How I Used TOG This Year

Thanks to Rhonda for asking this question. Hopefully this will help out anyone who is thinking about TOG, or looking for more information on it. Tapestry of Grace is a curriculum covering a multitude of subjects (the humanities) and written for kindergarten through 12th grade students. TOG has the reputation of being very daunting for those who first look at it. That's because they need to have enough meat for the 12th graders. But the creator, Marcia Sommerville, is always reminding people that we are to take from it what works for each of our students as individuals. If you have a kindergartner and all you are able to fit into your day is the reading assignments done as read-alouds - then that is what you do with that student. But, that child is then better able to understand when you are talking with your 2nd grader, your sixth grader and your 10th grader about what they are learning in school.

I am using TOG Year 1 Redesigned. This is our first year using this curriculum. I have an almost 10 year old DD who is doing UG (upper grammar) work, and an 8 year old DD who is doing LG (lower grammar) work. (I also have a 4 yr old DD and an 18 month old DD who will take over the house if not occupied.) It is my plan to have the UG do part time D (dialectic) work the last half of the year next year to ease her into doing it full time the following year. I wanted to do the same with the LG but have some ADD issues with my LG girl, and as such there are many things we’d like to do that we just cannot get to with either of them. But, here is what we have been doing so far this year.

Geography: We have been simply using the Map Aids disc. I have a book with all the teacher’s maps printed out. They get out their student copy and simply copy down the information. If we had more time, I would probably incorporate some of the maps available at Enchanted Learning for these lower levels as I think it would be more interesting for them. We have done several cookie dough maps as well this year. They really enjoy these.

Vocabulary: We started out the year going through the words and deciding which ones they knew, and which needed to be looked up in the dictionary. This proved too tedious, however, so we instead moved to looking them up online at the Merriam-Webster, and doing a cut and paste. But, they really weren’t learning the words they didn’t know this way. Then I discovered Quizlet. Both the girls and I absolutely love this! I set up my own account that is not accessible to anyone else, as I knew that posting the words online would be a violation of the copy write laws. I was able to upload the words from the Evaluations CD to my dashboard. My girls go into the dashboard, pick the week we are on, and are given the words and definitions to look at. Then there are virtual flashcards that come up to allow them a chance to try to remember the words. Next are two different games they can play with the words. Finally, they take a test on the words. They can print the words out as either flashcards or a word list. We do the latter, and then they cut out the list and tape it into their vocabulary notebooks.

Important People: We have been doing this as copy work. I printed out the list from the Evaluations CD and then have a list, printed for each unit, with the weekly people on it. They look up the person and copy the information into their important people notebooks. I am considering putting these on Quizlet as well, or perhaps alternating with the copy work method, for next year.

SAPs (student activity pages): Some people make neat, bound notebooks out of these. I don't. I simply print out the sheets from the Loom and keep them in a central folder. Each week I pull out their papers and put them in smaller paper folders. We don’t do many of the activities on these for lack of time – ADD issues – but I hope to incorporate more next year. My UG student often is required to do the Bible Questions written out on notebook paper. At the end of the week I take all their loose papers and they get put into a large one for each girl.

Scheduling: TOG is designed to have the child, increasingly by age, do their own schedule. However, neither of my girls is able to do that yet. So I use HST Plus to fill in the assignments that they have on various days. They are allowed to pick what order they do them in. We are currently operating on a five day a week plan, however it is my goal to get them to work ahead on their own so that we have Fridays free. I eventually hope to have them look at their week on the computer (we have DE now) and fill in their schedules themselves, but we have to conquer the ADD monster first.

Writing: We are currently using Writing Aids, which I, as an English major, really like. I am planning to adjust their writing assignments for next year, however, so that they do their writing for the week on last week’s topic. They cannot adequately do their rough draft when they have not thoroughly fleshed out the topic, which sometimes does not happen until Friday. So, I think next year I’ll just keep the writing a week behind to give them more of a chance to reflect and try to find their own answers to the topic throughout the week.

If you are interested in TOG, I would suggest you first try out the three week samples. Follow the widgets on the side to take you there. If those get you more interested (and if money is tight) then I'd suggest you try to buy a used year plan as these may be resold if you decide it just won't work for you. There are many benefits to the DE (digital edition). You will always have the most updated edition. You will always have access to it in case of fire, computer damage, toddlers with permanent markers, etc. You can get a network license so that more than one student can access stuff at once. But, the disadvantage, at least in the eyes of some, is that you cannot resell it. I bought a used print copy. DE came out halfway through the year. I decided to switchover because I'm committed to using this curriculum with four kids all the way through (binding any currently unforeseen issues.) Therefore, the actual cost per student for me is $3.96 per year. (I bought DE at it's low introductory price last January.) You cannot beat that! And should my children decide to homeschool my grandchildren, the cost goes even lower.

Hopefully, if you came here with intrigue to begin with, you want to check this out further. Please click through my widget (so that I can get credit for any purchase you might make,) to bring you to the Tapestry website. Happy Homeschooling!