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JennyMaine
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| Posted: May 07 2008 at 5:55am | IP Logged
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Tracy -
Could you share a little bit about Trisms? How many years have you used it? As far as unit studies go, is it easy to implement? Did you use History Makers, and if so do you have any comments about it?
I was on their website this am and hadn't realized until today that they sell a Catholic supplement to go with it and use IEW as well.
I noticed on the history thread below that your daughter isn't using Trisms. Would it be too much to use two different levels of the program? For instance, my two will be 14 and 12 this fall - they could both go through History Makers. But after that. . .?
I've been doing a lot of research on what direction to take for high school. I see that NARS allows Trisms in their diploma program, so that is appealing to me as I'm considering going with NARS. Thanks, Tracy!
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--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
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Erin
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| Posted: May 08 2008 at 4:29pm | IP Logged
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Tracy
I was going to ask you questions about Trisms too. This bit really caught my attention.
The glory of TRISMS is that you do NOT need to own any particular books to do a volume. It is research-based, so the students are told what to find and then they have to go find it. Of course, we sell resource packages we have found helpful, but they are not necessary. All of the literature (predominantly excerpts) the students will be reading, analyzing, and responding to are included in the TRISMS volume so that you do not have to go looking for out-of-print books or certain editions.
I'd just love to know everything. 
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sewcrazy
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Not Tracy, but we are half way through History Makers, and are fairly certain we will be using this for my 13 year old son's high school. He is really enjoying the program and is looking foward to high school.
We started it shortly after Christmas and are taking our time. It is suiting us very well.
LeeAnn
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LeeAnn
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Erin
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| Posted: May 12 2008 at 6:36am | IP Logged
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I have to say it all sounds very interesting but... it seems rather pricey or perhaps I am misreading??
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Erin
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TracyQ
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| Posted: May 12 2008 at 2:06pm | IP Logged
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I'm SO SORRY I didn't see this until today! I thought I'd checked every board too recently.  I'm glad I checked today!
JennyMaine wrote:
Tracy -
Could you share a little bit about Trisms? |
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I'd be happy to! 
JennyMaine wrote:
| How many years have you used it? As far as unit studies go, is it easy to implement? Did you use History Makers, and if so do you have any comments about it? |
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We used it with our oldest two for History Makers when they were in 6th and 8th grades. We moved on to something else, and when I was praying about what to use for high school for our second, a hsing friend asked me specificially for curriculum advice, and I thought of Trisms. It was then that I realized God was also using that to lead me to use that for Zach, something I may have forgotten about. I didn't know Zach loved Ancient History so much, and that a very organized,self directed, research based/history based study that also fulfilled my need for a literature based curriculum was something we'd already used, and something that I really loved!!! So, this is our second year of high school. He used the DAW volume (Discovering the Ancient World) last year, and is currently using EOC (Expansion of Civilizations) this year. He'll use RON next year (Rise of Nations), and will conclude with AOR (Age of Revolution..both volumes) his senior year to conclude the entire cycle. It's VERY easy to implement, as once he understood how to research, and I helped him to understand how it all worked, little by little, he's undertaken most of his learning on his own. It's really meant for this to happen, so he gains the skills that he needs for college. I think he'll be very well prepared for the skills he needs there by using Trisms. History Makers is a great curriculum to begin with, but if you want to get through the cycle, or most of it, you'll have a more difficult time, because they're year long studies. But there's a great online yahoo list for those using Trisms, or those who are inquiring or discerning whether to use it or not, and they are VERY helpful there! I'm on it too! Join Trisms yahoo list
JennyMaine wrote:
| I was on their website this am and hadn't realized until today that they sell a Catholic supplement to go with it and use IEW as well. |
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Yes they do! I have it, but haven't used it much yet. I should really find it before Zach's done with high school.  I will find it and use it the next two years. We'll need it more in RON anyway. But we love how he really analyzes on his own, and we discuss together. Because it's not a text, and they make their own history book based on research, etc., the agendas aren't there from anyone specifically, only by what he may find in his research, which is actually not very much, we find.
JennyMaine wrote:
| I noticed on the history thread below that your daughter isn't using Trisms. Would it be too much to use two different levels of the program? For instance, my two will be 14 and 12 this fall - they could both go through History Makers. But after that. . .? |
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If you join that Trisms yahoo list, you'd get more people who actually do this better able to give you a good idea of how this is done, as I don't use it with two levels. Trisms is a GREAT curriculum, but not one that would be right for Sarah. God's led me to do a Charlotte Mason high school program for Sarah (made by me and simplycharlottemason.com) for the rest of her schooling. It's great that we can use what He asks us to, because He knows them best, isn't it? There are many using different volumes in different years based on ages of kids, what they've already studied and need to study, etc. So it can be done for sure!
JennyMaine wrote:
| I've been doing a lot of research on what direction to take for high school. I see that NARS allows Trisms in their diploma program, so that is appealing to me as I'm considering going with NARS. Thanks, Tracy! |
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Yes, NARS does allow Trisms, and that's because it's a great program! In the volumes (and right on the website), you can see what credits you can give your children when using Trisms, based on the work you actually do with the volumes. They count the work as a whole into the credits. For instance, if they're doing history reading, it can also sometimes count for literature as well, etc. If they're writing for history, it can also count for english/composition, etc. I like that aspect a lot, and feel more confident in giving my credits when making the transcript for Zach much easier than I did for our first, Jake, who didn't use Trisms, but instead, a more traditional program.
There are SO many aspects of Trisms I love:
*It's a very self directed program, and allows them to learn how to work independently very well
*It's flexible...you can add or detract from it easily
*For IEW users (which I'm actually not), the lessons are built right in there, but if you don't use it, you can easily adapt your own to the program.
*I love that he's learning well how to research and learn the college skills he will need.
*He's really becoming quite the analytical thinker, though he's been that child anyway. But it's reinforcing his ability to understand how the world has worked before this time, from the standpoint of ALL of the world, and with no agenda.
*I love how instead of reading a history textbook written by one person or some people who have their ideas already formed, he's writing (notebooking) his OWN history book through his coursework, making his coursebook/history book himself. It's wonderful!!! This also helps with the fact that we love notebooking, and think it's wonderful at the end of the year for him to see all he's done!
*I love that it's history/research/AND literature based, and therefore still fits in to our literature based learning philosophy of learning.
I hope sharing this has helped some. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask!
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
 homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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TracyQ
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| Posted: May 12 2008 at 2:11pm | IP Logged
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Erin wrote:
Tracy
I was going to ask you questions about Trisms too. This bit really caught my attention.
The glory of TRISMS is that you do NOT need to own any particular books to do a volume. It is research-based, so the students are told what to find and then they have to go find it. Of course, we sell resource packages we have found helpful, but they are not necessary. All of the literature (predominantly excerpts) the students will be reading, analyzing, and responding to are included in the TRISMS volume so that you do not have to go looking for out-of-print books or certain editions.
I'd just love to know everything. |
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Erin,
We did buy some of the resource packages because I thought it'd be easier, and it did! But we've actually used the library, and what we have here even more! I love the fact that we can use the library often, and our own home research library and the internet as well! The pieces of literature used are included in the program itself, but by reading some pieces of literature, Zach's actually asked to read the longer versions, for example, The Iliad and The Odyssey. He ASKED to read them both!  Wow! Any program that does that to me is worth gold!  Is there anything more specific you want to know about? Just ask if you do!
__________________
Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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TracyQ
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| Posted: May 12 2008 at 2:22pm | IP Logged
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Erin wrote:
| I have to say it all sounds very interesting but... it seems rather pricey or perhaps I am misreading?? |
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It's not cheap, but to me, it's so well worth the money! When buying Jake's high school books (more of a traditional textbook eclectic type of curriculum), I'd end up spending way more than this once I added in all of the textbooks/resources we'd use!
This gives you the manual, answer key, student pack (with the questionaires for all of the 18 units for the year), and the literature excerpts printed out as well. I've never felt that I spent too much for what we've gotten for the year. It's most of his curriculum for the year (using the library and our home resources and the internet). I only add Math and Lab Science to his curriculum (and we had most of that with Jake). So for him, we've actually spent the least, because it's all there for us! When I think of what I spend on one Apologia text and resources or one Saxon kit, this is very reasonable in price in my opinion, based on the tons of curriculum I've bought or reviewed.
Hope this helps!
Tracy
__________________
Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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Lisa R
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Tracy,
Does this include science as well or do you need to buy separate curriculum for that? Did you just buy a lab of some kind? I'm a little confused.
Thanks!
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God Bless!
Lisa, married to my best friend, Ray and loving my blessings Joshua (17)and Jacob(15), Hannah(7) and Rachel (5)!Holy Family Academy
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TracyQ
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| Posted: May 12 2008 at 10:27pm | IP Logged
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Lisa,
There is a general/history of science credit in there, but for lab science, you need to do that seperately. The website is really excellent with samples, and tells you the credits for each volume, etc. Also, the yahoo list is an excellent resource to ask questions as well, the people are great there!
For example, the credits for the volume for Discovering the Ancient World is here:credits for DAW volume For each volume, you can click on it (at the top of the Trisms page), and to the upper right for each volume, there is a COURSE CREDITS, SAMPLE WEEK, LITERATURE SELECTIONS, SCOPE & SEQUENCE, adn TIME TABLE. Click on those to get some better info on each volume.
Here's an example of a sample lesson plan that's in PDF that explains the lesson plan in a more clear way.... Sample Lesson Plan Explained
And here is a sample of the coursebook they make for each volume....Coursebook Sample This will give you a good idea of what the coursebook looks like, the questionaires they do to make them with their research, etc.
And here's the FAX page...FAQs for Trisms I hope this helps some!
__________________
Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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Lisa R
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| Posted: May 13 2008 at 10:05am | IP Logged
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Thank you, Tracy! Very helpful.
I think I might be doing History Makers next year (7th and 8th graders here ) and the rest for highschool. I LOVE how it's all inclusive and as an IEW user it sounds wonderful! 
Thanks again!
__________________
God Bless!
Lisa, married to my best friend, Ray and loving my blessings Joshua (17)and Jacob(15), Hannah(7) and Rachel (5)!Holy Family Academy
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JennyMaine
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| Posted: May 13 2008 at 12:19pm | IP Logged
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Thanks so much, Tracy!
It's on my list to pray about!
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--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
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TracyQ
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| Posted: May 14 2008 at 1:06pm | IP Logged
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You're both very welcome! If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Trisms is something I'm pretty well versed in. And like I said, the yahoo groups list is extremely helpful to those with questions as well. God bless you both, as you pray about what God wants for your family.
__________________
Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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BethHG
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I wanted to thank you all for this thread! I rarely post on this board, but I have been a member for a couple of years. This year I have been feeling a bit of burn-out and I was convinced two weeks ago that I was going go with Seton this year. On Saturday, I came over to this board and just started to look around, and this thread caught my eye. It got me to thinking--and I am convinced the Holy Spirit led me here. I showed the TRISMS site to my dh and he agreed with me that HM looks like it would be great for next year.
One question what is NARS? Do you have a link? I am starting to see a whole different world open in front of my very eyes!
God bless!
Beth
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TracyQ
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| Posted: June 03 2008 at 10:05am | IP Logged
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When they speak of NARS, this is the website about what they're speaking NARS website. I don't use NARS, but NARS knows Trisms well, from what I understand. You can also join the Trisms yahoo list that I mentioned to ask more about it of people who do use it, and could give you better information.
I'm so glad that you're feeling good about this coming year! I just ordered my Trisms RON for our will soon be 16yo for next year today! 
__________________
Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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Topic: Tracy Q - Trisms Questions?
