I want to use TOG, but I'm worried....

[Misty]

My oldest daughter (almost 11) inhales literature like air. She LOVES to read and will read anything that is put in front of her. She reads WAY above grade level (when she was 6, she tested at 6th grade level with 7th grade comprehension) and she comprehends and retains everything she reads (mostly). I suspect she reads at adult level now with equal comprehension.

My worry is this... Last year we did Ambleside Online. Before this, I had never forced her to read anything. I never had to. I simply just had to bring it into the house, put it in plain sight, and she would read it. If it were a good read, she would come and tell me all about it, and I considered these to be informal narrations. I have always felt that her relationship with books was not something to be toyed with so I always avoided any type of program that scheduled books to be read over time. But AO looked so appealing and I thought that since she loved to read that it would be a good fit for her. It turned out to be a disaster! It wasn't that it was too hard for her or too overwhelming for her. She is used to heavy reading. It was simply the fact that I was trying to schedule the books!!! So in other words, if I had just brought those books into the house and sat them down on the coffee table, she would have had them all read within a couple of weeks. But since I scheduled them, told her when to read each book, which book to read when, how long to take reading it, etc., she completely BALKED!! I couldn't believe it! I thought she was going to love it because she loves to read! She loves Shakespeare and the classics and history and nature. Why then would she not love AO? Because I scheduled it!! *ugh*

So now I have this delimma with TOG. I am really drawn to it and I think it would work so well with my multiple-aged kids. But I'm not sure how it's going to work with my oldest. Any advice on how to handle this? I don't want to have a repeat of our AO year. Should I force her? She really doesn't need a history program because she reads so much history on her own, but then again I'm afraid there may be gaps in her knowledge, plus I want her to start a timeline this year since we are starting with the ancients again, so I would really like for her to be on board with us. When she is forced, she will do it, but she does it half-heartedly. She is literally a walking encyclopedia of knowledge so it's not a big deal if she isn't on board, but I would like for her to be. Should I continue to let her learn in the way that she learns best? Maybe just bring the books into the house and let her read them when she wants? I don't mind forcing her, but I can't help but think it to be a ridiculous idea to force someone to read a book who absolutely LOVES to read, when she otherwise would read it on her own if I just left her to it. On the other hand, when she reads on her own timetable, she reads history out of order and she reads so fast that I can't keep up with her to make sure she is adding to her timeline or notebook, etc. She speed-reads so she can read something like a 500-page novel in just 2 days. It's the weirdest thing, but she does it. Also, I'm afraid I'm creating bad habits of not wanting to comply with required readings, which is something that will be required of her in college. Then again, she's already read more literature than most college students will ever read in their entire lives, so I just don't know.

So am I crazy for wanting to use TOG with her or am I crazy for letting her get by all these years without forced readings?

HELP!

[OhElizabeth]

Well I use VP, not TOG, but my dd is similar. She hated the schedule when we tried SL, still comments on the horrors of it. As you say, I think there are some character issues involved there. ;)

My compromise though is to assign on a schedule especially important spine readings and leave the rest in a weekly book pile. So you can start that way and slowly get her used to the idea of a schedule. With TOG, you'll have categories of books (spines, activity books, historical fiction, etc.). In fact, I distinctly remember someone telling me the listings in TOG weren't adequate for her prolific reader. In any event, I think you can assign on a schedule the most important spines (say two of the books) and just put everything else as a pile of books for the week.

Yes, she should be doing something with the books she reads. She can do a written summary once a week from one of them. She can use them as sources to then write paragraphs on topics from the week. My dd is a bit younger than yours, so I plan to have her do notebooking from her reading.

[Staci in MO]

He loves to read, but anytime I assigned him something, he didn't like it.

I finally came to the conclusion that at some point in his life, he's going to have to read things he doesn't necessarily want to read. I also felt that he really wasn't giving the assigned books a fair shot. He went into them with a bad attitude.

His love of reading was well-established, so I didn't feel like I could ever squelch it. I finally told him he had to read the assigned books. He could read them faster if he liked, but he had a minimum he had to read each day. Once he has finished the assigned reading for the day, he can either read ahead or read another book of his choice.

I also only assign one week at a time. For example, he can read all of his assigned reading for the week in a single day if he chooses, but he can't start on the next week's assignments until the next week. He can read whatever he likes for the rest of the week. Since he mainly likes sci-fi and fantasy, reading history out of order isn't a factor with him. With my younger daughter, it is. But as long as she's done with her assigned reading first, I don't worry if she reads history from another time period.

This past week is a great example. I assigned Black Horses for the King for my son (it's actually a Sonlight book, but it fit the time period we were on). He didn't care for the book at all for probably the first half, but ended up liking it and finishing it early. This has happened to him enough that he's not quite so resistant about the books I assign.

When the TOG book is a book they've read, I just substitute for something that fits in the time period. I like that TOG has spines to anchor everything, so if the fiction doesn't quite match up, it's not a big deal.

[danielle]

Nothing works the same for every learner, but here's what I've done. I have a list of books I want her to read, each year (drawn from WTM, Lifetime Reading Plan, other guides and college top-100 lists). Up until this year, she's preferred to read them in chronological order, or if historical novels, in order of the period being written about. Then, I've searched for free study guides on the web and basically handed them to her for background. I usually require some paper every 3 or 4 works--for example, compare the written Macbeth with the movie versions we watched--is one better and why--you know, pretty standard stuff. Then, we go to a coffee house and discuss it (making it an event). This does require my reading ahead of her, for works I haven't read. If I really can't get through a work (I'd rather have a root canal than finish Pilgrim's Progress!), I don't force her. However, her tastes are not necessarily mine--she loved Pilgrim's Progress! She made me defend my dislike of the book.

I never force her to read something she despises or finds too troubling. For example, she could not finish the last Lord of the Rings because she could not stand to read what happened to Frodo. Luckily, like your daughter, she loves reading. Preserving and nurturing that love is way more important, in my opinion, than reading any specific work.

It's worked well. Dd burned up the tracks on her SATs and ACTs in 7th & 8th grade. The local high school insisted on the full battery of EXPLORE for placement (for one class: orchestra!)--she got a perfect in every measure except math (one wrong!). She can write--she's won several essay competitions.

I never thought I'd say this when we began 6 years ago, but at least for bright kids, I say relax a bit. The most important thing is to learn how to learn, and enjoy doing it, not sticking to a schedule. The best outcome, at least for us, is that dd is so interested in learning so many things that we have to make a schedule to see what she will NOT have time to study this year, being so overbooked.

Danielle