For those of you who are considering homeschooling in the near future and are a little daunted by the sheer number of curricula out there, perhaps this post will serve not only as a review of one of the many, but also as a help in thinking through practical reasons to choose one over another. For those who are already  considering Tapestry of Grace, or just starting it, I hope this helps you get started a little more smoothly.

Tapestry of Grace is a humanities-based, unit study, classical education model curriculum using a Charlotte Mason method of learning. If you're not familiar with any of those terms (I wasn't before I started learning about curricula!), let me give you some basic definitions:

Humanities-based: encompasses all those "artsy" subjects; i.e., history, geography, literature, writing, philosophy, government, visual arts (though we use a separate art curriculum for greater depth), drama activities, etc. There is no math, science, computer or phonics included, so we use different curricula for those subjects.

Unit Study: each week centres around a particular topic for all subjects; for example, if you're studying the Gold Rush in history, your literature reading has to do with travelling west, your geography study looks at the locations and travelling paths involved, your activities involve things like a buried treasure search, and your writing will have something to do with all this as well.

Classical education model: this is a 4-year program you use 3 times over the course of your child's education, each time covering roughly the same material at a different level, with different expectations. The grammar level (roughly Grades 1-6) is about getting basic facts, basic study skills, and a fair bit of memorization. The dialectic level (roughly 6-8) majors on thinking through the "why" of things, and in the rhetoric level (roughly 9-12), students are challenged to use the facts and the whys to come to conclusions and develop their own views on various things. 

Charlotte Mason (or living books) method: kids learn best by reading real books (not textbooks), both fiction and non-fiction, as this prepares them for learning in the real world (When was the last time you read a textbook?).

Layout

Tapestry bases each unit on periods of world history. So in Year 1, your students will learn about the world from Creation to the fall of the Roman Empire. In Year 2, you'll study Medieval times through to the end of the 18th century. Year 3 covers the 19th century, and Year 4, the 20th.

Each week, you are given a reading list for each learning level, vocabulary/spelling words (though we do a separate spelling program), writing assignments, literature worksheets, activity ideas, and a reference section with encyclopedia entries and answer keys. You purchase or borrow the books on the reading list separately.

Why We Chose Tapestry

We chose Tapestry primarily because we were looking for a classical education curriculum with a biblical worldview, and several other families we knew were using it (and had been for a few years), so I knew I'd have some help from more experienced moms (DO take that into account when you pick a curriculum! It makes a big difference.) Tapestry does have an online forum available to all users, though I've never used it because I prefer to ask a friend, but if you don't have a "personal online forum", I'm sure that's very helpful. We also liked the unit study approach, because it helps create unity and flow to your school week, rather than just working through a jumble of unrelated subjects. I am not a fan of chaos, so I like having a common thread running through the majority of our work for the week. I admit that I didn't think through the decision too strenuously before we jumped in (what I've just written was about the extent of my reasoning), but I also have a pretty high level of commitment to things I decide to do, so I figured if it wasn't perfect, I'd just work it through and figure out a way to make it work. And while I've known several people who have jumped from curriculum to curriculum over the years and survived, I'd advise you to settle pretty quickly on one series, and then concentrate on working out the kinks so that it's good for you and your kids, rather than concentrating on finding "just the right curriculum". Our first year with Tapestry was rough, and I thought about giving up; the second year was better, especially by the end, and this third year, I feel like I am finally getting it to fit our time constraints and teaching/learning styles well. Hopefully next year, it'll be a finely-tuned machine (more or less!). But that will likely be true for any curriculum you pick, because no curriculum is designed with exactly you and each of your children in mind (unless you design your own, and if you have time for that, next time I need a break, I'm sending my kids your way!) 

So What's It Like?

Now I don't have any experience with Tapestry for anyone over the Grade 3 level, though my daughter does some of the Upper Grammar (read: Grades 4/5/6) readings, so I can't comment on how it is for older grades. From what I hear, it's pretty intense, but an excellent and thorough education. I'm going to limit the remainder of my thoughts to the Lower Grammar level (Grades 1-3), because that is what I have direct experience with. By the way, there are no precise "grade levels" in Tapestry. You tailor your child's education to their level (that is, a level that reasonably challenges them), rather than tailoring your child to a prescribed grade level. I love this, because it allows me to easily move a kid ahead on subjects where they excel (like I've done with my daughter's reading), and hold back on subjects where they are having trouble, without feeling like they are somehow not completing a grade. This also allows me to use the same curriculum for my Grade 1 son and my Grade 3 daughter (though with varying expectations of comprehension). The only draw-back initially was that my kids didn't know what grade they were in, which is fine at home, but we discovered it to be a bit awkward when they got asked in public :)

So how is Tapestry with the little kids? Well, I will start by admitting that it is INTENSE. The first year we did it, I tried to do all the readings and at least two activities (or more) a week, and I think I about killed myself! (That would be why Year 1 was rough.) There is A LOT in this curriculum, and if you do it all, your child will have the most thorough grade-school education possible. But I learned over time NOT to do it all. I've found that the best way to use Tapestry with small children who need a lot of reading done for them, is to pick a FEW things off the reading list (ideally, you look them all over and decide what is most comprehensive and helpful), and don't sweat it if you run out of time for a bunch of crafty stuff (Don't skip all the activities, though! Small kids need hands-on, so make sure they're getting at least SOME activity each week.) I actually figured this out in Year 2, when we couldn't afford to buy all the recommended books, and had to rely on the public library. There were several books that just weren't available, so I either had to find a substitute (there are some alternate readings listed in the lesson plan), or just allow myself to skip it. And I gradually discovered that this made schooling a lot more pleasant, and the kids were still learning far more than I ever learned in elementary school. So if you go with Tapestry, don't expect yourself to cover everything. Do as much as you reasonably can; make sure you cover all the subjects to a reasonable degree, and then let some things slide. Of course, the positive side of the number of books and activities suggested is that you can always add a little extra if a subject is particularly interesting to you or your kids, or if you find that you have extra time.

Speaking of all I ever learned in elementary school, one of the things I LOVE about Tapestry (this would apply to any reading-based curriculum) is that I get to learn right alongside my kids. My knowledge of history has grown exponentially over the past 3 years, because I am reading all these books with my kids. Admittedly, I don't even read about the subjects beforehand most of the time (though as I mentioned, there are encyclopedia entries on each subject in the curriculum for parents to read, which is helpful if you get a question you can't answer, or if you like to be better-prepared for your lessons than I manage to be!). I do skim the books when I do my week planning, in case there is anything objectionable or difficult in them (more on that in a moment). When our kids are older and doing more of the reading on their own, it will be more important for me to learn the stuff on my own, so I can talk with them about what they are reading. But with small kids, I find that if you have a basic (and I mean basic) understanding of history and geography, you can teach your kids what they need to learn straight from the books on the reading list, and have a blast learning right alongside them!  

As far as objectionable content, Tapestry does use a wide variety of secular sources on the reading lists. I like this, because I want my kids to be familiar with classic literature, and have access to information that Christians may not have written a book on. I also like the fact that the designers of Tapestry are aware of possible issues with each book they choose, and give the parent a heads-up at the end of the week plan for the following week's readings. Now to be clear, there is no regularly-occurring bad content. The books are very carefully chosen. But whenever there IS a potential issue, you'll get a warning ahead of time (along the lines of "on page 42, there is a reference to evolution" or "page 23 has a violent image, so you may wish to skip over it"). And previewing the books ahead of time also allows you to decide that you just want to skip a whole book, if you feel it would not be helpful to your particular child.

The one section of the reading list that I have found often doesn't work so well with small children is the Suggested Read-Aloud. These are books that are meant to be read to all your kids from Lower Grammar to Dialectic level. About half the time, though, they end up being well above the heads of a 6 or 7 year old. Some of them are very engaging, and our kids look forward to reading them (such as Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule, which they are asking to read this week, even though it's March Break). But there have been others that I've read about a chapter or two of, and quickly see that the kids are not understanding (a good indication is that after every 2 sentences, I get the question, “So what's going on?”), and then we skip it. I'm sure that if you have older kids who are able to understand the books, the little kids can just play quietly while they half-listen and pick up a few things. But if you're just using Tapestry with very young kids, you'll probably want to preview the Read-Aloud selections (even read them through yourself, as I've found them all very interesting), and only do the easier ones. You can also use the Upper Grammar Literature selection as a Read-Aloud instead, as these books are often at a lower reading level than the Read-Alouds.

Another thing I love about Tapestry is that it is designed to gradually grow your children into independent workers. Not only is this an important life skill, but the older they get, the less hands-on you have to be! From the early grades, you fill out a weekly assignment chart for your kids so that they can see what is coming for the week. My daughter, who always wants to know what the "scoop" is for tomorrow, loves being in on the lesson plan at the beginning of the week. And my son, who is very task-oriented like his mama, loves checking things off the chart as we do them. Gradually, though, your kids take over the assignment chart. They start filling in the chart with your lesson plan, and then you start giving them options and letting them set reasonable time frames, and finally (though for me, this is still theory), they get the Tapestry week plan and figure out when and how much they will accomplish. Being able to plan your time and set reasonable goals for yourself, and then hold yourself accountable to fulfil them is a super-important practical life skill, and the earlier your kids can be trained in it, the better! Tapestry gives me some framework to be better able to teach time management to my kids, and as they get older, it makes life easier for me, too!

One caveat for Canadian users: Tapestry is, like most curricula, produced in the US, and much of the Year 3 history (as well as parts of Years 2 and 4) centres on US history. This doesn't mean you can't use it (far from it!), but you'll have to supplement. For example, the curriculum works its way through the presidency of every single US president, which, admittedly, in not very useful information to those of us on the north side of the border. However, there is no mention (at least at the grammar level) of the 1837 Rebellion, Confederation, John A., Louis Riel, or most of the other highlights of Canadian history (excepting those that are also North American or world history). And most conflicts, like the War of 1812 and the World Wars, are taught from a US perspective (which is helpful to know, but you'll want to round it out with the Canadian vantage point). You'll get a lot of US geography, but your kids won't learn much about Canadian geography. So while we believe it is important for our Canadian kids to have a decent grasp of US history (especially major events, like the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and the Civil Rights Movement), we also want them to have an excellent grasp of Canadian history, and this requires a fair bit of supplementing. We are using Modern History Through Canadian Eyes by Heather Penner, which is also a set of reading lists ordered by time period, which allows us to easily combine it with Tapestry. On the upside, we're learning Canadian and American history together, which actually gives us a much better understanding of many historical events and issues, since these neighbouring countries tend to affect each other! For example, I didn't know that the French-Indian War from US history and the 7 Years War from Canadian history class were the same thing! But I now have a much better understanding of that whole conflict from both sides. So this is not so much a negative point as just something to be aware of if you are a Canadian using Tapestry.

One of the parts of Tapestry that has been the most fun, and produced some good memories has been Unit Celebrations. Each year is divided into 4 units, and at the end of each (usually 9-week) unit, you are encouraged to do something to celebrate its completion. Most ideas from the curriculum involve making costumes and/or food from the region or time-period just studied, or doing some big activity that corresponds to what you've learned. We have not done this formally after every unit, usually for lack of time or resources. But when we have done one, the kids look forward to it with excitement and talk about it for a long time afterwards. Twice, the reward has just been summer vacation! But among other simpler things, we've done a Passover Celebration, Chinese New Year dinner, and our favourite, taking the kids to Medieval Times when we finished studying the Middle Ages.

 Tapestry of Grace is a very well-written, well-laid-out classical curriculum with an emphasis on developing a biblical worldview (I love the “Why Study History” discussion each year, as well as many other mini-discussions on how different events and cultures relate to the Bible). If you want your kids to have a thorough education in the humanities, and you like having a lot of the lesson-planning work taken out of your hands, Tapestry of Grace may well be the curriculum for you, even if your kids are still small and mostly need to major on the 3 R's. Just don't try to do it all, and take advantage of either the online community forums, or an experienced friend!