If you read about Our Time with Veritas Press, you already know that the thought of managing two separate Omnibus studies had me searching for a brown paper bag to breathe into. Because Orville was in his last year of elementary level studies, I wanted to use this year to "experiment" with other curricula and try to find what we would use for the middle and high school years.
TOG appealed to me for a number of reasons:
- All children in the family study the same time period.
- Instruction is leveled so that the younger children read books on their level and consider aspects of the time period more appropriate for them while the older children dig a little deeper into the study of the period.
- History, literature, Bible and or church history, worldview, art/music appreciation, and geography are integrated. This is actually my favorite aspect of TOG.
- There are a number of hands-on and project suggestions. Many of the suggestions provide a living-history experience, rather than just something hands-on for the sake of being hands-on, if you know what I mean.
- Writing assignments are included, and Writing Aids provides rubric grading.
We will not continue with TOG, however, for two reasons:
- One of my sons had real difficulty with TOG. I believe it is because he processes information differently from how TOG presents it. TOG involves reading from a number of sources and piecing information together to get the big picture. My son needs the big picture first, and then if there is time and interest, we work on the details.
- The same son is not a history lover. Completing TOG takes a big chunk of the school day. Michael and I have decided that we are not going to force him to devote that much of his education to the humanities. He is a math and science man, likely to have a career in a math/science related field, and we need to provide more for him in those fields of study. That is not to say he will not be a student of history, geography, etc. TOG just offers more than we need.
Three more posts, and this series will be done! Return soon for suggestions for including music in your school day and for teaching foreign language. Then I will end with The Plan for Next Year!!
Happy Curriculum Hunting!
Dawn
Disclosure: I am a Lampstand Press affiliate and will receive a commission on any purchases that result from following the links to their site that I provided in this post or elsewhere on this blog. I have not been compensated for this article and have offered my honest opinion.
3 comments:
I'm looking forward to reading your plans for next year - this has been a fun series to read!
Interesting how TOG didn't work out. Your reviews are always so helpful.
Love how well you know your boys! I'm enjoying this series.
Kathleen
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