TOG Users please....

[tuzor]

If you purchase TOG unit by unit rather than all at once. How do you keep on top of your planning? I am thinking that I will purchase two units at a time paper and de and purchase books that I can't reserve at the library. But that will mean a big planning period in the middle of our school year and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. Just wondering how other moms manage.

[Hedgehogs4]

FWIW, I find that it is difficult to plan all four units at once. I can only see two units ahead at a time, but that is me. I do a kind of general projection past two units, but then sit down for a day or two over Christmas and fill in the details. It has worked out well for me these past two years to do it that way. That said, you could order the first two units now and then the other two around October or so, and you'd have plenty of time to get ready. You already know that TOG is going to be 36 weeks, so if you plan everything up to 18 weeks, leaving the second semester open, then fill that in later, it can work.

 

HTH

[tuzor]

Hmm I will have to think about that. Thanks.

[happymomofboys]

When I get the unit, the first thing I do is make a copy of the book list I need from Bookshelf Central so that I can determine which books my library has and price used books. Once I have a list of which books are in my library system, I just wait until about 2 weeks before we need them to request a hold. Any books we need to buy, I order.

 

I teach history for one hour every other day, so some weeks it's Monday, Wednesday, Friday and the next week it will be Tuesday, Thursday. On the M,W,F weeks we do the history and worldview reading on Monday, read-aloud from SOTW and discuss on Wednesday, and do mapwork, evalutations, and any enrichment I've decided to do on Friday. Any reading that doesn't get finished on Monday is homework and done after our regular school time. On the T,Th weeks I assign the reading over the weekend before and do the read aloud on Monday instead. That's my plan for the whole year. I will have to do a little more preparation for discussion each week as my oldest moves into Dialectic and then Rhetoric, but I think the basic schedule will remain the same.

 

In addition to our hour of history every other day, we have an hour of writing on the days opposite. We also have an hour of reading when they can do their literature reading every day. We have art during another hour every third day, so the fine arts and activities reading assignments and any projects we decide to do for the week are done then. I don't spend a lot of time planning. I just follow the weekly schedule, and use it pretty much open and go.

[Jennefer@SSA]

I don't buy it a unit at a time. I buy it all at once, but I do my planning one unit at a time. The only exception to this is choosing the lit books we will read. I do all that in the summer so that I can have time to gather the books used. I also pre-read all the lit books in the summer. I teach TOG in a co-op setting and I find that my students change and grow so much that if I were to plan too far ahead my lessons would match their abilities like I would want them to. (Now, I should say that I teacher a UG/D class. We use the UG books for Core, Core In-Depth and Church History and a combo of UG and D books (mostly D) for Lit. Next year when we transition to D fully this could look different as the reading assignments grow longer and more in-depth.)

 

Each quarter I spend one day planning the upcoming unit. I make copies of all maps and create a colored key for each. I also do a timeline notebook for each student using Amy Pac's Homeschool in the Woods figures so I pre-read (somewhere between a skim and a full reading) all the Core, Core In-depth, and Church History books to see what figures I need to cut out and prep. I put the figures for each week in a baggie labeled with which week they are to be added. As I pre-read I also prepare a weekly writing assignment as I don't use Writing Aids. I print off all Lit Worksheets and the key with answers we will need as well as the "General Information for All Ages" page for each week.

 

I keep a Teacher Binder for TOG with these divisions: Assignment Sheets (I prepare one each week for the students in my class), Lesson Plans, General Information, Accountability Assignment (This is the page that gives their weekly writing assignment), Literature Worksheets, Mapwork

 

My students each have one binder for their timeline and another with these divisions: Assignment Sheets, Writing, Quizes, Mapwork, Lit. Wkshts

 

Then weekly before class I review the reading and often prepare a quiz as well as well as make the upcoming week's Assignment Sheet.

 

I love TOG. It is teacher intensive for sure. It is not an open and go program but I am not sure how any history program could be if you want to make it more than just read and discuss (which is not a bad option for busy families). When we used SOTW for the first cycle that was as close as history can get to open and go...but I still had to print maps and color pages, collect supplemental books and choose one fun project each week and gather necessary materials for it. It was much still much less time than TOG.

[tuzor]

I don't buy it a unit at a time. I buy it all at once, but I do my planning one unit at a time. The only exception to this is choosing the lit books we will read. I do all that in the summer so that I can have time to gather the books used. I also pre-read all the lit books in the summer. I teach TOG in a co-op setting and I find that my students change and grow so much that if I were to plan too far ahead my lessons would match their abilities like I would want them to. (Now, I should say that I teacher a UG/D class. We use the UG books for Core, Core In-Depth and Church History and a combo of UG and D books (mostly D) for Lit. Next year when we transition to D fully this could look different as the reading assignments grow longer and more in-depth.)

 

Each quarter I spend one day planning the upcoming unit. I make copies of all maps and create a colored key for each. I also do a timeline notebook for each student using Amy Pac's Homeschool in the Woods figures so I pre-read (somewhere between a skim and a full reading) all the Core, Core In-depth, and Church History books to see what figures I need to cut out and prep. I put the figures for each week in a baggie labeled with which week they are to be added. As I pre-read I also prepare a weekly writing assignment as I don't use Writing Aids. I print off all Lit Worksheets and the key with answers we will need as well as the "General Information for All Ages" page for each week.

 

 

You mentioned pre reading over the summer the Lit selections. Do you pre read only the selections for their stage or do you read the Rhetoric stage Literature? Do you feel that pre reading only the material provided at that stage level gives you enough comprehension of the time period to really facilitate deep discussions or do you feel you have to investigate deeper for your own knowledge?

Next you mentioned Core, Core In-Depth what is that?

[happymomofboys]

I love TOG. It is teacher intensive for sure. It is not an open and go program but I am not sure how any history program could be if you want to make it more than just read and discuss (which is not a bad option for busy families). When we used SOTW for the first cycle that was as close as history can get to open and go...but I still had to print maps and color pages, collect supplemental books and choose one fun project each week and gather necessary materials for it. It was much still much less time than TOG.

 

I teach history with my laptop in my lap using the DE, so perhaps that's why I don't find it very teacher intensive. Since I already have the unit file open to the week for the reading assignments and threads, printing off the maps and keys or evaluations is just one more click. We buy the SAP packs and I keep them all in one binder so that the boys can quickly retrieve them for themselves each week. No planning or prep work involved. I've found the Book of Time and timeline figures that Sonlight sells to be easily adaptable to TOG and any figures we don't have, we just write in. The only thing I have to plan is what library books we need from the library (about two weeks prior), which materials we need for projects (the week prior), and which websites or movies we'll use for enrichment (I keep an ongoing list). None of this planning takes more than a few minutes a week, and I can usually complete it while the boys are doing their reading assignments.

[Georgiana Daniels]

I buy a unit at a time, but we work s-l-o-w-l-y. There aren't planning issues when you go a snail's pace, as there is plenty of time to look ahead. Goodness, I'm no help whatsoever! Also, our library is pitiful when it comes to children's history books. Since we have to purchase everything, we avoid the planning issue on that side of the equation.

[TXMary2]

I have done it both ways - one unit at a time is how I have been doing it this year. I like to have the whole year done in advance, but that is a lot of work!

[tuzor]

I have done it both ways - one unit at a time is how I have been doing it this year. I like to have the whole year done in advance, but that is a lot of work!

 

So how is it working unit by unit. How far in advance do you purchase the unit and books. I have priced all the books from their sister site and added the others that are carred in my library to a list. One unit de and paper plus books is a little over $500. Ouch! But my main concern is how planning unit by unit affects mom's time during the year vs using your summer to plan and collect resources?

[coffeegal]

 

So how is it working unit by unit. How far in advance do you purchase the unit and books. I have priced all the books from their sister site and added the others that are carred in my library to a list. One unit de and paper plus books is a little over $500. Ouch! But my main concern is how planning unit by unit affects mom's time during the year vs using your summer to plan and collect resources?

 

I've found planning quarter by quarter worked well for me this year. Over the summer I mapped out the general plan for the year, planned the first 2 quarters, and printed and filed the papers. Over Christmas I planned third quarter. My thought was to plan 4th quarter over spring break, but spring break was postponed. Instead I snagged a Saturday and printed up science. Another Saturday saw me through TOG plans, and I'll likely spend this Saturday double checking 4th quarter to ensure we haven't forgotten anything. Oh, I did spend a couple hours on the library website holding, then suspending, the books we'll need for the quarter. My library allows us to suspend a hold until a specific date. The book automatically moves from suspend to active on the date I need to place it on hold. B)

[tuzor]

My library allows us to suspend a hold until a specific date. The book automatically moves from suspend to active on the date I need to place it on hold. B)

 

That's pretty cool. I can only add certain books to a personal list and request when I need them but if I forget then we wont have the book.

[TXMary2]

 

So how is it working unit by unit. How far in advance do you purchase the unit and books. I have priced all the books from their sister site and added the others that are carred in my library to a list. One unit de and paper plus books is a little over $500. Ouch! But my main concern is how planning unit by unit affects mom's time during the year vs using your summer to plan and collect resources?

 

It's not too bad. I look for books used on Amazon - sometimes for a penny plus $3.99 shipping - they are always in good shape. I have two local libraries that I use, so I mark my master with the library initials and call number - and about three weeks before I check to see if they are checked out - if they are I put a hold request so I get it next. If not I get to the library and check them out. I can renew up to 3 times online and if I need to go past that I just call the library.

 

Some things I have found free for Kindle - so if you have a Kindle - always check those when you are doing your searches. I have never spent $500 or even close for the books we use with TOG.

 

We school year round, so I end up planning stuff year round anyway. To give you an idea of time spent - for me - printing, hole punching, putting in all the binders, looking up books, making notes, choosing projects and activities, highlighting important information, choosing writing assignments etc takes me about 8 hours total for one unit. I tend to write a lot of things down though, because I will get a "brilliant idea" and if I don't write it down I will forget.

 

After the unit is planned, I then print my weekly assignment checklists and I don't fill out the TOG stuff until the week before - because if we get behind, I don't want to re-write stuff and move things around. Usually Sunday afternoon or evening I sit down and fill out the TOG portion of our assignment checklists.

 

 

[HLDoll]

I've purchased unit by unit and a whole year at a time, but I always plan just one unit at a time. I spend a few hours one day planning each unit. I sit down with the book assignments and create and save 9 weekly hold lists on my library's website. On my hard copy, I note if the library has several copies of the book or just one, meaning a higher chance that I might not be able to get the book when I need it. I also note if there are suitable substititutes and add those to both my TOG list and the library hold list. Then I decide what books I need to purchase, usually used on Amazon or on the Kindle if possible. Every Monday, I hop online, pull up my hold lists, and activate all my book requests for the following week. I also take a look 2 weeks ahead to see if there's a book with only one copy that I might want to try to snag early. Once I've picked up our books for the following week, I look through them and figure out what/how much I'm going to have the kids read each day. But that only takes a few minutes on Sunday evening, or even Monday morning while they're starting their math. If you have one Saturday afternoon each quarter to dedicate to planning, it really isn't that big a deal.

 

ETA: On that planning day, I also print off all the SAP and maps I need for the quarter, and highlight any weekly projects I want to do.

[tuzor]

Wow, sounds pretty doable. Thanks for the input.

[Jennefer@SSA]

 

You mentioned pre reading over the summer the Lit selections. Do you pre read only the selections for their stage or do you read the Rhetoric stage Literature? Do you feel that pre reading only the material provided at that stage level gives you enough comprehension of the time period to really facilitate deep discussions or do you feel you have to investigate deeper for your own knowledge?

Next you mentioned Core, Core In-Depth what is that?

 

This year our co-op had a LG class and a class that went between UG/D selections so those were the only books I read and those kept me plenty busy. I would love someday to be able to read all the R selections as well but I am not there yet. But even with only reading those and an occasional search online I feel like that has been plenty to help me gain a good understanding of the time period. TOG also has notes for each week from the World Book Encyclopedia that I try to read to deepen my knowledge as well.

 

Core In-Depth is just another section offered on the weekly chart that gives one more reading your students can do to dig even deeper. Everyone uses TOG differently but especially for older kids I have found that if you skip the Core In-Depth and just do the Core readings that they miss out on too much. (They are both non-fiction history reading selections as opposed to the Literature selections.)

[Jennefer@SSA]

I teach history with my laptop in my lap using the DE, so perhaps that's why I don't find it very teacher intensive. Since I already have the unit file open to the week for the reading assignments and threads, printing off the maps and keys or evaluations is just one more click. We buy the SAP packs and I keep them all in one binder so that the boys can quickly retrieve them for themselves each week. No planning or prep work involved. I've found the Book of Time and timeline figures that Sonlight sells to be easily adaptable to TOG and any figures we don't have, we just write in. The only thing I have to plan is what library books we need from the library (about two weeks prior), which materials we need for projects (the week prior), and which websites or movies we'll use for enrichment (I keep an ongoing list). None of this planning takes more than a few minutes a week, and I can usually complete it while the boys are doing their reading assignments.

 

Yes the more I thought about it the more I realized that TOG is teacher intensive the way I have chosen to use it. The way you are using does sound much less intensive. :tongue_smilie: My class is 2 days a week, 75 minutes each and I do a lot to teach it in a classroom setting that I might not do if I were just teaching it to my boys alone.

 

Each week I spend a few hours prepping. On T I re-read (often re-skim ;) ) the history core and in-depth selections before class as well as most of the World Book notes TOG includes, and I prepare a reading quiz for the class. My students do the reading at home on M before coming to class on T so I have found that they need the accountability of a weekly quiz to keep them reading at the level necessary for us to have really engaging discussions. Then on Thurs I prepare an assignment sheet to give that tell the students what their assignments are for the following week which includes preparing a writing assignment. This is a typed out explanation so that their parents can know what is expected of them.

 

That in addition to what I do in the summers plus my one day planning for each unit each quarter makes it feel more teacher intensive. Certainly one would not need to do all that I do to use TOG to its fullest. I think the fact I am teaching it in a class setting makes it much more so for me.