This is my second year using Tapestry and it seems that the history selections are much harder for Y2 U1 than they were before. It is hard to give my UG children books that are all words, like a novel for history. I am concerned she will not like the selections. I just need other moms experiences with books like, The Story of The Middle Ages. Also, for my D child, The Story of Europe, Our Island Story and then having to read Church History on top of these and a literature selection. This really seems like a huge jump to me. Are these books very engaging? Will they like them? My UG and even D students are used to books with at least some pictures to help draw them in. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, Renae

We've not used TOG yr 2 redes. yet but have used yr 1 redes. all other years we've done classic. It was tough going when we did year 2 cuz he was a new dial. level student. He was very frustrated. If you have decided dial. is the right level (meaning he can u/stand the reading as well as just read it) then adjusting the workload of ?s and church history and indepth would help.

You need to be sure he can u/stand it all first, and that usually means going slowly at first. Be prepared to do 1 week over 2 at first if need be. Be flexible, teach them to make a schedule and look ahead at the ?s. The year 2 language in alot of books is tough. Men of Iron was a read aloud for us, I do remember that! lol Use that option if need be.


I'm in the same boat. My 11 year old is in for a shock this year, and she's done TOG since the start. It is a big change moving to dialectic. One I did not give enough grace our first go round. I assigned wwwaaay too many thinking and acct. ?s and did all the discussions on top of all the mapwork. No wonder we had royal battles over school. It was too much. Just be aware of it, and you'll both learn soo much and probably enjoy it much more than we did.
HTH
Stephanie

My 12 yo son did fine with the D level books this past year.

With my UG, I still do some of the reading. I found the story of the Middle Ages some what tedious, but the next book The Story of Europe in the next unit was much more engaging.

The literature books were the ones I disliked the most (he read them, but I have him narrate so I skim them). As we got to American history the stories got more engaging and I suspect that US history has more books for the TOG folks to select from.

Hi all:

I am new to TOG this year. I am doing Y3 D for 13 y.o. son.
I have found lots of helpful info on here to set up and get going, but I am having one problem -that is finding some of the books. I have been to the public library but they don't have most of the books I want. For example, I can't find any of the books by HE Marshall and a number of the other history core books. Anyone else finding this difficult? I would rather not buy all the books... Any advice appreciated!

Thanks!

How about considering used books? They're cheaper than new.

Concentrate on bying one unit at a time, and get the Core books as they're usually used multiple weeks. Though sometimes the indepth are necessary to answer dial. level questions for history.

TOG isn't cheap because it uses SOOO many books. I'm sure you know about ILL (Inter-library loans).
HTH

Hi,
I found the same problem and even inter-library loan wasn't a viable option as the UG and DI history core books only had one or two copies in the entire state (Georgia). IF you absolutely can't buy those try looking for the books on the alternate reading list. And check with your homeschooling friends. Even someone who isn't using ToG may have a textbook covering the period you can borrow and use as a spine. It may just involve a little more work pulling together the correct page numbers to read for an given week.

Maybe the problem is with the edition of the books. We ordered "This Country of Ours", "Our Island Story". "The Story of the Middle Ages" and "The Story of Europe" from Amazon. I didn't pay attention to the publisher - just bought the books. Then I realized that I had bought different editions than the ones that TOG uses. The page numbers didn't line up and "Our Island Story" isn't even broken down into chapters.

So then I investigated.... TOG uses the publisher, Yesterday's Classics. My books were published by Wilder publications. There is a HUGE difference!!! The books that TOG uses have pictures!!! My books have NO pictures, tiny print all crammed on as few pages as possible. My books have nice covers but the inside is horrible. I would not want to read these books either - with such small print and no chapter breaks!

So what I did was I ordered the correct editions of these books and I'm sending my books back to Amazon. I never knew there was such a difference in publishers and editions of books! Next time, I'm going to be very careful to order the exact books.

If you go to Amazon, you can click on "all editions" and see the different editions of each book. The ones that TOG uses really are much more appealing, have many more pages (because the print is bigger) and have nice illustrations.

Hope that helps!
Blessings!
Jenny

quote:

Originally posted by SheriG:
Hi all:

I am new to TOG this year. I am doing Y3 D for 13 y.o. son.
I have found lots of helpful info on here to set up and get going, but I am having one problem -that is finding some of the books. I have been to the public library but they don't have most of the books I want. For example, I can't find any of the books by HE Marshall and a number of the other history core books. Anyone else finding this difficult? I would rather not buy all the books... Any advice appreciated!

Thanks!

These are older books and have been brought back into print. Libraries won't buy new copies of them. I suspect those found in libraries are those originally published a long time ago and might not be available to borrow due to their condition.

You maybe able to find the complete text online (I know the publisher has at least some of it at their site, but you may find some of the sites like Bartleby will have it all). However, before printing it out thinking you are saving money you should compare the cost of TOG's Bookshelf to your home printing cost.

I found the Marshall books to be one investment that was worthwhile to make. I got most of them 2 yrs. ago when we did Y2 Redesign, and my (then) D son LOVED them. He is bummed that he won't get any of her books in R level (theoretically could still read them, but practically speaking, there just isn't enough time).

In regards to the amount of money spent on TOG, yes, it is a rather expensive curriculum (more than some, less than others), but I truly feel it is worth the money AND the effort - I have come to appreciate it's value more with each year we've used it (entering our 4th next week - so hard to believe). I picked up a thought years ago, from Mary Pride, in All the Way Home. This isn't word for word, but the essence of what she had to say is, when we invest in good books, we are investing in eternity for our children. We are putting something of real value and worth into their souls, that they will carry on into their future, and the future of their own families. I believe the Marshall books qualify as a "good investment" and the money we spent on them was not a waste. Also, I believe that as time has gone on, I have become more keenly aware and shrewd about which books I need to buy, which ones I should bend over backwards to get on loan (library or friends), and which ones can be omitted. When I buy, I try and spread out my purchases over time, so as not to create a huge hole in our budget - homeschooling is a fairly large drain on our finances... This forum is one place you can use to help in determining which approach to take with book purchases. Also, use the Bookstore site for number of weeks used - if a book is used for more than 6 weeks, I do my best to purchase it, and yes, you need to pay careful attention to edition. If you need to know which weeks specifically, call Customer Support - I have used all of these resources for help, and although it takes time, they have ended up saving me money and headaches as I've learned where to trim and where to spend.

Hope my rambling thoughts help someone out there!!!

Laurie