frequently asked questions
who are the guides for?
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They have been designed with home educating / home schooling families and co-ops in mind but they are also a great resource for parents or teachers that are looking to support school learning
what age are the guides recommended for?
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The suggested age range is 6-14 years. This may seem very broad but our guides really enable every child to work at their own level. The activities are varied – some of the games and fill-in sheets are perhaps more for younger ones but plenty of art, craft, cooking and creative writing prompts will appeal to older ones too.
Here are some suggestions of how children have different ages might get the most out of the guides:
For younger children… (6-10)
• Enjoy sharing stacks of books together
• Talk through the research and discussion prompts
• Do the hands-on activities together
• Enjoy relevant puzzles and games whilst listening to some of our recommended audio books
For older children… (11-14)
• Encourage them to do independent research and engage in discussions about what they discover (perhaps help them source relevant books and supervise internet access)
• Encourage them to present their findings through written answers, infographic posters, presentations, films or animations
• Do the hands-on activities with them whilst listening to relevant podcasts or audiobooks
what resources should i use with the guides?
Before we begin a new topic, we always like to take a trip to the library and gather together any relevant games and puzzles. Take a look at our resources pages where you’ll find lots of suggestions for books, podcasts, TV programmes and documentaries that we’ve enjoyed – all listed by topic.
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You can watch our specially created animations on our YouTube channel (we're still working on these so there are only a few now but more on the way).
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Once you’ve finished working through the guide, you can test your knowledge with the Top Topics Quiz Time podcast.
do i have to print the guides?
The guides will be delivered as digital pdf files so they can certainly be used on-screen.
When we're working on a topic at home we usually print some of the pages – key information is contained on just 4 pages for a Main Topic or 1 page for a Mini Topic and these pages have tick boxes that we like to fill-in as we go. We find that doing this makes a concise record of learning without needing to spend time, money or environmental resources on printing out booklets with hundreds of pages!
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If your child is keen to work on the fill-in pages these will need to be printed too but instruction pages for all the activities can be viewed on screen.
If you do decide to print the whole thing, we've tried to ensure each booklet is under 20 pages.
does Top Topics follow a curriculum?
No, the guides don't follow any particular curriculum but there will be some overlap with topics studied as school.
can i share the guides?
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You can print as many copies of a guide as you need for use in your home but please don't give printed or digital copies to anyone else. If you would like to use a guide with a co-op, group or school, please get in touch so we can offer you a discount.
do you offer refunds, exhanges or returns?
As all the Top Topics guides are digital products we do not offer any refunds, returns, or exchanges. Please read all the information available on this website, download a sample page and get in touch if you have any other questions before purchasing.