By Sheri
(Virginia Beach, VA)
Visitor Review:
I’ve homeschooled all my children from the beginning. In the early years I struggled with packaged curriculum and also tried to make my own. Early on I decided that classical education was the one that made the most sense to me. However everything I tried just wasn’t right or enough. I even read pretty much everything written about classical education.
I was at a point where I knew I needed to do something different. We had been in our local co-op, but mostly for the fun stuff. I decided I wanted to put my oldest in their history and also help teach it, since I love history myself. We started to get together to plan out the next year, which is when I learned that they would be switching from Veritas to Tapestry of Grace.
I had looked at Tapestry when it first came out, and bought a copy of the first year plan they had created. When I got it, I couldn’t figure out where to start and how to fit it into my homeschool, so I put it away. Needless to say, I was not happy that the co-op was moving to this. I was even thinking of dropping the group altogether.
I mentioned this to a friend who helped me run a local support group. She smiled and told me that she had been using Tapestry of Grace for years and loved it! She helped alleviate many of my fears and also helped me figure out how to implement the program, both for my home and for our co-op. I decided I would at least try it for a year. To be honest, I really thought that I would likely move on to something else.
Once I got into the program and all its features, I realized what a complete, rich, and wonderful program it is. There are so many great options. I love that the threads are all tied together weekly in the Socratic discussion, which helps my children to form a Biblical worldview. I really feel like this is the program that fits many learning styles and approaches, is fun and engaging, and also academically rigorous. I know I will use this program all the way through, with all my children.
I have used the original Classic version, then the Redesigned, and now the DE. I love that they are willing to put so much work in keeping the program up to date for their users. They have also developed a set of Teacher Training videos that are fantastic! And they have the Pop Quiz CDs that allow dads to be involved in the learning.
It may be expensive at first, but it is a great investment. I now own all the year plans and all the resources, and I still have five years of homeschooling left. I could even easily sell the books from the earlier levels for a great price! However the books they choose are so great they have formed a wonderful library in our home that I am reluctant to give up. My older children use the wonderful books from the grammar levels to read aloud to children they babysit.
I highly, highly recommend Tapestry of Grace.