How do you schedule Teaching Company materials....

[Mommyfaithe]

Do they come with a schedule?

Do you use them as your spine and spread them out over a semester or do you use them as supplemental material.

 

 

I love the looks of these materials and they are available to me through interlibrary loan, but I wasn't sure I could use them within the 3 week period we are allowed to borrow w/ no renewals...

 

Tell me how you use Teaching Company materials.

Thanks

Faithe

[Moira in MA]

I have used many of the literature/history/music courses as supplemental material primarily for my own use to add to my discussions with the girls. I borrow CDs or audio tapes from the library one part at a time. The DVD loan period is only 1 week and is typically packaged with too many lectures to view during such a short time. Occasionally one or other of the girls will decide to listen for herself but I don't require it.

 

I *have* used 2 of the courses as spines: Physics in Your Life w/Conceptual Physics -- High School edition (Hewitt) and The Nature of Earth w/Planet Earth (Renton).

 

I bought the DVDs on sale and scheduled the lectures over a full year, with assigned reading and problems from an appropriate text to coincide.

 

Physics in your Life assigns readings from the college level Conceptual Physics but I checked both texts out carefully. For the material I wanted to cover the only difference seems to be the apparent ages of the cartoon figures! I also used the Conceptual Physics Lab Manual to include labs.

 

For Geology, I chose to use the presenter's own text; it isn't assigned in the TC materials but it really follows his material closely -- no surprise there. We've been doing field trips for the geology using a Roadside Geology book.

 

I've been happy with the results.

 

HTH

Moira

[Julie in MN]

Moira, thanks for sharing how you do that. It helped me see what could be done.

 

Faithe, we've only used them as a supplement. My problem is that they are very much a classroom/textbook sort of teaching & not necessarily what I want as a spine for our homeschool focus. But there are outlines & sometimes workbooks with each set, so it could be done.

 

Julie

[Catherine]

and text books for my ds. There are 85 lectures, so I made a schedule at the beginning of the year coordinating the readings, TC lectures, and writing. It has worked well.

 

He has also watched TC's linguistics lectures, here and there throughout this year. Those, he does whenever because they are more of a personal interest.

 

Catherine

[Alphabetika]

My dd and I watched the "History of the English Language" lectures because we're both interested in the topic. I also have a Shakespeare series that I'm going to add in to her British Lit studies, though I don't know exactly how I'll schedule them.

[danielle]

Some we watch just for fun--mostly Robert Greenberg's music lectures. Altho the music theory one isn't fun for me, dd loves it. Others of his are very entertaining.

 

Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition we are using as a supplement/spine, in the sense that much of what dd is reading also goes along with the lectures. We'll be using it over 4 years. We watch the lecture, then read each book/play, then go back over the TT accompanying book with lecture notes to review the material one more time.

 

I've really enjoyed the science fiction and fantasy one, which I bought as a present for myself. Can't figure out how to incorporate it for dd however, as it really is important to read the books (and you'll want to after hearing about them).

 

I would strongly suggest previewing them through your library before purchasing them. Some have been terrific, some stupefying, some just didn't work for us (altho highly recommended by others). However, if we're really going to use the course as part of a study, I have found it useful to purchase them, both for the book that comes with them, and the pace--it's really hard to go thru them at the rate you need to for a library loan. Even though lectures are short, some we've watched more than once in order to absorb them.

Danielle

[Cynde]

We've used six Teaching Company Programs in high school. I used History of the United States as a supplement to a text book, and ds viewed Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoningjust for fun.

 

I built semester or full year courses around the other four programs we used (Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Rise of Nations ; The African Experience: From “Lucy†to Mandela; Power Over People: Classical and Modern Political Theory; Art Across the Ages). This method proved the most meaningful for our dc. First, the student chose a program that they wanted a course built around. Then I bought the program and used the Course Guidebook to help me develop a program. Each program guidebook has a list provided by the professor for "essential reading" and "supplemental reading." Each program I used had the readings paired with the lectures. Then it was just a matter of reviewing materials online, choosing which materials to use, and scheduling the readings and lectures at the pace needed for the semester or full year course. There was way more reading than I felt humanly possible :001_smile: listed for each program - lots of really good options.

 

I would usually have our dc read the material corresponding to lectures first and then listen to the lecture. After the lecture, they would complete the corresponding questions in the Course Guidebook for that lecture. There are usually two questions per lecture (some courses had more). The questions are more of the thought provoking type. Dc would also have to write several essays throughtout the course. For the art course, we did several field trips to the National Gallery of Art since we live near Washington DC. No tests on any of the programs since there wasn't enough time for me to read the materials, watch the lectures, and write one. If I were to build a new course, I'd entertain the idea of having my student write a meaningful and thought provoking test (with an answer key) as a project, and the test would have to include essay questions.

 

Dc learned a lot from our built courses. They did a ton of reading and writing. TTC lectures are great, and I loved that they provided a reading list. To build a course, I think you'd really need to purchase TTC program instead of checking it out from the library since you'll be using it for so long.

 

Personally, I think TTC programs are great any way you use them.

 

Hope that helps!

[Kathy in MD]

To date I've used only a couple as ancient history supplements, but I bought them so ds could use them thoughout the year. I've also borrowed one or two from the library if I only wanted one or two lectures.

 

Next fall will be the test as I'm combining TTC Western Civ with US History to act as our spine. (I'm only doing 1600-1850, so the DVD's will be good for 2 years.) I'm throwing a few others in as supplements. I'll be relying on the booklet questions for discussion starters and essay questions.

[Janice in NJ]

Lately I've been thinking about just doing "American History" next year. If I know me, I'll probably never be able to do it. I just can't see me skipping all of the great world history stuff as we marched along... but I'm playing around with it. One can plan.....

 

Our lectures would be from the US History set:

http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/CourseDescLong2.aspx?cid=8500

 

Our text - Tindall's America:

http://www.amazon.com/America-Narrative-History-Seventh-One/dp/0393928209/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240266907&sr=8-3

 

With Study Guide:

http://www.amazon.com/Study-Guide-America-Narrative-History/dp/0393929477/ref=pd_sim_b_2

 

And Web Site:

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/america7/

 

I even obtained instructor's access from Norton so I have tests etc. So I'm considering spreading this course out - covering the first half next year and then finishing up with a 20th century history course the following year. This would give us two weeks on each chapter. Lots more to say about what I'm thinking even though I haven't decided for sure....

 

But anyway.... back to your question...

 

I believe in the read, think, write model of education. At the high school stage, my kids need to be able to discuss what they have read with someone who knows more than they do. So do I! (Let's face it - I've learned quite a bit about American History but I'm no Guelzo or Gallagher.) :001_smile: No matter how much reading and thinking I do on my own, there is something about working with a great TC lecturer that always offers me an "ah-ha!" moment. I love watching them on my own, and I love watching them with my kids. Especially if we have been doing some reading and studying on our own - we bring something to the lecture. I pop it in and we hit play. I pause it. I ask questions. We discuss. The kids pause it. They comment. It takes a LONG time to get through a 30 minute "lecture." But we are thinking, making new connections, understanding things that we didn't get on our own, and sometimes even disagreeing. :001_smile: Which always leads to more reading and thinking.

 

Then I try to require some sort of output. Writing. Maybe not for every lecture, but on a regular basis.

 

Read. Think. Write. I love the way TTC materials help us all to "think" more deeply. Even me. All we've ever added to course is the reading and the writing part. The lectures help us working through the thinking part; they take us further than we could go on our own.

 

They have definitely helped me cover the humanities better than I could have done on my own.

 

Peace,

Janice

 

Enjoy your little people

Enjoy your journey