Implementing Story of the World with TOG

[TGlo]

I'm just curious if anyone has integrated SOW with TOG and how that works. Did you purchase any other titles? How smoothly did the two flow together? I'm already set for this year, but I really like the idea of SOW, especially since it comes as an audio CD. I'm just not sure how I would use it with TOG.

Any thoughts?

[7fromheaven]

Story of the World is used by TOG as an alternate UG resource. This is the book only, not the workbook. We use it as a wrap up to every week - as TOG directs. With all that TOG has to offer we haven't found the need to dig deeper into SOW by using the workbooks (or additional books). I like it just as an easy wrap up/summary to the weekly studies. We use the audio cd's often as we travel in the car. They are great!

[TGlo]

The audio is what I'm most interested in, because I have a health condition that puts strain on my voice and will make reading aloud increasingly difficult. I was hoping the audio of SOW would adequately replace some of the TOG materials. Could it, for instance, replace the core texts, or is it merely icing on the cake?

[7fromheaven]

Story of the World is used with TOG as an alternate spine for the UG level History. I'm not sure what age children you have, but many of the UG resources are designed to be read by the student. There are weeks with read alouds, but with an UG student (or above) you shouldn't have to do a ton of the reading. You could use the audio for SOW, but the chapters used each week are pretty short, and in my opinion do not cover nearly what TOG covers in a week. You may be able to broaden this with the SOW workbooks, but that isn't the audio portion you are looking for - plus you already have a lot to cover with all that TOG recommends. The audio reads word for word from the text, and covers the history portion in a not terribly in depth way. Have you looked through the books at all? They are really nicely written, and the audio is done very well, but in my opinion SOW is just a small addition to all that TOG covers.

[TGlo]

Thanks, this is exactly what I needed to know. I couldn't tell how much SOW covered, and I agree that TOG has great coverage (which is why we went with TOG). I have LG child who is used to listening to audio books for children much older, and his reading level is high enough that he would probably be able to read many of the LG titles with supervision. I'd intended to read-aloud the history core texts and a few literature titles.
Your reply was super helpful. Thanks.

[7fromheaven]

Oh great! I'm glad it was helpful. Blessings to you on your TOG journey!