VP Omnibus - self paced on sale, not ready to commit....several other good choices

[dauphin]

So for next year I've already been thinking about what to do for History. We have been doing TOG at home on our own but since History and Lit were never my strong suits, I have decided I would like to outsource in some fashion. 

 

Currently we are doing TOG from Y2U3 to Y3U2 (I was hoping to get a good foundation of American History).

 

Choices:

 

Continue as we are and hope I get a little more comfortable with TOG and more efficient in general. DD likes the readings and I think we could transition from UG to Dialectic. Pro: we can continue on our off-cycle (beginning each year halfway through a TOG Year).

 

Try a TOG Online Class. Pro: DD gets peer interaction which she has been craving. But a risk of it is that if she gets frustrated because she thinks other students aren't giving enough effort are just acting silly, she's going to grump about it the rest of the year....I wish there was a cheaper way to try online classes, haha (350 each for History and Lit for the year). Or is there a satisfaction guarantee of some kind? Another con: if we continue on our current trajectory she will either do the first two units of Y3 over again, or we'll need to breeze through all of Y3 between now and fall so we could do U4 online (which doesn't seem like a good idea if we are trying to move over to Dialectic).

 

Veritas Press Self-Paced Omnibus. She watched some of the sample of the online course and was enthralled. She LOVED the expert discussions, games to assess learning, theology, on-location tours, etc. No peer discussion, though. Maybe if I'm not working to stay on top of things as much as I have to with TOG, there's more realistic opportunities for discussion? Pro: 25% off for Black Friday/Cyber Monday!!!! (regular price 295 each for primary and secondary, so what is that, like a $150 savings?). Hm, I can't find anything on the website about their return policy. And whether or not we can wait until August to start?

 

Veritas Press Online Courses: I can't get a good grasp of what those actually look like but I"m assuming there's socratic discussion, etc. Is it lecture driven? Do they use some or ANY of the stuff we saw in the Self-Paced sample? Con: well, at $600 each for Primary (History and 1/2 theology) and Secondary (Lit/ 1/2 theology), that's a chunk of change.

 

Possible fifth option: A local HS mom of 8 who has a degree in history is -considering- holding a history/lit course for a small group of students her daughter's age (which happens to also be my daughter's age. YES!). She has offered a course like this each year for her oldest child (who will be a senior next fall and will be spending a part of the year as an exchange student to boot - AHA I'll bet that's why she is considering it - she may not be teaching one for him next year!) THIS is probably my preferred choice - it's a long drive but I very much respect her (she mentors a lot of us newer HS'ing moms) and her philosophy on education (very classical but pragmatic too) and history and she has a substantial background in teaching writing as well. And DD would LOVE to engage in face-to-face discussion and build relationships with other local girls her age; we are still having to work hard to rebuild relationships/connections after pulling her out of school (and then subsequently out of CC).

 

SO.

 

I was going to wait until my local mom friend made her decision.

 

But that VP Self-Paced sale is nothing to sniff at. 

 

Any thoughts/comments/observations?!?!

 

[Melissa B]

I would wait on the local homeschool mom. That sounds like a great opportunity and most like what your dd is looking for. If the mother has done these classes in the past, there is a good chance she is going to go ahead with her plan.

 

VP has an October sale every year. I think it includes the Omnibus self-paced classes. And I don't think they allow you to choose a start date for the class. Your one year generally begins a few days after you pay.

[OneStepAtATime]

I would wait on the local homeschool mom. That sounds like a great opportunity and most like what your dd is looking for. If the mother has done these classes in the past, there is a good chance she is going to go ahead with her plan.

 

VP has an October sale every year. I think it includes the Omnibus self-paced classes. And I don't think they allow you to choose a start date for the class. Your one year generally begins a few days after you pay.

This.  They had half price on the self-paced courses in April.  I bought a course for DS10.  His access started a few days after we paid and will only last until next April.  We didn't get to choose when it started.  We took a lot of the summer off, unexpectedly, as life issues interfered with our plans, so DS is having to sometimes double up a bit on the lessons.  Doing fine.  No issues.  But we did have to pull out a calendar and make sure his pace would allow him to complete everything before access ends in April.