Tapestry of Grace:
Our Top Thirty Favorite Things

But I found myself about a year ago not excited about homeschooling, not sure how to meet the needs of my four children ages 13 to 7, not sure we'd ever enjoy learning together, and not very hopeful for what lay ahead. What should I do? Could we do anything to make it better?

Fast forward eight months or so and we are enjoying -- yes, enjoying -- our best year of homeschooling ever with....Tapestry of Grace.

So what has brought a smile back to my homeschooling face? What made the difference?

And why am I now a faithful fan of Tapestry of Grace? Read on and see, or read more about my comparison of Classic Tapestry and Tapestry Redesigned for specifics about the two versions.

When I started writing this review of Tapestry of Grace I had the working title of "Top Ten Things I Like About Tapestry of Grace." I soon had to change that to 15, then 25. When I last counted I had 30, and I seem to keep adding to the list. So we've found a lot to love about Tapestry.

To be fair, though, I also offer My Least Favorite Things About Tapestry of Grace and My Top Adjustments with Tapestry of Grace, too.

I think it is important to include a few of our children's views about Tapestry of Grace, also, since they use it as well.

Top Twenty-Five Things I Like About Tapestry of Grace

Tapestry of Grace -- whether Tapestry of Grace Redesigned or Classic Tapestry of Grace -- can offer tremendous benefits for you and your children. Whether these benefits are the ones you are looking for, however, I don't know. Here are my top 25 (or so) things I like, in no particular order. See how they match up to what you are hoping for in your home school curriculum:

1. Tapestry offers lots of opportunities to celebrate. Every unit we have a Unit Celebration, even if it is just a simple no-planning affair of watching a period-piece movie and the kids showing off the work they did to us. I'm not naturally a party-planner, so I appreciate the many resources and suggestions my children can use to plan the event (and they really get into it, even my teenager!). We all love the chance to look back on their many accomplishments for the unit. Not only that, but each week we also have a sense of accomplishment for however much we have been able to do that week.
2. Tapestry helps us know where we've been and where we're going in our study of history. I love how Tapestry of Grace gives us lots of road markers in our understanding of history and how it points out themes that come up time and again. This really helps all of us see the overall flow of history, church history, and the development of ideas.
3. Tapestry promotes the joy of learning as a family. There was a time not long ago when our children were all kind of doing their own thing academically. I longed for more family unity, but it honestly seemed like an impossible dream, especially as the kids were getting older. How could I ever balance my older children's desire for independence with my desire for learning together as a family? I can truly say that through Tapestry of Grace we have received a wonderful gift: the gift of both unity and focus for our whole family. We now enjoy having discussions over lunch or impromptu talks in the car about our school topics, and that is fun. But there is something I realize is more significant than this.

   Tapestry of Grace is helping us as a family develop a shared understanding of history, the world we live in, God's hand in it, and our part in response. I find this shared experience tremendously exciting. Tapestry offers suggested read-alouds, projects, discussion questions, and other resources that help the whole family learn together (even a resource to bring dads into the discussion, Pop Quiz). We don't have to use any of these, of course, but they are there if we want them.

4. Tapestry helps our children process what they are learning at their level. I can see that what they are learning is sinking in by some of the things they do outside of school. I smile when I think that my youngest daughter named her stuffed animal Charlemagne. I felt gratified when my 9-year-old son talked to me tonight about the differences between how medieval knights behaved and how Renaissance nobleman did, and then wondered aloud if they would be friends. Wow. He's really thinking about these things.
5. Tapestry offers a variety of activities that suit the different learning styles of my children. There are suggestions for crafts, plays, display boards, discussions, and other activities that cater to the different ways my children learn.
6. The week plan fits well with our rhythm of life. I like not having a weekly rather than a daily schedule. We can do all our reading early on in the week, or spread it out. It gives me enough freedom to schedule in a four-day week, but enough structure to keep us focused on whatever that week's themes are.
7. Tapestry has done an admirable job of segmenting the themes of history into surprisingly manageable pieces to cover each week. Sure, you can't go in-depth on the Vikings in just a week, but we found we were still tying in what we learned about them after that week was over.
8. Learning history from a distinctively Christian perspective is fascinating and extremely relevant. We consistently find issues that are pertinent to our own day in both in the history and in the church history readings. Far from being dry and boring, Tapestry of Grace makes history and the history of how the church responded to the issues of its day incredibly relevant for us in our own day.
9. We are learning how to think Biblically. I see God using Tapestry of Grace to help transform our family's hearts and minds, growing us to be both more loving and more discerning. Tapestry is teaching us to have compassion on those we might have misunderstood or misjudged before, and to think critically in applying Scripture to issues that aren't always black and white.
10. Tapestry is helping my children discern the bias of the authors they are reading. I appreciate how Tapestry's teacher's notes give me a heads up on recognizing if there is a strong partiality a certain author has, reminding me to bring this issue up in our discussions. Even my younger children are getting in on the act and can see if there is bias in how something is written. Not a bad skill to have in today's world, I'd say.
11. Tapestry covers Biblical history and includes relevant Scriptures that help us interpret history. While we haven't used Year 1, which would include the time of the Old and New Testaments, I have been impressed with how Tapestry points out how various events in more modern times bear out what Scripture tells us about humanity. And while I am not Catholic or Orthodox, they seem to be sensitive to other traditions and offer other resources on issues where there might be some differences of interpretation (such as the Protestant Reformation).
12. Our older children are learning how to work independently and budget their time. One of the reasons I can manage teaching four kids (and move internationally, help with ministry, work on this website, and stay relatively sane) is that Tapestry of Grace is written to my children so that my older kids (ages 13 and 11 now) can learn how to learn on their own. This is tremendous preparation for them if they decide to go to college -- or even if they don't.
13. Tapestry gives me the tools to mentor my children and lead interesting discussion times. I don't always (ever?) have the time to read the upper level books, at least not yet, but Tapestry's teacher's notes help me know how to lead discussions that touch on various significant ideas from their reading. More than just covering the facts, though, the notes help me talk about ideas, literary terms, and how to analyze and connect what they are learning.
14. The Student Activity Pages offer a variety of ways to help my children to analyze what they are reading at their level. For example, this week my 7-year-old is learning how to pick out themes and sequence events in her reading, my 9-year-old is learning to pick out main ideas and think of alternate titles for chapters, and my older middle schoolers are learning about characterization.
15. Through the Student Activity Pages and other resources, Tapestry is mentoring me in what and how to teach my children. Tapestry gives me resources at my fingertips that will help them, step by step, learn how to analyze, think, and be more discerning in what they are reading and learning. Tapestry has already thought through the whole process so I don't have to. These are all things I would want my children to learn, but it would take countless hours for me to find the resources, and then countless more to figure out how and when to schedule it all in. Tapestry has done all the legwork for those activity pages and even formatted them in fun ways so we get to reap the benefits.
16. Tapestry reminds me that growing and maturing is a process. Progress doesn't come overnight, either for me or for my children. I need lots of hand-holding and reminders in this area because I can easily get overwhelmed and feel I'm not doing enough, or that my children are somehow "behind." Tapestry, along with the support I get from their forums and other users, reminds me that I need first to seek God's wisdom for my children and set goals in line with His plan for them, then just take even small steps toward those goals.
17. With Tapestry, my children don't have to fit into one grade level. I have one child who is one level higher than grade level in writing, and one that is lower. One child can learn as much as she wants, another can drop down a level if needed.
18. I like the benefit of layered learning, both for my students and for me, the teacher. I will be a much better teacher when we come back to this level in four years since I've already done much of the preparation! The children, also, will be able to understand at a deeper level as they come back to this era in time. The four-year cycle gives me the freedom to relax and not stress when we don't do it all now.
19. Tapestry frees up my time to focus on the parts of home schooling I love and find most important. For me, this means helping them with their writing projects, talking about ideas during our discussion times, or working on a project together. Tapestry has already done the preparation so I can do what I really want to do -- have those thought-provoking talks and rewarding times interacting with my children.
20. Tapestry is helping prepare my children for the real world, even if they don't want to go to college. I feel Tapestry will have given our children an excellent preparation for life, both in core factual knowledge and also in the ability to think, plan, and express themselves.
21. I appreciate the ease of how I can adjust the learning level easily. Some weeks are crazy and busy for us. Or maybe one child is feeling overwhelmed with everything else he or she is doing. I may have that child skip some assignments or even do a lower level for the reading and worksheets for that week. We may cut out geography for a week or two. It is easy to adjust yet still keep learning on track.
22. I love the excellent books. Look at the reading list, and you'll see it is impressive. When our kids graduate, even if they haven't done everything, they will have read some of the most enduring classics of Western literature. Not only will they have read them, but I know I'll have the tools to be able to discuss them with my children, too.
23. Tapestry is helping us to grasp the differences of the major denominations. I think knowing the distinctives of the main denominations is very important as we guide our children in their process of deciding for themselves what denomination they will join, if any. What a valuable, practical application of Tapestry's church history component!
24. I like seeing the world in its historical perspective. Tapestry of Grace includes other countries outside of Western Europe and the United States, covering them in various times in a historical context. While there is a focus on the United States in Years 3 and 4 (although I haven't seen the Redesign for these Year Plans), I imagine it would not be impossible to alter some of the readings to include more of other countries if you live outside of the US. That is what we are planning to do.
25. I love how Tapestry gives me the tools to make it easy for me to teach. I am amazed at the thoroughness of the teacher's notes and how well-organized they are. They not only guide me in knowing how to understand the material, they also provide easy-to-digest, bite-sized notes of what each of my children needs to know each week. The color coding makes it easy for all of us to know who does what.
26. Tapestry of Grace makes it easy for me to pick and choose what I want to use to help reinforce the main point. There are Student Activity Pages, discussion questions, activities, a general overview page written to all of us, and more. I can have my children do less, or more, my choice. We can cover it in as much depth or as little depth as we want.
27. The availability of co-ops, both virtual and real life, can be a great opportunity for homeschooling families. Not having participated in any, I really can't say from personal experience, but friends who have used them really liked them. I like having that option.
28. I like the balance between real books and textbooks. I think having both helps our children learn how to learn from various sources and is a good preparation for later learning in life.
29. The community of users is a wealth of wisdom. I have often posted questions on the Tapestry forums and have had others respond who have also faced similar situations with reluctant writers, voracious readers, and a host of other dilemmas. I have especially enjoyed listening to Marcia Sommerville speak, and I highly recommend her teaching CDs available through Lampstand Press. Specifically, Marcia's Bleach for Stained Hearts audio CD is a resource that I wish every Christian homeschooler could hear because it truly gets to the root of our homeschooling desires and frustrations and puts them into a Godly perspective.
30. I'm convinced Tapestry of Grace is a great investment. If you price all of what Lampstand Press offers for any given Year Plan, it may seem like a considerable amount at first. However, when we compared what we are getting with Tapestry to other literature-based home school curriculums, we clearly saw what a great value Tapestry is. In addition to history and literature, we are getting church history, art history, government, philosophy, writing, music history, and other topics as well. Even if we only cover half of the material, we are still getting a fantastic deal on a tremendous education.

Least Favorite Things About Tapestry and Adjustments We Make

No home school curriculum is perfect. Having quit using Tapestry once, I know that full well. (As I mentioned above, you can read more about why we quit Tapestry and why we came back here.) In My Least Favorite Things About Tapestry of Grace I list some significant things either I didn't like in the past about Classic Tapestry or things that still frustrate me now. I want to present a balanced perspective of both the joys and frustrations.

So what do I do about my least favorite things? I sure know now that the answer isn't just looking elsewhere for another home school curriculum! Jumping into another curriculum without thinking through how to make home schooling goals was not the answer! Take a look at My Top Adjustments with Tapestry of Grace to see what we do now to make Tapestry of Grace work for us.

Our Children's View of Tapestry of Grace

Lastly, I think it is important to share what our children think about Tapestry. Our kids had used a variety of home school curriculum and methods in the last year or so before we went back to using Tapestry of Grace. We'd kind of done more of an unstructured, "unschooling" approach with our 9-year-old son. Meanwhile, my oldest now-13-year-old daughter had done an online Christian school almost completely on her own. I was very uneasy that we could meld the two extremes together and find a happy medium. But much to my delight, they have really enjoyed our school year.

As the old adage goes, your mileage may vary, but here are the comments from our kids about Tapestry when I asked them recently:

13-year-old Reader Girl:
Best: I like that what you learn really sticks in your head so you really remember it. I also like that you can go as detailed as you want to in what you learn.
Worst: I can't think of anything. I think it really suits my learning style. But I guess there are times when the reading assignments are mostly about one aspect of the topic and you need to find out about another aspect outside of your readings for the activity pages.

11-year-old Ballerina Girl:
Best: They have such great literature and so many great things to learn.
Worst: There is so much to do. Also, although I like the balance of textbooks and fictional books, I wish there were more historical fiction books.
[note: These two older girls were the ones who, a few years ago, took dibs on which Year plan books of our family's they wanted for their own children. I thought that was cute.]

9-year-old Lego Boy:
Best: Festivals, and I like some of the books.
Worst: I don't like some of the books [probably some of the textbooks that he sometimes says are boring].

7-year-old Gymnastics Girl:
Best: Really fun festivals.
Worst: I can't think of one. [But honestly, there are times when she'd probably say there is too much to do.]
I also want to comment here that just this week she was really moved by the account of slavery we read about. Later that day she came up and gave me a big hug and said a heartfelt, "Thank you so much for reading history to me!" She has now started a collection to give to stop modern-day slavery and has over $20 she gave or received from relatives. Thank you, Tapestry, for helping us to tie history into modern-day life and see that even one person can make a difference.

I hope my sharing of our experience with Tapestry of Grace can help you know if Tapestry of Grace is the right choice for you. As I realized what our goals were, and what Tapestry of Grace offered, I realized what a good match it was. I'd love for you, too, to find a curriculum that meets your home schooling goals as well as Tapestry does ours. If you'd like help in going through the process of figuring out what is the best home school curriculum for you, please sign up for our free eCourse in which I will walk you through seven basic steps to find out the best home school curriculum for you.

I'd love to help you be able to say this is your best year of homeschooling ever. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.

May God give you true joy and success in your homeschool,
Hilary

Top of page

Looking for something? Search for it here:
Enter your search terms Submit search form   Web this site