TOG users...I have questions!! Please help!

[Amy+2]

Okay, I am going to take the plunge and buy TOG ( I think:confused:)...BUT, I want to start with Year 2 Redesign Unit 4 and then work my way into Year 3 Redesign. Is this a crazy place to start?? My boys are REALLY into Early American History through the early 1900's and, from what I can figure, this may be the 'beginning' of that as far as TOG goes. Also, I want to purchase the books for their level...would you recommend the Lower Grammar level for ages 8 & 6? That is what I am leaning towards at this time.

Any opinions appreciated! :)

[Shelbelle7]

Okay, I am going to take the plunge and buy TOG ( I think:confused:)...BUT, I want to start with Year 2 Redesign Unit 4 and then work my way into Year 3 Redesign. Is this a crazy place to start?? My boys are REALLY into Early American History through the early 1900's and, from what I can figure, this may be the 'beginning' of that as far as TOG goes. Also, I want to purchase the books for their level...would you recommend the Lower Grammar level for ages 8 & 6? That is what I am leaning towards at this time.

Any opinions appreciated! :)
Hi AJ. I think that where you want to start is perfectly fine! You *may* want to back up just a little though and start with unit 3 of Year 2. Unit 3 begins with Jamestown. In fact, if you want to see those first three weeks of unit 3, you can view/download/print them for free. Here is a link to TOG's free mini-unit called Sail to the New World:
http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/newworld/index.htm

That might give you a better idea if you want to start with unit 3 or unit 4.

For 8 and 6 year olds (which is what I have, only in the girl version :D), I would definitely stick with lower grammar. If you go to TOG's bookshelf, you can see exactly which books are suggested for Year 2, Units 3 and 4. You can search by year, unit, and level. TOG is currently upgrading their Bookshelf, so as time progresses, there will be even more info on it, such as how many weeks a resource is used and a more detailed description of the book. But, even as it is right now, the Bookshelf would be able to show you exactly what resources you would want.
hth,

[Amy+2]

Thanks Shelbelle7!
That was a big help! I also would like to know what else you all recommend as far as the resources that go with TOG. Do I need everything listed since I am planning on starting with Unit 3?? Or should I wait to get my unit and read from there? What about the Lap books? They look really nice and the map aids look great too. OH, there is just SO much that goes with this curriculum and I want to make sure that I have it all in my plan. I am a little bit Type A when it comes to my planning and curriculum. :rolleyes:Okay, maybe quite a bit!!

[Janis in DE]

I really don't think the Map Aids are a must have for your children at their ages. Since you will be doing American History and more modern times it should be easy to find the things needed to put on your blank maps. That is assuming you have blank maps. If you need to buy blank maps anyway then go ahead and get the map cd. They have the blank maps and a teacher's map with all the locations. You could always just look at maps and a globe with your children too. As for Lapbooks, do you children like to cut and paste? My daughter hates to do lapbooks even though I like them. It really is just an extra. When we started TOG we started with year 2 unit 2. We are finishing up year 4 this year and will start over with Redesigned Year 1 in August.
Janis in DE

[Shelbelle7]

Thanks Shelbelle7!
That was a big help! I also would like to know what else you all recommend as far as the resources that go with TOG. Do I need everything listed since I am planning on starting with Unit 3?? Or should I wait to get my unit and read from there? What about the Lap books? They look really nice and the map aids look great too. OH, there is just SO much that goes with this curriculum and I want to make sure that I have it all in my plan. I am a little bit Type A when it comes to my planning and curriculum. :rolleyes:Okay, maybe quite a bit!!

Many TOG users will wait until they have their yearplan/unit in hand before buying resources. Because you can look and see what is recommended via the Bookshelf, you could also use that list to determine if any of the books recommended are available at your library. Many moms use the library to save money. If you prefer to order your books and units at the same time, though, you can do that on the Bookshelf. With any *book* order (not curriculum) that goes over $150, you get free shipping.

I like the lapbooks. We bought a lapbook for one unit (the preassembled kind) to see what they looked like and how they worked. I personally think they are a bit much for LG kids, especially since you would probably be writing in most of the info *for* them. I personally would save lapbooks for UG kids. I did them with my D level boys, but they thought lapbooks were "babyish" at their age. <sigh> Now that I have a preassembled lapbook in my hands, I will, from this point on, just order the CD's for the lapbooks and assemble them myself. But, I like it that I have one in my possession to go by.

The MapAids are really great. However, you don't have to do the geography if you don't want to. Yes, I think geography is important, but it might also be something that you want to "save" for UG kids and give them something to grow into.

Yes, there is a LOT that *can* go along with Tapestry. You may want to look at TOG like an all you can eat buffet. There is so much there that you can easily become overwhelmed. I would look at it by not trying to start out with every subject. You might want to just start out with the history and lit selections and then throw in a few hands-on activities. Even with the hands-on things, you may not want to do one each and every week. That's perfectly ok!! Pick and choose which subjects/activities are most important to you at this point in time. With little ones you aren't necessarily going for mastery, but for exposure. Remember that you will have at least 1 and possibly 2 more rotations of this same subject matter. At those times you will delve a little more deeply than the previous rotation.

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you start out with a lot and feel overwhelmed, it's ok to drop a few things. It might be that you come to a season where it's difficult to get done what you were getting done before and you need to cut back. TOG gives you a lot of flexibility to do that. I just wanted to mention these things to you, not to be a downer, but just to give you a heads up that it can be easy to be overwhelmed with TOG if you try to do everything!! I hate to see that happen because it's such a fantastic program!!