Browse through our 10 favorite history books from this school year!

Many years ago when I was just starting homeschooling with my oldest in kindergarten, I learned about Tapestry of Grace from a friend. She had been using it for years and advised me to wait to use this amazing curriculum until I was teaching older grades–like junior high. Why? It’s because Tapestry is so full of...

Well, it is how I set up Tapestry of Grace BOOKS. 1) You must purchase Tapestry of Grace. I am using year 2, so that is the link, but you can do any year at any time. Tapestry of Grace Year 2 Digital Version 2) Books... I know this is the major part. When I lived in Africa, I just bought all my books because the libraries didn't know what they had and the majority of the time it was chaos. However, now that I am in USA, I use my books that I have, friends, library, used bookstores, kindle/nook, then I buy some books. This year I will be buying two books. Yes! Just TWO BOOKS. I begin by printing out the primary resources and alternative resource pages from the Tapestry of Grace pages. I place them in a notebook that is a TOG year 2 working notebook. Then I see if I have any books- I put a check if I do on either the primary or Alternate resources. Or if I don't want a certain book, I cross it out. *there is only two books that we don't like in the Tapestry books so far (America:ready to us Interdisciplinary Lessons and With Pipe Paddle and Song) I see if my friends have any books. If they do I put their initial beside the book and gather them prior to the start of school. Fun part (for me at least), I can search two major library districts and I find if they have first the primary and only the alternate if I am missing a book in the primary resources. For example: If I needed for Dialectic Literature book "Almost Home" by Lawton and the library didn't have it, I would look up the alternate resource "The double Life of Pocahontas" by Fritz. I won't have a worksheet for the alternate but, it would cover the time period or the person I was studying. I then mark on my TOG book notebook beside the book an initial of the library so that I know where I need to request the book from or put it on hold. Our library has a 30 day checkout period and a two week hold, so I can request way in advance for the books I need. One weekly trip is all that is needed. *Look also for the audio or downloadable e-books as well. If you child gets a break from reading and can listen to the book. How fun is that! Then I go through each week, and see if I have any holes. The major holes I look for is literature because TOG has great interactive sheets for the specific books. Then I look if I need any history books that is not covered in the primary or alternate resource. I write in the working notebook my alternate book that I want the children to read. (Very important or you will not remember that you have a different book and you won't ask your child to read it that week) However, if I see that UG has a book on Jamestown, and LG doesn't I will just let my younger daughter listen to some of Max's book. Second, I then see if there is any other books at the library that will cover the subject. "You wouldn't want to be a ..." series is fun and they are so new that TOG might not of used them because I have been using TOG for 5 years. Then I type out a list of the still needed books. This year I created a spreadsheet of the books and then did a cost of purchasing these books (amazon, Bookstore central). I kept that little list around when I went to second hand stores or garage sales. I found about 4 or 5 titles for .25 cents a piece! Now, it is almost time to purchase the needed 23 books. But read on to find out why Palmer Public Library is the BEST. AMAZING: This year I had about 23 books that I couldn't find, for LG, UG, and D. I went and filled out a "book request form" at the local library. They ordered EVERYONE! I put my books in order from which week and unit on 4 shelves. So, Unit 1 first shelf, Unit 2, second shelf, etc. I also order them by weeks so I won't need to search the house for them. (biggest pain). After the school year is over, I make sure these books are around the home so that the children can re-read them. But, not the current year. This is getting to long. Part II will come out later.

Homeschooling high school was always something that I looked ahead to with both excitement and fear. When my children were in elementary grades, I felt confident teaching according to a classical model , but as they grew into the middle and high school years, I felt intimidated by the challenging l

Can I be honest with you? I mean r-e-a-l-l-y honest...the kind of honest that might offend some and anger others? I wanted to like Tapestry of Grace. I wanted it to be the curriculum that would carry us through the rest of our homeschooling years....an anchor to keep us firmly-rooted in schedule and habit and cadence. I wanted it to be the "tapestry", shall we say, for which all academic threads of our schooling were woven in and through. But, after only six weeks into this looks-really-great-in-theory dream, I realized that Tapestry of Grace was definitely not for us. As a FINISHER kind of momma, I trudged through those first six weeks like the Little Engine that Could...chanting "I think I can...I think I can...I think I can"...assuming that it would surely get better...that I'd figure it out...that I'd eventually find a rhythm to it all. But, the hurdles were just too big and the rhythm never came. And so, I did the only sane thing I could think of: I boxed up the curriculum guide, re-shelved what books I could salvage, and created a PLAN B. Before I dive into the nitty-gritty tell-all of what I DID and DID NOT like about Tapestry of Grace, let me first interject by saying four simple facts. I am an eclectic homeschooler. I have never before used an all-in-one curriculum like TOG for multiple subjects. I have only ever used a living literature approach when teaching history in our homeschool. Because we had previously studied Ancient Egypt and Greece, I chose to start TOG in Year 1, Unit 4, Ancient Rome. It is naturally more difficult to come into a curriculum midstream than to begin at the beginning. I think this is a really good program. Truly. It's just not good for me and my kids...at least for right now. Tapestry of Grace Pros Multi-level Learning With an eight-year learning span between my oldest child and my youngest one, the multi-level learning schedule of TOG was what initially captured my attention. The plans are laid out in such a way that a high school student and a first grader can each be working through history at a similar speed chronologically but at their own academic level. Designed with a Classical approach, TOG divides learning into four major learning levels (lower grammar, upper grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric) and follows a four-year cycle meaning that a child will study through the entire timeline of history four times before graduating from high school. Socratic method of teaching True to its Classical nature, TOG follows the Socratic method of learning where students are stimulated towards critical thinking...answering a question with another question and scrutinizing belief systems. All-in-one design for unit-study learning I can see where a "package deal" curriculum that supplies not only the obvious history component but also writing, vocabulary, church history, geography, literature, and art would be appealing to many homeschool mommas. That is most certainly an efficient way to plan a year and would greatly benefit the larger-than-average family who seeks to fit in all the extras. Quality book selection While I have packed the curriculum guide away, I have kept out several of the spine books for reference and have designated others to be used during our morning "circle time" next year. To be honest, many of the books are more textbook in nature than we are used to for history, but even spines have their place in a living literature approach. You will find no twaddle among the titles. They are all superior books worth adding to your collection, no matter what curriculum you use. Multi-sensory learning As a momma who wholeheartedly subscribes to the project-based learning method, I loved all of the project suggestions included in the weekly lesson plans. Project ideas were never lacking and could be woven into the day quite naturally. Tapestry of Grace Cons Confusing curriculum guide I'm gonna don my "honest but very blunt" hat for a second and just call a spade a spade. As a former classroom teacher and an eclectic homeschooling momma who has used more-than-her-share of different curriculums over the last 15 years of teaching-in-some-form-or-another, the Tapestry of Grace curriculum guide is the most user un-friendly manual I think I have ever come across. Ouch...that was painful to write and I'm sure painful to read. But there...I've said it. I consider myself pretty curriculum savvy. But even after pouring over the weekly plans for what seemed like hours each week, I felt overwhelmed. There are just so.many.words in the guide. Each weekly lesson plan is about fifty pages long. I wish I were exaggerating here. Sadly, I am not. Granted, each lesson must meet the needs of all four levels of learners. But, holy-information-overload, Batman! I think I sat in a word coma many nights trying desperately to weed through all the words. ME! A self-proclaimed "I heart words" girl! I realize that every new curriculum brings about a learning curve. But, even after six weeks, I still felt so clueless. Too many good choices At the risk of going against all my firmly-held eclectic learning beliefs, I think that the number of activity choices provided each week was paralyzing. In an effort to provide an a la carte style schedule, the curriculum suggests a plethora of activities for you to choose from each week. It is up to you to select the ones that will work with the time that you have and be OK with passing up all the rest. Since I tend to chase after all-things-shiny, I had a really hard time "passing up all the rest". I could never seem to decide which activity was best because they were all so good. In this case, sometimes less is more. Having a selection of two or three good things to choose from is perfect for my personality type. Having a selection of fifteen good things to weed through? Why that's just asking for spazz-momma to suddenly rear her ugly head...every.single.day.for.six.whole.weeks! Not in line with our schedule We are eclectic homeschoolers in every sense of the word. I like the luxury of tailoring all of our learning to our current needs, passions, and educational ideologies. I like rabbit trails. I like slow, deliberate learning. I like exhausting a topic and not feeling rushed to skip to the next one. Tapestry of Grace was just too scheduled for my liking. Up until this year, we were used to carving out two days a week to devote to history. We would wander through time periods at our own pace and devote ample time to really unpacking the small pieces and parts of an era. With TOG, I had to make the choice of either spending two full days almost exclusively learning history OR spreading out all the reading over a four or five-day span. There was just so much to do and not enough time to do it all. Everything seemed rushed and time-consuming. Prior to TOG, we had devoted two entire school years to traveling through Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. I was saddened with the notion of barreling through Ancient Rome in eight weeks. Eight weeks! An entire era of history in only eight weeks! Not in line with my methods As I mentioned, many of the book suggestions, especially for the lower grammar stage, are not living literature in nature and are more spine-like. I would also argue that the books are not always aptly leveled for reading skill. My sixth grader is an exceptional and avid reader, but many of the books listed for the upper grammar stage were unnecessarily difficult and lengthy. They were ALL wonderful books, but ones which I think would be better suited for dialectic-stage students. Perhaps due to the lack of TRUE living literature suggestions, much of the actual teaching comes from encyclopedia inserts in the teacher's guide. I was supposed to read pages of background information each week and then regurgitate it all to my children in lecture format. I think?...I'm still very confused about all of that. In addition, so many of the components of each unit rely heavily on memorization skills rather than TRUE learning. Both the vocabulary and geography elements seemed forced and disjointed and definitely went against my philosophy of real-world learning which gives a piece of information relevance and value. Not in line with eclectic homeschooling Since I already had a grammar and writing curriculum that I preferred, a method for teaching REAL vocabulary words, elements of church history in our morning "circle time", art project plans, and children who love reading a variety of different genres of literature, seventy-five percent of the TOG curriculum was wasted in our eclectic homeschool. After the first week or so, we ended up doing only the reading elements and scrapping all the rest. It is just not very economically efficient for me to spend a hefty sum on an all-in-one curriculum if I only ever intend on using twenty-five percent of the material. One final word Tapestry of Grace, like all other curriculums, will be loved by some and hated by others. That's just the nature of opinions...they are as individual as the individuals giving them. What works for one person isn't going to necessarily work for another. The elements I didn't like about Tapestry of Grace and which caused me to opt for PLAN B might be the very elements which would work perfectly for you and your homeschool. I, personally, have three dear friends who all use TOG and love it. It works wonderfully for their households and personality types. Their kids are thriving and learning much! Mine were not. I still believe the program to be GREAT. It just wasn't great for us in this season. I have decided to hang onto the curriculum guide as it just might prove to be perfect for the high school years.

When I sat down to align History of the Ancient World and Tapestry of Grace Year 1, it quickly became apparent some weeks of Tapestry had up to 15 chapters.

Over the years, I've developed a great strategy to plan Tapestry of Grace over the summer. Come take a peek and add to the planning tips!

When I sat down to align History of the Ancient World and Tapestry of Grace Year 1, it quickly became apparent some weeks of Tapestry had up to 15 chapters.

I have now been using my main curriculum, Tapestry of Grace, for 4 years. Let's have a trumpet fanfare and a big cheer, for making it back to the first year again. Yup! We're starting that cycle all over again, with my children 4 years older, and new ones joining in this time. THIS is the exciting time I have been looking forward to, when I hopefully hear my children say "Oh YES! I remember doing this before", and spouting some long-stored facts from the recesses of their minds! She says. Hopefully... It *IS* one of the wonderful facts about TOG. As it runs in a four year cycle, and you switch your child up through the levels of learning (lower grammar, upper grammar, dialectic and rhetoric - all classical approach), you could end up going through the 4 year cycle about 3 times in their schooling. Each time approaching the information in a more in-depth and applied way. Each time soaking in the information in a more long-lasting manner. Bravo, Tapestry of Grace, for designing it to be so! This year we are adding in a couple of new approaches, which we haven't used as yet. I do feel it has taken me these first four years to become fully confident and able to implement some of the changes we are making. The first year was a bit of a flounder, being new to the whole concept of a curriculum where I had to do anything other than hand my children their workbooks, all purchased ready to use, and assign them page numbers every day. Thankfully, Tapestry is rather forgiving, and as it is designed to allow each family to make it fit their own schedule and requirements, I have gradually been able to add elements as I feel able. This year I decided to tackle "paper mania" head on. You know, when you have umpteen pieces of paper floating around (obviously not literally, but on a bad day, it's possible...), and you have to constantly fight the battle of paper migration? Loose papers in the kitchen. Loose papers in the lounge. Loose papers in the dining room. You get the idea. As I had purchased my new toy tool, my comb binder, I feel it is good to use it as often as possible. I realised that pre-printing the pages I would need the children to use for TOG, and binding them in advance, would beat trying to file them away as we go along after they had built up into a Mt Everest sized pile. (Let's be real, people....unless you are super-amazing-organised mother type, who files daily. Or is it just me who doesn't??....own up) If I have them in a work-book, it's neat, tidy, easy to grab for the child, and just plain simpler. No more printing every week through each Unit, just one mega-print once every few months. Additionally, since I feel highly thrilled and satisfied by the sight of freshly bound documents, it's a win-win idea! (Yes, weirdo home-schooling mother...) This weekend, I DID IT!!! I finished them today, and they are sitting, just WAITING for school to start tomorrow. Full of promise and educational advancement. I know that it may help some other TOG users to see what I have done, and perhaps inspire others to consider using TOG, so here I am sharing in my accomplishment. Some of this may mean nada to you - if so, and you are not interested, please return to whatever you were doing before you saw I had posted a new blog entry! Right, so what went in, and what didn't make the cut? Every workbook begins with a lovely cover. Which book is complete WITHOUT a cover?? I wanted a bigger image, but a lovely friend pointed out about how much ink a bigger image uses, and I was thankful for my choice! *grin* (Thanks Beth!) As you can see, this one will be Joshua's. We are just beginning on Dialectic with him (excited, slightly apprehensive, squeaking noise being made - by him and me, both!!). Here they all are, lined up ready. First off, for the oldest 2, I put in the reading list. Then they can mark off WHAT they need to read that week, and also once they have read it. The younger 2 will refer to the master copy in our book stand, if needed. You can see here, the reading selections are divided by level and by subject. Next, I put the Student Activity Pages. These outline all the suggested activities for that week. For Josh, at this higher level, there are also the "Accountability questions" and the "Thinking Questions" on these pages. Next, if I have any notebooking pages to add, these go here. I have put them straight after the pages that outline what we can do that week, as I will have them do this activity earlier in the week than the pages which follow. I am not sure if I have ever blogged about our TOG routine. I shall look, and rectify that if I have not! As you can see here, the first week is in Egypt, and they will do a notebooking page about the Nile River. Next, we have a mapping page. Some weeks there is one, some more than one, and some none at all!! This first week of Year 1, there are actually three, as they begin with an overview of world geography, as well as geography of Egypt. In addition, Josh will be doing a map overlay project. More of that in another post.... Next, we have the SAP (Student Activity Page) to go with their literature for that week. Finally, I have included any Evaluation pages. First time through TOG, I did not utilise the Evaluations. Until someone kindly pointed out that they are a super addition as an extra "worksheet", if nothing else! So, if there is a worksheet type eval, I have included it. (Some are oral tests) There we have it! My workbooks! Oh, yes! I must tell you that I plan for them to write their answers to any essay type questions (and for Josh's thinking and accountability questions) in a shop bought, spiral-bound, notebook. (Like this, but a different design) I didn't want to add pages into their workbooks, as they made need more or less than I provide. This allows a degree of flexibility, and also allows you to have the questions side-by-side with where you write the answers. We will see how it works out. I am really happy with them, and just know they are going to be a help both to the children, as well as to me. Obviously, being a "first" for us, we will see how it works out, and I can tweak it for unit 2, if need be. Over the next few weeks I will also tell you about the other elements I am adding this year. A cumulative map overlay project, having older students being involved in planning, and a timeline. (I still have not decided whether we should do the timeline as a family, or have the children doing it alone... or both!). I am really psyched up for starting back tomorrow, but I know it may not go as smoothly as I hope, so I am trying not to put too much pressure on my shoulders! I *DO* know, that, if I am excited about starting back, SOME of that energy is bound to bounce off onto the children and help them to feel motivated, too. I hope this helps out others with their planning. Oh, and don't forget to nip over to this post, for a great give-away of the notebooking resource that I am using in my workbooks. *DISCLAIMER* - the pages I have shared with you are available as a free sample download of Tapestry of Grace. Please do not violate copyright laws by trying to reproduce these pages, or copy them. If you want to use the curriculum, buy the curriculum!

A collection of our Tapestry of Grace learning here at Hodgepodge. We have enjoyed Years 2, 3 and 4 with our age range from preschool, lower grammar to rhetoric. Years 2 and 3 we both spread out over two years. So we have been fortunate to enjoy Tapestry of Grace for going on six years. […]

Browse through our 10 favorite history books from this school year!

Many years ago when I was just starting homeschooling with my oldest in kindergarten, I learned about Tapestry of Grace from a friend. She had been using it for years and advised me to wait to use this amazing curriculum until I was teaching older grades–like junior high. Why? It’s because Tapestry is so full of...

Notebooking Nook - Free Notebooking Pages, Free Lapbooks, Free Homeschool Printables, How-to's and More

Looking for Christian homeschool curriculum? Check out this list of Christian homeschool resources we've loved!

1917: Number 4 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

Planning Tapestry of Grace for the lower grammar stage - take a look at how I plan our history curriculum for my young children!

Browse through our 10 favorite history books from this school year!

Tapestry of Grace Year 3 is part of a four year Christian, classical, Charlotte Mason unit study curriculum that covers multiple subjects.

I am going to be writing posts, some weeks, that relate more specifically to Tapestry of Grace. There is a MASSIVE number of people out there who use this curriculum, and it's always helpful to share ideas and thoughts about how you use a curriculum. I will try and also incorporate a general principle that may help others - whether in school, or in life generally. So, please don't skip over these posts, just because they don't seem to be relevant! You may be pleasantly surprised that it may help you in some way! Today, I want to add an element to my workbooks. Unfortunately, I will not, at this time, be ACTUALLY adding it. I neglected to think about it BEFORE putting the workbooks together, sadly. Instead, I plan on keeping these pages neatly in a file, and will add them to the back of the workbook after it's completed. Then, I can add it in, in the correct weeks, for the next unit. So, what did I miss?? Well, it relates to something I did not even know about until last year, when we did Year 4. It's the printable glossaries - of the "people" covered, and the "vocabulary" covered. You will find these lists in the "weekly overview" pages of your weekplan. You can see above, there are "people" listed for Upper Grammar to Rhetoric, and the "vocabulary" is only for the Grammar levels. In previous years, I didn't really do much with this part of the curriculum. We maybe had a quick look, and discussed them. Ok, so that IS doing something, but nothing on paper. When I was told about the GLOSSARIES, however, a whole new concept was opened up. These basically become a handy reference booklet about the vocabulary related to your weekplan, and about the people you are studying. It's a simple reference, but handy, nonetheless. I bound them just like my workbooks. These are now ready to be used through the whole of Year 1. The people glossary is different to the vocabulary glossary. This is simply one whole glossary, with all the people for the year listed alphabetically. There is no division for weeks. However, the vocabulary glossary is divided both by weeks, and by learning level - lower and upper grammar. Each section has the words listed alphabetically. I am sure there are numerous ways to use this resource, but here's how I decided to use it. For the grammar students, I asked them to pick some vocabulary words which interested them. Then, they had the choice of copying out, as a copywork exercise, the definition in the glossary, or they could write something they had learnt about those words from our reading that week. With my youngest TOG student, Susie, she chose "Nile River" as her subject. I sat with her, discussing what she had learnt. Then, I wrote the sentences she dictated to me, using her vocabulary words, which she then copied onto a notebooking page. Then, Daniel chose to copy the section about "hippopotami". Beth chose the subject of the creatures found in Egypt, and wrote a sentence about each. You can see her page below. If you look at the list in the week plan page, you will see she chose one of the lower grammar words, which are also suggested to be looked at by upper grammar students. However, in the glossary, more words are covered,which you would expect to find in that week's studies. I let them choose their words from the glossary, rather than only from the list in the week plan. . As there were no "people" in the Week 1 section, Josh did not have to work on that. It's quite possible that he may not do that as a separate subject, in notebooking format, as his people may be covered elsewhere in his work load. However, we may choose to do one person a week as a "highlight" person. It would certainly be a good way for anyone to study characters through history - do a notebooking page on one person per period of history covered. It could even be a way of doing all your history studies - notebooking about characters in each historical era, and then as an offshoot you could study the way of life and current events surrounding that character. You will see in the first picture, the older levels are to do a time line, instead of vocabulary. We will be starting that this week, having not done so in the first cycle, as the children were all younger. I plan to work on it with my oldest, Josh, and get him to present it to the others so we can discuss the characters in that week. I will write a post about the Timeline next week. I think a valuable lesson, learnt by me, and equally valid for anyone, is this. Don't stress if you find you have to make changes in how you home school. Indeed, don't stress if you have to make changes in life, at all! Sometimes things come up that we don't expect, which require tweaking, or adding in of extra activities. I forgot about the glossaries, and so didn't add in any pages in my workbook to use for that. IT DOESN'T MATTER!! I can add them in, as one section, once we have finished unit 1. IT will be easier that way, than taking apart the whole workbook, and slotting the sheets in the right place. I am pretty likely to do damage to it, in the process!! So, they can wait to be added in. I now know I need to add them into the next workbook, and I plan to make a planning sheet for my workbooks, for this purpose - not to forget the next time! It's ok to make "mistakes", and better still, it's good to learn from them, and improve because of them. So, there you have it. Another element of our Tapestry of Grace work. Oh, for any TOG users who haven't discovered the glossaries (although, you are all probably far more sensible than I am, and found them yourselves...by looking through your curriculum thoroughly...), they are in The Loom. Which, of course you already know, right?

This year we are using Tapestry of Grace Year 3 . It’s been wonderful. Here is a little road map to the Humanities covered in this curriculum. Click on it to view bigger size.

Conquer the Tapestry of Grace fog! Learn how to begin using Tapestry of Grace in your family with pointers, advice, and schedules.

Hi, my name is Heather, and I'm a compulsive organizer. "Hi, Heather. . . . " Not really. I do have a thing about checking off boxes, though. But I digress. Finally back on track, and wanting to finish my Tapestry series that I started . . . . um. . . . a long time ago. . . . . . . I thought I'd tackle the organization topic. Because, you know, I'm so organized that I have tons of free time to blog and stuff. Heh. Anywho. First, and MOST IMPORTANTLY!!!!! If you somehow you get the idea that my life is wonderful, beautiful, perfect and organized . . . . I have some pictures of my bathroom floors I can post for you. SO there. (Go back and read this post if you need a refresher course on the dangers of comparison.) Now that's out of the way. Where was I? Here is one approach - my approach - to organizing my Tapestry year. (Remember, I am a DE TOG user, so that impacts how I organize to some extent.) I confess, I enjoy purchasing the SAP packs from Lampstand Press - these are the Student Activity sheets already printed for me, so I only have to print reading lists and overview pages. Beautiful! I haven't splurged on color yet, but would love to if the old budget allows. Once I have my SAP packs in hand, I file Units 2-4, by week, in a large file box: At this point, I don't separate them out by student yet. That comes when they go into this file drawer: To start the school year, I put the first unit into my file drawer in the school room. Each of my kids has a color, and I put their pages in their own folder for the week-plan. If I'm a good Mommy, I sit down and get all the reading assignments and overview pages printed for the unit - these are not included in the SAP packs. (Usually, however, I'm not so on top of it by the 2nd or 3rd Unit - and I'm printing away the night before or - gasp! - the day of our set-up meeting!) You might notice in the file I also have a file for Evaluations - these are the quizzes and unit exams for my Dialectic and Rhetoric students. When it's time for our set-up meeting, I bring our handy-dandy colored folders to the table and - ta dah! - the pages are where they are supposed to be. Now, a quick word about notebooks: Some of you have noticed that I don't use 3-ring binders. Instead I use a system that I originally purchased from Levenger - the Circa notebook system. Happily, this year I noticed our local Staples carrying a similar system - oh, the joys!! I love these notebooks because the bindings lay flat, I can rearrange pages at will, and my kids can even punch random notecards, drawings, etc and put them in with their regular size papers. Here's an up close look at one: My daughter's Upper Grammar notebook Opened to show the General Information page. Note the advanced academic note-taking at the bottom. :p A map page. This year, though, the kids made a section in the book just for maps. Example of an Upper Grammar Literature response page. And this year I apparently got my act together with vocabulary. Yay, me! So there you have it! A look at our notebook system. As always, feel free to send me questions or your own ideas through the comment section. I'd love to help! Next up: Writing Aids!

Today, I want to tell you a little bit about the weekly reading lists on Tapestry of Grace, and how they work. First, I would say this - ...

Lapbooks - Tapestry of Read more about lapbook, glue, geography, vocabulary, pyramids and flora.

Planning Tapestry of Grace When You Homeschool Multiple Ages - take a peek at how I plan for Dialectic, Upper Grammar, & lower grammar each week!

Choosing books from my Tapestry of Grace plans has been somewhat of a challenge. There are so many fun options! And yet I know there’s no way we’ll truly enjoy this if I try to do it all. Then, too, there’s the issue of the budget. So, there were quite a few books to get nixed from the list. With such a monumental task, I thought I’d share my strategy (so that I’ll remember next year when I have to do this all over again.) Though many veteran TOG bloggers have suggested purchasing the books one unit at a time,…Read More

A reflection on one homeschool curriculum for all ages and learning on different levels. Tapestry of Grace through the years and how it works.

Planning Tapestry of Grace for the lower grammar stage - take a look at how I plan our history curriculum for my young children!

When I sat down to align History of the Ancient World and Tapestry of Grace Year 1, it quickly became apparent some weeks of Tapestry had up to 15 chapters.

Need recommendations for the best homeschool history curriculums and homeschool history resources ideas? You’ll love this comprehensive list of history resources from a homeschool mom of four kids including homeschool history curriculums, history unit studies, history audio dramas and even great history books for kids.

This was originally posted on Homeschool Blogger in 2008, I kept all the information from 2008. I only have 1 dialectic student now but I am still making workbooks. I hope this is helpful for you. …

I love to illustrate with scriptures verses. My illustrations of a Young Woman in Armor and Young Man in Armor are the most often requested illustrations and they have been reproduced for church c…

I’m excited to share with you today about a great writing curriculum from Tapestry of Grace called Writing Aids. It has so much in it! Wow. Writing Aids is a comprehensive writing curriculum that can be used for grades 1-12. It can be used alone, as a supplement to any other writing curriculum you are using, or […]

I know this post was promised last year. Can you believe what I can do to put off things? Today, I am working on doing just that. I look at Writing Aids (the Red pages) on the Tapestry of Grace week. As you all know the first few weeks, instead of writing suggestions, they have "set up notebook times". So this year, to pursue excellence in writing, we will be using Poetry Memorization. I purchased the Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization through IEW. The biggest treasure is found by joining the Yahoo group. IEW Families is an active group for all IEW teachers, especially home educators. With over 10,000 members and a monthly average of 500 posts, this group provides significant support to IEW parents and teachers. It is open to anyone who wants to learn more about how to teach children to write. Of particular benefit to members is an extensive Files archive with a vast array of resources from years past, with everything from lesson plans to grammar resources, all available in .PDF format. Once you join that Yahoo Group (you will need to make an account). Then you click on the left hand side to the tab labeled "FILES". You scroll down and click on the file labeled "Comparisons and Using IEW with other programs" Then you click on "Tapestry of Grace". Yes, you have made it. 1. join IEW Families from Yahoo group 2. click on "Files" (left hand sidebar) 3. click on Comparisons and Using IEW with other programs 4. click on "Tapestry of Grace" on the top Enjoy many source text for all the years of Tapestry. I know have all the source texts for Key Word Outlines for the entire year for TOG 4! Yes! Thank you "busymom77772000" for putting together sources for good writing all year. After talking with Danielle, she recommended doing the "Following Narnia" (IEW) for the Middle school kids. I am so excited. It will be a great blend and enough writing for all three children.

I feel it's important I begin this post with a disclaimer: I use Tapestry of Grace as a GUIDE with other things thrown in. I do not follow it to the letter. I've never followed

This seems like a topic that has been covered elsewhere but I had a reader ask me about my thoughts and experiences with Sonlight and Tapestry of Grace. I will try to do my best at representing our family’s experience with both programs. I originally wrote this entry for my Harmony Art Mom blog in […]

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We we chose Tapestry of Grace for our homeschool

A collection of our Tapestry of Grace learning here at Hodgepodge. We have enjoyed Years 2, 3 and 4 with our age range from preschool, lower grammar to rhetoric. Years 2 and 3 we both spread out over two years. So we have been fortunate to enjoy Tapestry of Grace for going on six years. […]

Well, it is how I set up Tapestry of Grace BOOKS. 1) You must purchase Tapestry of Grace. I am using year 2, so that is the link, but you can do any year at any time. Tapestry of Grace Year 2 Digital Version 2) Books... I know this is the major part. When I lived in Africa, I just bought all my books because the libraries didn't know what they had and the majority of the time it was chaos. However, now that I am in USA, I use my books that I have, friends, library, used bookstores, kindle/nook, then I buy some books. This year I will be buying two books. Yes! Just TWO BOOKS. I begin by printing out the primary resources and alternative resource pages from the Tapestry of Grace pages. I place them in a notebook that is a TOG year 2 working notebook. Then I see if I have any books- I put a check if I do on either the primary or Alternate resources. Or if I don't want a certain book, I cross it out. *there is only two books that we don't like in the Tapestry books so far (America:ready to us Interdisciplinary Lessons and With Pipe Paddle and Song) I see if my friends have any books. If they do I put their initial beside the book and gather them prior to the start of school. Fun part (for me at least), I can search two major library districts and I find if they have first the primary and only the alternate if I am missing a book in the primary resources. For example: If I needed for Dialectic Literature book "Almost Home" by Lawton and the library didn't have it, I would look up the alternate resource "The double Life of Pocahontas" by Fritz. I won't have a worksheet for the alternate but, it would cover the time period or the person I was studying. I then mark on my TOG book notebook beside the book an initial of the library so that I know where I need to request the book from or put it on hold. Our library has a 30 day checkout period and a two week hold, so I can request way in advance for the books I need. One weekly trip is all that is needed. *Look also for the audio or downloadable e-books as well. If you child gets a break from reading and can listen to the book. How fun is that! Then I go through each week, and see if I have any holes. The major holes I look for is literature because TOG has great interactive sheets for the specific books. Then I look if I need any history books that is not covered in the primary or alternate resource. I write in the working notebook my alternate book that I want the children to read. (Very important or you will not remember that you have a different book and you won't ask your child to read it that week) However, if I see that UG has a book on Jamestown, and LG doesn't I will just let my younger daughter listen to some of Max's book. Second, I then see if there is any other books at the library that will cover the subject. "You wouldn't want to be a ..." series is fun and they are so new that TOG might not of used them because I have been using TOG for 5 years. Then I type out a list of the still needed books. This year I created a spreadsheet of the books and then did a cost of purchasing these books (amazon, Bookstore central). I kept that little list around when I went to second hand stores or garage sales. I found about 4 or 5 titles for .25 cents a piece! Now, it is almost time to purchase the needed 23 books. But read on to find out why Palmer Public Library is the BEST. AMAZING: This year I had about 23 books that I couldn't find, for LG, UG, and D. I went and filled out a "book request form" at the local library. They ordered EVERYONE! I put my books in order from which week and unit on 4 shelves. So, Unit 1 first shelf, Unit 2, second shelf, etc. I also order them by weeks so I won't need to search the house for them. (biggest pain). After the school year is over, I make sure these books are around the home so that the children can re-read them. But, not the current year. This is getting to long. Part II will come out later.