Tapestry of Grace is another curriculum I had heard many home school moms speak the virtues of.  I like the idea of a more biblical based curriculum and one that weaves a unit together for sticking power in a child’s brain than just imparting a bunch of facts to memorize.  We chose a middle school unit based upon the Civil War and I headed off to the library in search of books.  I love that all of the planning is done ahead for me – from reading assignments are broken down by subject as well as reading level, writing assignment are by level and even activities are provided to choose from.  There is a booklist to help me plan the unit, picking and choosing which books are best for our family as well as a wealth of information covering all of the background I need to teach my children saving me the feeling of not knowing what we’re doing or spending all of my free time to research it all to prepare.   In my busy life, I need all the help and time savers I can find!  We also got a product called “Pop Quiz” which is a CD and flash cards that cover the material and make reviewing a game for dad to do with them to reinforce the concepts learned.  Only one child was old enough to participate so some of the “game” fun of it was lost, I’m sure but it was still enjoyed.  We happened to time the unit to wrap up with a local Civil war re-enactment here that made the unit that much more fun.  I will be looking into TOG for the upcoming years and especially as we go along teaching the younger children in years to come.