TGTB Lang Arts

[Momof4sweetkids]

On 5/17/2022 at 9:02 PM, Green Bean said:

We are loving the math and the Kinder Prep! Little Man just adores the Doodles Handwriting 1 & 2, as well. I'm on the second printing of both!

What I am not liking is reading all the older kids' book list samples and finding nearly every single one has children being left behind by their parents or the main characters are orphans. So far, all the stories in 5 and 6 are about kids being orphaned or parents leaving them behind. It is giving me serious pause about using these with Little Man as he is particularly sensitive to that sort of thing. Of course, he is only 5 now. Hmm...

Now that it's a year later, how did you like Kinder prep? I just saw a flip through on YouTube and it looks interesting! 

[Nm.]

I’m really liking the math 2,4,5,6 and the LA 2.  We are at a stand still in aar4 so I’m pausing that and trying out tgtb.  It is so much better than their older ones.

[seemesew]

On 5/25/2023 at 5:31 AM, Nm. said:

I’m really liking the math 2,4,5,6 and the LA 2.  We are at a stand still in aar4 so I’m pausing that and trying out tgtb.  It is so much better than their older ones.

I agree!!! When i hear people say it's boring I'm like, have you tried the newer ones? They are a lot better!

[Nm.]

13 hours ago, seemesew said:

I agree!!! When i hear people say it's boring I'm like, have you tried the newer ones? They are a lot better!

Are you using their newer LA?  I’m debating levels 4&5 and 6 (which is older).

[Nm.]

@Green Bean how did LA go?  

[seemesew]

On 5/29/2023 at 6:55 AM, Nm. said:

Are you using their newer LA?  I’m debating levels 4&5 and 6 (which is older).

I've used the new preschool, K ,1, and 2 we will be using the new 3 this fall 😊 I haven't used anything newer for 4 and up though. The current level 6 is my favorite level! It's so streamlined and i love the content!

Edited June 9, 2023 by seemesew

[Green Bean]

On 5/24/2023 at 10:00 AM, Momof3sweetgirls said:

Now that it's a year later, how did you like Kinder prep? I just saw a flip through on YouTube and it looks interesting! 

 

On 5/29/2023 at 8:36 AM, Nm. said:

@Green Bean how did LA go?  

I thought I would combine you guys as you are asking me the same thing.

Little Man adored the Kinder Prep. He knew everything in it already so had fun with it. I think we did it in about 2 weeks.

His abilities quickly outstripped the curriculum for K reading, and he balked at the slow pace of the wkbk even doing multiple lessons a day. I tried twice to have him use the K wkbk to zero cooperation. I have learned that for him digging his heels in about a program is his way of telling me it doesn't fit for him. He loved the little readers and the My First Nature Reader books, though. I thought about moving to the Gr. 1 reading cards, but it was his daily fighting me about the wkbk that caused me to throw in the towel. He's been a bit of a tough one to fit materials to, I'll tell ya'!

TGTB is a great program for the kids and mamas it fits. We just don't.

Edited May 31, 2023 by Green Bean

[Nm.]

@Green Bean what happened to level 6?  I’m a frequent quitter of tgtb so I’d like to be more realistic.  I think we might be back to basics in the fall.  

[Green Bean]

13 hours ago, Nm. said:

@Green Bean what happened to level 6?  I’m a frequent quitter of tgtb so I’d like to be more realistic.  I think we might be back to basics in the fall.  

See below.

Edited May 31, 2023 by Green Bean

[Green Bean]

On 5/24/2022 at 3:26 PM, Green Bean said:

I’m not thrilled with Level 6. I feel there is a lot of fluff, but the writing instructions are great. We just skip the fluff. I’m looking forward to the revised version of that level in 2025!

NM. Here is my response from a bit ago. My son skipped through in under 2 months and said he learned nothing from it.

Edited August 16, 2023 by Green Bean

[Nm.]

Thank you!!! I love the idea but in practice I love our tried and trues.

[Green Bean]

4 hours ago, Nm. said:

Thank you!!! I love the idea but in practice I love our tried and trues.

Exactly!

[Ellie]

On 2/22/2022 at 7:02 PM, AnneGG said:

Take this with a grain of salt because I’ve only been homeschooling a couple of years and mine are little….

I think any all in one language arts is going to have weak areas. It’s the whole Jack of all trades, master of none. It’s just going to be really hard to give the moms what they want (short lessons, independent, hands on, no prep, etc,) without some area of LA taking a back seat. All in ones are just tricky for kids that aren’t a straight line in LA achievement.

This is really good insight for someone who has only been homeschooling a couple of years. 🙂

[seemesew]

On 2/22/2022 at 6:02 PM, AnneGG said:

Take this with a grain of salt because I’ve only been homeschooling a couple of years and mine are little….

I think any all in one language arts is going to have weak areas. It’s the whole Jack of all trades, master of none. It’s just going to be really hard to give the moms what they want (short lessons, independent, hands on, no prep, etc,) without some area of LA taking a back seat. All in ones are just tricky for kids that aren’t a straight line in LA achievement.

We have used TGTB on and off for years and I’ve tutored other kids with it.  I do not think it is a rigorous LA. It is comprehensive but simple. There is a lot  content that appears to be in place purely for the child’s engagement. (Fluff.) That is perfectly fine for us, but for some of the kids I’ve tutored it has been a distraction. They liked it, but the concepts were not being internalized. Overall I like it, recommend it, and use it.  I definitely add in more phonics and phonological awareness with my younger tutees. I add extra spelling and writing with my upper elem tutees. The price point is excellent for what you get. I go into it knowing I will need to supplement. We do geography and art elsewhere in our curric so that’s no biggie. 
 

As for the pk-2 revamp, I doubt it’s anything completely different. Just like the math and science. They add some new graphics and change a few things, but the core is still the same. They may have more phonics built in. I def think it’s lacking in the current version. 

Having now graduated my oldest and his main curriculum being tgab I can say he did well with it and it is thorough! He scored excellent on his SAT and tgab was his only grammar and writing courses he took.

I agree the older editions prk-3 were hard for kids and not my favorite. The current new editions are amazing and have filled any worries I once had about how our what was taught.

 

[Green Bean]

Quoting myself from the June K-2 Chat thread:

"I said I would never do it again, but I downloaded and printed the free TGTB K LA wkbk over the weekend, and he has been LOVING it! Just goes to show that waiting until the child is developmentally ready to do something pays off. I made him a little mark off chart for the lessons and readers to track his progress visually. Yes, it's easy for him, but I am in no rush."

He's doing 5-7 lessons and 5 Reader books a day. We will see how long the pace lasts.

Edit: He finished K Unit 1 and K Readers in 6 days. Of course, this is all fun summer review for him. I expect as we move up he will slow down.

 

Edited June 15, 2023 by Green Bean