I'm posting a response to this question
"So, you use TOG mixed with Charlotte Mason? :o) What parts of Tapestry do you use?"
here because it's a frequently asked question and I can more easily reference it through the blog.
FYI: TOG stands for Tapestry of Grace, a wonderful history curriculum! (http://www.tapestryofgrace.com)
________________________________________________
Simple Answer: most, but very lightly.
My Longer answer:
We are still fairly new to Charlotte Mason. I just began implementing some of her ideas last spring. I’ve also been researching Thomas Jefferson Education principles this year. You can read more about “where I’m at” in my homeschooling methods here: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NotebookingPages/302205/ .
What has changed most since implementing CM is my overall home & schooling schedule. When reading CM, I knew that I craved the shorter school day and the shorter lessons. By the end of most days, I was so completely burned out. My kids, who tried so hard to please me and be diligent students, were burned out too. I felt guilty at the end of the day for putting them through such a long day. They would be too wiped out to play, plus who had time? (Primarily here, I’m talking about my younger kids ages 12 & under. The oldest is more independent and his days would not go so long unless he dawdled.) All of the great planning and preparations I made to “do it all”, took everything out of us. I got caught up in all of the wonderful aspects and fullness of TOG, but paid no attention to the recommendations to pick and choose. It can be tough to choose with so many wonderful books and laid-out ideas right there in front of us! I didn’t want to waste any part of it LOL! So anyway, after learning my lesson about doing too much & after much praying about what God would have me to do for THIS season in our family, I sat down to rethink my schooling schedule. We were spending long hours each day (to 4:00 or better each day) trying to fit everything in. Instead of having a great learning experience, we began to just do things for the sake of “getting them done”. So I sat down with each subject, incl. TOG, to see what was most essential and determined a max time limit we would spend on each subject.
Here's a schedule I put together at the beginning of the year. We still pretty much follow this layout with a few minor differences. It gives you an idea of how I've tried to incorporate shorter lesson times and still get most subjects in: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NotebookingPages/210938/ This year has had some interesting twists as I've had to learn how to handle an online business. So there have been some adjustments here and there LOL!
Here’s kind of a hodge-podge outline/guideline of what I try to follow with TOG (I don’t know that I would call this TOG-CM style, but more what God has led me to do with our family for this season):
*limit our time to about 1 hour on history studies each day: incl readings, narrations (oral &/or written), discussions & TOG mapwork (usu pick books from the overview & worldview, occasionally in-depth books). We tend to do mostly reading for the first few days (some mapwork as we come across places in our reading) and discussions/oral & written narrations as they fit. Then for the latter part of the week, we finish up with more discussion, maps and notebooking. To keep this to an hour, you have to teach your children to be diligent and you have to be willing to really pick & choose from all of the available options. You’ll revisit this time period/subject again most likely, so keep that in mind. Also, I’m in no hurry to finish all four year plans in four years. That’s taken A LOT of pressure off me. My younger kids have at least another time to go through these time periods. So the next time through, we’ll probably pick up the pace. For now, we’re really enjoying our leisurely stroll! ;) When we find a topic that really draws us in, we camp there until we’re ready to move on.
*30 minutes a day set aside for any additional notebooking time that’s needed. We rotate this time through our subjects. It’s not just for history studies, but also for Bible & science. I do not usually cover science and history on the same days. We’ll take a few days to work on science every other week or so (and not do history on these days) and also do some nature study about once a week usu in the afternoons. With my girls getting older, they’ll probably do more formal science in the next couple of years, but they’ll be able to do this independently I think like their oldest brother does now. My younger boys spend plenty of extra time exploring science studies on their own... it's amazing ...I had my doubts when freeing up those afternoons, but they really do dig into what interests them!
*30-60 minutes a day for literature & discussion (we do most of this reading in the evenings or split the reading between AM/PM). I skim over the SAPs for ideas for literature discussion, but the younger kids rarely do any specific SAP work. I'm trying to learn how to better utilize socratic methods in our literature studies using Teaching the Classics by Adam Andrews.
*formal writing – up to 30 minutes a day. It depends on how much other writing they’ve done for the day. We’re still using IEW right now. If the rest of our writing is light for the day, then we may spend up to 30 minutes working on formal writing skills. At this age, with my younger kids, I feel like our time is better spent in our oral and written narrations. We love IEW though and implement its ideas & principles in our writing whether it’s a formal assignment or a written narration. I think I may plan for more structure with this next year though and block out some solid weeks throughout the year for specific writing instruction. Our kids enjoy writing and I think that’s because they are so accustomed to giving narrations that it’s become natural for them to put what they’ve learned into words. Formal instruction just helps them to “dress it up” and make it more, well, formal!
*hands-on TOG activities – I leave this totally up to the kids. Most days we are through with school around the lunch hour, sometimes a little later. The kids have the afternoons to explore their interests and boy do they! I was so skeptical of having free afternoons at first. After completely shutting down the TV, the video & computer games though and limiting our “busyness” with outside activities, the kids have flourished. It’s been simply amazing. I’ve tried to put everything they need at their fingertips … art supplies, musical instruments, electronic “toys” like Snap Circuits, wood-working tools, sewing, knitting & crocheting supplies…they have taught themselves some amazing things. I’ve bought how-to books, art videos, scouts manuals, etc. and have learned to say “yes” to a lot of their requests to try new and different activities. I cannot tell you what a joy this has brought to our home! The confidence that has been given to the kids by being able to read and learn new skills (ones they’ve chosen) is wonderful. ;) When it seems like they need some motivation, I’ll sit down with them for a focused lesson on some topic and that usu keeps them going for a week or more. We also use at least one afternoon (or morning sometimes) a week for nature study.
*fine arts – we do composer & artist studies following what I’ve learned from AmblesideOnline.org mostly. We read short bio’s on the composer/artist for the specific term and then listen to the music or study the art print and do a notebooking page for our notebooks. Real simple.
I guess that about sums it up! I think the key for me has been to figure out what the Lord wants our schooling to look like. We each have such unique families full of unique children and unique circumstances. There's no way for there to be one right way to do anything LOL! So whether it's TOG or any other curriculum, take time to pray! Ask God to help you wisely plan your days and to make decisions about what methods and tools will work for you and your children. Be prepared to think outside of the box!
Just recently, we've started adding AmblesideOnline's reading list to our history studies and we're loving it! Now I know we definitely cannot handle doing both TOG & AO reading. I went to AO to find some optional spines for a few of our TOG weeks and wanted to see what AO suggested. Well after some reading and research, I found that I really liked AO's overall year plans. So what am I going to do now LOL?! Well, I LOVE my TOG and all that it offers, so I'll continue to use it as we have been - mostly as a great resource for me! TOG prepares me to teach and gives me SO MANY options. It helps me to fill in all of the gaps and helps me to know how to lead our discussions. So I guess I'll find some way to use them both! ;) It's quite a journey isn't it?!