CupOCoffee Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I have just been gifted these items from TTC: Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts - on I think this on is PBS, it's like 9 DVDs St Augustine's Confessions Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Revolution: Modern Physics for the Non Scientist My Favorite Universe How to Look at and Understand Great Art The Story of Human Language (series) Famous Romans I & II Famous Greeks I & II Physics & Our Universe: How it All Works The Joy of Science (series) The Ethics of Aristotle Herodotus: Father of History Some of these are audio books, some are DVDs. They all have the "Guides" to go with them. I have never looked into TTC materials before but I know that many here use/refer to them. I may have access to more materials. Are these things considered full courses? Are they "quality"? Are they college level? I am interested in many of these for myself, but would love to be able to incorporate them into DS remaining year, and DD when I can. Thanks for any insight on this material; I am going to go look these up on the Great Courses website Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalmia Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Leonard Bernstein's concerts are WONDERFUL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbabe Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Um that's a gold mine!!! The Bernstein DVDs are for elementary probably. The TTC ones are taught by college professors and would be college level courses, but can easily be used in high school! I am so jealous!! What a great gift! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 They are quality courses and are considered full-length. Wow! :hurray: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 You scored! I am happy for you :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CupOCoffee Posted March 23, 2014 Author Share Posted March 23, 2014 Thanks for the comments! Now to figure out HOW to incorporate them. We have not exactly covered Art and Music, and I would love to; it's convincing the kids that's gonna be some work, lol. I am reading reviews on the one Physics course (...How it all Works, since that one is actually DVDs), and it seems to be split opinions on whether a non-mathy person could gain from this/understand this. Son has to take at least one more science; but he's a non-mathy kid. I'd like him to be able to do an Astronomy and then maybe Marine Biology. Husband argues with me that "when I was in high school, we HAD to take Chemistry and Physics so why isn't he taking those?". Methinks he remembers incorrectly: only kids who knew for sure they were going to college took that "track" (remember "tracks"?). College is not an immediate plan for this kid; please don't criticize, as we do have a plan. The other physics, for non-scientists, is audio tapes (yes, tapes), so my student will probably scoff at listening to them! But I digress. I am beginning to see what a gold mine I have been given; I looked at the prices on some of this material, and YIKES!!! I suppose people who buy these courses wait for the 70% sale? Otherwise, this ONE course I am looking at sells for over $600! DD is doing Ancients, so I think I can definitely work in some from Famous Greeks/Famous Romans; but those are audio, so to her they will be less attractive. Thanks again for the comments! ~coffee~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Are these things considered full courses? Are they "quality"? Are they college level? They are high quality, college-level lectures, but they're definitely not "full courses" in the sense of being a complete credit by themselves. The only course I can think of that would come close to making a full credit would be the 96-lecture Astronomy course, which is long enough and dense enough that DS will probably have spent more than 120 hours just with the lectures (pausing, rewatching, taking copies notes) by the time he's done — but he's still using a text with it. Most "courses" consist of 24 half-hour lectures, so really only 12 hours total. For high school, you'd need to add another 48 hours of work, minimum, just to make a half-credit. But they're great supplements, or you can use the course(s) as the spine and add various readings and assignments. We are big fans of the Teaching Company! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 They are high quality, college-level lectures, but they're definitely not "full courses" in the sense of being a complete credit by themselves. The only course I can think of that would come close to making a full credit would be the 96-lecture Astronomy course, which is long enough and dense enough that DS will probably have spent more than 120 hours just with the lectures (pausing, rewatching, taking copies notes) by the time he's done — but he's still using a text with it. Thanks for correcting me. My kids are young so when I said they were "full courses" I wasn't thinking of credits, just that they weren't samplers and they have some breadth. Oh, and I may have been overly excited. :w00t: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Coffee, another good person to talk to re:incorporation is regentrude. Send her a PM if she doesn't drop in on this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CupOCoffee Posted March 23, 2014 Author Share Posted March 23, 2014 They are high quality, college-level lectures, but they're definitely not "full courses" in the sense of being a complete credit by themselves. The only course I can think of that would come close to making a full credit would be the 96-lecture Astronomy course, which is long enough and dense enough that DS will probably have spent more than 120 hours just with the lectures (pausing, rewatching, taking copies notes) by the time he's done — but he's still using a text with it. Most "courses" consist of 24 half-hour lectures, so really only 12 hours total. For high school, you'd need to add another 48 hours of work, minimum, just to make a half-credit. But they're great supplements, or you can use the course(s) as the spine and add various readings and assignments. We are big fans of the Teaching Company! Thanks for this insight. ~coffee~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 They are high quality, college-level lectures, but they're definitely not "full courses" in the sense of being a complete credit by themselves. The only course I can think of that would come close to making a full credit would be the 96-lecture Astronomy course, which is long enough and dense enough that DS will probably have spent more than 120 hours just with the lectures (pausing, rewatching, taking copies notes) by the time he's done — but he's still using a text with it. Most "courses" consist of 24 half-hour lectures, so really only 12 hours total. For high school, you'd need to add another 48 hours of work, minimum, just to make a half-credit. But they're great supplements, or you can use the course(s) as the spine and add various readings and assignments. We are big fans of the Teaching Company! A lot of the guidebooks have assignments to go along with each lecture, along with additional reading, so you don't have to piece everything together for yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 That's fabulous! I have been using TC courses extensively for high school As for audio: I do not think that is a draw back - we use ONLY audio. There is not much to see; the professor is lecturing at a lectern. We find the videos very boring, but love listening to the courses, often while driving in the car. The courses are college level, but most are very suitable for high schoolers. I usually combine several courses with a spine textbook and writing assignments to make a full high school course. ETA: I have been using history and literature courses. I have not much liked the physics courses I have tried, and I did not find that listening to those was particularly engaging. I would not use them for a student without a prior physics background, and I do not think that explaining physics on audio works particularly well in the first place. We have used an astronomy course on video, but that was stretching it; a student without physics will get only a superficial overview without thorough understanding from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avilma Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I have done a ton of those courses and I love them. I listen to them on the car. From your list I have done Famous Romans and Herodotus. They are both very good. My father who doesn't know English was in the car with me one day when I was listening to Famous Romans. He said that the professor sounded very passionate and made me translate the whole lecture to him. The course I have learned the most from until now is How to Listen to and Understand Great Music. That is for sure a college course. It has 48 lectures, each 45 minutes long. It is also very difficult. I listened to some of its lectures 3 times and still did not fully understand them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CupOCoffee Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 That's fabulous! I have been using TC courses extensively for high school As for audio: I do not think that is a draw back - we use ONLY audio. There is not much to see; the professor is lecturing at a lectern. We find the videos very boring, but love listening to the courses, often while driving in the car. The courses are college level, but most are very suitable for high schoolers. I usually combine several courses with a spine textbook and writing assignments to make a full high school course. ETA: I have been using history and literature courses. I have not much liked the physics courses I have tried, and I did not find that listening to those was particularly engaging. I would not use them for a student without a prior physics background, and I do not think that explaining physics on audio works particularly well in the first place. We have used an astronomy course on video, but that was stretching it; a student without physics will get only a superficial overview without thorough understanding from it. Thanks for weighing in on this! The one physics course is 60 lectures on DVD, and the guide book with some assignments; the other one is audio and guide book. Would a kid with no prior physics be able to handle it on DVD? Reviews I read on the site have me confused as to whether or not a newbie student could handle the course. I suppose I could let him try it and see what happens. ~coffee~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 How do you use the Teaching Co? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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