TOG vs Wayfarers

[TB5275]

I am torn between these two curriculums.  I have a 5th. 6th, and 3rd grader and want them combined as much as possible.  All three kiddos have special needs.  I really like the discussion and parent resources for TOG but love the flow and gentleness of the wayfarer and ELTL.  Any opinions, reviews, advice is welcome.  Thanks!

[rjand6more]

They are very different really.  Wayfarers is a schedule with lots of book options. ELTL and Quark are scheduled.  Neither worked well for our family.  I would use Wayfarers again but I heavily tweek it.

I have not used TOG.  I have seen it and it looks pretty complete. 

I have used BiblioPlan which I think is a good midway between TOG and Wayfarers. It has extras like mapping and student questions(we usually just discussed them) at age appropriate levels.And Discussion questions.  The Companion text can be a bit dry.  I pick and choose what I want to read to the kids and I heavily lean on SOTW.

[Lori D.]

Not used either, but from hearing the experience of others on these boards, I understand that TOG is pretty heavy-duty, and some have said it is just too much for the elementary grades, and is best for the late middle school and high school grades, which is where the program really "shines". Esp. with having special needs in the mix, you all might find TOG to be too rigorous, and that something that is more flexible and gives you more choice might be a better fit for sticking all together.

No familiarity at all with Wayfarers, but just looking at the Biblioplan book lists, there is lots of variety for flexibility and to tailor to student interests and needs.
 

Are all 3 students at grade level as far as listening, processing information, and attention span? If so, then 3 grades is not too much of a stretch for keeping them all together, esp. if the 3rd grader is a bit advanced and has the patience and critical thinking to process listening to info above grade level.

If that is the case, then another (secular) option might be Story of the World + Activity Guide. Esp. volume 1 is super gentle, and the Activity Guide would allow you to flexibly add in (or skip) other suggested books and supplemental activities as fit your students and your time frame. The books are written in a more engaging story-like fashion, and they "grow" in difficulty level:

vol. 1 = Ancients = gr. 1-4 = target age (although, it is also used in Sonlight's grade 6 core, so older students can do it too)
vol. 2 = Middle Ages = gr. 2-5 = target age (also used in Sonlight's grade 6 core)
vol. 3 = Early Modern = gr. 4-7 = target age  (also used in Sonlight's grade 7 core)
vol. 4 = Modern = gr. 5-8 = target age  (also used in Sonlight's grade 7 core) -- this one esp. is best for later middle school

Another option that could work, esp. if your older 2 are a bit delayed and would benefit from working below grade level, is Pandia Press' Human Odyssey (secular). The Level 1 guides for the 4 years of the history cycle are for grades 1-6 and use Story of the World as the "spine" text.

A "unit study" approach for gr. 4-6 that might work for you, esp. if your 3rd grader is able to "work up" a grade, is Learning Adventures. Vol. 1 covers Ancients, Middle Ages, and Age of Exploration in 6 units. You could actually spread it out over 2 years by adding some "living books" from the booklists for other curricula. The downside is that Learning Adventures includes instruction for all subjects except Math. So it includes LA -- and your students are not all working at the same level and have have special needs, so you would have to drop/substitute for some subject areas, making Learning Adventures less useful.

Would you be open to doing a year or two of American History at this age? All 3 of your students' grades are *perfect* for the tons of materials out there for U.S. History. Perhaps do Sonlight core D (early American History) this year, and core E next year (modern American History) next year. The upside is that it the books are a bit of a range in reading level (core D = gr. 2-5; core E = gr. 3-6), so you would have books that work for all of your students; the downside is that it can feel a bit scattered, as it is mostly all about reading "living books" rather than having a unified story-like guide pull it all together for you.

Just my rambling 2 cents worth, that is far afield from answering your original question, which is a comparison of TOG and Wayfarers. (:D Hope you will get some specific responses and reviews! BEST of luck in finding what's the best fit for your family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[freesia]

Mmm. I don't really know the other curriculum you are referencing. We switched from Sonlight to TOG. 

I think that there is no curriculum out there that will work 100% for everyone in a family with four. Prepare to do some adapting to your family and your kids. 

I have used TOG so many different ways over the years. I have never used it completely for my under fifth graders. I tend to use the picture book selections to supplement some type of spine (SOTW is scheduled as an alternate). Although my last child likes no history spine so we do biographies and picture books mostly. I also have always used the Sonlight readers I had from the older children. I think the non-fiction scheduled for the younger kids is really dry. We also do Sonlight read aloud bc I loved  them  

I really like TOG for middle school. I love the discussion scripts and the evaluations. I have always done book clubs once a month for a book a month. 

I also really like the history for the rhetoric level. My ds did a lit class at Lampstand  and it was good. I haven't enjoyed teaching the lit portion myself, so we've switched to Sharon Watson's lit program for 9 and 10th. Then we do AP. 

The writing is fine and sometimes we do it and sometimes we don't. We've done the church history biographies some years and I've like having it planned.  We always do the Bible in year one and I love that  sometimes we do art history and that's nice.  We usually do some activities and I appreciate having them planned  It includes things like display boards  

So, I know this rambles. TOG is the buffet they speak about. I love having it for the middle school years in up. I love keeping my kids together. I love having options. 

Is it my 100% perfect curriculum? No. It was Marcia Somerville's perfect one. I'd need to write my own. 

As for gentle, it can be gentle if you are okay with not feeling you are missing something by not doing everything.  I mean gentle curriculum do that for you and bc it's not on the page it doesn't exist as a possibility, right?:-). So, I make it gentle for my youngest by doing it gently. 

Edited October 3, 2018 by freesia

[bluemongoose]

I'm starting my 3rd cycle through TOG. So my 9th year this year. This is my first year with a rhetoric student. This year I have a 1st, 4th, 6th, and 8/9th grader.

I agree with freesia. It can be as rigorous or as gentle as you like. It all depends on how you use it and if you are ok with picking and choosing. We use their maps and a good portion of the reading books. We added in the audiobook of sotw in the car and great courses plus for my older kids. We use clear address labels as stickers to label the maps for my little kids and we often use notebooking pages instead of the student activity pages if we aren't interested in one of them.  If we find a book we don't like, we use the alternate or fine our own thing. For my 1st grader I may skip the whole week of tog if I don't like it and let the sotw lesson suffice. So just being flexible can make it as gentle as you need it to be. And yes, I appreciate them being in the same place in history. It is so helpful and i love to hear them discuss amongst themselves over lunch.

[bluemongoose]

I forgot to touch on the special needs aspect. I too have some of that to work with. 2 of mine are on the spectrum and 3 are dyslexic. It does influence how I tweak tog. Some things that help is getting audio books of the lit books for my dyslexics and spelling things out more clearly for those who struggle with executive function. Just giving them the SAP pages and expecting that to work would be futile. I also read everything aloud for my youngest as reading is coming very slowly due to the dyslexia.

[WhitneyS]

Wondering if anyone has thoughts to add to this? I am looking at both and would be interested in opinions. 

[Nm.]

I wasn’t a big fan of the literature /fables that were recommended/ included for ELTL.  Personal preference but I felt her taste was too “heavy” for me, especially for younger ones.   I’m not sure if that is carried over in wayfarers.  I wanted more guidance for picking literature.