XPost: TOG--if you do this with multi-levels...

[ABQmom]

If so, how does this look in your home?

I will have a student in 9th, 7th, 5th, and 1st this fall. I'm looking into doing TOG for the first time in the fall, and was wondering if anyone could give me some insight or tips into how you manage all those different levels of learning in one home.

Obviously I will try to combine the kids for as much as I can, but are there other things you do to make your day flow smoothly and get to everything you desire to accomplish with each level?

[Karenciavo]

I had students at three levels last year. My rhetoric and dialectic students worked on their own, I combined their discussion time. Sometimes the topics are different, but usually not. Depending on your 5th grader I would have them do some of the reading on their own and combine some with the 1st grader as a read aloud. When it comes to purchasing books I work from the top down, rhetoric got my priority and if any money was left I purchased dialectic then grammar. I used the library whenever possible and switched books out when needed, again, mostly at the lower levels.

[momofkhm]

When it comes to purchasing books I work from the top down, rhetoric got my priority and if any money was left I purchased dialectic then grammar. I used the library whenever possible and switched books out when needed, again, mostly at the lower levels.

I do the same with book buying. I figure if I buy the R now, I'll have it in 4 years when I need it for my now D student and then in another 4 years when I'll need it for my now UG student. I look at it as a front end load. By the time my 4th grader gets to high school, I shouldn't have to buy anything. (Good thing too. By the time he gets to high school, we'll have been paying for college for 3 years!)

[BlsdMama]

It's more combine-able than you think... For example we tried Sonlight and there was so much tweaking to be done that it was a huge amount of work. If you're unfamiliar with TOG, you'll soon see that it truly is laid out for families that have multi-age groups. Many of the upper grammar and lower grammar readings are the same.

This year we'll have a 9th grader, a 6th grader, a 3rd grader, and a 1st grader. (We aren't doing anything with our K or PreK with TOG.) I won't be doing all of the readings, some of it will fall on my 6th grader because he could use the patience and extra reading. Plus he loves history. My 9th grader is completely independent at this point with the exception of math. My 6th grader is largely independent. All of this helps! :)

[choirfarm]

What year of TOG will you be doing? I'm suspecting you will be doing Year 1. Looking at your ages, you could almost do dialectic level for your 9th, 7th and 5th...perhaps giving some of the rhetoric reading for history or questions for your 9th grader and dropping the questions for your 5th grader depending on his reading/reasoning ability. It will probably take you all year to decide how to do it. The rhetoric level for literature is TOUGH and they have gotten better and better each year at adapting it for various levels. I'm thinking they will be coming around to year 1 to make it better that way. I came to TOG from Sonlight and so I chose a book to readaloud to everyone that year and then chose some for them to read.

This is how my first year went with my K, 5th and 7th. The K just listened to the readaloud and basically did no TOG except maybe some coloring sheets that I found. I did phonics and math with her when I could. I would conference with the boys and we would talk about what they were going to do. I would hand them the maps, timeline figures, questions, etc. I soon discovered that the questions, particularly the thinking questions were just too hard for my 5th grader and he HATED having to plan out when he would do things. He liked me just telling him every day. My 7th grader was in heaven. The 5th grader would often have tons of work left by Thursday night that was due Friday.

The next year the kids were 8th, 6th and 1st. I read a book a week from the TOG list and did a couple of crafts like salt maps or something fun I found for the 1st grader. Both boys were solidly dialectic level. My 6th grader was better at the questions and was better about planning, though not great and would still do a lot of the written work on Thursday.

This year we are doing year 3 with 9th, 7th and 2nd. I have tons of stuff from Sonlight 3 and 4 that are on the list for my 2nd grader...only problem is she is JUST now starting to read things like Cam Jansen. So I read a book or two aloud to her. 9th grader is doing rhetoric and 7th is doing dialectic and is much, much better about planning his time. History is his favorite subject, especially this years. We are doing his favorite time period the Civil War and I bumped him up to rhetoric for the Cifil War because he could answer the dialectic questions without any reading. ( He spent the holidays reading that rhetoric Civil War book Eyewitness FOR FUN!!) We probably have over 20 books on the Civil War here and did an in depth study and visited several sites before we did TOG.) Yesterday, he was explaining the answers to the rhetoric questions to my 9th grader. Literature is a mess this year. My 9th grader is doing rhetoric and though I thought I would have to modify..I haven't. My 7th grader has already read all of the dialectic selections..even in the alternates many times. But rhetoric is just way too hard. So we have done our own thing. He is currently reading Red Badge of Courage.

Oh.. that is a good thing by the way. They often help each other with the questions when they get stuck. They discuss it a lot among themselves. That might be a solution for your 5th grader...he could discuss with your 7th and 5th grader and ask them for help for questions.

So, how do I do it? Well, I have a conference with my older two on either Friday afternoon or Monday morning. I tell them the topic, tell them what the writing is for the week, hand them their maps and timeline figures. Give them their questions/charts for the week, etc. Since I tend to modify and combine resources and/or use what I have, I type up a syllabus for each unit. They get that when we start each unit. The older two work independently. They have a routine now, though. They tend to read Monday through Wednesday answering questions as they go. They do maps on Tuesday and timeline on Thursday. We have discussion for history on Friday mornings. I start of with them together and then dismiss the dialectic child when we finish his topics. I have literature discussions on a different day..sometimes Thursday, sometimes Monday..it just depends where they are in their books. I mentally can't handle having history and literature discussions on the same day.

I feel like my 2nd grader gets gyped a little bit. When my middle one was in 2nd grade we did Sonlight Core 3 and Core 4. HE read over 100 books that year and we created a notebook. He did a page for each thing we were studying.. There is no way she could do that at all and I don't have the time to spend with her to do that either. She just gets crammed in between everything else.

Here is my day:

7am- boys up
8am- Oldest does Chalkdust Geometry. I get daughter up and started and then I help my middle one with Chalkdust Pre-Algebra.
9am- Boys are doing Apologia Chemistry and Physical Science. Sometimes I have to help them by going over the answers to the study guide. Otherwise they are independent. I work with my daughter.
11ish- Daughter goes to play. I conference with writing or have TOG discussion or planning session, etc.

Lunch

Boys do SOS Spanish, piano, Logic for my oldest, typing for my middle. Finish up TOG stuff, especially written work. This time is pretty independent with them

Meanwhile my daughter and I work on more stuff together. We have violin and vision therapy some afternoons.

4- We clean and cook dinner. After dinner I grade and study to get ready for the next day for at least an hour or two.

Christine

[ABQmom]

What year of TOG will you be doing? I'm suspecting you will be doing Year 1. Looking at your ages, you could almost do dialectic level for your 9th, 7th and 5th...perhaps giving some of the rhetoric reading for history or questions for your 9th grader and dropping the questions for your 5th grader depending on his reading/reasoning ability. It will probably take you all year to decide how to do it. The rhetoric level for literature is TOUGH and they have gotten better and better each year at adapting it for various levels. I'm thinking they will be coming around to year 1 to make it better that way. I came to TOG from Sonlight and so I chose a book to readaloud to everyone that year and then chose some for them to read.

This is how my first year went with my K, 5th and 7th. The K just listened to the readaloud and basically did no TOG except maybe some coloring sheets that I found. I did phonics and math with her when I could. I would conference with the boys and we would talk about what they were going to do. I would hand them the maps, timeline figures, questions, etc. I soon discovered that the questions, particularly the thinking questions were just too hard for my 5th grader and he HATED having to plan out when he would do things. He liked me just telling him every day. My 7th grader was in heaven. The 5th grader would often have tons of work left by Thursday night that was due Friday.

The next year the kids were 8th, 6th and 1st. I read a book a week from the TOG list and did a couple of crafts like salt maps or something fun I found for the 1st grader. Both boys were solidly dialectic level. My 6th grader was better at the questions and was better about planning, though not great and would still do a lot of the written work on Thursday.

This year we are doing year 3 with 9th, 7th and 2nd. I have tons of stuff from Sonlight 3 and 4 that are on the list for my 2nd grader...only problem is she is JUST now starting to read things like Cam Jansen. So I read a book or two aloud to her. 9th grader is doing rhetoric and 7th is doing dialectic and is much, much better about planning his time. History is his favorite subject, especially this years. We are doing his favorite time period the Civil War and I bumped him up to rhetoric for the Cifil War because he could answer the dialectic questions without any reading. ( He spent the holidays reading that rhetoric Civil War book Eyewitness FOR FUN!!) We probably have over 20 books on the Civil War here and did an in depth study and visited several sites before we did TOG.) Yesterday, he was explaining the answers to the rhetoric questions to my 9th grader. Literature is a mess this year. My 9th grader is doing rhetoric and though I thought I would have to modify..I haven't. My 7th grader has already read all of the dialectic selections..even in the alternates many times. But rhetoric is just way too hard. So we have done our own thing. He is currently reading Red Badge of Courage.

Oh.. that is a good thing by the way. They often help each other with the questions when they get stuck. They discuss it a lot among themselves. That might be a solution for your 5th grader...he could discuss with your 7th and 5th grader and ask them for help for questions.

So, how do I do it? Well, I have a conference with my older two on either Friday afternoon or Monday morning. I tell them the topic, tell them what the writing is for the week, hand them their maps and timeline figures. Give them their questions/charts for the week, etc. Since I tend to modify and combine resources and/or use what I have, I type up a syllabus for each unit. They get that when we start each unit. The older two work independently. They have a routine now, though. They tend to read Monday through Wednesday answering questions as they go. They do maps on Tuesday and timeline on Thursday. We have discussion for history on Friday mornings. I start of with them together and then dismiss the dialectic child when we finish his topics. I have literature discussions on a different day..sometimes Thursday, sometimes Monday..it just depends where they are in their books. I mentally can't handle having history and literature discussions on the same day.

I feel like my 2nd grader gets gyped a little bit. When my middle one was in 2nd grade we did Sonlight Core 3 and Core 4. HE read over 100 books that year and we created a notebook. He did a page for each thing we were studying.. There is no way she could do that at all and I don't have the time to spend with her to do that either. She just gets crammed in between everything else.

Here is my day:

7am- boys up
8am- Oldest does Chalkdust Geometry. I get daughter up and started and then I help my middle one with Chalkdust Pre-Algebra.
9am- Boys are doing Apologia Chemistry and Physical Science. Sometimes I have to help them by going over the answers to the study guide. Otherwise they are independent. I work with my daughter.
11ish- Daughter goes to play. I conference with writing or have TOG discussion or planning session, etc.

Lunch

Boys do SOS Spanish, piano, Logic for my oldest, typing for my middle. Finish up TOG stuff, especially written work. This time is pretty independent with them

Meanwhile my daughter and I work on more stuff together. We have violin and vision therapy some afternoons.

4- We clean and cook dinner. After dinner I grade and study to get ready for the next day for at least an hour or two.

Christine

Wow Christine! Thank you so much for such a complete answer!

Thanks to everyone who has replied. Every little bit is helping me a great deal to understand how TOG might work for our family.

Oh, and yes, we will be starting with year 1. My ds will be a young fifth grader, so I plan on keeping him more in the upper grammar stage at this point. You all have given me lots to think on.