TOG Users--Is it unrealistic to think of using TOG with a large family? (5+ children)

[MommyInTraining]

I am thinking of using TOG and wondering as the children get older and possibly there are more little ones, would it be too much for all the different grade levels?

 

Thanks for your input,

Terri in WA

[Jackie in AR]

I am thinking of using TOG and wondering as the children get older and possibly there are more little ones, would it be too much for all the different grade levels?

 

Thanks for your input,

Terri in WA

 

In my mind, one of the main drawing points of TOG is that it can be used by the entire family. Each student is on the same page in history each week. MUCH easier than having everyone off on their own bunny trail.

[momofkhm]

and I find it manageable. I only have 3 children. I have dialectic, upper and lower grammar. I know I don't use TOG to its fullest potential, but I do what is manageable for us.

 

I read something this morning - oh in WTM! :D - that by the time they are older, they should be managing their own work.

 

Pg 10: By the time my children were 12 or so, I did less and less actual teaching. I supervised; I discussed content with them; I held them accountable; I graded; I bought books and organized coursework. But by early high school, they had been trained in the methods of learning. From this point, they began the process of educating themselves, with some help from tutors and correspondence courses.

 

So I think when you have olders it should be manageable as well. The part on you should be to find their books, give them the assignments and have discussions. The hard part may be the time for discussions.

[Karenciavo]

The author of it used it with 6 children. I think how many levels you need to use is more important to consider than how many children. I use it in 3 different levels with 3 children and as Cheryl posted, my 12 yo does much on his own and my 14 yo does all on his own, we just get together 2x a week for discussion and we have a weekly meeting at the beginning. There is, however, a learning curve at first, my dc have used TOG for 5 years.

 

How many different levels are your children?

[Jackie in AR]

The author of it used it with 6 children. I think how many levels you need to use is more important to consider than how many children.

 

 

But using TOG with all 4 levels at once would still be much easier than everyone doing their own thing (i.e., everyone with a different curriculum), don't you think?

[Karenciavo]

But using TOG with all 4 levels at once would still be much easier than everyone doing their own thing (i.e., everyone with a different curriculum), don't you think?

 

Yes, I think so.

[Kendra]

I know I'm going against the grain here, but I chose to forgo TOG because of our large family and the time it takes in mom prep. We have five students, a 4yo, an 11mo, and one due in May (pregnancies always come with 16 weeks of morning sickness, plus I had a miscarriage before my last two very close pregnancies).

 

I need to be able to read the lesson, or better yet, push "play" (MOH and SOTW on audio are much-loved here). We check out lots of related books from the library and keep them in a basket in the living room. They notebook and do the MOH map work. I know this sounds similar to the TOG method, but somehow doing it this way isn't so overwhelming to me.

 

YMMV, of course ;)

[MommyInTraining]

but I chose to forgo TOG because of our large family and the time it takes in mom prep.

 

Yes, this is what I am concerned about also. As some of you may know, I have had a hard time implementing SWR (although we are still plugging along with it:rolleyes:) because of lack of time to be able to prepare. This is why I am wondering about TOG. Just wondering if others who have large families, especially those with littles coming every year or two, have been able to successfully implement it.

 

Thanks!

 

Terri in WA

[1bassoon]

I think I would have lost my mind LONG ago were it not for TOG!

 

I have kids in all 4 levels. Yup, that's right. And it STILL beats my days of trying to pull together a Sonlight/SOTW mish-mash. Really, after the first few weeks of planning, I mostly got into a "groove" and know what parts are important, what I can skip, and what is realisitic.

 

As a recovering SL'er, I'm more freed-up from thinking I have to do everything in the plan. (Marcia Somerville herself never did everything listed!) Having all the kids on one topic has simplified my life like nothing else. And, truthfully, I think it takes me no more than 1 hr. per week to plan all my TOG, for all 4 levels. (It would be less if I copied off the student activity pages in advance!) Reading the teacher's notes is probably another 30 minutes more done during the week - or some weeks, I remember enough from my own schooling and am refreshed enough by reading to my little girls that I don't need to review notes too much.

 

For me, due to the large age gap b/w my first two, TOG has helped me to stay in touch with what she's learning and to disciple her with some great, meaty Biblical material, while pulling her into the family. She's not off doing her own thing, she's contributing to discussions with us, etc.

 

HTH - I'd be happy to give more details if that would be beneficial.

[Sophia]

next year it will be four (6 dc altogether, but the younger two are 3 and 1.)

 

One of the reasons I am staying with TOG is because the redesigned schedules in SOTW which I love and want to make sure all my dc are able to do.

 

Another draw is, my younger dc are forever asking their older siblings questions about what they are reading. They hated feeling left out of discussions when I would review with my older ones.

With TOG, they feel like they are being kept in the loop, yet are free to exit when they get bored and the depth of the discussion has left them in the dust:confused:

 

We did SL for one year.

It worked well for my older two who used the same core.

But my third dc was constantly saying she wanted to do what the older ones were doing, which led my fourth dc to think she was being left out somehow too...and there was no way I was going to try more than one core at once-we'll be sticking with TOG from here on out.

[MommyInTraining]

These are great replies, please keep them coming!

 

I guess my biggest hurdle right now is a 5 month old who is not on much of a schedule and a mommy who doesn't want to lose sleep to planning :rolleyes:. I am sure in about another 6 months the little guy will be more predictable, but then, since we are quiverfull minded, I could be on my way to another pregnancy and all that that entails.

 

So, I guess I am just still concerned about being able to keep up.

 

Terri in WA

[PeterPan]

Terri, I know I only have one dd right now and not much room to speak, but my SIL is in your shoes, with numerous kids close together (I actually lose track of how many!). She doesn't even TEACH history during the school year, nor science. Remember, you have the whole summer, if you can just get the basics done during the school year. So she does math and LA every day of every dc and then collapses. That's it. Then in the summer she picks ONE textbook or topic and does it with all of them, each dc participating at their own level. At the elementary level science is only one semester and history one semester in many standard curricula, so it's entirely possible to cover them like this. Nuts, I've done an entire book of BJU science in one MONTH by doing a chapter a day. It's actually quite fun!

 

My SIL now has her oldest (7th gr) working independently and going through her whole stack of stuff. All the others though work together this way. It's worked for her quite well and was the only sane way for her to get everything done. You don't have to do everything at once. ;)

[Quiver0f10]

I am planning on using TOG this year and will have 3 levels, but HSing 7 kids. To help my sanity I am going to use BJU homesat for math, science and english. This will free up much needed time so I can concentrate on TOG, latin, greek and other stuff I never have time to do.

[Lisawa]

Yes, this is what I am concerned about also. As some of you may know, I have had a hard time implementing SWR (although we are still plugging along with it:rolleyes:) because of lack of time to be able to prepare. This is why I am wondering about TOG. Just wondering if others who have large families, especially those with littles coming every year or two, have been able to successfully implement it.

 

Thanks!

 

Terri in WA

 

The thing is... you can still push play using SOT or any audio cd/tape on history. SOTW is scheduled in TOG for your younger ones. The real planning and scheduling would be for any older children you have. Don’t stress on the LG schedules… The idea at this stage is exposure…. Allow them to soak in as much as possible.

 

My suggestion would be do not plan for LG at all, fold them in w/ any UG. Read aloud a book to all, let the UG child read a book on his/her own and then use SOTW audio for extra. Do not try to do all activities, focus on 1 or 2 a unit and let them work on it over the next 2 months. If you even want to do that.

If you plan salt dough maps for the older, let the young ones experiment and have fun! It sparks a fire in the young ones when they do what older bubbie and sissy are doing…..

 

Planning comes in for the older UG/D/R. Logic is where you begin to put a little focus on the schedule aspect of TOG. Dialect and Rhetoric a bigger focus.

What trips folks up is its shear volume. It is overwhelming…. But it is because it is a K-12 grade curriculum and… because of this we feel we have to plan, plan, plan…. But we don’t… not to much…. Its just deciding what to use…. You do have to read over each week and decide, but a lot of moms take the summer and do this…. Having things printed up before hand is a plus….. then you just focus on your understanding the teachers notes and making sure your plan is implemented.

I personally print out all the SAPs and maps or any print outs I may need before school starts. I buy any books I may need over the summer, normally for the first 2 units and then around late November I buy any books I may need for units 3 and 4. I “plan†a unit at a time. So unit 1 is planned over the summer and when I hit week 5 of unit 1, unit 2 is being planned, week 5 in unit 2, I plan unit 3… so on, and so , on…. but no need to stress… its in the guide already….

TOG is a tool… its flexibility is a treasure in our house…. And no one home uses TOG the same…. We have dug deep when my son used this with us, and now we are going TOG light for my 15 year old… and when I begin to focus more with RyLee the 11 year old, we will go deep again…. It has fit all of my kids needs so far…

If you do decide to use TOG…. Make sure you are ready to be flexible….. not just with your children, but yourself as well…. I realize TOG isn’t for everyone…. So I truly hope you find a fit for all your children….

:)

[susie in tx]

 

My suggestion would be do not plan for LG at all, fold them in w/ any UG. Read aloud a book to all, let the UG child read a book on his/her own and then use SOTW audio for extra. Do not try to do all activities, focus on 1 or 2 a unit and let them work on it over the next 2 months. If you even want to do that.

 

This is what I am doing. Our "activity" is the lapbook. We aren't getting to it every week. I'm also printing out coloring pages for my two littles. My UG dd is reading some of her books to the LG and below girls. I focus on trying to keep my 4 yo busy, along with reading and math for my LG.

 

Planning comes in for the older UG/D/R. Logic is where you begin to put a little focus on the schedule aspect of TOG. Dialect and Rhetoric a bigger focus.

 

What trips folks up is its shear volume. It is overwhelming…. But it is because it is a K-12 grade curriculum and… because of this we feel we have to plan, plan, plan….

 

The redesigned makes the planning easier, IMHO. Before I started (and I'm a newbie, just doing this for 3 weeks), I thought I had to redo the SAP's and make everything just so. Instead, I copy the SAP and my kids write on a clean sheet of paper. This is working. It's not pretty, but my girls don't mind. Some of the SAP's are made so that they can write on them. Right now, I'm focusing on doing the Core reading and some of the in-depth reading. During lunch, we listen to SOTW, if it i scheduled for the week. I'm trying very hard not to add to it. The core reading is plenty. The in-depth is icing. The discussions are where the meat of this program is located, IMHO, and they are where I'm trying to focus.

 

Plus, we are doing a tapestry week in 7 days. I'm including history, geography and literature. We do the lapbook. It takes a hour once a week. Other than that, I'm not doing anything else. If we get to a video, we do. If we get to any art or music, we do. Oh, and another secret I have? If my girls don't get to all of their reading, I have them look at the Usborne Quicklinks for their history books. They love it.

 

My youngest is 4, but I imagine that I would not change much if I were to have another baby. This seems to be working so smoothly. I don't have to put two SL cores together, or try to figure out ways to keep my youngers busy and/or listening to something that is similar to what their sisters are reading. I spend an hour prepping each week. Then, I spend about 20 minutes ordering books online via my library and another 10 - 15 minutes making copies. Actually, I had my UG dd make the copies for me yesterday. LOL

 

[MommyInTraining]

Thanks for all of the replies!

 

I am just looking for something that myself and the children will look forward to doing everyday. Does that make sense?

 

Terri in WA