We are reevaluating our curriculum for my next high-schooler. Of course, the second child is nothing like the first. So what worked for her, is NOT working for him. I need him to own his work and schooling. I decided we first needed to start with a biblical standard. I know he won’t really internalize it if he doesn’t discover the truth for himself. I am hoping that this small workbook that I made for him will help him dive in the Word and find out more about what God has to say about education. Then we, together, will be able to evaluate if the curriculum and books we are using are worth keeping.

Thought I’d post in case anyone else is in the same boat! Also if you, as a mom, have never mined the Scriptures for what God says about education this would be a great starting point.

I’m printing out math worksheets now, as I’m learning that we didn’t quiz multiplication tables enough and the long summer break didn’t help things I’m sure! I’m sure there are lots of great sites, but I’ve had The Math Worksheet site bookmarked for so long. It’s great to just select the numbers you want and it will randomly produce a worksheet for you. It also has 5 minute drill pages for you to print out.

And this funny video came through our local homeschool email list–nice humor break!

For faith was not something that could be passed on from generation to generation, or imparted by baptism or the partaking of Holy Communion. In order for faith to come to flower, it must be planted in the soil of gratitude.

That’s enough to chew on, but read on,

But being born into town situations instead of having to carve them out of the wilderness, the succeeding generations would not know desperate need. They would grow up never knowing what it meant to be persecuted for one’s faith; to be mocked and scorned or even imprisoned merely because they loved God enough to attempt to put Him and His will before all else. The sons of the fathers would never know what it was like to have no land and no work and no say in how they were governed.

…Therefore they would not be inclined to put all their trust in God.

The rest of the chapter is too long to type out here but the wise words go on. You’ll have to get the book and continue reading on your own! Makes me wonder about America and it’s future. The kids and I discussed how on fire those that first came to America were and then as we read this chapter and the next the decline and then the Great Awakening. We saw the roller coaster of faith–which reminded me of Judges. Were are we now on that roller coaster? Is God going to put us through a time of persecution so we will return to Him?

I just know that we have realized in our home that we are so independent that we are not showing our gratitude to God in front of our kids. Yes, we are grateful (my husband and me, that is) for so much. We are just not doing a good job of having our kids pray with us for those things we are trusting God for. They might see or hear us thank Him in the end, but they weren’t in the whole process and we are doing them an injustice. This has been shown evident from my nine year old and his lack of gratitude in his prayers.

Praying God will show me how to be more transparent to my kids and not try to hide life’s struggles from them and let God walk us through it all!

One thing I didn’t like was the ads, especially for my teen son. So I followed the directions from Online Tech Tips to block the ads and it works wonderfully!

7-10 Days before we start the week:

1. I move the week’s plan to a small one-inch binder so it will be easier to use. (I use 3-inch binders that hold as many weeks as I can fit in them!) Organizational Note: I keep pocket folders in this binder to hold the printouts for each child.   Slash Pockets
2. I look over the Threads and the Reading List which are the first few pages. I highlight the titles that I own. I jot down the main topics on the top left of my planning pages. (Time: 5-10 minutes)
3. I go to my libraries online site and look for any titles that I think I might need to fill in any holes and put in requests for them. (Time: 15 minutes; This can vary greatly. I try to buy a lot of my books so I don’t spend much time on this. If you don’t buy as much then this can take much longer.)

Over the days leading up to the start of our Actual Week:

1. I skim and read over all the Teacher’s Notes. I usually do this over a couple of days. I don’t always get this done prior to our week starting, but I do try. On occasion I spend the first day of the teaching week reading. (Time: 30-60 minutes; depends on how in-depth I read, often I just skim)
2. I go online to the eProducts and Loom page to print off the maps, Student Activity Pages, Evaluations, and any Key Documents I need. I use the small boxes on my planning sheet to check off in case I do this in spurts, which I am prone to. (Time: 30-45 minutes; to make better use of my time I usually print a few weeks off at a time. If I was smart I would print this out one Unit at a time. It would really help to shave off planning time.)
3. Next I look at the Key People to be studied that week and look at the Historical Figures CD to print off timeline figures for my kids. (Time: 30 minutes; again, lots of times I do a few weeks at a time which helps)

Planning of Assignments:

1. I look at the book list and write down the books I want each of my children to read on the right side of my planning page based on books I own and those I’ve requested at the library.
2. I read over the Writing Assignments and jot down what each child is doing, very briefly, on Day Three of my planning sheet.
3. I then look at the Writing Aids book to see what pages I may want my children to read. I write these page numbers down under Day One.
4. I look at the appropriate graphic organizers, etc. on the Writing Aids CD and print off any pages that will be appropriate for that week. I write down these on Day Two.
5. On my planning sheet I made a general schedule of when we read, work on Accountability questions, do mapwork, etc. Since this is already on my schedule there is no need to do anything further but follow my schedule when the week begins.
6. Total time for this is probably around an hour.

I would say I spend roughly two hours each week planning for each Tapestry week. TOG does not lend itself well to just opening on Monday morning! There is planning involved, once you get in a groove of how it flows it goes pretty smoothly. Printing out needed papers is a biggie. Spending a day printing all you need for an entire unit will save you! Set up file folders for each week (number them) and just toss in the papers for that week. Then when you go to plan the week you just grab your folder and all the needed pages are there.

Missed Part 1? Part 2? Part 3?

Join me for Part 5 as I describe a typical week at our house with Tapestry of Grace.

So how do you decide what books to get? First I look at the books that are used many weeks, many units, or in multi-years. Go to the main Tapestry site and click on “Bookshelf” to go to the online store. On the front page of the Bookshelf you will see “How to order Tapestry in 5 Simple Steps.” Select #2 to look at Multi-Year Books and #3 to look at Multi-Unit books. You do have to go through a lot of pages to find what you need.

Here’s is a faster way: from the main Bookshelf page click on “Power Search” then select the Year Plan you will be using. Do NOT click on a unit. Click on ONE of the learning levels that you will be teaching. For Subject, select All. NOW hit “Search Now” then Print! Do this for each learning level you will be teaching.

From this list look at the second column titled “Units.” This tells you which units this book is used.

For example “Trial and Triumph” is listed when I search for Year 1, Upper Grammar. In the second column it says “Y1U4-Y4U4.” This means it is used in Year 1, Unit 4 all the way through to Year 4, Unit 4. I look in the second column to see if the book will be used in many units or even in many years. I also look in the “weeks” column to look for books that are used many weeks.

I highlight all the books that are used many weeks, multi-units, and multi-years. This becomes my wish list! I do try to buy all of these books. I look to the library for books that are just used one or two weeks. Listed below are some sites that I check for used books–which is mostly how I buy.

TOG is a topic specific curriculum and not book specific. That means that if you or your library has a book on the same topic you are welcome to read it and not the one listed on the Reading Chart. You will not miss out on some all important knowledge! That being said–of course if your first priority is simplicity (over frugality) then by all means stick with the list! Most homeschoolers have a budget and the education envelope is often puny–so stick with books that you can get free or cheap first.

If you are going for mostly free–look to your library. If you live in the US relatively close to a decent town you should be good. Remember that you can do interlibrary loans to get other books from different libraries. You should have good luck with the history and literature books, but I’ve not had good luck finding books on church history so often these get highlighted on my wish list as well.

Good places to look for used books: Amazon, Abebooks, Half.com, ebay, alibris and sometimes just typing the ISBN in a google search will result in finding it just as easy.

Good luck and happy shopping! Part 4 returns with info on planning out your week

Missed Part One? or Part Two?

There is no perfect curriculum, no perfect lesson plan, no perfect mom. I found this post on the Tapestry of Grace site. It was written by one of the authors grown children–I hope it is an encouragement to you to love Jesus in front of your kids! That IS the most important thing!