would capture Melissa's attention more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 This thread makes me wish I'd not bought the encyclopedia. Or that I was rich. Yeah, let's go with me wishing I was rich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
songsparrow Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 I love the Great Courses! Our library system has almost all of them available (usually have to request them), so I regularly borrow them. Love the Vandiver courses on The Iliad & The Odyssey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delaney Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 My library has 79 of the DVDs! 47 of the CDs. Wow I think I need to get over there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Our faves: Famous Greeks. Famous Romans. My Favorite Universe. Black Holes. Big History. Two Linguistics courses that I do not remember the names of. My 11 yo listened to both of the astronomy courses this year and loved them. He learned SO much from the Black Holes course, because we made a point of stopping and exploring any concepts that he did not already know. Very, very useful. I just remembered! We also have Joy of Mathematics and From Zero to Infinity, both great. I've had my 7th-8th graders watch them before and they were very successful. Edited to add additional courses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Our library has none. Even with a tight budget I own about 9 or 10 of them so far. We love the Iliad/Odyssey Vandiver lectures. There are occasional enabling/support threads on the high school board when a really good sale is going. First rule of Great Courses, never pay retail, they all go on sale eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PachiSusan Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 I'm trying to find out if our library has any but their website and catalog is down. GRRR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Love them and have a whole bunch. We use them as a major resource for high school history. For Ancients, we used all courses by Elizabeth Vanidver (Odysey, Ilia, Aeneid, Mythology, Tragedy, Herodotus). She is our favorite teacher. For medieval, we have the three courses by Philipp Dailieader. Italian renaissance by Bartlett. One of our favorites is Robert Greenberg's How to listen to and understand great music. DS has started the astronomy lectures by Filippenko. DH and I are listening to Turning Points in American History. Never ever buy a course that is not deeply discounted!!!! Wait until you find 80+% off. Best deals are just after Christmas. I have bought some courses used on amazon. I am a bit disappointed by their move towards fluffy general non-scholarly subjects like wellness and food. I see it as a strategy to position themselves against the OCW, but really, the quality of their college level lectures is outstanding, and that is what, I think, gives them the special loyal customer base. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkyandtheBrains. Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 We have several of the courses, my kids like them (age 10 and 13 now). We always buy them when they are discounted. The Secrets of Mental Math or Our Night Sky are good first ones to look at. But really we've found all of the ones we've bought interesting so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lamolina Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Do most of you buy the DVD, CD or audio download version? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PachiSusan Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 If you buy the download, do you have forever access to it or do you watch it once and that's it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 We are supplementing SOTW with their world history one. My 9 year old likes it. We got it from our homeschool library so we can keep it as long as we need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Do most of you buy the DVD, CD or audio download version? Depends on the course. The history courses we bought on audio CD to listen to in the car; the videos are rather boring as there is just the professor lecturing and few visuals. Recently, I have begun to buy more as downloads because they are significantly cheaper (no shipping). My car has the ability to plug in an mp3 player. Some lectures must be on DVD because of the visuals:the astronomy, for one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 I buy audio downloads if they work as well in that manner. You can download as many times as you like and they will be listed on your account too. There are nice course companions that come with each course too (not the transcript book, those cost extra and I've not found them to be necessary). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5wolfcubs Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 :seeya: Check your library! The three library systems I've used have all had them in large white cases separate from other materials. I've really enjoyed them! My teens and I have watched/listened to a bunch for high school, no disappointments yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GailV Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Do most of you buy the DVD, CD or audio download version? If I'm getting them for my personal use, I prefer things that work as an audio download. That way I can load them onto my iPad or other device, and play them wherever I'm doing something else that's sort of mindless. But if I'm going through them with one of my kids, it works just as well to sit and watch a lecture. We used Elizabeth Vandiver's DVDs during our high school study of Ancients, and, honestly, sitting there watching her tended to put me to sleep. It was right after lunch. I felt like I was in college again, dozing off in a lecture hall :ph34r: On the other hand, the very first course I ever tried was an audio by Rufus Fears, and I loved it -- I would listen to it while cleaning the house. I got it from the library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 This one by Bob Brier is fantastic: http://www.shopgreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=350 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilly Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 My teens and I love the Great Courses. We have been watching them for years. We started out using DVDs, but now I buy the downloads. It is very convenient to be able to watch them right on our iPad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyndiLJ Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 One of our favorites is Robert Greenberg's How to listen to and understand great music.te I heard a sample of this one once and want it SO bad, but haven't wanted to spend the money on it "just because". I am a bit disappointed by their move towards fluffy general non-scholarly subjects like wellness and food. I see it as a strategy to position themselves against the OCW, but really, the quality of their college level lectures is outstanding, and that is what, I think, gives them the special loyal customer base. While I won't buy many of their newer "fluffier" courses, I was very happy to see the new one on photography and hope they come out with a few more that are less typical. I think I would be more likely to purchase a course for extra curriculars from them than just about anyone else because I know it will be very well done and a better value than perhaps a lesser priced one elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tullia Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 We love them, but they're addictive! I have a mix of cassettes (no longer offered, afik), cd's and dvd's. I haven't tried downloads because when I bought most of ours we were still limping along on dial-up internet service. I'm not attracted to the newer fluff courses, but the new series on the Persian Empire is outstanding. Don't know if this is typical of the newer series, but the set for PE is a step up from those shown in our older titles and the graphics are more sophisticated. Prof. Lee doesn't stand behind a lectern and the camera angles change often enough that I don't find myself dozing off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briansmama Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Do you use these with older students? They look very interesting and our library does carry some of them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tullia Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Do you use these with older students? They look very interesting and our library does carry some of them... We started using them during middle school and continued through high school. I used a few for practicing note taking, some we used to supplement history, literature, and science either as part of the coursework (lectures plus readings and written assignments selected from the guidebook) or just for fun. Even if you don't "do" anything other than listen/watch, students learn useful information, and more important, get a feel for how scholars discuss topics within their disciplines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne in CA Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 My ds used the algebra ones, and the calculus one and learned a lot. He says he would not have learned the whole subject from those courses, but they were a big help to him in CC because he understood the subject more thoroughly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kikilee7 Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 G4SC gives $20 off $100. That discount on top of the 80% makes it a real good deal. We enjoy many of the GC Lectures: Algebra, Joy of Mathematics, Fund of Photography, How to Understand and Listen to Great Music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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