Hi-- I am looking for some info from people who have used TOG and can compare it to other curriculum. I tried TOG this school year (in the middle) got overwhelmed and quit. However, now that i will have 11 yr. old., 9 yr. and 6yr. twins next year, i am considering trying TOG again. Can anyone tell me how you have been able to use TOG without getting overwhelmed?
thanks
pam

Hi, Pam.
I have 5 kids, ages 5, 9, 11, 13, and 15. We are in ToG year 2 R. I have used both SL and ToG. While I love the books Sonlight uses, I never found the overall study cohesive enough for my tastes. ToG put everything in the humanities together better, imho.
With kids the ages of yours, I would do ToG very lightly. Maybe the 11yo could do more, but the others could just enjoy the books that you find easily at the library, and some of the art projects. Even if you put everyone on the same level, say, UG, they would all benefit.
For example, this year, each of my girls in in a different level (the 4 olders). When we have a busy week, or if math is taking up a lot of time, or whatever, I just eliminate some reading, or we do a project together instead, or everyone reads from the same resource, usually the UG one. Sometimes, I just read some of the teacher's notes pages to them if we have had a short week due to illness or travel. We are able to stay on track that way, and there is less burnout. You can always take things out or spend more time on areas you enjoy. And, since ToG is scheduled weekly instead of daily like SL, I don't feel as though I am behind on Wednesday.
This got longer than I had planned, but I hth. Blessings on your journey, and don't stress. ToG is a tool, not a taskmaster.
tonya in sc

I would say the best thing to do is to spend a good chunk of time over the summer planning out your year so that when you begin school all the things you find overwhelming are in place.

In my case, I looked at all the hands on projects and then chose when we would like to do and bought supplies for the first 18 weeks ahead of time and then re-shopped before beginning the next 18 weeks.

I also printed out the SAPS, writer's aids, maps, etc and had them spiral bound so that when we got to each week they were already at hand for my children and me.

Finally we do our scheduling on Friday afternoon and then I read the Teacher's notes over the weekend. That really doesn't take more than an hour.

I spend alot of time planning ahead.

I plan out a unit at a time. I use the teacher planning sheet on the Loom. I will just sit down for a weekend or however many days it takes and plan each week through the whole unit.

I only use the primary sources and I don't even look at the alternative sources. The primary sources with everything else is enough.

I make sure the library has all the primary sources for the unit and if not than I purchase them. I fill out the teacher planning sheet for each week. I fill it out by deciding which projects we are going to do, spread out the reading each day, copy the maps and copy student activity pages. I write down all the supplies I will need for projects and purchase them for the whole unit so they are at hand.

Once all the weeks are planned out the only thing I have to do is order the library books about a week before I need them from the online library system. Than I also read the teachers notes before the week starts.