home4school Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 I have been all over the website, but I don't understand if you have a "spine". What resources do you use? Thanks! Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
home4school Posted November 18, 2008 Author Share Posted November 18, 2008 Well, I just realized a year of Trisms cost about as much as TOG. Duh!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
home4school Posted November 19, 2008 Author Share Posted November 19, 2008 bump.... Would still like to hear opinions on Trisms....please.:) Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
home4school Posted November 19, 2008 Author Share Posted November 19, 2008 Thanks for all the links! Off to read! Kim :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
home4school Posted November 19, 2008 Author Share Posted November 19, 2008 From the searches of past threads, it appears only two posters here use Trisms. Anybody else? C'mon ladies, help me out here! :) 2 out of how many people here? Not too impressive for Trisms.:( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 From the searches of past threads, it appears only two posters here use Trisms. Anybody else? C'mon ladies, help me out here! :) 2 out of how many people here? Not too impressive for Trisms.:( You might have better luck trying the high school board. I think there are a few users over there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
home4school Posted November 19, 2008 Author Share Posted November 19, 2008 I searched the hs boards last night, I just didn't notice more than one or two of the same people that posted over and over. At first I thought "Wow, look at all the posts about trisms!" Then I realized it was the same one or two ladies posting!:lol: And I just can't tell about something without holding it in my hand! (Explains the need for something besides TOG DE!!):D I also see Trisms appears to be secular and I really want a Biblical worldview. Maybe I'll give MFW another look. I don't know why, the sample pages just don't "do it" for me! Thanks for your help ladies! Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauranav Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 I was at loose ends with the "spine" method too. While looking for options I came across TRISMS and bought the Ancient package on sale. The worksheets are good, but it does take good resources to do the research for the answers. That is good in that it gives me a chance to teach research skills. The lesson plans are easy to pull together and plan for the unit. They cover good science topics and you can incorporate literature studies into it as well. Having said all that, I'm not sure I will use it next year. It is pricey and now that we have seen the types of questions they ask on the civilization sheet and unit worksheet, we might be able to do the spine method next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osmosis Mom Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 We seem to have hit jackpot here. They love the independence as well as the variety. I am juggling several kids so anything they can do on their own and even love works for me. We have a ton of historical textbooks and non-fictionary accounts as well as fictionary books so we have plenty of available sources. For hard to find questions they use the internet. About using the internet then I don't have a problem with that. The reality is that information changes and everything is online in real life (just ask college-dd). So for me it's a-ok, but only after they spent a bit time and energy looking around in books where you also find other info in front of you. They enjoy the research aspect and doing their own timeline-books. They have taken ownership and are proud of what they are doing. There are a few worksheets for each unit, but you certainly don't have to do these. Some let their children do powerpoint presentations or reports in different formats. There is really no way that is the wrong way as long as you get an end product and the student retains the spirit and love for learning. My kids are taking online writing classes so I am not worried about having to teach this subject, leaving a lot of tension out of the picture and giving them skills and freedom to delve further. To us TRISMS works. It is what you make it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
home4school Posted November 19, 2008 Author Share Posted November 19, 2008 Thanks, Laura! So, it doesn't have a "spine"? You just learn what you learn from doing research? I don't know how that would fly here. We enjoy a good narrative-type spine, like SoTW or History of US. Can you incorporate a spine? Thanks! Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katrina Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Well, I started using History Makers this year, and so far I've been very pleased with the program. My kids don't quite like the questioniarres, so we record the information a little bit differently, but it works for us. When it comes to history, I'm a major curriculum junkie, so using History Makers lets me use all these resources that I've been collecting over the years. My kids much prefer a narrative history like SOTW. Now, for reasons that I'm not going to get into here, we've haven't done SOTW 3 or 4. I'm in the process of lining up History Makers' topics with SOTW 3 and 4 and so far it looks like it'll mesh quite nicely. Hopefully we'll get the best of both worlds. TRISMS was having a sale for Discovering the Ancient World, so I went ahead and purchased it. From what I've seen I like Discovering the Ancient World much better than History Makers. I'm very excited about using it. If you have any other questions let me know, but I'm still rather new to it but I'll do my best! Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauranav Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Yes, you could incorporate a spine. I'm still learning how to do this. We refer back to our spine and I may yet come up with a different way to use it all together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 There really isn't a single spine. We are using History Makers (over three years) and use Hakim, VanLoon, and Boorstin as American history spines as well as VanLoon, CHOW, Foster, etc for world history spines. We use a bunch of other resources as well. I think it would be difficult (or "not worth it") for those who like a narrative, SOTW-type program. If you don't like the bouncing-around, layered, research approach, TRISMs would probably seem frustrating, as it really is meant to be an in-depth research approach. TRISMS is not difficult to adjust to whatever one is looking for, but I would think a person could just choose a narrative program, if that is what he/she was looking for and it would be much easier, since the spine would already be set up and all. There would be teacher notes, an established worldview, a detailed schedule, etc. in a narrative program that is lacking in a research approach. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
home4school Posted November 19, 2008 Author Share Posted November 19, 2008 Thanks for all the input! This research based idea may be just what we need. One reason history falls by the wayside is they are always waiting on me to read them something before they do anything. I read while they map, I read while they work on a sheet, I read...well you get the idea!:tongue_smilie: They both need to become more independent workers, so this may be the ticket. I will just have to try to get my hands on a copy to look at in person. But, that probably still won't help me make the right choice. If I had a dollar, for every curriculum I bought that did work out......well you know the rest. (or maybe you don't! Maybe you all can actually pick out things that are right for your hs!) History Makers seems like an awful lot for one year, but I would really like to get it done in a year. Do you think its possible to do it in a year and them actually retain anything? Thanks again! Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 To get everything done in one year, I would skip areas you have covered well already. I consider ancient history to be the weak area of History Makers. If you have covered ancients already or plan to cover them in the future, I would skip those lessons. Lessons 0-5 cover the ancients. Lesson 6 begins the Renaissance - I would probably start there. Lesson six covers daVinci, Gutenberg, Prince Henry the Navigator, etc. Then I would just move forward as far as you can get in one year, not worrying too much about making it to the last lesson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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