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.