TOG for younger children

[hsmomto5]

I am thinking of starting TOG next school year for my dd 10 and ds 7. Anyone doing this with younger children and how do you like it?
Lora in NC

[tullyfamily]

We just switched to TOG Y2 for our family. (We used VP for 3 years.) Our children are all 8 and younger. I LOVE Tapestry- it has been so much easier to organize & teach. The children love having books on their level to read. (I am using Lower Grammar & Upper Grammer books but my dd also reads some of Dialetic books.) I bought the MapAids and Lapbook cd- both have been great. I do not use the Writing Aids but instead use IEW.

HTH,
Heather

[razorbackmama]

We used it for 2 years. We have switched to Diana Waring's History Revealed. I struggled to get past the "fog." I've been told several times that I just wasn't using TOG right or something...I dunno, whatever.

My biggest piece of advice for the LG crowd is to ignore the weekly overview pages (I think that's what they are called) and to just do the reading. Ignore the people and vocabulary that those pages say they'll cover, since they often WON'T in the LG readings. (This is what the TOG people told me to do when I asked about this on their forums.)

[Karenciavo]

I began using TOG with a 5th grader and a 3rd grader, they are now in 10th and 8th. I currently use it with them and my first grader. We like it very much. At 10 & 8 we focused on the readings, writing, and crafts, we enjoyed lapbooking what they learned. We also covered geography. My first grade son does the same, plus I make copy work about the People. I have to disagree about ignoring the overview pages, I think they come in handy.

[razorbackmama]

I have to disagree about ignoring the overview pages, I think they come in handy.

They do come in handy when the readings actually cover the stuff that is ON the overview pages. I had a LOT of trouble with that (and sometimes the stuff on the LG lists was found in the UG or D readings!), and when I asked about it over at the TOG forums, they said to focus on the readings not what the overview pages said we were supposed to be covering. Once I did that, it went better (but not good enough to keep me from looking elsewhere...but again I've been told numerous times that the problem was me).

[siloam]

I am thinking of starting TOG next school year for my dd 10 and ds 7. Anyone doing this with younger children and how do you like it?
Lora in NC

I love TOG and started when my oldest was in at the end of her 3rd grade year, you can see all the ages I have in my sig line.

I think the hard thing about TOG is that you buy this monstrous thing, pay big bucks then fell pressured to use it all because you want to get your money's worth. I could be wrong.

When I started TOG I simply read the books listed for either LG or UG aloud to everyone, we mapped a few places daily (I pulled this of the SAP-Student Activity Pages, but I don't use the SAP pages themselves). It was 5 months before I even started using the Literature. Even now approaching two years I still don't use the discussion qustions, the SAP pages, the literature worksheets. I do have plans to slowly add them as my oldest works more independently. But I have had a long time to figure out TOG, so there wasn't pressure to, "get it now". I also bought used and only paid $75 for my first copy, so no financial pressure either.

But I also used several open and go programs and never could leave them along. I was always adding, tweaking, subtracting. I like TOG most for the coordination of topics, then I use what ever books I want to (which often are not TOG choices) that fit the topics. It works for me.

Heather

[razorbackmama]

When I started TOG I simply read the books listed for either LG or UG aloud to everyone, we mapped a few places daily (I pulled this of the SAP-Student Activity Pages, but I don't use the SAP pages themselves). It was 5 months before I even started using the Literature. Even now approaching two years I still don't use the discussion qustions, the SAP pages, the literature worksheets. I do have plans to slowly add them as my oldest works more independently.

This is the sort of thing I recommend also!

[hsmomto5]

Thanks so much for the responses. Your wisdom has been very helpful. I have decided to go ahead and order TOG.
Thanks again,
Lora in NC

[Omma]

I am using it for the first time this year for 2 dc ages 7 and almost 9. We are doing Y4 and I am loving it! I have always had such a quest for more knowledge and researching things, and this curriculum has so much to offer! :D I do want to recommend the lapbook pages for this age group. I had only bought one set at first, so that my dc could work on it together and not be too overwhelmed with the writing. We ended up doing the first 2 units as a shared activity, but now they each want there own lapbook! And I am thrilled! ;) All that writing and figuring out what to say to cement what they've learned... it's great! I get the lapbook kits that have all the brightly colored paper all ready to be cut and put together by the kids... I highly recommend these!

Brenda