Interested in Classical Homeschooling?
Have Several Children of Different Ages?
Tapestry of Grace Was Written for You!

Tapestry of Grace is a thorough, classical homeschooling curriculum combining historical reading, literature, writing, and other components, all at your children's various learning levels

Maybe you, too…

• Are longing for something that simplifies the planning for you?
• Like the idea of studying history chronologically in a four-year cycle, emphasizing the great classics of Western Literature?
• Would love a world-wide perspective of what has happened throughout the world over time?
• Hope for a curriculum that you can easily use to teach all of your children, from elementary to high school age, giving them all a classical homeschooling foundation?
• Want a thorough writing program that walks you step-by-step through the writing process while tying it naturally into the historical subjects and books you are reading?
• Need a classical homeschooling curriculum you can easily adjust to advanced or slow learners?
• Want to mentor your children in developing a Christian worldview?

Hi! My name is Hilary, home schooling mother of four, and these were my desires a few years ago. Then I found Tapestry of Grace and I felt like my prayers were answered! But do you know what? After two years, we quit using this "dream" curriculum. (If you are thinking of using Tapestry, you'll definitely want to know why!) Then -- can you believe it? -- after two more years, we are back using Tapestry and excited to do so. I share our journey and impressions of Tapestry of Grace in hopes you can learn from our journey.

We came to Tapestry of Grace after using Sonlight Home School Curriculum for a number of years. With the ages of our kids, we were going to need to use at least 3 Cores, and I just couldn't manage that. So we hunted around and found Tapestry.

Tapestry of Grace is a classical homeschooling curriculum which emphasizes developing a strong Christian worldview while studying history, literature, writing and other subjects if you want, and doing so at the right level for all the children in your family. Honestly, I learned things with Tapestry that I never learned even in some of my secular college courses!

I would encourage you to look at the

. The sample walks you through what it is like to use Tapestry to study Egypt and then gives you all their resources you'll need to do this unit study approach. Personally, I find the amount of information the staff at Tapestry has packed in to each week amazing, but especially with the Tapestry Redesigned (what they sell new now), it is even more user-friendly than before. They do all they can to make it easy for you to teach. That's what I need! The sample helps you see all the resources you get to choose from (notice I don't say "have to use" -- you don't have to use it all, just pick and choose what you want).

So, why did we quit using Tapestry? We found that because we were living overseas in Asia, it was very hard to get all the books we needed. What with shipping costs added in, I felt it was too expensive for us.

I also think I was still very much tied down to needing to check off boxes. And Tapestry offers a lot of boxes to check off!

So why are we back using Tapestry? For one thing, I think the Redesigned version is more helpful in offering guidance for the choices of books you'll need, while still allowing flexibility. I know more what we need. Also, for us, personally, we will also be closer to an English library which will help. And, I think I have grown in my confidence as a teacher: I know what is really important to me to teach, and I don't mind not using other materials Tapestry offers. And lastly, I love the combination of enough detail about the books (including any specific cautions about a book -- down to the page number) with a bird's eye perspective about how what we are studying relates to the past and future studies. I think Tapestry does a great job of giving you the big picture.

But that is our story. How would Tapestry work for you? Read on to find out.

Tapestry of Grace Home School Curriculum: Basic Facts

• History is studied chronologically in a four-year cycle. Each time your children go through it they will learn more deeply. Thus, your children will learn some basic facts the first time through in elementary school, they'll gain more understanding and make connections to related events or themes the next time through, and then in high school, they will really be able to discuss, interpret and express themselves on those events and themes.
• Lessons are laid out by weekly themes. You aren't tied down to a daily schedule, yet you have a sense of some goals to accomplish this week related to that theme.
• Numerous subjects are included: history, literature, writing, vocabulary, geography, fine arts, government, church history, hands-on projects and co-op suggestions. Again, you can use as many of these as you'd like, or as few as you want to.
• Notes for the teacher give you a big-picture sense of where you are going, where you have been, and how things relate together.

If you want to know what Tapestry of Grace has to offer to bring sense to your home school curriculum, you can explore their website at Tapestry of Grace.

Tapestry of Grace: Potential Advantages

This Christian classical homeschooling curriculum has many potential advantages:

• A weekly theme-based schedule may work better for you than a daily schedule. When I used a curriculum that had a daily schedule, I found I was always having to adjust it because we were ahead in one area and behind in another, and it ended up that the daily schedule became more frustrating than helpful.
• Studying history chronologically gives you a good base to understand so much of what you will learn for the rest of your life. I love the fact that whatever book I read or event I hear about, I can hang it on one of the hooks of history I (as a teacher!) have learned with Tapestry of Grace.
• Your children will come back to the material again on a deeper level, so you don't have to worry if your children understand it all the first time. What a relief!
• You'll become a better teacher as you gain skill and experience each time you go through it with your children. I love the idea that I won't have to re-invent the wheel every year!
• You can get a sense of the breadth as well as the depth of God's activity in history and in the worldas you learn about what was happening in different countries at a certain time in history.
• You can easily adjust the assignments to the needs of a fast or slow reader, or reluctant or eager writers.
• There are plenty of writing assignments covering a wide variety of formats, including newspaper articles, poetry, research papers, stories, essays, and more. The process of writing is covered, including prewriting, a rough draft, and a final draft. Many of these are lengthy assignments that teach how to break down projects into manageable steps.
• Lots of classic books - both old and new -- for your children to read. Certainly classical homeschooling literature at its best!
• A website full of helpful links, information and evaluations to enhance this home school curriculum - all right at your fingertips! What a help! Someone spent hours putting that all together. I'm just glad I can use the information from other users without having to spend hours searching for it myself!
• There are worksheets available most weeks for each learning level(Grammar, Dialectic and Rhetoric) to reinforce learning or help them analyze their reading.
• There are a variety of learning modes - hands-on projects, writing projects or read-alouds to help all your children enjoy and succeed in this learning.
• Discussion questions help you draw out information from your children and lead significant conversations. One of my daughters always asks at mealtime, “Let's have a conversation!” With the weekly themes and discussion questions, I could easily lead a significant conversation even at a moment's notice!

You may be ready to have Tapestry of Grace bring clarity and unity to your family's classical homeschooling. But, it might be good to take a look at some of the potential disadvantages.

Tapestry of Grace: Potential Disadvantages

As I mentioned above, all home school curriculum choices, classical homeschooling or not, have potential disadvantages. (And, what may be one person's disadvantage may be just what another person is looking for!) You need to figure out if you like the positive benefits enough to live with what may be a disadvantage for you.

• Difficult or expensive to buy the books. Especially if you don't have access to a good library, you may find it difficult or expensive to buy the books you need. This was the case for us when we lived in Japan, and probably the main reason we ended up quitting.
• You may find yourself overwhelmed with the amount of subjects. Even though all the planning has been done for you, you still may find yourself feeling overloaded with all the different subjects - vocabulary, writing projects, read alouds, or other projects you may want to do.
• You may find that the worksheets are just busywork for your children.
• You may find some of the weeks have topics that you aren't as interested in studying, or you want to study something else not in the Tapestry schedule. For example, maybe you live outside of North America and want to study your own country's history instead of that of the United States.
• You may find some of the assignments too easy or too hard for your child.

Tapestry of Grace: How to Deal with Potential Disadvantages

The question is not whether a home schooling curriculum has potential disadvantages. The question is do you feel comfortable working around those features or approaches that you may not prefer. Or, better yet, make the "disadvantages" into advantages!

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If you think it might be expensive:

• Use the library or share with friends.
• If you do buy many of the books, you don't need to buy all the books at once. You also don't need to use the exact books Tapestry of Grace recommends if you already own another book that covers the same subject. It is fine to use what you have, or substitute! Flexibility is a hallmark of this classical homeschooling curriculum.
• Consider yourself investing in the future when you buy your books. At one point my two older daughters were divvying up who would get which Year Plan when they home school (“I'll take Year 2, you take Year 3!”). Now to me, that's the mark of a good classical homeschooling curriculum!

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If you think it might be overwhelming:

• If you find a particular part of what is included in Tapestry of Grace overwhelming (whether it be a geography assignment, vocabulary, or worksheets), don't use it! That's pretty simple! You can decide what works for your family!
• You can slow down in the early years and take two years to cover one Year Plan. This would give you plenty of time for the reading and projects without feeling rushed.

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If you don't want to study a topic that is listed in the weekly schedule:

• Remember, you can easily substitute different books or even entire themes instead of the topics suggested for certain weeks. Live in Australia? Skip some of the weeks that focus on the events of the United States, and substitute relevant information on your own country. Does your child have a fascination with China? Great, supplement or substitute or extend out the weeks that cover Chinese history. Tapestry of Grace is a classical homeschooling framework: you can dress it up however you want or need to.

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If you think some assignments might be too easy or too hard:

• Many families actually find this one of the most helpful aspects of Tapestry. With multiple levels of assignments, you can easily move up or down a reading level if you feel a book selection is too easy or too hard for your child. Same thing with the writing or other assignments. There are four main learning levels to choose from (Lower Grammar, Upper Grammar, Dialectic and Rhetoric), and twelve levels of writing assignments (these could correspond to grade levels but they don't have to). There is a lot of flexibility that you can easily tailor to your meet your child's needs.

So, when it all comes down to it, Tapestry of Grace makes a lot of sense in its approach as a classical homeschooling curriculum. If you have ever thought, “Someone should make a classical home school curriculum that…

• studies history chronologically in a four-year cycle,
• ties in writing, reading and other subjects,
• allows all my children no matter how old to be on the same page of history
• does everything possible to make it easy for me to teach…”

Well, someone did. Thanks, Tapestry of Grace!

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