It’s done. It’s official.
We’re doing Tapestry of Grace this year. It’s a big step. A big step I say.
You see, I started my homeschooling journey by reading The Well Trained Mind (TWTM). At first I was rather overwhelmed by it all. I liked the ‘idea’, but looking at the big picture, well, let’s just say I couldn’t go there. But I stepped back and looked at it again, piece by piece. Focusing only on where we were at the time. As the year went on I could look ahead a bit. The smaller bits were easier for me to handle.
I never did follow things ‘exactly’ as laid out in TWTM. It was just too rigid, too ‘much’, too….not me. We modified here and there. Before I knew it, most would probably wonder where the resemblance was to this ‘classical method’ as laid out in TWTM. Basically I was only hanging onto the history and science rotations and keeping them together.
I wanted to do more though. I wanted to be more ‘aggressive’. We just couldn’t get there, for one reason or another.
Three volumes of The Story of the World (SOTW) later and something had to give. We eeked through volume 3. Mostly, well, 90%, them on their own. I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t have the desire in me anymore. There was no enjoyment anymore. I know that affected the kids as well. We had to do something different. We had to change things this year.
I wanted our fun learning back! I loved learning along with them. I loved seeing them learn and enjoy it. I had a renewed spirit for learning and teaching…I had to jump on that and pass it along. SOTW, I didn’t think, was going to fit that bill anymore. But what would?
Oh man. I really didn’t know. Anything that looked like it offered what I ‘desired’ for my crew, was pricey. *ouch* So I continued looking…and looking…and looking. It wasn’t getting any better. I had come across Tapestry of Grace (TOG) and was rather intrigued. But the price tag turned me off. Then I looked at samples and became overwhelmed. Wow! They pack a lot in there!!
So, I gave My Father’s World (MFW) a look. It was more than I would prefer to spend as well, but at least it included the extra/required books in that price. It had the time periods I wanted to study. But I wasn’t sure it was what I really wanted either.
But nothing else was appealing to me.
I tossed between TOG and MFW. And tossed and tossed. And prayed.
And kept coming back to TOG. I had even looked at a copy in real life. Thought it was beyond what I was ‘ready’ for at this time. Sounded great, yes, sure. But *I* wasn’t ready for all of that. The commitment. The planning. yada yada yada
But MFW just was not sitting well with me. I didn’t see how I could as easily encompass all children. Especially beyond this coming year, once Eldest started 7th grade. I just didn’t see it happening. I like the idea of teaching all from one curriculum. TOG seemed to do a better job of covering all ages/grades/levels.
But…egads! The price…for just the lesson plan…it was as much as a basic package of MFW. Then you still had to get a hold of the books. Either purchase or borrow from the library. Oh, yeah, right, like that’s going to happen here…the library? Are you kidding me? Maybe if I went to the next town over…but then I’d be fighting with every homeschooler around for the books I needed. Uh, no, not fun. Not cool. Not happening.
Great. Now what?
So, several talks with hubs later and he says just do it. If that’s what I feel we need, the kids need, then just do it…we’ll buy the books. He doesn’t care. If that’s what helps us to DO what we desire to do..then just buy all the books.
So, here I am. I just placed my TOG order. Yikes! I really did it. I’m really doing it. This is a big step, a big change. But I am so excited!! I think this will be good, very good. It will take us some time to get in a groove, but, I’m confident we will and will do just fine.
This will cover history, literature, Bible, fine arts, worldview, geography, church history…
Wow!
We are buying the majority of the books, core and in-depth/supplemental, for the program for the 3 levels of learners I have this year.
Wow!
Yeah. TOG covers them all. Isn’t that awesome?
I’m very excited about this being Eldest’s transition year into the dialectic stage. I think this program will help us there immensely.
So, that’s our big change for the upcoming school year.
We will also be using a new science program. We are going with Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Astronomy. I’ve heard many great things about it. I let the boys choose what they wanted to study this year as well as gave them the choice of which curriculum. It was between Apologia and God’s Design. They liked the look of Apologia better. We also liked that it covered more. Went into more detail, depth. We like info 
and Apologia has it!
Our other studies are staying the same, just moving up levels when and where needed.
That means:
Math U See (MUS) for all. We’ll be using levels Epsilon, Delta (for a little longer, then he goes to Epsilon) and Alpha (for a little longer before starting Beta). This has been a big hit for us.
Spelling Power for all, in various levels. Another great ‘one for all’ curriculum find. Super simple, minimal time needed.
Growing with Grammar (GwG) for the elder two. We just started this last year, another fabulous fit for us. Solid but simple grammar instruction. The boys can do it independently. And do so quite well. I don’t feel the program is skimping on content though the lessons are quite short and the boys *can* do them on their own.
First Language Lessons (FLL) for Nugget. He will be my third to go through this program.
And I *think* that’s everything. I’m not sure if we’ll make it back to Latin or into Greek this year or not. That’s always the thing that gets shoved to the back burner first. In our ‘dream school’ we’d have it, but well, you know how that goes.
So there you have our line-up. As best as I can think/remember at this time of night. 
