Tapestry of Grace

by Molly
(Georgia, USA)

Tapestry of Grace is a unit study covering history, literature, geography, creative writing, philosophy and worldview, church history and art appreciation. I am using it with two lower grammar students (early elementary) and one dialectic level student (junior high school). I've been using TOG for 1 1/2 years now.

Tapestry of Grace has been amazing! This comprehensive classical curriculum allows all of my boys to study the same topics at their own level. I can see at a glance what everyone should be doing.

It has been great to have them reading and learning about the same things, so that when we do field trips or hands on projects we can all really enjoy it. For example, when we studied Japan we had a Japanese tea party, made origami and saw the Mikado. Those experiences meant more because everyone had spent the week learning about Japan.

I am so grateful God led us to this amazing program. We just finished studying World War 2 and Tapestry knocked my socks off. I praise God for the thoughtful, thorough, godly supplement pages and teacher's notes, which helped us wade through the deep, deep waters of the holocaust. I cannot adequately express what a blessing it was to have scripture right at my fingertips as my oldest son and I discussed questions like "How could a man like Hitler rise to power? Was he more evil than other men, or does the same potential for evil reside in all our hearts? How could a good God allow the Holocaust?" and other questions like these.

I do not know what our study of WW2 would have been like this year if we hadn't found TOG when we did, but I do know that it would not have been the spiritually rich discipling time that it was. I also think I would have skipped the Holocaust aspect with my K and 2nd grade children completely....yet TOG found a beautiful way to expose them to just the right amount of information, with book recommendations right at their level. We have had some great conversations recently which have confirmed to me that it was right not to avoid this painful topic altogether.

To sum it all up, TOG has been much more than just a history curriculum to our family. It has bridged the gap between school and real life, between head knowledge and heart knowledge. It has enabled me to do more than teach history and literature, but instead to use those subjects as a key part of the discipleship process in our children. I started homeschooling in order to have times like this with my children, yet along the way, that aspect went missing from the core subjects we were studying. The Worldview component of TOG has made all the difference.

The book recommendations have been excellent, as well. It is important to me to only read the best books with the kids, and TOG's booklist is stellar. Add geography, timeline and creative writing components to all this, and it is one awesome curriculum. The whole family is pleased with it.

One last thing....when I first bought TOG I had sticker shock. It seemed incredibly expensive, compared to what else I had been using. This year, I felt differently. I realized the true value of what I was buying.

I posted this review on my blog http://counterculturalschool.blogspot.com a few months ago.