quote:

Originally posted by DPATWELL:
I am considering TOG for my 8th grade daughter this year. Several of my friends are forming a co-op using YR1. I am excited about all I am learning about TOG, and still have a few questions that will come later. My concern at this point is that I also have a 12th grade son. He has always used "traditional" textbooks throughout his school years. There are so many positive things I see in TOG that would more adequately prepare him for college, but some one told me that it was too late to use this for him. Is there any way to include this in his last year, or do I need to just continue on as usual with him? (I hope I am making myself clear). If so, what would be the best plan of action?

I must respectfully, but adamantly, disagree with whoever told you that it was too late to use TOG with your 12th grade ds!!!! I could not disagree more!!! My family used TOG for the first time with a 12th grader. It was so good for her. We began with Year 4. It was an excellent year of study.

If you want to include your ds, then by all means, do so. However, it's also my guess that your ds has all the history credits he is required to have for graduation and wouldn't "need" to do TOG with you. You could go either way with him in that respect.

If you decide to include him in your TOG studies, I think it could only serve to benefit him in preparing him for college. One other thought is that you could enroll him in your local community college for some of his studies. That would not only prepare him for a 4 year school, but would also gain him a few credits prior to his college freshman year.

We're a first time TOG family and we'll be using Y4 with a 12th grader and a 1st grader. And the more I look through it, the better it all sounds. We're going to have a great year!

My kids are already excited about it. I have to keep shooing them away from the books and supplies!

I hope you enjoy Y4 (we're a previous Sonlight family, too).

Hello Debbie and Danain in Texas. I am in Danbury, not too far from Houston and beginning TOG this year. This site is such a wealth of information. Thanks to you all!

Hi I am Karen from Wisconsin. I have heard so many wonderful things about TOG from my homeschool group. I am wondering though, we have left last year with both homeschool and christian school experience. The only things my kids have worked with is ACE. Now how hard would this be for a transition for 3 kids and I have one that I need to start preschool things with. I just need some homeschool-motherly advice!!!!

Karen,

You might get more help if you posted this as a "New Post" in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the forum.

I'm not completely sure what you are asking. I know people have transitioned to TOG from all different kinds of curricula - textbook-based, workbook-based, unschooling, literature-based, and more. I would think you can do it, too.

When you post over there, be sure you list the ages of your kids or at least their stages (Lower Grammar, approx grades 1-3; Upper Grammar, 4-5; Dialectic, 6-8; Rhetoric, 9-12) so people know what you're looking at.

Have you looked at the "Go to Egypt" sample? The best thing I ever did was invest the time to download and thoroughly study that sample. What you get when you do the download is the first three weeks of TOG, complete. I studied it carefully on the computer (checking out all the little "Post-Its"), then printed it out and studied it again, in detail. By the time I had done that, I knew TOG was something I could do.

Have fun!

Thanks for the info. I just was asking if the transition is hard for kids who have just worked with simple workbooks like ACE.

We've been homeschooling over 10 years now. I've tried different things and TOG has been something that I wish I'd have found sooner. It has fit into our family so nicely. There is always a learning curve with a new curriculum no matter what you're coming from or going into. There will be a time of adjustment for you and your dc.

The benefits for our family have been the fact that I don't have to reinvent the wheel. Marcia has done so much of the work for me. What a blessing! The reading materials are so good and challenging. The reading list alone is above what other children may be receiving in other schooling situations. I haven't read many of the books that my R level student read last year and I was in Advanced English in school!

I would download the 3 week unit and do it over the summer. You could do one year's worth of work over 2 years, you can add or put aside books according to your needs as a family. There are weeks where we get the basics only done. There are also weeks where we get into the extras. The discussions that we have over the literature are very informal, but so good.

With the versatility of TOG, you can do workbook type activities, hands-on, oral, visual, etc. to your family's delight.

When I found TOG, I printed off a lot of info from the website and poured over it. I then discussed it with my dh. He asked me questions and during that discussion, we decided that this is something for our family.

Some reasons that we chose TOG:
1) Biblical worldview
2) Real books
3) All ages are being taught the same topic
4) The books listed
5) Church history woven in

Forgive the ramblings. I love this curriculum. God has used it to bless our family studies.

Hi skjerly_clan,
I always tell people that anytime a transition is made from one type of curriculum to another, there is a learning curve. So, if you keep this in mind, ease into assignments, and be patient with yourself and your children, I highly suspect it will work well for you.

Blessings,

This is hard for me as the parent. I want to make sure that each kid gets their own learning style that is suitable for their needs. Is this something that works with TOG?

Hi Karen, I just answered your other post. I did ACE in my senior year at a Christian school. My kids had done A Beka before we started TOG last year. We added slowly transitioned into full TOG and they were going full blast at the D level by mid year. Yes, I do take into account their personal strengths and styles and adapt accordingly.

quote:

Originally posted by skjerly_clan:
This is hard for me as the parent. I want to make sure that each kid gets their own learning style that is suitable for their needs. Is this something that works with TOG?

Karen,

Yes, in fact I think you'll find it works much better with TOG than it does with a workbook curriculum. Rather than a "formulaic" approach, one size fits all, TOG allows you to adjust for each child according to their needs. If your 6yo is an advanced reader, you can give them more of their own reading; if your 10yo writes at a third-grade level, you can have them read at the more advanced level and write at level 3. If your 12yo is not ready to write all the answers, you can just discuss the questions with them orally. You can read aloud to weaker readers; you can hold less organized kids more accountable and give more organized ones more independence. TOG is very flexible.

Hope that helps,

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I think maybe I am just having cold feet about starting something new. But I would have to agree with what was said about not really learning anything from the wrokbook system. It is all so easy to pass. Look up the answer!! You don't even have to read that is what is so upsetting.

My childrens ages are Tyler-11...Kayle (almost 10)...Jenessa-6, and Alexis-4.