Choosing homeschool curriculum is like being a gardener and walking into a terrific nursery full of too many wonderful choices. I get tingly about the beautiful array of colors and textures that could be planted in various bare spots in my garden. Sadly, I have to choose carefully and according to budget. Other times I must choose according to climate zones. There are some flowers I absolutely love, but will never grow in our dry and heat prone conditions. Then there are the various choices according to seasons: like the spring blooming Mountain Laurel and bluebonents, the summery show of crepe myrtles, autumn’s colorful mums and winter’s red-berried pyracantha. Likewise, I have to make careful choices in tailoring a program to fit my kids for the various seasons of their lives.

We started homeschooling when our oldest, dd, was 5. Choosing A Beka, despite lack of support from other homeschoolers, I had confidence I could tweak the lessons as needed. I had taught public school for 6 years and was used to making the most out of what was available. By the time dd was in 2nd grade, we entered a new phase of schooling, incorporating some unit studies. We used American Girl books as readers and Magic Schoolbus books for science. Then I put all of our story books in chronological order for history. By 4th grade we were back to A Beka full force, but I was still adding in extra history here and there from great web sites and story books.

But by the time my oldest was approaching middle school years, we needed to take a different route. DD was struggling with writing, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and oral language. After much prayer, I had her do 6th grade for a second year, not because she failed the first time, but to focus on her weak areas. I held her back in all activities in church too, like Awanas and Sunday School. It was a great decision as she had time to mature in many ways. During this time, my younger ds, who was a brilliant deep thinker, needed more of a challenge. I began to pray about other options that would better suit this maturing season of their lives.

For weeks I prayed for God's direction. Then one day, as I read my daily HSLDA e-mail, God spoke. He spoke through a lady named Marcia Somerville who was talking about her classical curriculum called Tapestry of Grace. I went to her web site and was impressed that this was an answer to prayer.

I had enjoyed using real books instead of textbooks to teach history, but it was a feeble effort. I wanted to teach from the beginning, but where to start? I was becoming a fair student of US history; I knew little of World History. Our church was grounding us in a Christian Worldview and I wanted to somehow incorporate that. I wanted literature to somehow fit in. Yet, I had no idea how to make things happen. While searching the TOG web site, the Lord showed me that Marcia had put my innermost dreams onto paper...in a far more amazing way than I ever could have imagined. I immersed myself in studying the classical model of the trivium, and by autumn 2006 we began a new school year with mostly new curriculum…and hope!

The curriculum choices for 2006-2007 looked like this:

13-14yodd (7th grade):

Math-A Beka

Spelling-National Spelling Bee booklet

Latin-Latin Road to English Grammar I

Science-Apologia, General Science

History, Literature, Bible, Art-Tapestry of Grace, Year 1 Redesign, Dialectic Level

Writing-Institute of Excellence in Writing, applied mainly to TOG topics

10-11yods (5th grade):

Math-A Beka

Spelling-National Spelling Bee booklet

Grammar-A Beka

Science-various "real" books and science kits, science journal

History, Literature, Bible, Art-Tapestry of Grace, Year 1 Redesign, Dialectic Level

Writing-Institute of Excellence in Writing, applied mainly to TOG topics

Results? Fantastic! All the curriculums complemented each other. My dd increased her reading comprehension, vocabulary, oral speaking, and ability to organize information skills. My ds got all his millions of questions answered as he too increased his already wonderful comprehension and speaking skills. Both became better independent writers, developing a unique style, and enjoyed the process much more than they used to. All of us, including me, got to see the Bible in a whole new light as we studied against the backdrop of surrounding cultures of the times. Thrilled with how my kids are maturing and succeeding with this path of books, I pray that they will continue to blossom so that they may glorify the Lord.