OK TOG pros (or TOG pro wannabe's)...I need your insight

[Melissa in CA]

My ds is currently in 7th grade, but lately I have been trying to figure out how we are going to use TOG for our high school. Here is my delimna...

Our ISP says my ds must have one year of American History, one year of World History, and one year of Government/Econ. We plan on him graduating early, in 11th, so that gives us three years to accomplish his required high school courses. No problem.

He is currently in Y2 of TOG (7th grade)

Here is my problem...
My understanding is that Y3 is mostly American History. This would work well for his high school American History in 9th. And Y4 is 20th Century World History which would be fine for his high school World History in 10th. But then what do we use for 8th grade??

If we use Y3 (Am History) in 8th and Y4 (World) in 9th, what would I then use for his high school American History course?

And Government?? TOG mixes in Government...I have no clue how I could work that one out with our ISP. We might just have to use a separate Govt. course in 11th.

So, I am wondering if it would be best to skip TOG in 8th grade and do something else....what, I have NO IDEA...and pick TOG back up in 9th at R level with Y3.

ALSO, I am wondering if we should stop what we are doing now (we are just coming to the end of Y2, Unit 2) and do something else for the remainder of the year....what, I have NO IDEA...and then spread out and finish Units 3 & 4 in 8th grade leaving Y3 for 9th.

Can you see how confused I am? :confused: Anyone willing to help me work this out or have recommendations? (I think I'll post this to the other board as well)

[choirfarm]

There is an awful lot of world history at the rhetoric level in year 3. This week my oldest is doing a lot of reading about the Crimean War while my dialectic student is doing Florence Nightingale as well as American history readings. For rhetoric, they seem to have assumed a lot of basic knowlege and the American history goes deeper but they concentrate a lot on world events. I love that! I don't have anyone overlooking me here in Texas. I just planned to call this year 19th Century American and World History. Next year I'll call it 20th century. I think for 11th grade I will have him take government at a CC or do some other course. I think I will have him at least do TOG year 1 literature. I'm not sure about the history. I also thought about having him take the AP American history exam at the end of 10th grade. That would show he has knowlege of American history.

Christine

[jananc]

Just wanted to point out (in case you didn't know):

-- TOG govt. is a separate subject in the rhetoric years, not mixed in. If you complete all the assigned readings, you earn 1/2 govt. credit each year.

-- year 3 and year 4 can each be classified as 1/2 credit History of Western Civ and 1/2 credit US History, so after completing both years you'd have 1 credit each of Western Civ and US History. The Loom documents on the website are very helpful for figuring out credits. Look under "Dialectic/Rhetoric Helps".

As for how you should spend your 7th and 8th grade years, I'm not sure!!

[Karenciavo]

I'm not sure of TOG government meets all the requirements in your state for Civics/Government credit. In NJ we must cover:

The United States Constitution, other historic American documents, and national symbols and their significance

Government processes and functions

Citizenship: rights, duties, and responsibilities

Studying current issues and public policies

Learning how the humanities influence society

Learning the ways in which a society is reflected in its art

Learning to see the arts as representations of many societies

TOG does cover many of these items, but I'm thinking we'll do a 1 semester civics course next year because my ds16 will have finished all four years of TOG at the rhetoric level. The NJ Department of Education probably uses different lesson plans than I will use for those last three :lol:

[Melissa in CA]

I just planned to call this year 19th Century American and World History. Next year I'll call it 20th century.
Christine

Great titles Christine. My ISP would probably be just fine with those. As long as World AND American History are taught. That's probably all they are concerned with.