Tapestry of Grace Part Three: Dialectic Delights!

Ah, the middle school years.  Gotta love 'em!  We're starting our fourth middle schooler this year, and I have to say for energy, drama, and exuberance you can't beat this stage.  And God has blessed us with FOUR count 'em, FOUR girls. . . . you moms know I don't need to say any more :)

Anywho.  This was about Tapestry.

Here is my Dynamic Dialectic Duo, in all their Discussion glory:

(Note the ever-present mugs of hot cocoa.  I think that's what my kids will remember about homeschooling.  Hot cocoa.  And we live in ALABAMA, people!)

In theory, my dialectic girls work in the same way as my rhetoric son.  Answer questions all week, read on your own, be prepared for discussion Monday afternoon.

Note the crucial words:  "In Theory"

Here's how it plays out in my house right now:

On Tuesday, we have our set-up meeting in the afternoon.  On Tuesday morning, while I'm teaching at a local co-op, my 7th grader takes the Accountability and Thinking questions and types them into a word processing document.  She then prints two copies for her and her sister to use as worksheets to answer questions.  (Mommy Trick:  I used to print these up for the kids.  Then I asked them to take over that responsibility.  Delegation, my friends, is a beautiful thing.)  During the set-up meeting, we go over what books they are to read, and I try to walk through the questions with them.

Here would be a good place to explain the difference between Accountability and Thinking questions; this is a question I'm asked fairly frequently!

• The Accountability questions are those that my girls in theory be able to answer on their own.  (Again, note the crucial words:  "in theory")  These are generally factually-based questions; "Who was the president? What were the most important battles in the war?  Who did it impact?"  I require that they write answers to those accountability questions.

•The Thinking questions are more difficult, and require more inference and drawing conclusions; "What was the relationship between x and y? Why did president x think this was a good idea?  What would you have thought of this event, if you lived then?"  I typically don't require written-out answers, but encourage the girls to jot phrases or ideas down on their pages.

On Monday after lunch, we sit down for our discussion time; my Tapestry "week" runs Tuesday through Monday, which I explained in an earlier post.   My dialectic discussion takes around 45 minutes to an hour, depending on our topics.  The girls are eager, interested, and prepared for a meaningful, educational, interesting look at our topics of the week. . . .

All Together Now. . . . "In Theory"!!!

The theory is that it works smoothly and seamlessly.  The reality is that - well - my younger student struggles with being prepared.  The theory is easier for me and plays into my idol of the stress-free life; the reality is that God has given me these opportunities to teach, train, and encourage my daughter - and to - ahem - work on my own sanctification in the process!

 It's so easy to forget the learning curve - when you look at your motivated and responsible 7th grader, reading, answering, staying on track - and remember that she once struggled, had to be guided, encouraged, loved, and helped along the road.  So I pray for a calm spirit, for love, for patience, and for wisdom. . . . . . . . and here is what has helped.

At the beginning of the year (August-September), I definitely expected too much from her.   After 2 or 3 weeks of being unprepared for discussions, I realized I needed to sit down with her, and help her break down her readings for the week.   For a month or so, we talked through her questions,

"So, these questions have to do with Civil Rights.  Which book do you think might have the most information?  What day would you like to read that book?"

"Here are questions about President Kennedy.  Where would we find that?  How many pages do you have to read on Wednesday to cover that book?"

And so on.  Helping her think about how to find the information, rather than feeding it to her.

And to be honest, she's still not there.  About 3 weeks ago, she AGAIN came unprepared.  I dismissed her older sister, and she & I sat at the table for an hour, as I gave her a "supervised study hall" while she looked for work.  It was tough, but we perservered.  Her consequence was that we had her discussion the next afternoon, during a time she had regularly scheduled a "playdate" with a friend.

She's getting better.  And so am I!  At realizing that this homeschooling journey is not entirely about education, but it's about the relationships we have with each other, and how we lean on Jesus.  The middle school years are a crucial time to connect, in so many ways - and Tapestry helps me to do just that.

Thanks for listening and reading, everyone!  Hope this gives you a little glimmer of how I approach TOG with my Dialectic age students.  Next up - Grammar Stage!  And remember, please leave a comment if you have a question you'd like answered. . . .I'm saving a few of them, and will hit questions in another post.

Tapestry of Grace: Part Two - Rhetoric Level

Sometimes when I sit to grade papers, I start with my high school student's work - because I know if I start with the little ones and work my way up in age order, I'll run out of steam before I get done!

(Remember:  Please leave a comment if you have a question about Tapestry that you'd like me to answer!  I'll try my best!)

I've decided that the next blog post in my Tapestry "series" should work in the same way.  I've seen a few great posts about TOG used with Grammar students, but fewer with Rhetoric & Dialectic students.*  And for me?  The way TOG works for my older kids is the. best. part.  Let me 'splain.  No, there is too much.  Let me sum up. . . . . .

I found Tapestry of Grace when this guy here was in 5th grade.  My oldest, then a 9th grader, was getting "lost in the shuffle" of a house full of younger kids.  (We had 9th, 5th, 3rd, 1st, and a 2 year old.  Wow.  That makes me tired just TYPING that!)  She would do her work, turn it in, go on about her merry way, all the while I was drowning in a pile of little people and wishing I had more time to devote to hearing her heart and give her a good, solid, Biblical education. 

Tapestry - for our family - fit the bill.  Because all the kids were studying the same topic, I had less prep work.  And, truthfully?  Reading those Lower Grammar books to my younger ones WAS my prep work for high school discussions, some weeks!  (Shh. . .y'all, don't tell Marcia Somerville!  I mean, the teacher's notes are amazing and wonderful, but some weeks I had to read with my little people and wing it!  And you know what?  God still worked, and He still used my inadequacy!)

Now, I could let my high school student study all week long, learn independent study skills, and know - KNOW - that I would be able to interact with her in a concentrated, rich, deep, excellent discussion session during the week.  She was now being held accountable to me, and we enjoyed four wonderful years of discussing our way through history.**

This year, our high school discussions often look like this:

Yes, it's true.  Monday afternoons, you can find me and The Boy stretched out on living room sofas, plowing our way through God's sovereignty in the face of Stalin & Hitler, the Civil Rights movement, hippies, and whatever else Year 4 throws at us.  I'm so thankful that I have the time to hear his heart, and shape his worldview.   And because the whole family is on the same topic each week, we have some really engaging discussions around the dinner table - even the 7-year old joins in!  I love that the Lord uses Tapestry to knit our hearts together.


A few more things to keep in mind as you are thinking about using Tapestry with older students:

First:  Tapestry offers amazing, FREE help on the Loom portion of the website in terms of understanding credits and planning your high schoolers' course work.  For those of you staring down the big, dark, scary barrel of the "Homeschool High School Tunnel" - I highly recommend "Mapping High School" found on this page.  It is a very thorough, uncomplicated, easily understandable look at how to plan a course of study.

Second:  I was - ahem - a skeptic about the whole "4-year cycle" concept.  When my son approached 9th grade, I was very concerned about his transition to Rhetoric level work.  Then - lo and behold! - we had our first discussion, and he REMEMBERED things from his previous Tapestry rotation!  Wow!  It has really surprised me. . . . and pleasantly so.

Third:  Tapestry offers online classes - and they are amazing.  As I looked at our year's schedule, I realized that I just couldn't do it all.  And with gas prices rising, and time limited, I couldn't commit to driving my son to a co-op each week.  I also didn't want to give up the wonderful history discussions we were having, or have to change my curriculum altogether.  My son ended up taking a Rhetoric Literature class this year - he logs in on Friday mornings, and enjoys discussion sessions with a group of students from all around the country and a very gifted teacher.  It has been one of the highlights of his school year!

Finally:  I just want to add a personal note.  You can do this.  It is a joy, a blessing, and a privilege to be able to spend these hours and days with our high school students.  These are the best years!  It has been a wonder - and a source of praise to God - to see these amazing people grow and develop a heart to love and serve Him.  God has definitely used Tapestry of Grace in our home for His glory.

It's been a wonderful, humbling, amazing thing.

Next stop?  Tapestry with the Dialectic Duo!  Stay tuned. . . . . . 


*For this discussion, Rhetoric is 9th-12th grade; Dialectic is about 5th-8th grade.
**My oldest daughter is a freshman at a local Christian liberal arts school.  She is a part of their honors program, which is a four-semester redo of the Tapestry Rotation!   Here's her very collegiate quote: "Tapestry gave me a strong historical and biblical framework in which to place the events & ideas of our complicated world  And it provided the rigorous education to help me succeed in the Honors program and be a straight-A student (at least for right now!!)"  Yeah, I solicited that - but I did NOT tell her what to say :)

Tapestry of Grace, Part One: How it Works for Us

In this long, long homeschooling journey I'm on. . . . 14 years down, another 11 to go. . . .I have seen a lot of curricula come and go.  (Mostly Latin.  And mostly because . . . . . oh, wait.  That's another post.)


Happily, there is one curriculum that has been a part of our journey for 5 years now:  Tapestry of Grace.

For the uninitiated (and yes, this is lifted right off their website!):  "An award-winning homeschool curriculum: a plan of study that helps parents provide a Christian, classical education using a guided unit study approach, with the history of the world as the core organizational theme. From Grades K–12, all students cycle through world history every four years, with all ages studying the same slice of history each week, each at their own learning level. Detailed lesson plans and discussion outlines enable parents to be their children’s primary teachers and mentors and shape their students’ biblical worldviews."  (Thanks, Lampstand. . you say it better than I can!)


For the initiated, who wonder "How In the World I Do It":  Tapestry of Grace is a comprehensive curriculum that I can use with my crazy, insane life.  It provides unity for our family, a great education for our kids, and the opportunity for me to sit, interact, and think deeply with my older kids while not neglecting the "fun quotient" of my littles.

This post is mainly for my homeschooling mama friends out there. . . just to provide a sneak peek at the nuts-and-bolt of "How I Make Tapestry Work" for our family.

Before I start, though, there are two things you should know about me.


First:  I have 4 kids at home:  10th grade (Rhetoric); 7th grade (Dialectic); 5th grade (Dialectic/Upper Grammar); and 1st grade (Lower Grammar).  That means that I'm planning out all 4 of the learning levels that TOG offers.

Second:  Our family is in a hard season right now, and I work out of the home 2 mornings and 4 afternoons a week.  So my time to really "work" TOG is limited, much more so than it has ever been before.  This "look" at our TOG life reflects just that.  I'm not doing half of what I'd like, and you'll see that as I write.  But Even So. . .TOG is allowing me to educate and disciple my children; for that, I am extremely thankful.

So here we go:

We run our TOG week-plans from Tuesday afternoons to Monday afternoons.  I work Tuesday and Thursday mornings, so this allows my older kids to work independently during the time I'm not available.  It gives them the weekend to catch up on their reading, if they need to.  And - honestly?  By scheduling our discussions on Monday afternoons, I have ENERGY to discuss and enjoy them.  We used to discuss on Fridays, and I was often just. too. tired. to be effective.  


Tuesday after lunch, the whole crowd gathers around the dining-room table:

At this point, they start begging for me to make hot cocoa for them to drink while we have our set-up meeting.  Today, I did not cave.  Note the ever-present glass of sweet tea next to my Mac, however! ;)


But I digress.


Each student gets a set of "pages" for the week; they get a reading list of books, an "at-a-glance" sheet of words and people and dates to know, worksheets (called "Student Activity Pages") to go along with their reading, and writing assignments.  I have each week's student pages filed and ready to go in color-coordinating folders.  ('Cause I'm kind of a geek about color-coordinating things)

They file their papers, and I read the "General Information Page" to all of them.  Yup, all of them.  This page gives them some basic, background information about what they will be learning for the week.  What does my 7-year old do during this time?  A-ha!  Glad you asked. . . .

I give her something to look for in her sheet.  A president's name, a country. . .this week, she was circling proper nouns.

After reading through the information, I go through each child's list of reading - what books, how many pages.  At first, this took FOREVER!  We move more quickly, now that they have the general idea.  Here's what my 5th grader's Resources page looks like, after she's marked her own resources:

She's marking the Upper Grammar resources for this week; note the blue boxes.

Next we go over Writing assignments, and then my 7-year old gets to pick an Activity (listed in her Student Pages - trust me, I'm too busy to think up my own activities!) for the week.

This week, she saw, "Make a Spacesuit".  Guess who's going to Home Depot for dryer venting.  Yup.  That'd be me.

For the rest of the week, this is basically how our schedule runs:

Tuesday Afternoon:  Set-up the week with Mom.  If time, younger ones start reading History with Mom.


Wednesday:  Older students work on their own, reading history assignments in books and answering questions (More details about how that works, tomorrow!)   Youngest reads more history with Mom and does a map. 

Thursday:   Older students continue independent work.  My two oldest keep timelines, and choose this day to fill in timeline dates together.   Youngest reads with Mom in the afternoon; usually, we start a lapbook together.  (More details about how that works, Thursday!)


Friday:  Older students finish their history reading, and make sure they've answered questions.  In an ideal world.  Doesn't usually happen.  We're working on that.  Activity day for the youngest!  (And there was much rejoicing. . . . .. )

Also, my oldest is taking a WONDERFUL online class from Lampstand Learning Center.  He has really enjoyed the interaction.  I've enjoyed the accountability, and having his Rhetoric level Literature studies taken off my very, very full plate.  (More details tomorrow!)


Monday:  Discussion day!  They've been preparing all week, today's the fun!  In the morning, my youngest wraps up her projects/lapbooks.  I usually have the Dialectic (Middle School) discussion right before lunch.  After lunch, the olders meet with me for History Discussions.    First, the dialectic Duo (my two girls) meet for about 45 minutes; then my Rhetoric son meets with me for about an hour to an hour-and-a-half.


Well.  There you have it.  That's a brief - a very brief - look at how our week is set up.


Tomorrow - Lord willing (Because, you know, I've learned to say that. . . .) - I'll continue the series exploring the benefits of using Tapestry with my older students.


*Sneek Peek*  THEY are the reason I love TOG!  I wouldn't trade those discussions for anything. . . 


Stay tuned!

And one last thing:  If you've read this far, feel free to leave in the comment section what you'd like to know about Tapestry!  I'd love to help!

Tapestry of Grace: Part One - The Convention

What do you get when you take one terrific curriculum. . . . . . . 

Two encouraging, energetic booth hostesses. . . . . .

A steady stream of curious, sometimes overwhelmed, always receptive homeschool moms. . . .

 And a crazy cast of supporting characters????

 (Well, the first thing you get is laryngitis.  But I digress. . . . . . )

You get three days of fun, exhaustion, and rewarding times at 

the CHEF of Alabama Homeschool Convention!!!

My longtime friends know that I have an - ahem - weakness for homeschool conventions.  Soft spot, yeah, let's call it a soft spot, that's the ticket!  I've attended them for about 14 years off and on (more on than off) and worked at them a few times as well.

So.

When I heard that the folks at Tapestry were looking for folks to host a booth at their local convention, how could I refuse?  It really is a joy to meet other moms on the same journey, to really listen to them, and offer encouragement.  I was thrilled to have the chance!

Let's examine the ingredients one-by-one, shall we?

(OK, I know, I know. . . these are the same pictures!  Sorry. . . . I was too busy talking to moms to get more than a handful of good shots!)

Ingredient #1: The Curriculum

We had on display everything you would use in one week's worth of Tapestry.

What more can I say?  Well, I guess I could give you my "elevator speech":

"Tapestry of Grace is a humanities-based curriculum that enables me to teach my kids on many different levels, using the same topics. It's a combination of Classical Education and Unit Studies, using real literature to make history come alive.   Would you like to learn more?" 

I gave a variation of that speech about - oh - a few dozen times over two days.  Tapestry of Grace has been a huge blessing in our lives . . . and I was so glad to share about it.  My next blog post, I'm actually intending to do a thorough overview of it, but for now, you'll just have to settle for my convention stories!

Ingredient #2:  Two Booth Hostesses

Here we are - The Dream Team!!  (Ha, only kidding!  Sort of. . . .)  Actually, we were a really good team.  I didn't actually know that Tamieka was coming until the morning of the set-up day (Wednesday), but boy-oh-boy (!) am I glad she was my partner!  Her kids are 8, 7, and 3, and she brought them home from school to use Tapestry last year.  She was full of great ideas and tips, and could really related to the younger moms (which does NOT imply that I'm an older mom, thankyouverymuch) who visited our booth in droves.  We had a ball. . . . . .  and I made a new friend!

Ingredient #3:  Homeschool Moms

 They came alone and in twos, homeschool moms in all ages and stages.  On Thursday, we had LOTS of moms whose oldest child wasn't even 7 yet.  It was so neat to meet all of them, and talk with them, hear their needs, their struggles, what they're looking for.  One of the blessings of being a booth hostess is that we were under no sales quota, or pitch, or anything.  Tamieka and I were simply free to share information and minister as the Lord led.

And minister we did!  I think I'm safe in saying that Tamieka's favorite moms were the ones with younger kids - she took great joy in showing them the simple yet effective way that she uses Tapestry, and how it can look when all your children are in the lower levels of the program.  My favorite moms were the ones with the large age spread in their families - you know, those of us who have emotional exhaustion from teenagers, combined with physical exhaustion from preschoolers!  I loved being able to say, "You know, you can meet the academic needs of your high schoolers AND still have fun and enjoy learning with your little ones!"

Even better:  when I watched the information video that Marcia Somerville (Tapestry's author) put together for us hostesses, she really stressed that we were there to minister.  That really freed me to steer moms in another direction - which, I must say, I occasionally did. (I also joked with the dads that we were the safest booth in the convention, since we couldn't take any of their money!)  Time and time again, we had moms of younger kids come and just ask for general homeschool advice, which was when I broke out, "The Cookie Speech".

Interlude:  The Cookie Speech

 (intended audience: moms with Kindergarten and younger students)

Bake cookies with them.  Take them to parks, museums, and the library.

Love them.  Read to them.  Love your husband.  Let them play.

Enjoy them.  They're only young once.

Not that I would have taken that advice when Kathryn was five. . . but hey!  I can only hope some of these moms have more sense than I did. . . . . . 

Ingredient #4:  Crazy Cast of Supporting Characters

From L to R:  Nikki and David Caywood, Dana Caywood

 Does it get any better than to have the staff of Bookshelf Central next door!!!!!????  Seriously, they were wonderful.  For the uninitiated, Dana Caywood has been instrumental in the writing of many parts of Tapestry of Grace, and her company (Bookshelf Central) carries all the books needed for Tapestry's curriculum.  Their web interface is outstanding, the books are beautiful. . . .and they are such fun!  The running joke was that I knew everyone at the convention (which was only about 75% true).  Oh, and did I mention that they're having 10% off in July???  Bliss!!!  (Editor's Correction:  Thanks to handy-dandy David, I am reminded they have sale promotions All. The. Time, not just in July!  Be still my beating heart!  Thanks, David!!  Go read his comment for more details.  Better yet, visit their website!)

Note to the folks at the office:  if at all possible, put the Bookshelf people next to the Tapestry booth.  It was SO easy to just send moms next door to look at what books they might use with Tapestry!

Epitaph:  The Banner Support Stand

Here we see Tamieka with our beleaguered banner stand.  I think I used an entire roll of duct tape trying to get that thing to stand. . . . . and by about 2 p.m. on Friday, it had quit. It was pining for the fjords, pushing up the daisies. . . . It was an ex-banner stand.  You get the picture.

But it did hold the really cool Map of the Humanities. . . . . once.  For a limited time.

In Conclusion:

A big shout-out to Juli at Lampstand Press (Tapestry's actual company) - she really made the convention an easy undertaking (well, except for the blinkety-blink blank banner. . .but I'm not bitter.  Really.)  Tamieka and I had everything we needed for a successful booth, and we got lots of positive feedback.

It was a wonderful experience, and Tamieka and I already agreed that we want to work together next year!  A hearty thanks to Marcia, Juli, Dana, and all the good folks at Lampstand for supporting local homeschool conventions and making it all possible!