So, you've read my other two posts about Tapestry of Grace (hopefully) and either you're ready to dive in; but, have heard how "difficult" or "teacher intensive" it is and have reservations...and want to see how someone does it...OR, you just want to see what it is I'm doing in my little corner of the world.
Either way, welcome! This is a wonderful curriculum that clearly points to God's hand in all subjects and tells HIStory in a wonderful, chronological way that the whole family can enjoy together.
First step....what year plan are you going to begin with? If you are like most people, you'll start at Year 1. People that don't start there will begin in another year plan because they have already covered the Ancients recently, or are just fascinated by another period in History and know that they'll be back around again to Year 1 in just a couple of years. Any which way you do it, have fun.
Next, you will need to figure out what learning levels your children are at. Again, this is somewhat grade dependent; but, also has quite a bit to do with their reading and comprehension abilities. Be sure to listen to the videos from Marcia Somerville, the author of Tapestry of Grace, and if you still have questions, feel free to ask my opinion.
At this point, you're ready to order the curriculum and decide on how many of the books you're going to buy. There is a very handy "Buyer's Guide" on the Tapestry of Grace website -
http://www.lampstandbookshelf.com/ZC/index.php?main_page=guide
There is also a very easy to use "sister" website for ordering the Tapestry books, called "Bookshelf Central" -
http://bookshelfcentral.com/ On this site you can organize and search for books by year plan, by subject, by learning level, see how many weeks it's used to determine if it's a good use of your financial resources, etc. Please know this, many, many homeschool and Tapestry moms use their library, quite a bit. Particularly at the grammar level, the books are topical. You don't have to have the exact book. The authors needed to list something for you to use, so that if you don't want to look for other books, you have a choice; but, if you like to find a good deal, are on a limited budget, or have books from another curriculum that you have used, feel free to use those books and save some money. It is much more important to have the exact books at the Dialectic and Rhetoric levels. The one good thing is, many of those are classic books, available at most libraries and many are available for free on a Kindle or other eReader.
Once you have your curriculum and your books, you need to start doing your preparing for the school year. I cannot stress enough how important it is to be sure to read your "Loom" documents that cover the philosophy of Tapestry of Grace, give you sample schedules, explain how to use the different components, talk about the learning levels and how to place your children. Honestly, many of your questions will be answered if you take a night or two to read the Loom items and the overview of the History and other topics that will be covered for the year. You can then have the "big picture" view, decide what subjects and items you'll use in your own homeschool, place your children in their appropriate levels, and get the vision for what Tapestry of Grace is trying to do for your family. You'll truly be committed and fall in love :)!
Look through the week plans, get comfortable with the layout. Each week will have a similar set up, starting with the "threads" or basic ideas that will be covered each week, by subject and learning level. You then get a double page spread reading chart, again set up by subject and learning level. You'll then find that you have writing assignments for each level. I am just starting to use the writing assignments this year. We used another "grammar" and "writing" program for grades 1-3. Now that we know all of our parts of speech and basic diagramming, I think we're ready to start writing paragraphs, outlining, planning our writing, and completing reports. There are Student Activity Pages (SAPs) for the literature selections, discussion questions and scripts for a parent to use when discussing the reading with their Dialectic and Rhetoric students, and a bunch of World Book Encyclopedia notes so that you can quickly look up information to any questions that might come up that might not be in your own quick grasp of History.
Basically, don't get overwhelmed...what I just described is there for each week of the curriculum; but, remember this is a K-12 curriculum, they are including all that you need for a Kindergartner and a 12th grader. Believe me though, when I say that once you USE the curriculum, within a week or two, you'll know what you need and what you can leave each week. You'll know what pages to go to every week to get your student's writing assignment. It's on the same pages each and every week...very simple.
Also, please, understand that NO ONE does everything that is listed in the curriculum. The author herself, tells us that Tapestry of Grace is a buffet. You have to look at it and choose what you will use for your family, and leave the rest...remembering that you will more than likely be back around to this time period again in a few years. You can do it later, really! I have found that it is always best to have more than enough to do, rather than have a curriculum that is too light, and I'm trying to find more stuff in order to supplement!
Now, final step, you need to decide what your week is going to look like. Everyone's will look different. You could ask a dozen Tapestry of Grace moms, even ones with similar aged children, and I think we would all have different schedules, due to other outside commitments and subjects we're doing and lifestyle choices. That is actually a BLESSING of Tapestry of Grace...you don't have to modify and feel guilty for not following a pre-printed company schedule. Please, see the lack of a Tapestry of Grace schedule as the freedom that your family needs to make your homeschool, your very own!
Here is what we'll be doing this year...oh, and I should say, each year has had a different look to it, based on my outside commitments, moving, ages of children, etc....yours will too, be flexible and go with it. Do what works for you.
Sunday PM - I take an hour to fill out my "schedule" for the week and decide what books we'll be reading this week and assign them to days. I also read over the General Information page for the week and the Threads, be sure I have all of my extras printed (talked about in Part IV), and just get a feel for the week. I also review my other subjects that aren't Tapestry related.
Monday - Read General Information sheet to students, Geography assignment, History Core
Tuesday - History In Depth, start Literature
Wednesday - Finish Literature, begin Writing Assignment
Thursday - Fine Arts and Activities, review Writing Assignment Rough Draft
Friday - Church History, complete Writing Assignment, Vocabulary review, Review Sheet and Quiz
Does that give you a good idea of how to "Get Started" with Tapestry of Grace?
In the final installment in this series, I'll discuss what I've been doing this past week. Once you know what you're doing each day, and what parts of Tapestry you aren't going to be doing each week, you can begin printing and setting up your notebooks, so that your year can run smoothly. I find that the more I have printed out in advance, the better our year flows and the more smoothly I transition between subjects each day. You never know when your computer/internet will be down, or when you'll be out of ink on the printer...so get it done now, at least the first Unit, so you'll be flying high when you start school with your students. Hope this has helped!
Finally, Part IV -
http://whateveristrueandnoble.blogspot.com/2012/08/review-tapestry-of-grace-part-iv.html
I wrote an "update" and have more pictures of how we do things now, with a Dialectic student in the mix, in this blog post -
http://whateveristrueandnoble.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-bit-about-scheduling.html
An update once we added in a Rhetoric student can be found
here.
