New to Homeschooling, Tapestry of Grace? Help!

[3littleladies]

I am a mom who works from home. I have 3 little ones, 10 months, 7 & 9. This year in school has just been horrible. I feel they have learned more from me than they have from school, plus everything going on in our government is making me really nervous having them in school...so I have fully decide to take the leap into homeschooling. I feel such a wonderful peace about it. I KNOW once we find our groove it will be a great decision and lifestyle for our family. But...my brain hurts and I am crazy stressed about finding a curriculum! I like the idea of unit studies (studying history and science, electives together) I am so worried I will leave something out or they will get behind.

 

I originally decided on trying the tapestry of grace series and supplementing with a Math/Science curriculum...but now the more I have read I wonder if it will be way too parent involved and not enough student led. I would appreciate any insights or advice from more seasoned homeschool moms on this curriculum or other curriculum's that will keep my children ahead of the curve in school.

 

My goal with homeschooling is that they excel...in every area...and are able to be prepared for college (yes I am already stressing about homeschool highschool!) But also have a balanced biblical worldview in some of their lessons. I went to a private school and whatever curriculum they used was so Bible Biased that it was, in some areas, completely incorrect. I don't want to teach my children a watered down version of history or such a Christian view of history that they have an inaccurate view of the world.

 

Thank u so much for any insight!

[momacacia]

If you are struggling to get school done, and need to be less of the process instead of more, I would save Tapestry for a later time. SOTW, Mystery of Histort, something like that might let you accomplish your goals without making you crazy. Tapestry is beautiful, but has a high drop out rate parent-wise, from what I understand (and see around me). People can really struggle to get it done.

 

You want mostly open and go curriculums in almost every area.

[Kiara.I]

Does it need to be student-led?  Some people feel that's very important, and others don't worry about it at all, so you'll need to assess where on that spectrum you fall, and how much input you feel your children should have in what they're learning.

 

I've never used or looked at TOG so I don't know whether it would meet your needs or not.  Personally I go with picking individual curricula that cover what I want and don't do an integrated one.

[Random]

Tapestry of Grace is probably one of the more teacher-intensive programs out there.  We use it and we enjoy it, but I spend some time planning through the summer.

 

Some similar programs that are a bit more open-and-go are

My Father's World

Biblioplan

 

If I were you, the first year of homeschooling a 7 & 9 year old and working from home, I'd shoot for reading Story of the World aloud.  Maybe throw in the activity book and some narrations.

 

We use CLE for math and LA, which I find to be extremely user-friendly.  There is a short section of new material to teach, then a review of previous concepts for the student to work through independently.

 

Best wishes!

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

As someone who is considering TOG myself for next year, I don't know if I'd recommend it your first year, and I have second thoughts myself. This is my third year homeschooling. My first year included a one year old as our third child, and it was hard to homeschool around him. One year olds have very short attention spans and are mobile and demanding, which made things interesting. I have a newborn now, and that is easier than a one year old.

 

Add a one year old on top of it being your first year homeschooling, and I think you may want to hold off on TOG until you know more about your style as a homeschooler. There's a reason Susan Wise Bauer recommends doing open and go or box curriculum your first year. I understand your enthusiasm and desire to do all the fun things and intense learning involved with homeschooling. I still feel that way! I am in the midst of trimming my own history ambitions for next year to what is manageable because I want to do every Pinterest craft and hands on learning experience and read every piece of literature there is! TOG gives it all to you like a fire hose, and until you know what is manageable and what your focus is, you might just try to eat too much of that buffet. I just wouldn't want you to set yourself up to feel like a failure. You are still setting up good routines and training your children that first year. Find something engaging that isn't too teacher intensive.

 

I recommend first time homeschoolers first begin to think about their goals and teaching style. It's so easy to get distracted by shiny curriculum in our research. But first think about what and how you want to teach. Then you can narrow down curriculum choices better to what fits into your goal. Curriculum is a tool you use to reach your goals, not your master. If you want more delight-directed and child-led learning, find a tool that best fits that goal or find something you can tweak to fit your objectives.

 

As far as curriculum recommendations, it sounds like you want more of a classical history approach with some rabbit trails and delight-directed learning. I highly recommend Story of the World for this stage of learning. We have been using it as a loose guide, and I add all sorts of things in easily. Get the activity guide with several book ideas and projects you can complete. When a topic interests us, we spend more time and read extra about it. Sometimes, I might plan a unit study on a topic even. If it doesn't particularly interest us, we read the chapter for that overview of the timeline and context and move on. You could theoretically do some rabbit trails with TOG too. Kids could choose which project you want to do, but I think it would be easier to get "behind" in TOG because of the weekly structure. SOTW is really flexible while providing the spine, and it's a lot less expensive.

 

Some other ideas for history that are more open and go with more planning done for you are:

 

Sonlight (lots of literature, and you could add in projects when you like.)

My Father's World (a balance of both and a little more Charlotte Mason and gentler in approach.)

Veritas Press

 

These recommendations involve more original sources and spare you from the skewed textbooks we are used to in the private schools.

[Caviar]

Although I have not used TOG, I would not recommend it for a first year homeschooler.  Another program which has everything (and I mean everything) laid out for you, and which also tells you if something is teacher led, student led, or a combination of both is Heart of Dakota (HOD).  It is Bible based.  Even if it is swayed one way, it would be a great place to start for your first year.

[kaxy]

TOG seems VERY parent-intensive, and I agree with the others that it probably wouldn't be a good choice for a working mama in her first year of homeschooling. Open and go. Open and go. Open and throw it at the kid, read it to yourself and narrate it to me when I have a sec, kthx. :D

 

Perhaps you could share more of what appeals to you about TOG and we can share some alternatives that are easier to implement and still retain some of those characteristics. 

[Sunshine89]

Our family is new to homeschooling as well. We have kids in public school 1st and K right now (only 2 more weeks) and we also have a 4 year old and a busy 1 year old! We are going to give Memoria Press a try. I'm getting the complete grade packages for 2nd and K (Memoria press is advanced and she is the youngest in her class with a late summer birthday) and possibly the pre-k curriculum. I'm super excited that everything will be laid out for me and I won't have to worry that I'm missing something. The book choices are classics and everything they use in their curriculum is also used in a high preforming private school so I know that while some of the options are not my 'favorites' they have been used with success for many students and will probably 'work' for my kids. Also from what I have heard, most kids are able to complete much of their work on their own after they get the hang of it. One other plus/neg is that it is a Latin based curriculum so that is a central part of the core learning.. we probably wouldn't consider teaching any second languages this early so we actually like that it's incorporated and whatever we can get out of Latin will be gravy for us. We looked at Sonlight and Tapestry of Grace as well, but I personally want to see my kids doing some more 'traditional' school stuff, at least for now.