idnib Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 I'm thinking about getting the Latin 101: http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=2201 Does anyone with actual Latin experience have an opinion? What courses are other people thinking about this year? Do tell! :drool5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 So far we've really enjoyed Elizabeth Vandiver and Amy Jill Levine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 I've been meaning to get some of the Vandiver lectures. I think she was also recommended by regentrude? last year. Will have to check out Levine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Yep, I highly recommend Vandiver. We have all of her lecture series; she is my favorite professor. Also very enjoyable: Daileader's three part series on the Middle ages (he has a new one on the crusades which I have not yet listened to) Greenberg How to listen to and understand great music. We also have his Bach and the High Baroque but that one is more specialized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Yep, I highly recommend Vandiver. We have all of her lecture series; she is my favorite professor. Also very enjoyable: Daileader's three part series on the Middle ages (he has a new one on the crusades which I have not yet listened to) Greenberg How to listen to and understand great music. We also have his Bach and the High Baroque but that one is more specialized. We are listening to the last of the series now. My kids love those lectures. I didn't know about the new one. I'm going to look for that right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted December 24, 2013 Author Share Posted December 24, 2013 Heres' what's in my cart right now: Joy of Science (thinking it will be a good overview for middle school) Herodotus: The Father of History Vandiver's Classic Mythology, Iliad, and Odyssey set Daileader's Early, High and Late Middle Ages set I haven't pulled the trigger yet; I think there was a really good deal on NYE last year. Anyone else with plans? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 I just bought The Life and Work of Mark Twain. Ds and I are going to go through that one together. I probably won't get more this year unless there's a really really good deal. I think dh has just given up on me collecting the courses. The Neil deGrasse Tyson ones are neat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Yep, I highly recommend Vandiver. We have all of her lecture series; she is my favorite professor. Also very enjoyable: Daileader's three part series on the Middle ages (he has a new one on the crusades which I have not yet listened to) Greenberg How to listen to and understand great music. We also have his Bach and the High Baroque but that one is more specialized. I like all of these. I also like Noble's Foundations of Western Civilization. I just bought Modern Perspectives on Our Solar System, The Skeptic's Guide to American History, and Great Ideas of Classical Physics. I have my eye on Joy of Science, I know we'd love that one, we have a couple of his books. I also have the Big History set, which I love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Texican Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 I have Arthur T Benjamin Mathmagician. He's charasmatic and entertaining and my son says "he must be the smartest man in the world. He knows a lot." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 I will not buy any TC courses this year at after-Christmas sale! I am dead serious. I did a free audible trial in August, which gave me two free courses. Then I kept the subscription for two months and full price $15, then tried to cancel and got switched to half price, which meant I got one course per month for $ 7.50. Since I redeemed all my credits in November, I was eligible to receive an extra bonus. So, since August I have acquired: The Vikings - 18 hours French Revolution and Napoleon.- 24 hours How the Crusades changed history - 12 hours How to listen to and understand opera-24 hours The other side of history: Daily life in the Ancient World- 24 hours Language A-Z - 6 hours Total 108 hours of lectures for $37.50. No sale can beat this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted December 25, 2013 Author Share Posted December 25, 2013 Total 108 hours of lectures for $37.50. No sale can beat this. I agree no sale can beat this. I've had an Audible account for a few years and have toyed with the idea of buying courses there. Since you are a professor, maybe you can give me some input into this... My kids are still young for TC courses, but I've been buying them for my own (and my brother's) knowledge and to use them for the kids in high school. One of the reasons I spend more for the DVD is for the kids to get practice (later) with note taking while watching a lecture. This is something they may get experience with in real life before college, or they may not. Do you think taking notes from audio is the same as taking notes while watching someone give a lecture? I'd love to save time and money (and shelf space) by getting audio-only, but I feel this obligation to get them used to watching someone and taking notes as well. I'd appreciate any thoughts you have... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Do you think taking notes from audio is the same as taking notes while watching someone give a lecture? I'd love to save time and money (and shelf space) by getting audio-only, but I feel this obligation to get them used to watching someone and taking notes as well. I do not see where just listening would be much different from seeing the professors - they do not write anything on a board or show slides with text, as would be the case with a real college lecture. The courses that are offered as audio contain precious few visuals in the video version (I have returned a video course and exchanged for audio because it was so painfully dull to sit and watch the guy lecture). How would watching a person talk be more conducive to note taking than listening to the person talk? This said, I do not find the TC lectures very suitable for teaching note taking, precisely because there are no visuals. I let my kids learn note taking in actual college courses they take in high school, because the instructors write on the board or have slides, and thus the student has some skeleton of important information that she can then augment with information that is just said orally - this gives a nice hierarchy and makes it easy for beginners to extract the crucial information. ETA: If I did not have the opportunity for my kids to take college courses, I would have them learn note taking from video lectures that are recorded in an actual college classroom and intended for a college student audience, which the TC lectures are not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 ... In addition to Greenberg's Western Music lectures mentioned above, which were thoroughly enjoyed & also useful to DH and I, I've esp. enjoyed: History of Science Antiquity - 1700 by Lawrence Principe This is on a topic I didn't know much about. Story of Human Language by John McWhorter. This course is one I'd recommend highly for classical educators. I'm more familiar with language/language learning and found the lecturer both very interesting and very accurate, a winning combination. I did NOT like "The Joy of Thinking" -- the lecturers insistently repeated that the subject was fascinating, though I didn't find the presentation engaging, and I don't think that the problem-solving strategies described generalize well. That is to say, understanding the math basis for the problems described didn't enhance my general problem-solving skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted December 26, 2013 Author Share Posted December 26, 2013 I do not see where just listening would be much different from seeing the professors - they do not write anything on a board or show slides with text, as would be the case with a real college lecture. The courses that are offered as audio contain precious few visuals in the video version (I have returned a video course and exchanged for audio because it was so painfully dull to sit and watch the guy lecture). How would watching a person talk be more conducive to note taking than listening to the person talk? This said, I do not find the TC lectures very suitable for teaching note taking, precisely because there are no visuals. I let my kids learn note taking in actual college courses they take in high school, because the instructors write on the board or have slides, and thus the student has some skeleton of important information that she can then augment with information that is just said orally - this gives a nice hierarchy and makes it easy for beginners to extract the crucial information. ETA: If I did not have the opportunity for my kids to take college courses, I would have them learn note taking from video lectures that are recorded in an actual college classroom and intended for a college student audience, which the TC lectures are not. Thank you so much for your response. This is very helpful. I've been loaning our discs to my brother without watching them so I didn't realize the lack of writing/visuals. The only series I have watched was an astronomy one and the teacher did draw. One example I can recall is a drawing of the change in angle of refraction of the sun's rays and how that caused the different colors of a rainbow. At least I think there was a drawing. It's possible I made one myself. Now I'm doubting everything! :o My kids will have an opportunity to take college courses if it works out. We live near a world-class university and there are 5 or 6 easily accessible CCs. I just don't know what the future holds when they're so young and are (so far) average kids. I think I'll cross-reference my GC list with what's on Audible and only get the difference from GC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 I've been loaning our discs to my brother without watching them so I didn't realize the lack of writing/visuals. The only series I have watched was an astronomy one and the teacher did draw. One example I can recall is a drawing of the change in angle of refraction of the sun's rays and how that caused the different colors of a rainbow. At least I think there was a drawing. It's possible I made one myself. Now I'm doubting everything! :o Oh, that is entirely possible. There are some courses where the teacher uses a lot of visuals, especially in math, science , and of course art. But those would not be available as audio at all. The astronomy course we have relies heavily on graphs and diagrams and is only produced on DVD or now as video download. When I referred to a lack of visuals, I was talking about literature and history courses. When a course is available on audio, the catalog usually says "this course works equally well in both video and audio format". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewaka Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 I will not buy any TC courses this year at after-Christmas sale! Regentrude, do you miss the book/printed material that you don't get when buying them through audible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 Regentrude, do you miss the book/printed material that you don't get when buying them through audible? Only a tiny bit; not enough to spend the extra money. I hardly use the booklets for the courses I own on CD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewaka Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 Only a tiny bit; not enough to spend the extra money. I hardly use the booklets for the courses I own on CD. Thank you for this terrific news. I now know what I will buy with the few credits I have left. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted December 26, 2013 Author Share Posted December 26, 2013 When a course is available on audio, the catalog usually says "this course works equally well in both video and audio format". How did I not notice this before? I believe you have saved me a quite a bit of money and you could make an argument for me to send you a cut. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 In case anyone may need these... Priority code 92521 (end of year savings) Coupon code: RK7X (20% additional for 2 or more courses). I got Latin. I expect there'll be a better sale shortly as a result of my purchase :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainbird2 Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 I have Mastering the Fundamentals of Mathematics, How Music and Mathematics Relate and Latin 101 in my cart. Has anyone viewed Mastering the Fundamentals of Mathematics? It's for me to brush up on math. Also, it looks like the price of the Latin went up...am I wrong? What was the sale last NYE? I have to get rid of one of these and I can't decide which one to ditch! If the NYE sale is good enough, I just may purchase all 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 I have Mastering the Fundamentals of Mathematics, How Music and Mathematics Relate and Latin 101 in my cart. Has anyone viewed Mastering the Fundamentals of Mathematics? It's for me to brush up on math. Also, it looks like the price of the Latin went up...am I wrong? What was the sale last NYE? I have to get rid of one of these and I can't decide which one to ditch! If the NYE sale is good enough, I just may purchase all 3. We have used Mastering the Fundamentals of Math. It has been very useful to us. My kids need lots of refreshers and reinforcement with math... actually I did too. We also like the professor's style which always helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberia Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 We also have Mastering the Fund. of Math. with Dr. Sellers. I bought it for me to brush up, but my 4th grader likes Dr. Sellers, and he teaches in a way that makes sense to her. That was a nice surprise. I think it's a great purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted December 29, 2013 Author Share Posted December 29, 2013 What was the sale last NYE? I have to get rid of one of these and I can't decide which one to ditch! If the NYE sale is good enough, I just may purchase all 3. I don't remember the NYE deal, but I remember regretting I had bought some things earlier in the week. Nonetheless, here's my order from 12/31/12: Great Battles of the Ancient World (DVD) Set: Discrete Mathematics & Joy of Math (DVD) Set: Mathematics Describing the Real World & Understanding Computation (DVD) I got these 5 items (2 sets + a single) for $271.80 and $30 shipping and handling (!) I think there were some free shipping deals but using another code gave me a better deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 It's neat that they're starting to do streaming as well. I got discs, but I was able to watch the first Latin lecture today and look at the course book. I would love if they gave streaming access to older courses we've bought as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberia Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 It's neat that they're starting to do streaming as well. I got discs, but I was able to watch the first Latin lecture today and look at the course book. I would love if they gave streaming access to older courses we've bought as well. What do you think of the Latin? I'm on the fence about it, and was hoping for a review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 I've never investigated these online courses before. Are there any good classes for age 11? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 What do you think of the Latin? I'm on the fence about it, and was hoping for a review. I watched the first episode yesterday, so I don't have a lot of info. The guidebook is about 400 pages. It has exercises to be done after watching the video and solutions in the back. I don't like that the professor can't roll his r's, but he does mention that. We've started using Latin Alive and that'll be our main text with this as backup and extra practice. One difference is that they list a different number of diphthongs. The videos use classical pronunciation and macrons. When having you repeat things, they have the words listed on screen. My initial impression is that it'll be very good for beginning Latin. If you have any specific questions, I can try to look up answers in the guidebook or with video clips. I did find it really cool to be able to look at the guidebook and watch the first video before they've shipped it to me :) The recommended text is Wheelocks. I don't know if he'll refer to it in the guidebook...I'll go check and post back shortly.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Looked through whole guidebook. Wheelocks is not needed...just mentioned for further study. Looks like a very solid Latin 101 course. I like the explanations. There is a lot of repetition (as mentioned in the reviews) but that's what's needed when learning a language. There are quizzes within some lectures. Answers are provided in the guidebook. Each lecture has assignments in the guidebook and answers in the back of the guidebook. There are translation exercises from English to Latin and from Latin to English. If you plan to use it with kids, some places where some people may have issue... Some poetry of Cattalus is used. Nothing too bad. There is talk of slavery, selling children (if a son is sold three times, he can be free of his family...law discussions). Roman gods are mentioned. There are also some quotes from the Bible. I won't have any problem with my 11 yo doing any part of the course. It looks like the course itself is complete. I don't see a need to buy any supplemental material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 I've never investigated these online courses before. Are there any good classes for age 11? These are audio or video lectures. The guidebooks have suggested books and reading and some questions, typically. The Latin course is the first one I've seen that's basically got a workbook in the guidebook. Our library has a number of the courses. I found them by checking under publisher...teaching company, or series...great courses. I'd probably look at one from the library first...or some of the online selections that have samples...before purchasing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 How did I not notice this before? I believe you have saved me a quite a bit of money and you could make an argument for me to send you a cut. :) I have found it very difficult to find time to watch the courses we have bought in video format. The audio ones are great -- I listen to them while doing housework, exercising, cooking dinner, etc. I always have one going. But the video ones have been seriously underused here. I have a couple on linguistics, and the first lectures are fascinating, but I just can't seem to find the time to sit and watch them. I have only bought ones on video that truly seemed to need the video format, but now I'm not sure whether I should buy video courses at all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberia Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Looked through whole guidebook. Wheelocks is not needed...just mentioned for further study. Looks like a very solid Latin 101 course. I like the explanations. There is a lot of repetition (as mentioned in the reviews) but that's what's needed when learning a language. There are quizzes within some lectures. Answers are provided in the guidebook. Each lecture has assignments in the guidebook and answers in the back of the guidebook. There are translation exercises from English to Latin and from Latin to English. If you plan to use it with kids, some places where some people may have issue... Some poetry of Cattalus is used. Nothing too bad. There is talk of slavery, selling children (if a son is sold three times, he can be free of his family...law discussions). Roman gods are mentioned. There are also some quotes from the Bible. I won't have any problem with my 11 yo doing any part of the course. It looks like the course itself is complete. I don't see a need to buy any supplemental material. Thanks for all the info. I'm thinking of getting it, even though I have lots of different Latin programs. I seem to collect them! If they have a deep discount on New Year's Eve, I might buy it. THanks! Joann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberia Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Has anyone used the High School Geometry with Prof. Noggle? Reviews? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lakeside Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 I have Mastering the Fundamentals of Mathematics, How Music and Mathematics Relate and Latin 101 in my cart. Has anyone viewed Mastering the Fundamentals of Mathematics? It's for me to brush up on math. Also, it looks like the price of the Latin went up...am I wrong? What was the sale last NYE? I have to get rid of one of these and I can't decide which one to ditch! If the NYE sale is good enough, I just may purchase all 3. I don't know if the Latin price went up, but I've found that the prices seem to have changed every time I go to the website. I went to look at a few things this morning and on the left side it said Special Sale 80% off. Now it says 70% off. I'm not sure what I did or what happened. :huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 It depends on which priority code is in use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lakeside Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Hmmm. So I must have used a link with a better deal first then used a link with not as good of a deal. Thanks for clearing that up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Texican Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 I have the Fundamentals of Math, actually I have been trying to collect all the math since I started watching the mathmagician one. I just put it in to see what it was about since it came up in the Great Courses thread. I was going to watch some of it tonight, to give a review. My kid took the remote (to pause and play), and his notebook to take notes. The beginning is the very beginning of arithmatic, addition and subtraction with borrowing and carrying. He watched the first (30 min?) segment eagerly. When they gave (only) a few problems he worked the problems in his notebook like they showed him. At one point he was almost vibrating with excitement, waiting for the show to reveal whether he was right or wrong. I thought I was saving this "mastering the fundementals of math" for after finishing Singapore elementary. Now that I have seen the beginning of this video it seems more like we should watch it slowly WHILE we do the Singapore math. He's in Singapore 2A and the first section of the video was accessible and engaging to him. I see that someone upthread is using this movie with a fourth grader. I just had to post because, before viewing, I would have thought it was a sixth grade level. Now, after watching, I recommend to get it early and "grow with it". It's very accessible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lakeside Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 I placed my first order and got the following courses for less than $90 including shipping! The Iliad of Homer (CD) The Odyssey of Homer (CD) The Secrets of Mental Math Museum Masterpieces: The Louvre (DVD) Thinking like an Economist: A Guide to Rational Decision Making Origins of Great Ancient Civilizations (DVD) Optimizing Brain Fitness Experiencing Hubble :party: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNC Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 This year I decided against purchasing Great Courses bc of all the Moocs, open courses available. I am starting with these... Yale Open Course #1 The American Novel After 1945 http://oyc.yale.edu/english/engl-291#sessions #2 European Civilization 1648-1945 http://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-202 #3 Civil War and Reconstruction (Blight) http://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-119 #4 Early Modern England, History Politcs and Culture under the Tudors and Stuarts http://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-251 #5 Listening to Music http://oyc.yale.edu/music/musi-112 Edx Shakespeare: On the Page and In Performance https://www.edx.org/course/wellesleyx/wellesleyx-eng112x-shakespeare-page-877 Poetry in America: the Poetry of Early New England https://www.edx.org/course/harvardx/harvardx-ai12-1x-poetry-america-poetry-937 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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