Overview of Program

I’ve heard wonderful things about Tapestry of Grace (TOG) all these years we’ve been homeschooling, but have never really looked at the program – until now.  TOG uses a unit study approach for history, geography, reading, language arts, etc.  You only need to add spelling, math and a foreign language to complete your studies.  Each year is divided into 4 units, each unit lasting 9 weeks for a 36-week school year.

There is four years worth of material covering Genesis through the 20^th century.  The entire program is divided into four levels based on grade level.  So, while we studied Year 1, Unit 4, my daughter was at the Lower Grammar level and my son was in the Upper Grammar level, but we studied the same material, just the content was slightly different.  Here are the four levels:

Ø     Lower grammar (K-3)

Ø     Upper grammar (4-6)

Ø     Dialectic (7^th-9^th)

Ø     Rhetoric (10^th-12^th)

Theoretically, you could cycle through all four years several times throughout your homeschooling journey.  With each cycle you would study at the next highest level, covering the same material but with different books and exercises, for a more detailed, intensive study.

Setting It Up / Installation

Our set up & installation process included several steps and was quite confusing.  However, TOG has fine-tuned their process so that future users won’t go through what we did and now the process is much simpler and easier, which is really wonderful.  When you order the digital edition, directly from your personal account on the Lampstand Bookshelf store, you’ll have instant access to download your material, including the LockLizard software (which is needed to view their copyrighted material).

Just a note - TOG is offering both their original printed material as well as the new digital edition, but the digital edition version is less expensive and some people prefer the digital editions to the hard copy version. 

Personally, I prefer to have a curriculum physically in my hand.  It’s easier for me to figure something out if I have a tangible item I can touch, maneuver, flip through, dog-ear or tab.  It also gives me a full picture of what’s expected.  Some people love e-books, digital curriculums, etc – but call me a traditionalist – I love to curl up on the couch with my children while we homeschool with a good old-fashioned book in our hands.  I understand the reasoning for moving to a digital format, especially in today’s economy, and you can definitely print the portions you need from the digital edition as you need them – which could save you money in the longrun.  

If you would like to learn more about the digital edition of Tapestry of Grace, please visit their website.  Everything you’d ever want to know about TOG is all in one easy-to-find location.

In addition, TOG has a wonderful technical support staff.  They are very helpful and will walk with you through the installation process if you’re having any problems or questions. 

Review of Actual Unit

The Year 1, Unit 4 study covers rise and fall of the Roman Empire, covering topics from Estruscans and the founding of Rome, the everyday life of the Roman Republic, the Punic Wars and the change from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire all the way up through the falling of Rome to the barbarians.

This unit study is very detailed and thorough covering these subjects each week:

Ø     Reading assignments for core history

Ø     In-depth history

Ø     Literature / Language Arts

Ø     Arts and activities and the

Ø     Worldview (Bible reading)

Then, following the reading assignments come writing assignments, memory games, art projects, geography assignments, etc.

How We Used TOG in our Homeschool

Our history this spring has been revolving around Rome so when we were offered the chance to choose which section we wanted to study, Rome was at the top of the list.

My intention was to use TOG alone in our study of Rome, but I had a difficult finding all the books that TOG used/recommended in their lessons.  They were either checked out or our library simply didn’t have them.  Now, if we had a larger homeschool budget, we could have purchased each of the books but that’s just not possible for us (and would have been very expensive).  Now, you probably could do an interlibrary loan and be fine, but we’re in a small town and that wasn’t really an option for us.  So, I ended up improvising and using other books that covered the same material.  This worked for us in most cases but didn’t follow along exactly with the TOG program.  So, while my intention was to follow as closely as possible that’s not exactly how it ended up for us.

I really like the idea of a unit study approach and while we’ve done them before, the format from TOG really didn’t suit us.  It seemed to be a very formal approach for a unit study and in the beginning it was quite overwhelming.  I almost felt compelled to do exactly what they suggested or my children wouldn’t be able to follow along with the material.  I’m not sure that makes sense, but it’s almost like the material mandated what we needed to do and when to do it rather than us using it as it fitted into our homeschool life. 

Now, this may be just the program that other families will love.  In fact, I know other families who really love this program – especially those who homeschool multiple grade levels.  This would be a great program for them because you cover the same topics – but at different levels of difficulty.  I can see where it would be a wonderful timesaver in that situation.

Also, if your students LOVE to read and work on projects, then this would be a great curriculum for your family – from cookie dough maps to paper mache projects. 

I also reviewed the Evaluation supplement and found it to be very helpful.  Even though we weren't able to find and use all the required books, the evaluations allowed me to make sure that my children were still learning the information that was intended with this program.

In Summary:

Ø     Cost

o        Each digital edition unit is $45.00 x 4 units per year = $180.00

o        The printed edition per unit is $60.00 x 4 units per year = $ 240.00

Ø     Unit study approach to history – includes literature, history, geography, reading, language arts

Ø     Great for families teaching multiple grade levels

Ø     Digital edition is downloadable, almost instantly

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Posted by Anonymous

hi,
i liked ur review and agreed with much of it... i too in yr 1 couldn't obtain the books....and tried to manage it for UG and D for 3 kiddos. But i love TOG nevertheless. this was our 3rd year and we believe that the best way to to TOG is when u r part of a co-op!!!! they learn alot!

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