Several months ago, when I started this Home Library Builders series, I promised to write a post about finding books and organizing your library. This is a topic near and dear to my heart…I am always on the lookout for a treasure!

I use Tapestry of Grace, a curriculum centered around living books. Some weeks I might use as many as 20 different books for my students. My children are getting a rich and broad education, but it can be a strain on the budget and difficult to stay organized.

So what is my strategy?

Planning ahead

First, I take a look at my book lists, week by week. Tapestry gives me a breakdown of all the books I need every week, for a total of 36 book lists in all. I put each week’s list in a page protector, so I can mark on it with a Sharpie marker, without defacing the reading list. Tapestry is a classical program, which means that four years from now, I’ll be repeating this material again, albeit at a more advanced level for each child. My current 3rd grader will be reading books that his 7th grade brother read this year, and my preschooler will need the books my 3rd grader is reading. It helps to keep a record of what we have and what we need and what we liked so that I can refer to it in future years. By marking on a page protector, I can make notes that will help me now and in the future. Four years from now, I can slip off the old protector and replace it with a fresh one, making notes for a new trip through the material.

Decisions, decisions!

Tapestry gives me lots of choices. If I don’t have a given book, there are several alternates listed. As a general rule, I try very hard to get all the literature books that are recommended, as there is only one Huckleberry Finn. I often am able to substitute history titles with something that is already on my shelves. If I don’t have a certain geography book about Japan, but another similar title is already on my shelf, I make a note of the title I’ll be substituting on the page protector. By staying flexible and being willing to substitute equivalent titles I can save my budget for those must-have books.

Keeping my Options Open

Next, I open several windows on the computer. One is for my local library system, a window for Amazon, a window for Better World Books, a window for My Audio School, a window for Audible, and a window for Baldwin Project.

I look at each book on the list, checking how many weeks it will be used. Anything that will only be used for one week is typically at the top of my library list. I do a quick search and if the book is available through Inter-library Loan, I mark an L on the page protector by that title. When the time comes, I’ll order it through the library. My library can be slow, so I don’t use it for critical or time-sensitive titles. Often, I’ll order the suggested resource as well as all the alternates, and use whichever one comes in on time.

The library is a great place to get those hardback picture books for my young children. Those are expensive to buy, and typically will be read a couple of times and then put away. They are often readily available through the Inter-library Loan system.

Once I’ve gone through the titles, choosing which ones will be substituted and which ones will come from the library, I take a look at how to get what is left. Anything that is going to be used for multiple weeks, or which is critically important to our study, or which cannot be substituted (such as literature titles) is a good candidate for purchase. I have several children, and I know I’ll be using most of these books again.

Getting Books for Free

First, I check the free sites. Many of the old, classic literature titles are available in the public domain. Baldwin Project has lots of these titles available for free. There are also many available through Gutenberg Project, but I prefer the easy-to-navigate format at Baldwin Project. I don’t like sitting in front of a computer screen to read aloud, but my children don’t seem to mind silent reading from the screen. This is a good choice for us for those books.

Of course, I always check My Audio School, too! I say “check” even though this is my own website.  We have over 500 resources on the site now and I can’t even remember all the titles myself, LOL.

I can’t tell you how much money we’ve saved this year by listening to our books in audio format from public domain sources! It has been such a blessing to our dyslexic son and our emerging reader, and has saved my voice, too! I still read daily to them, but this gives them extra audio content while I am busy. My oldest son loves it as he can multi-task, listening to books in audio format while cleaning his room or building models. We stream the books from the computer, burn them to CD or download them to Mp3.

It does take a lot of time searching out these free resources. Now that I’ve done the work for you, you might want to take advantage of what My Audio School has to offer. Lots of free books are on the site, and for the cost of purchasing just one audio book you get links to hundreds of resources. Every single book on the site is available to download to Mp3, or individual chapters can be streamed from the site. I’ve also included links where you can read the books for free online.

Paperback Swap is another site I use for getting free titles. You post books that you no longer want online. In exchange for offering up 10 titles, you get two credits for free. Each credit allows you to request one book. Anytime someone requests one of your books and you send it to them, you get another credit. I’ve gotten a few of the books I need for next year for free through PBS. They make it very easy to mail the books, as you can print shipping labels and even postage from home if you have a paypal account.

Buy Used and Save the Difference

Next, I check Better World Books. This gem is my favorite place to get books. The used books are all donated by libraries, and used titles typically cost around $4 apiece. Profit from all sales goes to support literacy efforts around the world, and shipping is virtually free within the continental U.S. (and very cheap to other countries). Better World uses carbon offsets for shipping, and I typically pay about 10 cents shipping on $10 worth of books. I also like Thrift Books for used titles. I like to refer to amazon to read their reviews, and occasionally I’ll buy a book from them, as well. Their shipping is so high now for used books that sometimes you can get the title brand new with free shipping for little more than the used title would have cost.

Books on MP3

Although we use our website My Audio School for public domain books, Audible is another good source for audio books that aren’t in the public domain. My curriculum makes suggestions for each child’s literature. Several times a year I choose one selection from my oldest child’s list and we read it aloud as a family or listen to it on MP3. We all enjoy these family read-alouds. They are not at a level that my young children could read them alone, but they are perfectly able to enjoy and understand them as a read-aloud. Rather than purchasing three separate books for that week, I can get one excellent audio book that we can all enjoy together.

Other sites

I also check Tapestry’s Bookshelf Central, as they have competitive pricing on many of the books that are recommended as primary resources. Book Closeouts is another favorite site for classics and biographies purchased inexpensively. One more site that I regularly check is Library and Ed, a wholesaler that only sells to libraries, educators and homeschoolers.

Book Sales

Usually, anything I haven’t found online goes on a list which I keep in my purse. When I head out to spring books sales, my list goes with me. I’ve been known to drill this list into my 12 year old’s head, so he can be on the lookout, too! Last week I bought an R.M. Ballantyne book for 50 cents at a book sale…the seller must not have known what she had! I came home a happy girl, indeed.

Of course, I watch “for sale” boards on my yahoo groups, and borrow books from friends, as well. Once a book has been downloaded or purchased or borrowed, a notation on the page protector reminds me that it is taken care of.

Organizing books…don’t knock it ’till you try it

I have a system for organizing my history and literature books. Since the classical cycle lasts four years, I label my books accordingly. All books for Ancient Times get a red dot on the spine of the book. I use the little dots purchased for tagging garage sale items, and secure them with a small piece of scotch tape to the spine of the book (as the sticky back doesn’t adhere well to the spines without a little help).

Before taping the label on, I write a number on the spine to show which week it will be used. Number 1 for our first week of school, or 2-5 if the book will be used weeks two through five. Then all the books are arranged in order on a particular shelf…one shelf for my oldest child’s books, another shelf for my younger children’s books. This helps me to see at a glance exactly what we have, and to find it easily throughout the year.

Since we are literally using hundreds of books a year, spread out over different grade levels, this system of organization is a lifesaver for me.

Books for Renaissance and Reformation get a yellow dot. Green dots are for the time period from Napoleon to Teddy Roosevelt, and a blue dot adorns the spine of all books about modern times. I have a couple of shelves for each color. Next year, we’ll be studying Renaissance and Reformation…but if I find a great book that I’ll need for Modern Times at a book sale this spring, I’ll go ahead and buy it. Purchasing books in advance, when the price is right, is another way to save money.

I won’t need to purchase many titles at all for next year, because I’ve been collecting the books I need little by little for the past few years. And thanks to my system of organization, all of my Modern Times books are labeled and together. If I find something new, I know right where to put it, and I can feel confident that it will be there in three years when I need it.

The next post in this Home Library Builders series will be Whatever is Excellent: My favorite books for the Classical history cycle

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

When and how much to teach about other religions is a sensitive subject. Each parent will need to make their own decision, taking into account the age of their children and the child’s own spiritual maturity.

We live in a culture that is bombarding us–and our children–with the lie that every belief is equally valid, and that each person can have their own Truth. Yet just because someone else believes their religion is true, doesn’t make it so. On the judgment day, those who rejected Christ will find that they were deceived.

In our pluralistic culture I believe it is important to teach children what others believe. I would rather have my children learn this from me than see them encounter it for the first time outside our home.

Helping our kids understand what we believe…

There is another reason to teach children about other religions. We can use these conversations as an opportunity to help our children understand their own beliefs more thoroughly.

I take a spiral approach, teaching in more depth as the children get older and more mature. I have always felt that it is not beneficial to teach children too much about other religions when they don’t yet have a firm grasp of the foundational teachings of Christianity.

With the younger ones, we focus only on a few key concepts. It is vitally important that other religions are not taught in a vacuum. Every word that is taught about another religion should be contrasted with what we, as Christians, believe on the topic.

For example, when we studied India we learned about Hinduism, their major religion. One key point is the idea of reincarnation. I taught the children that Hindus believe people may be reborn as a priest if they are good in this life or they may come back as a weed or a bug if their bad deeds outweigh the good ones. At this point, we paused our discussion of Hinduism to talk about what Christians believe.

Does the Christian believe he is saved because of his good works? Can we stand before a holy God on the basis of our own merit? What does the Christian believe happens to a person’s body and spirit upon death? I suggest asking the children to answer these kinds of questions, and then sum up what the Christian believes with a Bible verse or two on the topic.

Learning about reincarnation was an opportunity to remind the children that all our good works are as filthy rags, and that we are saved through faith in Christ alone. Twenty percent of the conversation was about what the Hindu believes, 80% about what the Christian believes.

As we talk about other religions, it provides an object lesson that can help children understand the freedom we possess in Christ. I asked them to think about how stressful it would be if they carried the weight of their salvation on their own shoulders. As it is, they often feel frustrated with themselves when they struggle with pattern sins. How much worse would they feel if they believed their sins were gaining for them an undesirable next life?

The pressure to perform has been lifted from their little shoulders. Jesus wants us to be obedient, but he knows we aren’t perfect. They are covered in his blood and their sins are paid for. I want my children to see this contrast between the futility of man’s teachings and the loving grace of the one true God.

With my oldest son, I go more in depth. Our curriculum, Tapestry of Grace, takes an approach that I have found helpful for years. We make T-charts comparing Christian beliefs on key issues with that of the religion we are studying. For example, we write Hinduism and Christianity in the two columns across the top of the paper. Down the left side are words such as “authority of scripture”, “salvation”, “afterlife”, and “the nature of God”. I draw heavily on the book Bruce and Stan’s Guide to Cults, Religions and Spiritual Beliefs during these discussions. A sixth or seventh grader could easily read this book on their own in preparation for this discussion. Tapestry also makes it easy for me, including relevant scriptures and key points in my teacher’s notes.

I frequently have my 7th grader take these discussions a step further and write a compare and contrast paper highlighting the differences between Christianity and the religion in question on key beliefs. This helps me to really know whether he understands these key points, and forces him to grapple with the issues.

This is also a wonderful time for him to learn how to use a concordance to begin searching out scripture for himself. I found in his last paper that he chose a scripture verse which did not prove the point he was making. We were able to discuss what the scripture he chose was about, what he was trying to say in his paper, and what scriptures would be more to the point. I want him to learn to use the sword of the Word effectively, and writing a paper with scriptural proofs is excellent training.

Model compassion 

In all of this teaching, we should be compassionate toward the lost. Jack’s paper had a disrespectful tone which conveyed that he thought Hinduism was ridiculous. I want him to recognize that unbelievers are intelligent, thoughtful people who have been deceived. Our children need to learn how to communicate passionate conviction in a winsome way that shows love and respect for the unbeliever.

Last week my children learned that the Buddha taught his followers that freeing oneself from all desire is the key to spiritual enlightenment. Six year old Colin must have pondered that discussion all day. That evening, he asked me: “Mom, if the Buddha could have had three wishes, what do you think he would have wished for?”

“I don’t know,” I replied. “He probably would have had to give his wishes to someone else, since he was not supposed to have any desires.”

Colin’s insight amazed me. He said, “Well, mom, he could have used one of his wishes to ask for enlightenment, but then he wouldn’t get it, because he would have desired it. See why it’s crazy, mom? He wants enlightenment, but he can’t get it unless he stops wanting it.”

“…by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4: 2-6

Once again, if you read the material at the bottom of the blog, or if you aren’t interested in TOG, just disregard

What does a week look like for your Grammar level children?

Tapestry covers History, Geography, Literature, Fine Arts and Writing. My Lower Grammar children read aloud with me daily, from either a history topic, literature, or both. They choose a topic from our weekly reading and do one writing assignment for the week. They start with a graphic organizer, which allows them to generate some thoughts about what they will write. The next day they dictate their paper to me, from the graphic organizer. They are both just learning to write and spell, and dictating their paper for me to write ensures that their content is much deeper and more thorough.

They typically do one hands on project per week if we can, or one field trip (usually not both). They prepare one or two pages for their notebook (a coloring page or drawing to go with their writing) and sometimes they do the Student Activity Page (typically a writing activity centered around that week’s literature), but not always.

My Grammar level students do the geography component, with some basic map labeling, as well as oral geography, pointing things out on the world map. Frequently, Tapestry incorporates books about the geographical location, as well as fairy tales or folk stories from the region. Sometimes our hands on activity involves cooking food from the countries we are studying.

My time is limited, as is the attention span of my Grammar level children. The bulk of their time is spent on Writing, Reading and Math. Therefore, we typically do not do the vocabulary component of Tapestry, or at the most, we talk about the words orally (instead of writing out dictionary definitions). We also don’t have much time for the Fine Arts component. My children take an art class with other homeschooled children, and I try to take them on a couple of art-related field trips each year.

I know other families who love doing the vocabulary and the fine arts activities. This is the beauty of Tapestry. It can change to fit each individual family’s needs.

My Dialectic level student does lots of reading alone (hundreds of pages every week). He could do less, but he loves to read, and Tapestry has many wonderful suggestions to keep him busy. He usually does about one read aloud with me per month, on a topic that I don’t want him to do alone. For example, last year we did The Great Divorce by CS Lewis and the Hiding Place….I wanted to be able to discuss those thoroughly with him as we went along, so we read them together.

We always do the discussions (this is the best part of TOG, in my opinion). He always does a detailed timeline. There is usually map work every week, sometimes multiple maps for one week which he labels. He never does the vocabulary. If he wasn’t taking a high school level Latin class, perhaps I would prioritize that more. I know the vocabulary component will be a big help as he begins preparing for the SAT’s in a few years.

Typically he writes about something we have studied every week. Occasionally he does hands on activities with his brothers, but not always. He is busier than the little boys, using TOG more to its fullest, but doing much on his own.

About once a month I pick a read aloud for all the boys to listen to, typically something from the Upper Grammar list. He keeps a notebook, as well.

This year we will be studying the Ancients. There is so much Bible in the curriculum. I am excited about that! We are planning to spend more time together in our history and reading, so that all the boys can benefit from reading through the Bible as a family. I am also planning to incorporate a basic wall timeline of Bible history for the younger boys. I am also planning to listen to R. C. Sproul’s Bible overview series From Dust to Glory with my dialectic level student.

How much time are my children working alone, and how much time is spent with me?

I guess that depends on your kids, and on which parts of the program you choose to do.

I do almost all work with my grammar level kids because they don’t read well alone. My rising 3rd grader is just now an emerging reader, and I do have a 30 minute block planned in his school day when he will read silently to himself, as well as another 20 minute block when he will read aloud to me.

I read most of their history and all of their literature aloud to them. They dictate their writing to me and I type/write it for them. I have to help them with their geography, which is oral or me helping them with labeling maps (this is done as copywork, where I label it and they copy the correctly spelled label onto their blank maps).

My Grammar students can do most of their math alone, once they understand the concepts, but almost everything else is teacher intensive.

My Dialectic student, on the other hand, works largely alone. He and I meet for 1 hour in the a.m. to go over work….Mondays it is math, Tuesdays it is new spelling words, Wednesday it is Logic, and so on.

I meet with him 1 time per day in the morning to go over new work for one subject. We also meet again after lunch to touch base on his morning work, and make sure he understands what he needs to do for the afternoon. This time after lunch is also used for any read alouds that he and I do together, and to go over his writing and grammar assignments. We also have one additional time slot together per week for our TOG history discussion, during an afternoon or sometimes in the evening so my husband can be part of it.

Next year we will be doing the Ancients and I want my son to do the Rhetoric Bible and Worldview. This will necessitate a 2nd discussion time….once per week to discuss history and a 2nd discussion for worldview. Obviously, he is a bit young for this rhetoric work, but I think the worldview and Bible material is so rich for the rhetoric level, and I feel he can handle it if we do it together.

This fall, I am planning for him to do some of his writing assignments online with Write Guide. Write Guide is unique in that a teacher will interact with him 5 times per week, but I can set the agenda as to what exactly he will write (what kind of paper/what topic).

This should, theoretically, enable me to follow TOG’s writing plan without having to implement it myself. I have enjoyed teaching writing in the past, but with two LG students needing lots of help from me, plus a preschooler, I am having to find some other helps for my Dialectic student, due to time constraints.

He and I also try to meet on Friday afternoon to look at the week ahead, and start to plan for it.

In a nutshell, I will spend 1 hour per day in the morning to get him going on new things or to have our Worldview discussion, 1 hour per week in the afternoon or evening for history discussion, one hour per day in the afternoon IF we are doing a read aloud (one or two weeks a month). If we are not doing a read-aloud, I still frequently spend 1/2 hour a day with him in the afternoon to go over math he may still be having trouble with, going over grammar, etc. Finally, we spend about 1/2 an hour on Fridays for planning.

This Dialectic level student does the rest alone. He does all timeline, geography, and virtually all reading alone. He prints out all timeline figures before the year begins and files them for later use (to save time during the school year). Once he has learned his new math, spelling and grammar he is able to work on that alone, as well. He does his Latin online, so that is also entirely independent.

So, as you can see, much of this depends on the abilities of your students and what you, as a teacher, choose to cover. When my oldest was in 3rd grade he could do a lot independently. My second son is now entering 3rd grade and he can’t do nearly as much alone. I am trusting that will begin to change over the course of this year.

If you aren’t interested in Tapestry of Grace, or if you already read this earlier in the week, just disregard this post, LOL!

Here are the FAQ’s:

How hard is the setup for the teacher?

Hmmmm….that depends on who you ask, how much you like to plan,etc. You might want to read my post on How I Avoided the TOG Fog. People complain that the first 4 weeks are overwhelming many times. I feel like if you can prepare in advance, you can avoid that.

I do not do all the reading of the teacher notes as others do. That is about 1 1/2 hrs. per week, I would say. I haven’t had time every week, and I suffer from a poor memory. If I read the notes too far in advance I won’t remember a word!

Sometimes I have my D student read the notes to himself, sometimes I read the notes to him aloud before our discussion, and sometimes we don’t use the notes but I rely on the answers that are printed in the discussion question text (Teacher’s notes has answers for Dialectic questions in the Redesigned years….last year I used a classic plan so we did the Rhetoric discussions, as those were the only ones with answers).

I am hoping to take time to read all the notes this year, but it isn’t always realistic, as there are typically many pages of teacher notes.

That said, I didn’t have any prep work typically during the week. I did all my copying/prep before the year started.

Some people have time to do these things during the week, but not me. My school days are very full, starting at 7:30 a.m. and usually not ending until 4 pm, at which time I make dinner. We are often gone at night with 3 children playing sports. Doing this kind of planning during the summer enables me to stay fairly organized during the school year.

What if I don’t order every book TOG recommends?

No problem. TOG is to be treated as a smorgasbord. You won’t eat everything, so to speak. If you have a Dialectic or Rhetoric level student (6th grade or above), try to get the core resources (listed under history core). Try to get the spines. That will help them answer most of the discussion questions. If they still can’t answer a question, I use the teacher notes or skip that question.

If you have books that are similar on your shelves already, feel free to substitute. TOG makes many recommendations….core books, spine books, text books, alternate books, history in depth books. This is not so that you will read them all, but so that you will be able to hopefully find some of each week’s recommended resources…used, new or through your library.

I wouldn’t recommend substituting Literature books because there is only one Huckleberry Finn, for example. But on the history books, I frequently substitute because there are many great books about WW2 or the Pyramids.

Do I have to do every activity that TOG suggests?

The smorgasbord mentality applies to activities, too. No one does everything….or does it every week. Some weeks we do hands on, other weeks we don’t. We never do vocabulary, but we always do timeline and geography. Each family is different. You will choose what you want your family to do, taking some elements to do every week, some weeks letting one element or another go just for that week, etc.

We never read everything. We never do everything. We aren’t meant to. There is a lot of freedom in TOG. And there is way too much there to do it all unless you want to make each week into two or three weeks….some people take two years to do one year plan. We don’t. We do what is realistic for a week and leave the rest.

We know that we will be back to this again in 4 years time, and we can choose different books and activites next time, or repeat old favorites, sharing them with siblings who are rising in the ranks.

Is this going to break the bank? The library is not an option for me.

If the library is not an option, I recommend buying lots of your books used, if you have the time. I did that my first year of TOG when our library was not an option. We just got Inter-library loan, so I use it some now. But it is still a poor option, as it often takes months to get the books and they are always early or late. This means I have to buy most of my books.

I get what I can at our large homeschool conference, since there is always a used book sale. I keep my eye open throughout the year for good books from good authors, even if they aren’t what I need this year. I feel free to substitute good history books for the TOG recommended books when I have something else that will work on my shelf.

I spend a lot of time online, shopping for the best prices. I do buy some books from Tapestry’s Lampstand Press, but I try to get most of my books from Rainbow Resource, Amazon, and other used online stores.

I also have a subscription part of the year to Audible ($22/month gives you two audio books per month). I choose expensive audio books like GA Henty titles or books that are going to take more than 8 or 9 hours to read. I get those from my Dialectic level student on audio.

If you’ve never subscribed you might be able to get 3 months for $8 per month, with one or two audios per month at that price. Check it out. Audible is always have sales.

Since I cannot get all the books (and you wouldn’t have time to read them all anyway!) I prioritize spine books, multi-week books, Dialectic level books, and Literature books.

The Grammar level books are usually picture type books or easy chapter books that we will never read again until we do the year plan again. That is not where I spend most of my money….I choose to either substitute what I have for the history books, and purchase some of them but not all. I skip some. I look at used books sales each year to find some and buy ahead on popular Classical topics, knowing I will use those as substitutes. I start my TOG a few weeks before or after a friend and share books with her.

TOG has many categories of recommended books from which to choose. There is History Core, History In Depth, Alternate History, Text Books, Spine books….

As a former “Charlotte Masonite”, I like Living Books. I never use the text books. To save time and money, I never do the alternate books unless we don’t have the history recommended, and I only occasionally (half the time??) do “history in depth”. I am prioritizing history core/spine books, especially those which are used for multiple weeks, as well as literature books and worldview books….all else is gravy.

Sometimes I also split the difference, and choose Upper Grammar level books which I can read aloud to my Lower Grammar, Upper Grammar and Dialectic level students.

I know that this will not be my last time through TOG. All of these books are carefully labeled and put away when the year is done to save for our next time through TOG. My current Lower Grammar students will be Upper Grammar or Dialectic by then, and my preschooler will be Lower Grammar. These books will all be used again multiple times as each child goes through the 4 year cycle multiple times at different levels. Then these excellent books can be resold, or passed on to grandchildren!

One more thing about saving money. I also try to get my TOG Year plan used when I can. It is still not cheap, but perhaps you can beat the $220 sticker price and get the geography Map Aids thrown in, to boot.

I was so overwhelmed by the size of my giant TOG binders that I did a TON of
planning in advance…and I think that is what kept the fog away.
Perhaps some of you will benefit from my experience….

Before the school year started, I made a binder for each of my TOG students. I put tab dividers into each notebook, one per week, with a label (week one, Pharaohs, for example) so they can put all of that week’s work (be it history, literature, geography, etc.) behind that week’s tab. Each binder has 36 dividers in it, dividing the school year into 36 TOG weeks. In each binder I put the copies of maps that were needed for that week, the checklist of what those children would be reading that week, any blue SAPs that I wanted to use, coloring pages from my Dover books that went with the lesson, etc. Everything was hole punched, and slipped into the binder behind the appropriate week.

When it is time for school, the children can get out their TOG notebook, take out that week’s maps or coloring pages, and put them back into the notebook when they are done. The pre-printed timeline figures can be kept in the TOG notebook, too, inside a page protector.

If it can be printed or copied and we need it in a given week, it
is in the binder. That does make for some extra copies, but I don’t
like to let my kids touch my big binders…I don’t want little hands
tearing pages, so it is worth it to me to photocopy their reading
list for the week, etc.

I do NOT copy teacher notes, and if I needed to go over those with my D student, I did use the big binder…these binders are for THEM, not for me.

I had my D student sit down before the year started with the TOG
binders and look at the timeline sections. He used our Homeschool in
the Woods Timeline figures CD Rom to print out every single timeline figure we thought we would need for the year…if we couldn’t find it on our disc, we
usually didn’t bother with it.

He made a small dot on our timeline planner page in the TOG overview to show which ones he was able to find, so that when I copied that page for his folder,
he would know exactly which figures he would be using. He cut out the
figures and put those into the folders, too, so the timeline prep was
already done before we started our year.

I went to Debra’s Notebooking pages
and copied many free pages, including TOG templates for our timelines, and put those into notebooking folders. When it was time for timeline or notebooking, the kids could just grab whichever pages they wanted to use.

We use lots of Debra’s pages for our writing, as well, for the LG
boys…I put whatever graphic organizer would be needed for that week into their folder (printed from the writing section on the TOG year plan site), and a nice notebooking page…we do the graphic organizer
one day, then another day they use that to dictate their
report/writing to me and I write it on the nice notebook page.
The pages have a spot at the top for a picture, which they either draw or get from our timeline CD (I had oldest ds copy some extra timeline figures in a larger size for these littler boys).

I DO put dots on all my books (lots of TOGGERS do it!). In a nutshell (believe me, volumes have been written on this topic!) you put a colored coding dot on the spine of the book (red for year 1, for example) and write a number on the dot which corresponds to which week that book is used. Some choose to use an additional dot (lavendar?!) if the book is used in more than one year plan. Many choose to write D or LG, etc. on the dot, as well, below the week number, to show who is to be reading this book. It may sound crazy, but when you have literally thousands of books as I do by now, after many years of homeschooling, it is really helpful to label my TOG books in this way. Put a piece of tape over the dot if you plan to do this, as the dots will fall off.

It is also helpful to get all the books together on one shelf. I have two shelves designated for the books for the unit we are currently working on, one for D level and one for LG/UG level.

To set up my teacher manual, I slip my reading lists for each week into page protectors. Many people page protect every page, but I don’t bother with that. Since my kids aren’t touching my binder it seems to stay nice enough. I only page protect the reading list pages. Then, I can write with a sharpie on the page if I am using an alternate resource from my own shelves, or if I need to order something from the library, if I need to purchase something or who I want to borrow that item from. If I add an alternate resource, I put a check box beside it. At the end of the week, I check off everything we read that week. At the end of the year, when it is time to do evaluations, it will be easy to see what we read. Four years from now, it will be a good reminder of what resources we did (or did not) use in a given week.

Last year I included everything in the TOG notebook. This year, I have decided to separate out our language arts pages. I found it a bit distracting to include the language arts materials in the same binder as the TOG materials. We often do language arts in a different part of the house, and we were always looking for that TOG binder! With that in mind, I set up a separate binder for language arts. This is where my children put their Spell to Write and Read phonogram and spelling quizzes, their grammar exercises, graphic organizers for writing and completed papers. At the end of the semester, if we want to put the completed writing assignments (or copies of them) back into the TOG notebook, we can. But in the meantime, all language arts papers are together in one neat, handy location.

If the children don’t do a page or two, I don’t sweat it. We move on at the end of the week, regardless of whether they have colored every picture or filled out every SAP. We can remove those pages later, or go back and do them another time during a lighter week. Many people cull their notebooks at the end of the year and make one final portfolio from the best work.

It takes a significant amount of time over the summer to get all these materials
ready…but it is SO worth it.

There was NO TOG fog, no skipping work because we didn’t have time to
get our materials together…there were certainly times that we
adjusted our plan, and didn’t use a blue Student Activity Page or didn’t do our
geography work or whatever….but it was because I decided to change
the plan that week based on whatever was going on or what books had
come in from the library, etc. It was NOT because we weren’t prepared
and couldn’t get our timeline figures together, etc. For more help on getting organized for the school year, check out my other articles, including the post about science and history boxes.

We started Tapestry of Grace in 2007 for our history, literature and geography. It has been amazing! This comprehensive classical curriculum allows all of my boys to study the same topics, each at their own level.

It has been great to have them reading and learning about the same things, so that when we do field trips or hands on projects we can all really enjoy it. For example, when we studied Japan we had a Japanese tea party, made origami and saw the Mikado. Those experiences meant more because everyone had spent the week learning about Japan.

I am so grateful God led us to this amazing program. We finished up our first year of TOG with a study of World War 2, and Tapestry knocked my socks off. I praise God for the thoughtful, thorough, godly supplement pages and teacher’s notes, which helped us wade through the deep, deep waters of the Holocaust. I cannot adequately express what a blessing it was to have scripture right at my fingertips as my oldest son and I discussed questions like “How could a man like Hitler rise to power? Was he more evil than other men, or does the same potential for evil reside in all our hearts? How could a good God allow the Holocaust?” and other questions like these.

I do not know what our study of WW2 would have been like if we hadn’t found TOG when we did, but I do know that it would not have been the spiritually rich time of discipleship that it was. I also think I would have skipped the Holocaust aspect with my K and 2nd grade children completely….yet TOG found a beautiful way to expose them to just the right amount of information, with book recommendations right at their level. We had some great conversations which confirmed to me that it was right not to avoid this painful topic altogether.

Tapestry of Grace has been much more than just a history curriculum to our family. It has bridged the gap between school and real life, between head knowledge and heart knowledge. It has enabled me to do more than teach history and literature, but instead to use those subjects as a key part of the discipleship process in our children. I started homeschooling in order to have times like this with my children, yet along the way, that aspect went missing from the core subjects we were studying. The Worldview component of TOG has made all the difference.

The book recommendations have been excellent, as well. It is important to me to only read the best books with the kids, and TOG’s booklist is stellar. Add geography, timeline and creative writing components to all this, and it is one incredibly comprehensive curriculum.

Many people avoid Tapestry of Grace because it seems overwhelming at first glance. And it can be. When I was starting out with TOG I kept in mind that I was holding a curriculum meant to cover 12 years of school, from Kindergarten through High School. Although I will eventually use everything in my giant TOG binders, it won’t be all in one school year.

Also, TOG is set up to be used like a smorgasbord. I would never go to a buffet and eat every single item that is set out before me! TOG is the same way. Parents are given option after option of what to do with their children, so no two families will use TOG alike. But no one is expected to do everything…I’m not sure how anyone could!

There are certain elements of the curriculum that we never use, such as vocabulary lists. Other things, like the worksheets, we incorporate sparingly. One week we might do a hands on project, and another week we focus our energy on extra reading. Every week includes history reading, geography, literature, creative writing and timeline work. Yet even within these categories there are a variety of activities, so that no two weeks with TOG are alike for us. We enjoy this variety in our homeschool.

If you are one who feels overwhelmed looking at 4 huge binders, I’d encourage you to try the TOG digital edition. The same amount of information is there, but it doesn’t feel as overwhelming when you see it on a computer screen. You click the things you need and forget about the rest. And you can print as many pages as you care to!

Last year we studied the Ancients, and I found a new reason to love Tapestry. The curriculum places such a heavy emphasis on the Bible that even my youngest children read through a significant portion of the Scriptures that year for history.

One last thing….when I first bought TOG I had sticker shock. It seemed incredibly expensive, compared to what else I had been using. By my second year with the program, I felt differently. I realized the true value of what I was buying.

Go to the Tapestry of Grace website to learn more about the program, or to try three weeks for free! TOG has a lot of online support available. There are several TOG yahoo groups, as well as many links available for every topic in the Tapestry of Grace curriculum.