TOG...can't find a review thread

[mamaof4happykiddos]

I've tried and I may just be missing it so would anyone please chime in and give your experince, opinions, thoughts, etc.

My daughters are 4 and 6 and will be doing kinder and 1st.

 

Thanks

Armenia

[joyfulmomSDG]

Not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for, but it's a recent TOG thread for the LG level:

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/478639-toganyone-using-for-lg/

[Hedgehogs4]

Honestly I would not start TOG until I had an student in at least UG or D levels. The curriculum is costly, and you are purchasing something that covers from K-12. Unless you are planning to use the Rhetoric level to self-educate while you teach your LGs, it is way more than you need. I would look at SOTW with AG for younger kids.

[Saddlemomma]

I might be able to help you out. I've been researching TOG for a few weeks now. The first thing I did was scour their website. I then viewed all of their videos. Next I did a basic google search on "Reviews for Tapestry of Grace" and read all those. Next I downloaded their 3 week free Trial "Out of Egypt" and played with that for a few days. I also checked out "Bookshelf Central" and estimated the cost of any books I might need for whichever year I chose. It really wasn't too bad considering I already have some and our library carries some. Mostly, I would have to buy some of the books used 4-5+ weeks.

 

Lastly, even though I have my curriculum for this year, I purchased the Year 2, Unit 1 module (9 weeks of TOG @ $45). It cost $52 because I also wanted to preview the MapAids program, which was $7 for the 9 weeks. I must tell you, I really like what I see! I only have one dd to teach, but I'm thinking I may continue to purchase the units for Year 2 and just glean extra info. They offer SO MUCH! I can pick and choose what I like. I'm already incorporating one of their primary resources (I happen to have that book) with what I already have. I love their projects and the Writing Aids looks wonderful too (although I didn't buy that component). In addition, on their website they have web-linked extra resources for every class they offer for each year: History, Fine Arts, Worldview, Geography, Literature, Writing, Government & Field Trips. The great thing about this is that you don't have to be a TOG user to access these links (that's half my yearly research done for me). You can find them on their website. Just choose the year you're interested in and then look on the right side of the page under "Supporting Links". This is worth it's weight in gold right there.

 

I'm seriously thinking of purchasing it the following year. I like the online format, Tapestry DE. Since I did so much research and purchased that one unit, I feel totally competent with just the DE (without paper). I am a computer geek though.....

 

Hope this helps. Have fun researching!

[beth83]

I purchased TOG with young kids, and I haven't been happier. I was drooling over it for quite a while, so I'm glad it lived up to all I expected. I can't wait to own all 4 years and cycle through it again.

 

I read all over the place that you shouldn't buy it if your children are young, but I read this review before buying (http://mikeandlisalaw.blogspot.com/2012/02/tapestry-review-part-1-lower-grammar.html?m=1) and saw a lot of myself in the mother's goals and expectations. It just fits me and my family so well.

 

We aren't using it to its fullest, but we have ample room to grow into it, plus, we are balancing out the costs by buying the program early. We use most library books, since you can easily swap out titles at the lower grammar stage. Then when I need to actually buy the books when the kids get older, I won't also have to buy the curriculum.

 

It truly is a beautiful program and we are so blessed by it.

[All3Boys]

You are echoing some of the same reasons why I just purchased TOG.  I am starting with year 1.  My oldest is 6, he went to a Classical private school for K-4 and K.  We are new to HS.  I purchased the lap book and map aids, but didn't purchase the writing aid.  I thought that he wouldn't need that until he was older, but after looking over the intro to the year, it looks like that might be helpful.  On the writing side, it says to set up a notebook, but I can't find anywhere that explains what that writing notebook is supposed to entail. Do you suggest purchasing the writing aid for that age?  Also, can you point me in a direction to figure out how the writing notebook should be set up, or is that explained in the aid? I wish there was a way to preview it, so I could see for myself if it was something he needs now! Thanks. 

 

As for the original question on TOG, I read a TON of reviews and played around with the samples before ordering it.  It seems like the only people who didn't like it, were the ones who didn't like/have time to do the prep work.  If you want a work book and a teachers manual, this would not be the right fit.  But if you have the ability to take all the choices they give you and find what is going to be right for your kids each week, it sounds like you will benefit from it.  At least that is the impression I got.  

I purchased TOG with young kids, and I haven't been happier. I was drooling over it for quite a while, so I'm glad it lived up to all I expected. I can't wait to own all 4 years and cycle through it again.

I read all over the place that you shouldn't buy it if your children are young, but I read this review before buying (http://mikeandlisalaw.blogspot.com/2012/02/tapestry-review-part-1-lower-grammar.html?m=1) and saw a lot of myself in the mother's goals and expectations. It just fits me and my family so well.

We aren't using it to its fullest, but we have ample room to grow into it, plus, we are balancing out the costs by buying the program early. We use most library books, since you can easily swap out titles at the lower grammar stage. Then when I need to actually buy the books when the kids get older, I won't also have to buy the curriculum.

It truly is a beautiful program and we are so blessed by it.

 

[Jennefer@SSA]

We are a happy TOG family! Next year we will begin our third year with TOG. Is it necessary if you only have young kids? Nope! I did SOTW for 4 years with my oldest and we learned so much and had a ball!  If you are not committed to TOG for the long haul or even to homeschooling for that matter I would hesitate to spend that kind of money. BUT if you love TOG then there's no reason to not jump in and do it even with younger kiddos. Having done both SOTW and TOG with LG students I think TOG is better but not tremendously so. Now, once you get to UG and beyond I wholeheartedly believe that TOG is an absolutely phenomenal program. 

 

Here was our schedule for UG and D students at co-op but you could easily follow a similar schedule at home (and this is what I would do if I stopped co-op at any point). Our co-op meets T/Th so those days were done in a group and M/W were done at home independently. Our T/Th class is 75 minutes. M/W time spent on assignments varied wildly depending on how fast the student read and wrote. My ds12 is very slow so sometimes he would spend a few hours on both M and W but the average student probably didn't need more than 90 minutes. 

 

Monday: Read History Core, Core In-Depth and complete Accountability Questions/Accountability Writing Assignment (I prepare these and do not use Writing Aids - just personal preference.). 

Tuesday: Go over answeres to Accountability Questions or read Writing Assignment aloud, do map work,  and read Worldview (Church History) together. 

Wednesday: Read Literature selection and complete worksheet

Thursday: Pop Quiz over Lit (found I needed this to get students to read at the level they needed to so that we could have an engaging discussion), discuss literature reading together and do timeline (We choose not to use TOG's timeline information b/c I prefer Homeschool in the Wood's materials but either way is fine - my way is more time consuming b/c you have to coordinate which figures align with each week) 

Friday: This was an off day for most kids but I had ds12 get a jump start on the following week. :)

 

Probably more than you wanted to know but sometimes the biggest hurdle with TOG is figuring out how in the world to schedule it all! 

 

[happymomofboys]

I waited until my oldest was in 5th grade to start TOG.  Before that we used Sonlight.  I loved our time with Sonlight, but two Cores was too much!  TOG is the perfect fit for us because I can combine my boys together despite them being at very different ability levels.  My youngest used LG last year and is using a combination of LG and UG this year.  I still love Sonlight's reading recommendations, but I really wish I'd used TOG and our public library for history from the beginning.

[Guest]

bumping...I am looking into this, too.

[TracyP]

We are a happy TOG family! Next year we will begin our third year with TOG. It is necessary if you only have young kids? Nope! I did SOTW for 4 years with my oldest and we learned so much and had a ball!  If you are not committed to TOG for the long haul or even to homeschooling for that matter I would hesitate to spend that kind of money. BUT if you love TOG then there's no reason to not jump in and do it even with younger kiddos. Having done both SOTW and TOG with LG students I think TOG is better but not tremendously so. Now, once you get to UG and beyond I wholeheartedly that TOG is an absolutely phenomenal program. 

 

I used TOG for 3.5 years starting when my oldest was in Kindergarten. (I have been on a TOG break for the last 6 mos) This sums up my feelings on TOG. Exactly.

 

Here was our schedule for UG and D students at co-op but you could easily follow a similar schedule at home (and this is what I would do if I stopped co-op at any point). Our co-op meets T/Th so those days were done in a group and M/W were done at home independently. Our T/Th class is 75 minutes. M/W time spent on assignments varied wildly depending on how fast the student read and wrote. My ds12 is very slow so sometimes he would spend a few hours on both M and W but the average student probably didn't need more than 90 minutes. 

 

Monday: Read History Core, Core In-Depth and complete Accountability Questions/Accountability Writing Assignment (I prepare these and do not use Writing Aids - just personal preference.). 

Tuesday: Go over answeres to Accountability Questions or read Writing Assignment aloud, do map work,  and read Worldview (Church History) together. 

Wednesday: Read Literature selection and complete worksheet

Thursday: Pop Quiz over Lit (found I needed this to get students to read at the level they needed to so that we could have an engaging discussion), discuss literature reading together and do timeline (We choose not to use TOG's timeline information b/c I prefer Homeschool in the Wood's materials but either way is fine - my way is more time consuming b/c you have to coordinate which figures align with each week) 

Friday: This was an off day for most kids but I had ds12 get a jump start on the following week. :)

 

Probably more than you wanted to know but sometimes the biggest hurdle with TOG is figuring out how in the world to schedule it all!

 

 

Even though I have used TOG for several years, I have been unsure how to schedule my oldest as she moves into the D level. This would be a great schedule for my family (with a little tweaking, of course ;)) We could meet for science on M/W and history on T/Th and work independently on the alternating days.

 

 

Thank you!

 

[beth83]

You are echoing some of the same reasons why I just purchased TOG.  I am starting with year 1.  My oldest is 6, he went to a Classical private school for K-4 and K.  We are new to HS.  I purchased the lap book and map aids, but didn't purchase the writing aid.  I thought that he wouldn't need that until he was older, but after looking over the intro to the year, it looks like that might be helpful.  On the writing side, it says to set up a notebook, but I can't find anywhere that explains what that writing notebook is supposed to entail. Do you suggest purchasing the writing aid for that age?  Also, can you point me in a direction to figure out how the writing notebook should be set up, or is that explained in the aid? I wish there was a way to preview it, so I could see for myself if it was something he needs now! Thanks.   

 

As for what a writing notebook is suppose to entail I have no idea.  I do have quite a few pins on Pinterest that show how other families set their notebooks up.  This sort of helped me figure out what would work best for us.  Here are a few...

 

http://rivendellpress.wordpress.com/category/tog-workbooks/

http://harmonyfinearts.org/2011/02/tapestry-of-grace-and-notebooking-how-to-choose-topics/

 

We just have a binder that we are working with.  We are not doing writing aids this year, as I had to cut somewhere since my kids are young and it just didn't make the cut.  In our notebook, we have our map work, vocabulary, and we are doing some notebooking.  For vocabulary, someone posted a file on the year 1 TOG facebook page.  It is just a box (that you can draw a picture in, although I have printed off pictures from the Internet that my little one cuts out and glues) and a handwriting line underneath.  If this is something you might be interested in, I can ask if I can pass it along.  For notebooking, I purchased this Ancient Times Complete Notebooking Set.  

 

From what I am aware, the writing aids is not a program, but an aid for the teacher.  Everything you need for their writing program is in the basic package that you buy.  This was another reason that I passed.  I haven't looked too much at it, but it looks like for LG it is just grammar, or at least starts out that way.  We have started a basic grammar program, and I felt with out note booking, we were doing enough.  I don't know if there is one answer as to how exactly the notebook should look, but more of a "how would it look best for your family" type of thing.

[purduemeche]

When we first considered TOG, we bought year 1 unit 1 only to give it a shot. That was more helpful than any review.

 

For the record, we have been hooked on TOG ever since.

[TracyP]

On the writing side, it says to set up a notebook, but I can't find anywhere that explains what that writing notebook is supposed to entail. Do you suggest purchasing the writing aid for that age?  Also, can you point me in a direction to figure out how the writing notebook should be set up, or is that explained in the aid? I wish there was a way to preview it, so I could see for myself if it was something he needs now! Thanks. 

 

I missed this earlier. I don't think there are specific directions regarding how to set up the notebook. It just says file this page behind the reference tab in your notebook, etc. You could do it as you go or go through the year and note which tabs are mentioned. I never used a tabbed notebook.

 

You don't need WA for that age or ever, I suppose, depending on your writing philosophy. I am sold on WWE/WWS, so I don't use Writing Aids to its fullest. I have added a TOG writing assignment here or there.

 

Based on past reviews I may be alone in this opinion, but I really like WA. It is a handbook that explains each writing assignment, gives the steps that should be completed for each one, and also offers appropriate graphic organizers, editing tips, and grading tips. It is very overview-ish and I think some would like more specifics, but I use it for reference fairly often.

[All3Boys]

As for what a writing notebook is suppose to entail I have no idea.  I do have quite a few pins on Pinterest that show how other families set their notebooks up.  This sort of helped me figure out what would work best for us.  Here are a few...

 

http://rivendellpress.wordpress.com/category/tog-workbooks/

http://harmonyfinearts.org/2011/02/tapestry-of-grace-and-notebooking-how-to-choose-topics/

 

We just have a binder that we are working with.  We are not doing writing aids this year, as I had to cut somewhere since my kids are young and it just didn't make the cut.  In our notebook, we have our map work, vocabulary, and we are doing some notebooking.  For vocabulary, someone posted a file on the year 1 TOG facebook page.  It is just a box (that you can draw a picture in, although I have printed off pictures from the Internet that my little one cuts out and glues) and a handwriting line underneath.  If this is something you might be interested in, I can ask if I can pass it along.  For notebooking, I purchased this Ancient Times Complete Notebooking Set.  

 

From what I am aware, the writing aids is not a program, but an aid for the teacher.  Everything you need for their writing program is in the basic package that you buy.  This was another reason that I passed.  I haven't looked too much at it, but it looks like for LG it is just grammar, or at least starts out that way.  We have started a basic grammar program, and I felt with out note booking, we were doing enough.  I don't know if there is one answer as to how exactly the notebook should look, but more of a "how would it look best for your family" type of thing.

Thank you for posting the links.  Will you post a link to the FB page?  Having another community to ask questions of would be helpful!

 

I missed this earlier. I don't think there are specific directions regarding how to set up the notebook. It just says file this page behind the reference tab in your notebook, etc. You could do it as you go or go through the year and note which tabs are mentioned. I never used a tabbed notebook.

 

You don't need WA for that age or ever, I suppose, depending on your writing philosophy. I am sold on WWE/WWS, so I don't use Writing Aids to its fullest. I have added a TOG writing assignment here or there.

 

Based on past reviews I may be alone in this opinion, but I really like WA. It is a handbook that explains each writing assignment, gives the steps that should be completed for each one, and also offers appropriate graphic organizers, editing tips, and grading tips. It is very overview-ish and I think some would like more specifics, but I use it for reference fairly often.

I just ordered the curriculum and am starting to plan the first unit of year 1.  I noticed on the first week under weekly overview it says to set up your notebook.  Then under the writing assignment (he will be level 2), it says set up grammar and composition notebook.  Does it explain more about this in the WA? Do you know if there is a way to preview WA before purchasing?  I can't find anything on it :-/  

 

I have heard so many great things about TOG, and I am excited to use it.  I just would rather spend my research time actually researching what I am going to be teaching rather than trying to figure out how to teach it!  I was hoping that the set up would be a little easier. Thanks for any input! 

[TracyP]

I just ordered the curriculum and am starting to plan the first unit of year 1.  I noticed on the first week under weekly overview it says to set up your notebook.  Then under the writing assignment (he will be level 2), it says set up grammar and composition notebook.  Does it explain more about this in the WA? Do you know if there is a way to preview WA before purchasing?  I can't find anything on it :-/  

 

 

Here are samples. One of the samples is actually the set up of the notebook. When you click on WA, you will see Grammar and Composition Notebook is one of the headings.

[All3Boys]

Here are samples. One of the samples is actually the set up of the notebook. When you click on WA, you will see Grammar and Composition Notebook is one of the headings.

Thank you so much!  That was exactly what I was looking for.  I am going to purchase the WA :)