Thank you. You confirmed my concerns about my daughter learning how to write! I’m going to switch her to IEW for high school next year. Finally someone who shows what is inside the entire book!!!!!
I know that for me, it's REALLY helpful to see the actual insides of a curriculum (not just the pretty cover) in order to understand it. So I always try to show the insides pretty thoroughly in videos.
Thank you for this review! It was good to get another perspective as my oldest daughters have been in these G&B courses (oldest currently in level hs 3 and second daughter in level hs 1). They both have not been able to finish Into the Unknown. I ended up just providing a book for my second daughter to read about Arctic exploration. Also, I agree with the writing. Thankfully, both of my daughters have gone through years of IEW, so they know the structure and style techniques. Otherwise, the writing assignments/insights journals would’ve been difficult to know where to start! I had already been considering a Sonlight literature program for next year for my second daughter.
I think if we were to do use it again, I would just replace Into the Unknown with "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage"...it's in the Antarctic...but, I'm pretty sure the overall story of exploration and peril in a very cold place is 'close enough'...and for me, "Endurance" was a book I couldn't put down! I wish my sister had gotten to see that books about exploration didn't have to be super boring. :) And yes, I think the writing assignments would be super frustrating for those who haven't yet gained confidence with planning and organizing what they want to write.
We’ve found TGTB awesome for teaching language arts with dyslexic kids and we do our own spelling as well!!! We do extra writing assignments as well!!! We are looking at using the high school levels!!! We use a reference book for spelling and I know that they may still use them and add to their books!!! Vocabulary sounds awesome!!! We loved the level 6 vocabulary!!! I’m big on geography so I’m pleased that they include geography!!! We love the art we’ve seen so far but I tell my kids it’s optional!!! For the extra reading I just tell my kids to read as I’ve always told them to read!!! We watch bear grills and my kids are into survival stories!!! We love TGTB writing instruction in the lower levels!!! The response writing assignments sounds awesome!!!
I agree 100% about the writing instruction. It’s definitely the main thing we will be changing for next year bc my son needs more. But I love the multi-facets you mentioned. So for the literature….what books do you think would be important for a high schooler to read? I have “Animal Farm.” I really want to do that one with my son. I also have “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Curious what you’d add that TGTB doesn’t include. (Maybe you should make your own book list! :) my son hates to read. He needs more exciting books! Our history curriculum assigned a research paper and my son has never done one before and it’s a little bit stressful bc he also hasn’t had a formal research paper instruction!!! I’m glad you mentioned that.
Both of those books are absolutely ones that should be read and taught in high school--so memorable and will stick with him for a lifetime. I'm sure lots of those lists out there...In an ideal high school literature course...I'd want to include at least a Shakespeare play or two...and some Homer, Dickens, Austen, Twain, Poe...and I'd also want to include a couple of solid, beautiful books that are newer and from more diverse sources than our usual "greats" from the US and Europe. For the fun, lighter side of literature that has also been highly influential, I would include some Sherlock Holmes stories. And yes--being confident with doing investigative research and consolidating findings into a paper or creating solid arguments based on research...those a very important skills to have before heading off to college.
@@SevenInAll after watching your video, I went and looked at the books in the next couple TGTB language arts courses. Now I’m wondering if we will stick with it at all. It makes me sad to consider it bc like you said, the variety is so nice!!
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan Yeah, when I looked at all their books covered...they don't include basically any of the truly iconic, challenging, great books of history. Which, because we're not relying on it for literature is less of an issue...but it's a little tough for me to swallow as a book lover (and I know it's because many of the "great books" have objectionable content in them, it is a very purposeful choice on TGTB part not to include them. I understand that, I just don't share the same philosophy for literature.)
Thank you for this great review!! I'll be using TGTB LA 2 & 3 with my daughters this year. They are a little burnt out from years of Sonlight, and though they liked IEW, they are looking forward to this one this year (it's been a while since they looked forward to LA, I probably should have switched and tried something new for them sooner but I'm a sucker for Sonlight curriculum). My one daughter doing level 3 instantly said it's not enough books for her for the year, so we added the three honors books and study guides and will probably supplement with either some of Sonlight's British literature course or some more IEW, we'll see how the year goes. Now I want to look at EIL too though, lol.
Sometimes some variety is just what is needed to 'spice up' the school routine. And yes, I suspect that TGATB booklist would definitely need to be beefed up for a student who is used to Sonlight. I've heard great things about EIL!
@@SevenInAll so true! Hoping for a better experience this year with whatever we choose. Still haven’t purchased, just heard about EIL today, I think I’ll research it this week before I make my decision. Though the girls have already seen TGTB lol, they fell for the beauty & variety of it too 😅.
We inserted our TG&TB HS 1 into our trash can (we considered a bonfire) 🔥 We really wanted to understand what the hype was all about...we're still wondering. We Love Excellence In Literature (the online context resources for each module are phenomenal and the assigned and honors literature choices are superb) and a really good writer's handbook for the high school years.
Your first line reminded me of my own family's tradition throughout my high school years of burning all of our old workbooks and tests, etc, in a bonfire and roasting dinner over them. ha! I took a peek at Excellence in Literature and yes--those are the titles, the "great books," that I would want to see in a high school literature course, and TGATB is NOT something I would use as a literature course. To me--this definitely works as a Language Arts course for a kid who is a strong writer but needs practice on the nitty-gritty things--it focuses on the commas/grammar/spelling/and giving some short writing prompts. All similar concepts to what's in Abeka Grammar & Composition, just with prettier pages and shorter assignments. She's done 2 years of the Abeka Grammar & Composition for high school so I think she enjoyed the change of scenery, and she felt like she understood some of the "rules" better with simply hearing a different style of explanation in comparison to Abeka's style. I will keep that Excellence in Literature in mind, because it looks really cool!
@@SevenInAll There is a wonderful Writer's Handbook that goes well with the program that you can also purchase from EIL. It is dense with information on essay structure. We also keep Writer's Inc in our toolbox to help review the mechanics and style components. The art, history, music, and author biographies in the context resources from EIL make the program stand out for us. We really do regret not having the bonfire, lol!
Kristy - just wondering if the Excellence in Literature curriculum is one where you can pick and chose the E1,E2 separately or if you believe that they really do need to be done sequentially? I like the look of this program but am running out of time for my eldest student who is in Grade 10 (Australia, so just started the school year). We have not looked closely at sonlight because of how incredibly expensive it is to get it in Australia and I am reasonably sure that onc will look at it I will find it hard to look elsewhere . Like Rachael I really want to give my daughter the strongest possible writing & literature base as this is really one of her strengths and she loves to read (unlike my next student )
This has been such a thorough review. I watched it twice just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Now i’m between BJU 12th grade LA and another year of IEW for my 16 year old. He will be doing dual enrollment next year and I want to make sure he’s well prepared for that. Which one would you chose? He’s already a strong writer.
If he's already a strong writer...I probably wouldn't lean toward more IEW--I don't have experience with BJU, but I would probably lean toward that one because I think it's very similar to Abeka in having a strong leaning toward polishing off the nitty-gritty details of grammar and academic writing (i.e. citation formatting, using sources without plagiarism, etc...the sorts of details needed when headed off to college)
Thanks for this video! I’m not sure if I’ve ever shared that I just started homeschooling in November. My hubby is not onboard, but due to health issues that prevent me from driving I get the privilege of homeschooling. 😀 All that being said, my budget is whatever is left from my weekly allowance after groceries. So I’m utilizing a lot of free resources including TGTB (we use the free PDF and do assignments in a spiral.) I have splurged on Night Zookeeper. Do you think TGTB with Night Zookeeper is enough? I just use those for my 10 and 5 year old. My other 2 boys are only 3 & 1.
I definitely think it could be enough at those ages...BUT...what is "enough", to me, honestly depends on the individual kid. Are you noticing forward progress in mastering the age-level appropriate concepts? Are you noticing gradual improvement in skill? Or do you see them continuing to not understand concepts that have already been taught? Are they able to improve their writing based on the feedback from the tutors (I forget exactly what they are called) in Night Zookeeper? Are they growing in confidence with writing? For me--I can only really tell whether a curriculum works or is 'enough' based on seeing the learning that's happening in the kid. Does that make sense? I hope that's helpful.
@@SevenInAll soooo helpful! Thank you for replying. My 5 year old does not use TGTB and is learning to read. Night Zookeeper motivates him to want to learn. My 10 year old just uses Night Zookeeper as a reward. The 10 year old was making all A’s in public school, but I use Easy Peasy with him as well and quickly noticed him struggling on the “age appropriate” material so I added in Level 3 TGTB (that’s where he tested) and have just been doing half a lesson per day. Thanks again!!!
That’s interesting it would not work well for a student who doesn’t know how to structure a paper. That’s the same thing I found with the elementary levels. My kids were paralyzed with the writing prompts
That's a really important distinction that I think needs to be made--some kids thrive with very open-ended writing prompts, and others really do not, and can feel helpless with these sorts of prompts.
This was really helpful! Thanks so much for the in-depth review. I did Abeka high school Grammar until around grade 11 and yes, it was fairly hardcore. Ha!
Yes--all those concepts they cover are repeated and drilled until you'll never forget them! I did the Abeka Grammar & Composition books in high school, too.
We're only just starting TGATB HSLA1, but I've pre-read all of the books and... I don't think I would have selected any of those. But I really LOVE the format and the way everything is integrated into the course. I wish somebody would create a course that's the same as this except with the literature just a notch LESS 'good and beautiful'. For starters, FIVE books and every single one is about a boy or man as the main character. Four of them only feature white people, and the one representative for POC is Booker T Washington - I guess this makes a lot of sense for US students who have already spent years studying less controversial figures, however I'm not in the US, so for my student there isn't that background to build on (the only book she's previously studied covering US race issues was To Kill a Mockingbird). Plus my student likes the genres that TGATB would presumably consider 'bad and ugly' - 21st century books, gritty realism, magical fantasy... So at this stage I'm basically adding one extra book to read and discuss as a counterpoint to each assigned book. I feel like 10 selected books will be OK, as we managed to get through 19 last year. Anyway, thanks for the detailed info and thoughts :)
"I don't think I would have selected any of those" - Yes, they aren't the books I'd pick either if I were going for the "great books" of English literature or if I were looking to include talented voices from modern times. I think you're on to something if there were a curriculum with a similar format but less focus on a narrow definition of "good and beautiful." My sister also mentioned that having more variety in the artists and the work studied would have been nice.
Did you use the grammar and writing guide? I didn't hear you mention that book. I'm considering this curriculum, but I want to make sure it's a fair assessment. Meaning that all the resources were used while using the curriculum. Your reviews are always very helpful!
Yes, we did. It's not something that's scheduled for use daily, however. It's a fairly standard grammar and writing guide, like many other high school writing handbooks.
Thank you for your thoughts! So!! Here’s my question, if you have time for ideas: my daughter is a strong writer and I haven’t been AS concerned about the direct instruction through TGaTB, as we do some other things. We, however, aren’t at high school. She really does love this program for LA, and I don’t want to completely replace this at the high school level, but I’d love to supplement for the writing - while not overwhelming her. I wonder what else is out there that would be great as an add-on, but not as busy work. Would you have thoughts on this? Thank you for your time!
I have a video that walks through my own approach to writing instruction at middle and high school level, which does not involve a full writing curriculum: ruclips.net/video/bboLksR-q90/видео.html Not everyone feels comfortable with an approach like that, although especially if you already have a strong writer, I think guiding her through a solid process and making the most of opportunities to write "in content" is a very solid approach (That description will make more sense if you've seen the video I linked above.) I also have a video about "Writing with Skill"--this curriculum is an option for those who want a curriculum that specifically walks through methods and the process of expository academic writing for middle and high schoolers. It is not a full LA curriculum, just specifically for writing. Here's that video: ruclips.net/video/RpKBtARwaTc/видео.html
Thank you for your video; it was very informative and helpful. Do you plan to continue using TGTB for LA? I am considering using this program for my children's high school English/ Lit courses, so I would need to craft their language arts into American, British, and world literature courses. I would add more novels and papers. From your experience, do you think this would be very difficult to do as far as grouping them together into those themes?
I believe my sister is planning to continue doing TGTB for her next year of high school...but our family is currently traveling for a few months so we haven't started our next school year yet. I wouldn't say that TGTB follows those particular themes in different years...but I don't think it would be a problem if you just chose a solid grouping of novels for each of those years of literature and added writing assignments based on those novels, leaving TGTB as the background of "LA" more than literature. Geography is covered throughout the 3 high school years, but they don't stick to just one region of the world for one year, it's all pretty much world geography, just in case you were wondering about that.
I'm so happy that you reviewed this curriculum. I've purchased a few things from TGATB, but not core curriculum. But I have been curious, because some people love it. Glad you shared about the fact that it doesn't help with in-depth essay writing and that the literature isn't the best. Of course those things can be supplemented if the rest is a hit with the kids. Thanks for sharing your overall positives and negatives! :)
You mentioned the abeka program - do you believe that the literature, grammar and writing programs could be sufficiently completed over a 2 year period? This is the time period we have left for my eldest student. Would really be interested in your review of the abeka high school programs for all elements of language arts . There is so little on RUclips for senior years of high school.
I could do a video on Abeka LA for high school, thanks for the suggestion. Abeka's Grammar and Composition worktext has different exercises for each of the 4 years of high school...but the content being taught and practiced is the same, so yes, you could do two years of the material and get a lot of systematic practice of all of those grammar concepts. While it's called "Grammar and Composition"....I also think that Abeka's strength is in its GRAMMAR and not in its actual writing instruction. For the literature...each year typically has one book which has a compilation of literature extracts and short stories, and then two books that are read in completion. If you only have two years left, you could just pick two years and do them--the years are really topical (World Lit, American Lit), etc...so I don't think that grade level really makes all that much difference.
It's tough to make a recommendation "in general" because there are many factors that impact curriculum being a good fit. Our family has used Sonlight curriculum as well as curriculums sold through Sonlight for many of our high schoolers. With more specifics, I can give better recommendations.
My son is most certainly needing the guidance and structure for writing a paper. He can write a creative story no problem, but when asked to write an essay, the process of fitting things together fluidly he is struggling at. What do you recommend for writing programs for highschoolers? He will be started 9th grade in the fall.
I don't have one good specific curriculum to recommend, but I actually just posted a video this week on the process I use and some of the tools I use for teaching solid academic writing skills in the middle/high school years: ruclips.net/video/bboLksR-q90/видео.html
We have not used much Rod and Staff, but we have us...we were given a 5th grade LA book I think and my mom did use it. She had an overall good impression of it, I believe--simple and straight to the point, no fluff. I think some Rod and Staff materials are a little outdated, though. I used a preschool workbook of theirs and was very surprised to find out that it had some content talking about Eskimos living in igloos...I think a curriculum created in more recent times probably would not have had that as an activity--we've come a long way in learning how to learn about different people groups around the earth, while also using better terminology and not so much stereotyping.
@@SevenInAll yes 🙂, I listened to the exact same view on another RUclips channel, and I agree, that’s not how it is is Alaska. I think that material was from their history/geography range. I’ve not come anything like this yet in the building English series and Bible reading yet, 🤞 I am interested to learn if it’s strong in building grammar and a good foundation in English. For 4th grade, we use one week Rod & Staff building English skills and also the Bible reading series ant the next week Writing & Rhetoric with again the Bible reading series, A and b weeks, hoping but unsure if this plan will create that strong foundation. Have you ever tried Writing & Rhetoric? X
It really depends on what you mean by "child"--with a young (elementary) child, I would simply give them opportunities to write and work with them on ideas for improving skills. This is a video on high school LA, so I'll share the video on the approach I use with middle and high schoolers to refine academic writing skills: ruclips.net/video/bboLksR-q90/видео.htmlsi=BalP3vif-s_6KJ-_ In that video, I recommend the book "Writer's INC" as a writing handbook, and that would probably be my one go-to handbook for teaching different forms of academic writing in a simple, straightforward way. There are multiple options for writing handbooks, but that's the one I'm most familiar with. Writing is a subject area that I'm very comfortable teaching and assessing myself--other parents might appreciate more guidance that a full writing curriculum might offer.
Thank you for this look inside. Is it easy to replace the literature with our own? Or is TGATB literature so weaved in that I’d be better off choosing a different curriculum?
The literature IS weaved in. It's not everywhere, but there are multiple references to the story in the units, and the major writing assignment prompts are typically related to the book. If you don't mind reading those books in addition to another literature course, it's fine (there are only 5 books integrated into the course, and with our current high schooler, "the more books, the better" is the overall philosophy, ha!) But if you want just the LA without the book selections (and the art/poetry/etc.) then I would look for something that's purely LA.
For thesis-driven research papers, I have usually just related those to something we were studying. I.e. when we were learning about South America, she wrote several thesis-driven papers related to the topics that were brought up during the course of our study. For those papers, she was assigned to do preliminary research on a certain topic, decide on a thesis that she could support with research-based arguments, and then she would write the paper based on the notes and ideas she'd gathered in the research stages. This allowed her to practice persuasive writing and synthesizing the research the had done, citing sources in order to support her arguments (rather than writing from opinion alone). She previously joined in when I taught other sisters of ours (who are now in college), some basic college prep writing classes in how to do good research and write papers with strong arguments to support a thesis. Even though she was young when she 'sat in' on those lessons, they really stuck with her and she knows the process. I definitely think TGATB HS1 and Sonlight can be a strong combo (that's what we did this past year)...BUT I wouldn't universally recommend it. We were coming into this year with a student who is a strong writer as far as argumentation, thought process, and all the big picture stuff. Where she's weaker is spelling and commas--TGATB is good practice for some of those little nitty-gritty things.
I am so interested in doing Sonlight at some point. I consistently go to their website for book inspiration especially for historical fiction. Does your younger sister do Sonlight along with her language as well?
I think, especially for the middle school and high school years, Sonlight is excellent for a rich selection of good and challenging books. My 15 year old sister does a Sonlight HBL independently. My 11 year old sister--we tried Sonlight this past year and stopped, it wasn't a good fit for what she can do right now.
Thank you so much for this review! My daughter is currently using TGTB LA and i noticed that their writing assignments seemed not enough for her. She will be going to 7th grade and im looking at other curriculums for her. She loves to write and i want her to be prepared for High school. Do you have any recommendations on other writing programs that would be much stronger and thorough?
I don't have personal experience with IEW, but I know a lot of people strongly recommend their structured writing curriculum in the upper elementary and middle school. We have used Writing with Skill from The Well-Trained Mind and I think that program has a lot of strengths, but we did drop it pretty quickly with my sister who used it (because she was already a strong writer and found it very boring). I may be doing a video soon about teaching writing.
IEW is really working well for my girls. If your child struggles with the how to write and how to structure, the Sentence and Structure DVDs has really helped.
I'm with you, my biggest complaint with TGTB is the literature. We love it overall, but my oldest has her own book list that we go through and discuss. This was so helpful to watch to see if this is what we want to go with it. We'll probably finish middle school with it, and then move on to something else.... ❤️❤️
I know the creator behind TGTB has a very specific view on what books are "worth" reading--I think for most who don't share the same view, we'll end up looking elsewhere to read a greater variety of the great books from both our own time and the past.
Thank you. You confirmed my concerns about my daughter learning how to write! I’m going to switch her to IEW for high school next year. Finally someone who shows what is inside the entire book!!!!!
I know that for me, it's REALLY helpful to see the actual insides of a curriculum (not just the pretty cover) in order to understand it. So I always try to show the insides pretty thoroughly in videos.
@@SevenInAll thanks so much!!!
This is probably the most well done review on anything that I’ve ever seen! Excellent job and thank you!
Thank you so much! I always try to be very thorough in my reviews here--I appreciate the comment!
Don’t see many TGATB high school review, thank for reviewing.
Thank you, Leilani!
Thank you for this review! It was good to get another perspective as my oldest daughters have been in these G&B courses (oldest currently in level hs 3 and second daughter in level hs 1). They both have not been able to finish Into the Unknown. I ended up just providing a book for my second daughter to read about Arctic exploration. Also, I agree with the writing. Thankfully, both of my daughters have gone through years of IEW, so they know the structure and style techniques. Otherwise, the writing assignments/insights journals would’ve been difficult to know where to start! I had already been considering a Sonlight literature program for next year for my second daughter.
I think if we were to do use it again, I would just replace Into the Unknown with "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage"...it's in the Antarctic...but, I'm pretty sure the overall story of exploration and peril in a very cold place is 'close enough'...and for me, "Endurance" was a book I couldn't put down! I wish my sister had gotten to see that books about exploration didn't have to be super boring. :) And yes, I think the writing assignments would be super frustrating for those who haven't yet gained confidence with planning and organizing what they want to write.
Great share of the review of the high school language arts program.
Thank you so much for this. I am always thinking ahead to our high school years.
High school is honestly a lot of fun! So many great topics with a lot of depth that you can go into!
We’ve found TGTB awesome for teaching language arts with dyslexic kids and we do our own spelling as well!!! We do extra writing assignments as well!!! We are looking at using the high school levels!!! We use a reference book for spelling and I know that they may still use them and add to their books!!! Vocabulary sounds awesome!!! We loved the level 6 vocabulary!!! I’m big on geography so I’m pleased that they include geography!!! We love the art we’ve seen so far but I tell my kids it’s optional!!! For the extra reading I just tell my kids to read as I’ve always told them to read!!! We watch bear grills and my kids are into survival stories!!! We love TGTB writing instruction in the lower levels!!! The response writing assignments sounds awesome!!!
Glad you've enjoyed your experience!
Well done thorough review of the course! Love hearing your honest thoughts.
Thank you, Ashley!
I really enjoyed your video, and I will stay here forever, congrats!
I agree 100% about the writing instruction. It’s definitely the main thing we will be changing for next year bc my son needs more. But I love the multi-facets you mentioned.
So for the literature….what books do you think would be important for a high schooler to read? I have “Animal Farm.” I really want to do that one with my son. I also have “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Curious what you’d add that TGTB doesn’t include. (Maybe you should make your own book list! :) my son hates to read. He needs more exciting books!
Our history curriculum assigned a research paper and my son has never done one before and it’s a little bit stressful bc he also hasn’t had a formal research paper instruction!!! I’m glad you mentioned that.
Both of those books are absolutely ones that should be read and taught in high school--so memorable and will stick with him for a lifetime. I'm sure lots of those lists out there...In an ideal high school literature course...I'd want to include at least a Shakespeare play or two...and some Homer, Dickens, Austen, Twain, Poe...and I'd also want to include a couple of solid, beautiful books that are newer and from more diverse sources than our usual "greats" from the US and Europe. For the fun, lighter side of literature that has also been highly influential, I would include some Sherlock Holmes stories.
And yes--being confident with doing investigative research and consolidating findings into a paper or creating solid arguments based on research...those a very important skills to have before heading off to college.
@@SevenInAll after watching your video, I went and looked at the books in the next couple TGTB language arts courses. Now I’m wondering if we will stick with it at all. It makes me sad to consider it bc like you said, the variety is so nice!!
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan Yeah, when I looked at all their books covered...they don't include basically any of the truly iconic, challenging, great books of history. Which, because we're not relying on it for literature is less of an issue...but it's a little tough for me to swallow as a book lover (and I know it's because many of the "great books" have objectionable content in them, it is a very purposeful choice on TGTB part not to include them. I understand that, I just don't share the same philosophy for literature.)
@@SevenInAll so what do you do for literature then? Did I miss that part?
@@OurHOMEschoolPlan She has done a Sonlight HBL or "Core" for her literature this past year.
Thank you for this great review!! I'll be using TGTB LA 2 & 3 with my daughters this year. They are a little burnt out from years of Sonlight, and though they liked IEW, they are looking forward to this one this year (it's been a while since they looked forward to LA, I probably should have switched and tried something new for them sooner but I'm a sucker for Sonlight curriculum). My one daughter doing level 3 instantly said it's not enough books for her for the year, so we added the three honors books and study guides and will probably supplement with either some of Sonlight's British literature course or some more IEW, we'll see how the year goes. Now I want to look at EIL too though, lol.
Sometimes some variety is just what is needed to 'spice up' the school routine. And yes, I suspect that TGATB booklist would definitely need to be beefed up for a student who is used to Sonlight. I've heard great things about EIL!
@@SevenInAll so true! Hoping for a better experience this year with whatever we choose. Still haven’t purchased, just heard about EIL today, I think I’ll research it this week before I make my decision. Though the girls have already seen TGTB lol, they fell for the beauty & variety of it too 😅.
We inserted our TG&TB HS 1 into our trash can (we considered a bonfire) 🔥 We really wanted to understand what the hype was all about...we're still wondering. We Love Excellence In Literature (the online context resources for each module are phenomenal and the assigned and honors literature choices are superb) and a really good writer's handbook for the high school years.
Your first line reminded me of my own family's tradition throughout my high school years of burning all of our old workbooks and tests, etc, in a bonfire and roasting dinner over them. ha! I took a peek at Excellence in Literature and yes--those are the titles, the "great books," that I would want to see in a high school literature course, and TGATB is NOT something I would use as a literature course. To me--this definitely works as a Language Arts course for a kid who is a strong writer but needs practice on the nitty-gritty things--it focuses on the commas/grammar/spelling/and giving some short writing prompts. All similar concepts to what's in Abeka Grammar & Composition, just with prettier pages and shorter assignments. She's done 2 years of the Abeka Grammar & Composition for high school so I think she enjoyed the change of scenery, and she felt like she understood some of the "rules" better with simply hearing a different style of explanation in comparison to Abeka's style. I will keep that Excellence in Literature in mind, because it looks really cool!
This was very helpful
@@SevenInAll There is a wonderful Writer's Handbook that goes well with the program that you can also purchase from EIL. It is dense with information on essay structure. We also keep Writer's Inc in our toolbox to help review the mechanics and style components. The art, history, music, and author biographies in the context resources from EIL make the program stand out for us. We really do regret not having the bonfire, lol!
@@upcountrycharlottemason We've had Writer's INC since back when I was in high school and it's been used many, many times!
Kristy - just wondering if the Excellence in Literature curriculum is one where you can pick and chose the E1,E2 separately or if you believe that they really do need to be done sequentially? I like the look of this program but am running out of time for my eldest student who is in Grade 10 (Australia, so just started the school year).
We have not looked closely at sonlight because of how incredibly expensive it is to get it in Australia and I am reasonably sure that onc will look at it I will find it hard to look elsewhere .
Like Rachael I really want to give my daughter the strongest possible writing & literature base as this is really one of her strengths and she loves to read (unlike my next student )
This has been such a thorough review. I watched it twice just to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
Now i’m between BJU 12th grade LA and another year of IEW for my 16 year old. He will be doing dual enrollment next year and I want to make sure he’s well prepared for that.
Which one would you chose? He’s already a strong writer.
If he's already a strong writer...I probably wouldn't lean toward more IEW--I don't have experience with BJU, but I would probably lean toward that one because I think it's very similar to Abeka in having a strong leaning toward polishing off the nitty-gritty details of grammar and academic writing (i.e. citation formatting, using sources without plagiarism, etc...the sorts of details needed when headed off to college)
After watching I noticed that I need to go back to high school!! 😩 I appreciated your honest review!
The great thing is, with homeschool, all of us get to "go back" to high school, and learn more this time around. ;)
Thanks for this video!
I’m not sure if I’ve ever shared that I just started homeschooling in November. My hubby is not onboard, but due to health issues that prevent me from driving I get the privilege of homeschooling. 😀
All that being said, my budget is whatever is left from my weekly allowance after groceries. So I’m utilizing a lot of free resources including TGTB (we use the free PDF and do assignments in a spiral.) I have splurged on Night Zookeeper. Do you think TGTB with Night Zookeeper is enough? I just use those for my 10 and 5 year old.
My other 2 boys are only 3 & 1.
I definitely think it could be enough at those ages...BUT...what is "enough", to me, honestly depends on the individual kid. Are you noticing forward progress in mastering the age-level appropriate concepts? Are you noticing gradual improvement in skill? Or do you see them continuing to not understand concepts that have already been taught? Are they able to improve their writing based on the feedback from the tutors (I forget exactly what they are called) in Night Zookeeper? Are they growing in confidence with writing? For me--I can only really tell whether a curriculum works or is 'enough' based on seeing the learning that's happening in the kid. Does that make sense? I hope that's helpful.
@@SevenInAll soooo helpful! Thank you for replying. My 5 year old does not use TGTB and is learning to read. Night Zookeeper motivates him to want to learn. My 10 year old just uses Night Zookeeper as a reward. The 10 year old was making all A’s in public school, but I use Easy Peasy with him as well and quickly noticed him struggling on the “age appropriate” material so I added in Level 3 TGTB (that’s where he tested) and have just been doing half a lesson per day.
Thanks again!!!
That’s interesting it would not work well for a student who doesn’t know how to structure a paper. That’s the same thing I found with the elementary levels. My kids were paralyzed with the writing prompts
That's a really important distinction that I think needs to be made--some kids thrive with very open-ended writing prompts, and others really do not, and can feel helpless with these sorts of prompts.
This was really helpful! Thanks so much for the in-depth review. I did Abeka high school Grammar until around grade 11 and yes, it was fairly hardcore. Ha!
Yes--all those concepts they cover are repeated and drilled until you'll never forget them! I did the Abeka Grammar & Composition books in high school, too.
We're only just starting TGATB HSLA1, but I've pre-read all of the books and... I don't think I would have selected any of those. But I really LOVE the format and the way everything is integrated into the course. I wish somebody would create a course that's the same as this except with the literature just a notch LESS 'good and beautiful'. For starters, FIVE books and every single one is about a boy or man as the main character. Four of them only feature white people, and the one representative for POC is Booker T Washington - I guess this makes a lot of sense for US students who have already spent years studying less controversial figures, however I'm not in the US, so for my student there isn't that background to build on (the only book she's previously studied covering US race issues was To Kill a Mockingbird). Plus my student likes the genres that TGATB would presumably consider 'bad and ugly' - 21st century books, gritty realism, magical fantasy... So at this stage I'm basically adding one extra book to read and discuss as a counterpoint to each assigned book. I feel like 10 selected books will be OK, as we managed to get through 19 last year. Anyway, thanks for the detailed info and thoughts :)
"I don't think I would have selected any of those" - Yes, they aren't the books I'd pick either if I were going for the "great books" of English literature or if I were looking to include talented voices from modern times. I think you're on to something if there were a curriculum with a similar format but less focus on a narrow definition of "good and beautiful." My sister also mentioned that having more variety in the artists and the work studied would have been nice.
Did you use the grammar and writing guide? I didn't hear you mention that book. I'm considering this curriculum, but I want to make sure it's a fair assessment. Meaning that all the resources were used while using the curriculum. Your reviews are always very helpful!
Yes, we did. It's not something that's scheduled for use daily, however. It's a fairly standard grammar and writing guide, like many other high school writing handbooks.
Thank you for your thoughts! So!! Here’s my question, if you have time for ideas: my daughter is a strong writer and I haven’t been AS concerned about the direct instruction through TGaTB, as we do some other things. We, however, aren’t at high school. She really does love this program for LA, and I don’t want to completely replace this at the high school level, but I’d love to supplement for the writing - while not overwhelming her. I wonder what else is out there that would be great as an add-on, but not as busy work. Would you have thoughts on this? Thank you for your time!
I have a video that walks through my own approach to writing instruction at middle and high school level, which does not involve a full writing curriculum: ruclips.net/video/bboLksR-q90/видео.html
Not everyone feels comfortable with an approach like that, although especially if you already have a strong writer, I think guiding her through a solid process and making the most of opportunities to write "in content" is a very solid approach (That description will make more sense if you've seen the video I linked above.)
I also have a video about "Writing with Skill"--this curriculum is an option for those who want a curriculum that specifically walks through methods and the process of expository academic writing for middle and high schoolers. It is not a full LA curriculum, just specifically for writing. Here's that video: ruclips.net/video/RpKBtARwaTc/видео.html
Thank you for the review!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for your video; it was very informative and helpful. Do you plan to continue using TGTB for LA? I am considering using this program for my children's high school English/ Lit courses, so I would need to craft their language arts into American, British, and world literature courses. I would add more novels and papers. From your experience, do you think this would be very difficult to do as far as grouping them together into those themes?
I believe my sister is planning to continue doing TGTB for her next year of high school...but our family is currently traveling for a few months so we haven't started our next school year yet. I wouldn't say that TGTB follows those particular themes in different years...but I don't think it would be a problem if you just chose a solid grouping of novels for each of those years of literature and added writing assignments based on those novels, leaving TGTB as the background of "LA" more than literature. Geography is covered throughout the 3 high school years, but they don't stick to just one region of the world for one year, it's all pretty much world geography, just in case you were wondering about that.
I'm so happy that you reviewed this curriculum. I've purchased a few things from TGATB, but not core curriculum. But I have been curious, because some people love it. Glad you shared about the fact that it doesn't help with in-depth essay writing and that the literature isn't the best. Of course those things can be supplemented if the rest is a hit with the kids. Thanks for sharing your overall positives and negatives! :)
Thank you! Glad it was helpful!
You mentioned the abeka program - do you believe that the literature, grammar and writing programs could be sufficiently completed over a 2 year period? This is the time period we have left for my eldest student.
Would really be interested in your review of the abeka high school programs for all elements of language arts . There is so little on RUclips for senior years of high school.
I could do a video on Abeka LA for high school, thanks for the suggestion. Abeka's Grammar and Composition worktext has different exercises for each of the 4 years of high school...but the content being taught and practiced is the same, so yes, you could do two years of the material and get a lot of systematic practice of all of those grammar concepts. While it's called "Grammar and Composition"....I also think that Abeka's strength is in its GRAMMAR and not in its actual writing instruction. For the literature...each year typically has one book which has a compilation of literature extracts and short stories, and then two books that are read in completion. If you only have two years left, you could just pick two years and do them--the years are really topical (World Lit, American Lit), etc...so I don't think that grade level really makes all that much difference.
Do any of y’all have any recommendations on high school curriculum in general?
It's tough to make a recommendation "in general" because there are many factors that impact curriculum being a good fit. Our family has used Sonlight curriculum as well as curriculums sold through Sonlight for many of our high schoolers. With more specifics, I can give better recommendations.
My son is most certainly needing the guidance and structure for writing a paper. He can write a creative story no problem, but when asked to write an essay, the process of fitting things together fluidly he is struggling at. What do you recommend for writing programs for highschoolers? He will be started 9th grade in the fall.
I don't have one good specific curriculum to recommend, but I actually just posted a video this week on the process I use and some of the tools I use for teaching solid academic writing skills in the middle/high school years: ruclips.net/video/bboLksR-q90/видео.html
Thank you for the review. Have you used Rod & Staff before, if so, would love your thoughts x
We have not used much Rod and Staff, but we have us...we were given a 5th grade LA book I think and my mom did use it. She had an overall good impression of it, I believe--simple and straight to the point, no fluff. I think some Rod and Staff materials are a little outdated, though. I used a preschool workbook of theirs and was very surprised to find out that it had some content talking about Eskimos living in igloos...I think a curriculum created in more recent times probably would not have had that as an activity--we've come a long way in learning how to learn about different people groups around the earth, while also using better terminology and not so much stereotyping.
@@SevenInAll yes 🙂, I listened to the exact same view on another RUclips channel, and I agree, that’s not how it is is Alaska. I think that material was from their history/geography range. I’ve not come anything like this yet in the building English series and Bible reading yet, 🤞 I am interested to learn if it’s strong in building grammar and a good foundation in English. For 4th grade, we use one week Rod & Staff building English skills and also the Bible reading series ant the next week Writing & Rhetoric with again the Bible reading series, A and b weeks, hoping but unsure if this plan will create that strong foundation. Have you ever tried Writing & Rhetoric? X
@@jessicajones611 No, haven't tried Writing and Rhetoric--looks interesting, though!
What would you suggest is the best resource to help a child to learn how to write you could pick one book?
It really depends on what you mean by "child"--with a young (elementary) child, I would simply give them opportunities to write and work with them on ideas for improving skills. This is a video on high school LA, so I'll share the video on the approach I use with middle and high schoolers to refine academic writing skills: ruclips.net/video/bboLksR-q90/видео.htmlsi=BalP3vif-s_6KJ-_
In that video, I recommend the book "Writer's INC" as a writing handbook, and that would probably be my one go-to handbook for teaching different forms of academic writing in a simple, straightforward way. There are multiple options for writing handbooks, but that's the one I'm most familiar with. Writing is a subject area that I'm very comfortable teaching and assessing myself--other parents might appreciate more guidance that a full writing curriculum might offer.
Thank you for this look inside. Is it easy to replace the literature with our own? Or is TGATB literature so weaved in that I’d be better off choosing a different curriculum?
The literature IS weaved in. It's not everywhere, but there are multiple references to the story in the units, and the major writing assignment prompts are typically related to the book. If you don't mind reading those books in addition to another literature course, it's fine (there are only 5 books integrated into the course, and with our current high schooler, "the more books, the better" is the overall philosophy, ha!) But if you want just the LA without the book selections (and the art/poetry/etc.) then I would look for something that's purely LA.
Great Sharing Seven in all any way new friend here enjoying watch and hope to see around too
Hi Rachel, would TGATB HS1 and Sonlight be enough? What about for writing? I am interested to know how you structure the thesis paper... Thanks.
For thesis-driven research papers, I have usually just related those to something we were studying. I.e. when we were learning about South America, she wrote several thesis-driven papers related to the topics that were brought up during the course of our study. For those papers, she was assigned to do preliminary research on a certain topic, decide on a thesis that she could support with research-based arguments, and then she would write the paper based on the notes and ideas she'd gathered in the research stages. This allowed her to practice persuasive writing and synthesizing the research the had done, citing sources in order to support her arguments (rather than writing from opinion alone). She previously joined in when I taught other sisters of ours (who are now in college), some basic college prep writing classes in how to do good research and write papers with strong arguments to support a thesis. Even though she was young when she 'sat in' on those lessons, they really stuck with her and she knows the process.
I definitely think TGATB HS1 and Sonlight can be a strong combo (that's what we did this past year)...BUT I wouldn't universally recommend it. We were coming into this year with a student who is a strong writer as far as argumentation, thought process, and all the big picture stuff. Where she's weaker is spelling and commas--TGATB is good practice for some of those little nitty-gritty things.
I am so interested in doing Sonlight at some point. I consistently go to their website for book inspiration especially for historical fiction. Does your younger sister do Sonlight along with her language as well?
I think, especially for the middle school and high school years, Sonlight is excellent for a rich selection of good and challenging books. My 15 year old sister does a Sonlight HBL independently. My 11 year old sister--we tried Sonlight this past year and stopped, it wasn't a good fit for what she can do right now.
@@SevenInAll Thank you so much 😊. I think I will definitely add it to my list for middle and high school. 😍
Thank you so much for this review! My daughter is currently using TGTB LA and i noticed that their writing assignments seemed not enough for her. She will be going to 7th grade and im looking at other curriculums for her. She loves to write and i want her to be prepared for High school. Do you have any recommendations on other writing programs that would be much stronger and thorough?
I don't have personal experience with IEW, but I know a lot of people strongly recommend their structured writing curriculum in the upper elementary and middle school. We have used Writing with Skill from The Well-Trained Mind and I think that program has a lot of strengths, but we did drop it pretty quickly with my sister who used it (because she was already a strong writer and found it very boring).
I may be doing a video soon about teaching writing.
@@SevenInAll Thank you so much! I will definitely look into those!
IEW is really working well for my girls. If your child struggles with the how to write and how to structure, the Sentence and Structure DVDs has really helped.
@@CalmintheChaosHomeschool thank you!
I'm with you, my biggest complaint with TGTB is the literature. We love it overall, but my oldest has her own book list that we go through and discuss. This was so helpful to watch to see if this is what we want to go with it. We'll probably finish middle school with it, and then move on to something else.... ❤️❤️
I know the creator behind TGTB has a very specific view on what books are "worth" reading--I think for most who don't share the same view, we'll end up looking elsewhere to read a greater variety of the great books from both our own time and the past.