Tapestry of Grace

I was very excited to see Lampstand Press’s Tapestry of Grace on the line up this year for review. I had heard many people talking about it, usually great things, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and see for myself.

TOG is a Christian, Classical, Literature based Curriculum that teaches based on a Unit Study approach incorporating multiple grade levels. TOG covers history, church history, literature, geography, fine arts, government, philosophy, and writing & composition. TOG does not include a phonics program, science, math, grammar, spelling, or foreign language. Though its publisher Lampstand Press does recommend various programs that cover those subjects.

TOG has a 4 year rotation approach to history. This means that you will cover all of history in a 4 year time span. However, you will cover it at different levels of depth depending on your grade level.

Those are the facts…now for the opinions.

Personally I was disappointed to receive a digital version. I know that many companies are going that route and I understand the reason for it. I have even learned to embrace the digital versions of some items. But TOG In digital format is just too much in my opinion. This is an amazingly thorough program. If you did just half of what is in this program with your students you’d have extremely well educated children. But to wade through ALL that information on a screen is just more than I could take. I am sure this will change as we become accustomed to this format, but for me and my house? Give me paper.

However, I must add, there is one benefit to a digital version that you do not find in the print format. Once you sign up on their site, and there are MANY benefits of doing this, from the loom to the forums, you’ll have everything you have purchased in digital format saved on the site. That way if your computer crashes and you lose it all, your curriculum will still be saved, safely stored on TOG’s website. That’s handy!

As for the curriculum itself, like I said, it is extremely thorough. I really like the idea of one central theme or period of study being applicable to many grade levels. This makes the mom’s life a little easier.

One caution I would give you is that if you are a box checker, a must-do-it-all personality, run, do not walk away from this curriculum. You will kill yourself and your children’s love of learning if you try to do this curriculum in its entirety. It is just TOO MUCH. But if you are of the mind that you take what works and use it and don’t worry about the rest, you’ll love TOG as there is MUCH to choose from.

You can go to TOG’s website to read more about it and you can go here to try a three week sample!

Happy Homeschooling!