I have had several friends ask me about the curriculum I use - Tapestry of Grace - lately.  It is that time of year when we are all re-evaluating our homeschools and looking ahead to next year so I thought I would share the reasons why I chose this curriculum and why it works for my family.
First of all, let me start with a brief description of Tapestry (TOG):

Tapestry of Grace (TOG) is a unit study curriculum that covers most of the major subject areas for students in grades K through 12. Some features that make it especially appealing are Christian worldview studies incorporated throughout the curriculum, a chronological approach to history as the basic organizing theme, and a classical education approach based on the grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric stages of learning.  Subject areas covered include history, English (writing and literature), fine arts, some science, geography, church history including missions (more extensively covered than I recall seeing in most other curricula), Bible, and history of fine arts and sciences (reflecting a classical approach). You will need to use other resources for phonics, English grammar, math, foreign languages, and high school lab sciences. (From Cathy Duffy's 100 top picks)

We have homeschooled from the beginning and our boys are now 8, 12, 13, & 17.   I have used just about every curriculum under the sun in my quest for the one that works for our family.  NO curriculum will be right for everyone but if you have several children in wide age ranges then Tapestry might be beneficial to your family.  I will mention a few curriculums in this post - not to say they are not good curriculums - but they just did not work for our family and I will share with you why.

When I began homeschooling, I set up "school" in my home - after all, it is "HOME SCHOOLING" right!  We said our pledge to the flag, had little desks, the whole nine yards.  Complete with our Abeka textbooks/workbooks.  One for each subject.  This went on for a while but I ended up realizing that this was pretty boring!  I was becoming a slave to these workbooks and while my boys were doing the work, they just were not enjoying it.  I did not want them to end up hating school!  I felt like I was just duplicating a classroom at home.  I wanted them to learn how to learn - and not just finish workbooks. 
So, I tried a literature based curriculum - Sonlight - because of the rich literature and read alouds that we could do as a family. Sonlight was like a breath of fresh air!  We had so much fun with the great books that we read aloud or independently - we learned so much and really enjoyed it.  But, having 4 different children it became quite expensive and a lot of work for me.  One child would be studying ancient China while another would be studying the American Revolution at the same time!  Sorry to be blunt but that was just stupid - what was I thinking! 
So then I tried unit studies - KONOS - at least we would all be studying the same things right?  That was true but it ended up being a LOT of work for me as far as research.  Also, the jumping around in history drove me nuts.  It just didn't make sense to me.  Another down side was that the majority of the history was US history or major ancient history themes (egypt, knights, etc.)  A lot of connections were lost in this method.
A lot of other curriculums were tried in between the examples above and all have their pros and cons, but I am so thankful that the Lord led me to Tapestry.  It has everything I was looking for:  a curriculum that studies history chronologically, is from a christian worldview, has the family studying together, and uses living books and classics.  It even has lots of extra activities we can add in if we want to - such as ideas for projects, vocabulary, church history, timeline, and so much more.  And all the information and ideas I need to teach each week are all in one easy to use format.

I find that my boys learn so much more with this method of 
- interesting books
- chronological history, and
- family learning
so much better than dry text books!  When the whole family is learning together, my boys have that added support and motivation which is much more conducive to learning than just duplicating a typical class room - with typical school books.
Tapestry does have it's cons - it's size alone can seem overwhelming.  The author of Tapestry Marcia Sommerville (wife of HSLDA lawyer Scott Sommerville and mother of 6) explains that Tapestry is like a buffet where you pick and choose what you will use each week - just like a food buffet - you don't try everything!  Also, there is what they call the 4 week fog.  It really takes a while to get the hang of how this curriculum is best used.  I recommend that you get the free sample weeks that Tapestry offers.  Here are the links:
Go To Egypt  
Sail To The New World
I would also recommend that you get the free Explore Tapestry Packet.  It has more information in addition to a sample CD.  You can get it here:  Explore Tapestry Packet
Take your time and slowly look through the material.  Then spend time asking questions of current Tapestry users, and peruse the Tapestry forums.  I found that most Tapestry users are happy to talk about this curriculum, to share ideas and resources and answer any questions you may have.  I am not trying to say Tapestry is "the" best curriculum for everyone, or fits for everyone's homeschool, but for us, with Tapestry of Grace, I really feel like we are finally learning together - not just doing school!