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August 2005

News

Encouragement

Teaching Teachers

Tips for Beginners

Featured Crafts

Stories

News

Our photo contest winner!

Hi! David here - graphic designer for Lampstand Press, and official host of the monthly Distaff Photo Contest. Thanks to all those who contributed pictures! This month's winner was easy to pick. My hearty congratulations to Libby and her sons. We just loved this picture!

Libby, we'll be sending you your $10 Lampstand Press gift certificate soon!

Do you have pictures you'd like to share? Send them to design@tapestryofgrace.com. Every month, the top photo will be displayed here, the winner announced, and a gift certificate sent out. But even better than the money is the chance to show how much fun learning really can be!

Be sure and send in those pictures - we'd especially love to see what you're up to in the first few weeks of school!

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What's going on at Lampstand Press?

Welcoming more staff!
We are excited to announce a new staff position at Lampstand Press. God has prospered us this summer, and we are grateful to Dana Caywood, who has agreed to double her hours and accept the position of Vice President in charge of supporting existing products. In the past five years, Dana and Marcia have worked together on various Tapestry projects. Dana has authored most of the Literature worksheets in the Student Activity Pages. She has built most of the links on our website, and maintained them. She has spent hours and hours of her own time answering questions of new moms. She and Marcia have spoken together at seminars and constantly worked together to improve the overall program. Dana brings over 13 years of homeschooling experience and a real heart for you moms to our endeavor. She has three boys: David, James, Todd, who have been homeschooled all the way through. David has graduated, James is a rising 11th Grader, and Todd enters 9th Grade this year. Dana's husband, Mikel, a minister of music, fully supports her work with Tapestry. We are grateful beyond words for her past contributions, and look forward with great anticipation to her increasing opportunities to provide ongoing support to Marcia and to you, our customers.

Year 1 Spine Problems -- and Solutions!

The problem: the spine text for Dialectic/Rhetorics for Year 1, Usborne's Ancient World (ISBN 0746012330) has gone out of print. (When you read on Amazon that it will come in 4 weeks, don't believe it. It's almost impossible to find used, too.)

Explanation: There are new Usborne books that are revised updates (in other words, same exact content, just freshened up and with Internet Links added) of two of the three books contained in our beloved Ancient World (ISBN 0746012330). (For those of you who may not know this, Ancient World is really a "bind-up" of three sub-titles: Early Civilization, Greeks, and Romans. Each of these are 96 pages long. In the bind-up, Ancient World, the books are bound together and renumbered into one coherent whole. Other than this, they are unchanged by being bound up.)

What this means for us is this: we CAN buy *today* the updated versions of...

Romans: Paperback 0-7945-0429-9 $12.95
Greeks: Paperback 0-7945-0428-0 $12.95

Note that these are the Illustrated World History series books, which "clearly" marks them from other Usborne titles (that are otherwise entitled identically ).

Now, what about the "Early Civilizations" sub-book of Ancient World? It is out of print and Usborne has no plans to reprint it. We must find a substitute for our study of Egypt and early Mesopotamian cultures.

Rhetoric students

I recommend that you use for Rhetoric students this fall Usborne's Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt IL (Hardback 0-7945-0118-4 $19.95) which, confusingly, is also bound up in the Encyclopedia of the Ancient World IL BIND UP (Hardback 0-7945-0364-0 for $39.95).

NOTE: Please DON'T buy Ancient Egypt IL if you already own the Bind Up (Encyclopedia of the Ancient World IL) -- because it's contained in this bind-up --

AND/OR: Don't buy Ancient Egypt IL if you have a Dialectic student for Year 1, because we recommend that you buy Encyclopedia of the Ancient World IL for this student. We are going to post appropriate pages (for both levels) for this book for Dialectics, and Rhetoric students can just follow along with their siblings for the first three weeks of the year.

It won't hurt Rhetorics at all to use the same assignments as Dialectics for the first three weeks of the school year (for Egypt only)! If you don't want to buy a book just for Egypt, think about raiding your public library shelves instead. Egypt is a popular subject in most libraries.

Since we have the Holman Bible Atlas for Rhetoric students listed already, there will be enough spine-type information for them there on Assyria, Babylonia, etc. as it relates to Israel, and you can always supplement with the websites linked to our Year 1 History page information about these lesser Mesopotamian cultures, and we have other supplementary books listed for most of them already in TOG reading charts anyways.

Dialectics

We recommend that you use Encyclopedia of the Ancient World IL BIND UP (Hardback 0-7945-0364-0 for $39.95)

New page numbers for Tapestry week-plans have been posted on our "Samples" page of our website. Scroll to the bottom of the page to download a .pdf document.

Grammar Levels

Finally, for those of you who have been looking for the Grammar-level spine book (cleverly also entitled "Ancient World" but with the distinctive 0746027605 ISBN #) -- the red one with the Egyptian dog on the front -- it, too, has a new face and form. It can be purchased in two formats:

1. You can get it as a separate book --cheaper than its old counterpart as it's now in paperback -- 0-7945-0816-2 for $5.00 cheaper: $14.95 OR

2. You can buy the bind-up that contains this book: The Usborne Internet-linked Encyclopedia of World History (Hardback 0-7945-0364-0 $39.95). There is good news and bad news about this book!

Good news: it has Medieval World in it, too. So, you can use it for Year 2 Grammar students. It also has another sub-title called "The Last 500 Years" which could have some nice material for you to use in parts of Years 2-4.

Bad news:
1. If you buy the bind up, none of our page numbers for Years 1 or 2 will help you with this Ancient World or Medieval World.
2. This bind-up contains a book I think you REALLY won't like, called "Prehistoric World."
3. We don't list "The Last 500 Years" at all in our reading charts.

As always, the choice is up to you!

To buy any of these Usborne books, just go to this link (I will get sales credit for this purchase as an Usborne book consultant) and using the search feature, order these books out; or you can, of course, use your own local Usborne consultant.

Help with writing instruction!
WriteAtHome.com has developed an independently run tutorial and assessment service tailor-designed for Tapestry Writing students, Levels 5-7. Be sure to check it out!

HSLDA features Marcia Somerville and promotes Tapestry!

If you're a member of HSLDA (or know people who are), make sure you read the cover story in the new "Court Report" magazine. It starts with these memorable lines: "Marcia Somerville was ready to quit homeschooling. When her husband, Scott, came home from work one day, she met him at the door. 'This is where we stop homeschooling,' Marcia said."

If you can't find a printed copy, you can read the story online.

Also, Marcia will be featured on HSLDA's radio program, "Homeschool Heartbeat" during the whole week of September 5-9. Find out about this program, and then be sure to listen in.

Join HSLDA with our new group discount number!

We're glad to announce that Tapestry of Grace now has its own "discount group" with HSLDA, so if you've ever thought about joining but wanted to save $20 when you did so, just plug in discount group number 299872 when you join. You can join online.

Interested in HSLDA but not really sure what it does? Get an insider's view by reading Scott Somerville's blog.

2006 Conferences
Conference season is over 2005. We are now accepting applications for booth hostesses and speaking engagements for Marcia for 2006. Email Casey if you are interested in hosting a booth at your state convention or large local homeschooling event or in getting Marcia to speak near you in 2006!

Important Notice for those just now receiving your copy of Tapestry
Please note that each unit has a special "batch number" recorded on a separate piece of paper at the end of each unit. This piece of paper also has an inventory of all the sections that should be included in your unit. You should go through your unit when you first unwrap it and check to see that all of your pages are correct before you discard the page with the batch number on it.

Promoting Tapestry, earning bonuses
It's never too late to hold a Tapestry Tea and earn credits for free products from Lampstand Press! Find out more about these.

Do you have a website? You can earn referral bonuses by becoming an affiliate. Find out more and sign up by clicking here.

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Ongoing chat meetings!

Join us for our usual monthly chat about Tapestry of Grace on Monday!
Each month, Marcia hosts a live, online chat for all comers. In this season, we usually discuss "getting started" issues. Veterans enjoy coming to help out newbies. It's a great time, so please consider joining us on Monday, August 29th, from 9 to 12 PM EDT.
We meet via AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) chat rooms.*
Want to join a virtual book club for accountability and rejuvenation purposes?
I have long desired to start a monthly chat for discussion purposes of spiritual matters related to homeschooling. To this end, some users have suggested a book club of sorts. We had our first discussion in August! (Read an excerpt from our 8/8 chat.) We discussed this article "Preach the Gospel to Yourself."
If you want to attend, next time (September 12) please read this free article: " Getting to the Heart of Conflict" between now and September 12 (all book club meetings will meet on the second Monday of the month between 9 PM and 12 PM, using IM* chat rooms).
On Sept. 12 (or any given chat night) come online and IM " MarciaChatting" to be invited to our private chat room. This time, we'll discuss this article and how to apply it to our own hearts and homeschools. Hope we see you there!
Blessings!
Marcia
*AOL Instant Messenger, available free for download, at www.aim.com.

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New products on the shelf and in development

Reprinting the Guide!
Idiot's Guide to the 20th Century, a key spine text for Dialectics in Year 4 (with an unfortunate name), has gone out of print. We were unable to find a reasonable substitute, so we contacted the publisher and agreed to have 1,000 copies reprinted. We will sell it for $18.95, and expect it to be in stock on September 8. You can order it from our ordering pages, or printed order form. Click here. (Too bad we weren't able to convince them to change the title. We thought that Suave and Sophisticated but Hurried Homeschool Mom's Guide to the 20th Century had a much nicer ring to it.)

Year 1 MapAids is now ready for pre-ordering!
Thanks for your prayers for Terri Johnson over the last month. She has sent the master discs to the manufacturer, and we expect them to arrive at Lampstand Press on September 20th. You may place an order for this disc at any time. Our order forms now reflect this new addition, and you'll find a new icon on our Internet ordering pages as well. She will soon begin work on Year 3 maps, so continuing prayers are much appreciated!

In development

We're working on developing new products, and are dependent on your prayers!

We are starting work on revising our book lists with the idea of releasing book packages in the not-too-distant future. If we succeed, Lampstand Press would sell all of the core books that Tapestry plans recommend, either as individual titles or as complete "Year-Plan in a box" packages. This development is huge and will take many woman-hours of concentrated work. Dana Caywood is our newly hired "Book Guru" for this project. Please, please pray for her!
Marcia and her development crew are continuing work on the remaining units of the Year 1 Evaluations disk. This is our first venture into the world of evaluations. We have finished the actual tests, quizzes, and review guides for Year 1, and have found that there is just a whole lot more work to it than we had first hoped. Rather than rush to press with this product and find errors later, we have determined to beta test it with a number of Year 1 families for the rest of this year. If you are using Year 1 and wish to become a beta tester, email us at Design@tapestryofgrace.com.

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Encouragement

Passing the flame involves keeping our own flames burning HOT! (Part II) // MARCIA SOMERVILLE

Below is the second portion of a three-part article on the importance of having a daily tryst with God that is excerpted from a speech I have given all spring at state conventions across the country, and last year in Japan, "The Nearness of God is My Good." (Read Part I in our archives!) In this second part, I give my personal testimony on the power of regular devotional times to overcome life dominating sins, such as fear. In Part III, I will give many practical tips on how to enrich your quiet times with God.

Last month, we began by noting...

    Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,

        and his greatness is unsearchable.

    One generation shall commend your works to another,

        and shall declare your mighty acts.

    On the glorious splendor of your majesty,

        and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.

                                                            ---Psalm 145:3-5 (ESV)

Homeschooling is a means to many ends, not an end in itself. While we can’t see all the purposes God may have in mind when calling us to homeschool our children, one of the ends we know He has revealed is that we are to glorify God by telling the next generation of His past deeds and His greatness so that we infuse our children's hearts with love for God and faith in Him. But how can we do this if we do not keep our own flames of passion for God burning brightly?

Part I I: Testimony: The Nearness of God

Psalm 73:28 (NASB)

        But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;

        I have made the Lord God my refuge,

        That I may tell of all Thy works.

I want to share with you a story, that I’ll intermingle throughout this talk, about God’s grace in my life. The story begins in 1988, and the opening scene isn’t pretty. I had been married eight years and had five children under the age of 8. We were living in married student housing, because my husband, Scott, had just started Harvard Law School . This particular October day was a Sunday, and I was dressing for church when I happened to look down and see a small bump on my leg.

As I pondered this bump, a nameless terror seized me with terrific force. I was suddenly consumed with craven fear that I certainly had cancer. My body responded emotionally and physically to this idea. I suddenly started running, screaming, and crying through our small, three bedroom apartment. I ran back and forth a number of times, and then collapsed in a paroxysm of fear on my bed, curled up in a fetal ball.

Scott was mystified as to the reason for my distress, even when I explained it to him. He prayed for me. Eventually, the panic lessened, and I was able to sit up and process this incident with him. What I didn’t know was that this was the beginning of a spiritual battle with craven fear. My struggle with this fear would last 16 years, and teach me many precious things. The thing that I think is the most significant that I have learned in waging this war for my faith and spiritual health has been the value of a daily tryst with God.

After that first day of fear in Boston about 17 years ago, I began to experience daily panic attacks of craven fear. I remember waking up each and every day—almost without exception—with my heart racing and in a cold sweat. Sometimes, fearful thoughts would overpower me and I would weep for hours. I conducted all of life—homeschooling, keeping my home, ministering to others—under a cloud of fear. I can remember on numerous occasions standing at my kitchen sink peeling potatoes and crying as fear overwhelmed me. I can remember seeking prayer, counsel, and help from others.

I desperately fought my fears with every tool I could find: Scripture memory work, desperate prayer, and even spiritual deliverance sessions. The fear was there, however, taunting me each day. Physical symptom after physical symptom arose to concern me and, like Linus kicking the football, time after time I gave in to worry and fear over each and every one of them.

I will not say that nothing changed for 16 years. Things got progressively better over the years. I learned this or that lesson, had this or that victory, learned this or that new and precious revelation about God and His love. One thing I learned was that I was woefully self-reliant. Blessed with a good mind, several gifts, and many advantages as a child, I felt I could do just about anything I set my will to. It took homeschooling six children and a huge spiritual battle over craven fear to convince me that I was wrong. When I compare myself to the Israelites, and the fruit that their sins reaped, I am so grateful that God has chosen to deal ever so much more gently with me than He did with them.

We came to CLC about six years into my fear battle. I was still “booting up” into fear each morning. I still had entire days when I felt “numb” with fear—paralyzed emotionally and mentally. About two years after we’d come here, there were the “Times of Refreshing” that some of you might remember. I was so hopeful for a full deliverance during that time. But it was not God’s will, and so I struggled not only with fear but with disappointment, temptation to grumble and feel rejected, and a host of other emotions. I began to turn inwards, feeling there must be something wrong with me: my efforts weren’t good enough. I wasn’t loved. Perhaps, I wasn’t even saved. I added these fears to my list, and the battle went on.

One thing that so encouraged me in the last few years was something that my pastor's wife, Nancy Loftness said to me as I called her for one of our frequent visits by phone about three years ago. She said that faith was like a tent, and that my fears were an opportunity for me to fasten down my tent ever more securely. While I would focus on myself, my failures, my emotions, my thoughts about God and myself, my analysis of my needs and my shortcomings, she would point out that those things were only my faith tent’s flappings. The “wind” had gotten in and caused one of my “pegs” to come loose. Now, the “tent” was flapping in the breeze. My only goal should be to return to Biblical TRUTH (the loose tent peg) and hammer that truth firmly back into the sand so that my tent would stop flapping. In essence, my trial was an opportunity to review and more firmly affix my faith in the Word and promises of God.

She said, “Don’t worry about the flapping. We all flap from time to time. The flapping is just notification that we need to build our faith stronger by nailing down (reviewing and repeating) truths we have already learned. This was SO comforting to me. I set about disregarding all analyses, and feelings, and worries about my faith and just set about nailing it firmly into place.

Through this time I had a regular, but ineffective quiet time. Though I carved a regular time out of my days to meet with God, I seldom felt that I had really fellowshipped with Him "face to face." My quiet times, from my earliest experience as a young Christian, were the weakest part of my walk with God. During the sixteen years I’m talking about, I probably had 15 minutes to half and hour regularly (not every day, but most days) with God.

For many years, my wonderful husband awoke me with a kiss, served me coffee and juice in bed, handed me my Bible, and tip toed out to take care of the kids until he went to work. This was my chance for intimacy with God, and I tried many different methods by which to draw near to Him, but looking back, what was lacking was the belief that the nearness of God was my GOOD.

I have reviewed, since that time, what the hindrances were to me in believing that God's nearness was my greatest good, and that He would draw near to me if I drew near to Him. If you, like me, experience dry quiet times, perhaps you can see yourself in my account:

1.       I was spiritually lazy. Now, as your basic homeschool mom, this is the last label I would have given to myself! When I thought of myself, I thought of myself as hardworking and diligent!

o     But here’s what I said to God each day with my actions: Lord, I believe that sleep is more to my good than You are. I am just not a morning person, and without sleeping until 7:30, I just can’t get done all that you’ve asked me to in a given day.” What many women like me claim as a “body clock” problem can really be an excuse for laziness or selfishness with regard to the spiritual disciplines. Unless we are using those late night hours to seek God's face, are we not again deceived? I would stay up late many nights working on things I delighted in: school planning with no interruptions, sewing projects, and writing projects, eventually. In my blindness, I easily believed that I was serving God late at night by working productively, but I was, as a result, disobeying Him each morning! I simply couldn’t stay up late at night and expect to be fresh for my time with God in the morning. Which was more important to me? For many years, the late night hours were.

o     I also remember complaining that there was no time in my day for extended quiet times. I was busy with pressing concerns (newborns, small children, husband, household chores, teaching school, cooking, etc.) from morning 'till night. If my feet hit the floor in the morning with something urgent to do, it was a sure bet that my day wouldn’t stop until well after dark. While these were legitimate pursuits, they should not have been allowed to collectively crowd out the best moments of my day: those spent with God. But I did not see it that way. Someone very wise once said, “We make time for what we want to do.” By that estimation, I didn’t want to spend time with God.

o     I fed off my church community instead of going to God myself. Like those Israelites, I was content to review sermons, listen to tapes while I worked or exercised, and attend meetings. I was lazy. I wanted to be spoon-fed. I did not want to spend time with God because I was not convinced that the nearness of God was my good, and I was lazy.

2.       I was also proud, and this was clearly displayed in my self-reliance. One of our pastors wisely observed that when we get up and run through our day without a tryst with God, we are essentially saying to God, “Oh! Yeah. That’s right. You’ll help me if I stop to ask. You’ll direct me and bless me and encourage me and strengthen me. Mmmmmmmmm… no thanks. I think I got this one handled. Thanks for asking, though! See ya!”

3.       I was deceived. I thought that God would bless me because I was part of a larger community of vibrant faith, and because I was striving (in my own strength) to obey. I was also homeschooling! I was serving! I was working hard! Of course all those Bible promises were for me. Intimacy with God? That was just "not my strength," I said to myself.

The end result of all these sins and excuses was that, day by day, I starved myself. I was spiritually anorexic. A banquet had been spread before me, and in my blindness and preoccupation with myself, I had partaken only dry bread and water.

End of Part II. Please pray about this message, and see if you can identify with my struggles and sins. God wonderfully met my need, and I will explain how as I also share helpful, practical tips on how to enrich your meetings with God in Part III.

If you do not at this time have a habit of meeting regularly with Father, I exhort you make a fresh start with God and firmly establish a regular, daily time with God along with all the other disciplines you start for the upcoming school year.

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Helpful links in growing your devotional life: sermons online!

Is your fire in need of extra fuel? These three websites are some of my favorite on the entire Internet for spiritual encouragement.

Sermons by John Piper (you can sign up for his monthly e-sermon, too!)

Sermons by the pastors of Covenant Life Church

Sermons by Charles Spurgeon

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Want to join a virtual book club for accountability and rejuvenation purposes?
I have long desired to start a monthly chat for discussion purposes of spiritual matters related to homeschooling. To this end, some users have suggested a book club of sorts. We have now started, in August. To begin with, we discussed this article "Preach the Gospel to Yourself." (Read an excerpt from our 8/8 chat.)
If you want to attend, next time (September 12) please read this free article: " Getting to the Heart of Conflict" between now and September 12 (all book club meetings will meet on the second Monday of the month between 9 PM and 12 PM, using IM* chat rooms). On Sept. 12 (or any given chat night) come online and IM "MarciaChatting" to be invited to our private chat room. This time, we'll discuss this article and how to apply it to our own hearts and homeschools. Hope we see you there!
*AOL Instant Messenger, available free for download, at www.aim.com.
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Teaching Teachers

Helpful ideas on correcting writing assignments

Many moms are truly intimidated by the task of teaching their students to write well. Tapestry of Grace guides seek to mentor you as well as possible, but for some moms, teaching and grading writing assignments is simply beyond them. Here are a few helpful suggestions for those of you who sincerely feel that you cannot become competent quickly enough in this field to grade (especially older students') writing assignments.

WriteAtHome.com has developed an independently run service tailor-designed for Tapestry students, Levels 5-7. The service has graduated levels of involvement and different fee amounts, depending on how often you access their coaches. These coaches have Tapestry volumes in hand and will understand the goals of the assignments, and even some of the historical contents!

Find a mentor, either online or in person, who can help you grow as a writing teacher.

Barter with a homeschooling friend or local Christian school teacher for Writing instruction for your students.

Many of us are not unable to grow as writing instructors; we just need some more specific instruction and encouragement. My goals in this article are twofold. 1) I want to give you some helpful tips and techniques in grading your students’ writing on various levels. 2) While it is essential for your student to have someone evaluating his writing, my point in this session is also that you can and should help your student to grow in self-correction of his own writing before he hands in his work to be graded.

There are several reasons for a focused attention on this goal.

Students who self-correct will help ease your workload, freeing you to do more actual teaching. If we can train them to correct common errors of punctuation and structure, our read-throughs can focus on elements of style and on content.

The only way that a college student (or adult) can correct his own work is by thoroughly understanding mechanics, English grammar, and stylistic conventions. The consistent practice of self-correction through the grade school years actually becomes a teaching tool by which students come to thoroughly understand the elements of good writing.

All students need to become more and more adroit at self-correction because few adults have a proofreader to help them with their work. Unless your student can self-correct, he will make many careless errors on college papers and essay tests. Self-correction is an important skill!

Writers who can view their work objectively, by being aware of standard punctuation rules, grammatical constructions, and patterns of structure, are able to edit their own work as they go, and thereby create better pieces in the first draft.

Self-correction: suggestions for training through various stages

Self-correction can start in Level 1 when children start to write sentences. Carefully teach young children that sentences always begin with a capital letter and end with one of three punctuation signs. After you teach this, ask the child to never hand in any writing without checking each sentence for these two elements. This can be done very simply by having the child put a small red or light pencil check mark at the beginning and end of each sentence he’s checked.

As the child progresses to levels 2-6, more and more mechanics rules will be added. He will learn about capitalizing proper nouns, and not capitalizing the names of seasons. He will learn about comma placement and how to use apostrophes and how to punctuate dialogue. (We recommend the pink book of the Easy Grammar series as one way to teach these rules.) As he learns new rules, you will need to create new self-correcting forms, or other accountability systems, that hold your student responsible for the rules that he’s learned. Often, as new rules are being learned, older rules are firmly in mind and need not be checked off. For instance, it is the rare Level 4 writer who needs to remember that punctuation ends a sentence.

The rubrics we include in the Tapestry Writing Component will become faithful friends for students in Levels 6 and up. You will readily see how a student can do much self-correction using these rubrics before you ever need to run your eyes over his paper.

Practical tips for aiding your student in growing in self-correction skills:

Students should be taught to use, but not to rely on, computer editing tools: thesaurus, spell checker, grammar checker (often wrong), and hyphen-insertion tools are all useful and helpful, but to use them properly, students must understand the rules/word usages they support. (Think of a parallel situation in math: you wouldn't want a child to not learn his multiplication tables or addition facts because there are calculators out there.) Electronic writing tools are not flawless and students will not have the benefit of them on college essay exams; therefore, they should learn to use—but not rely on—such tools.

When self-correcting a draft, students should print out the draft in hard copy to correct it. Assure the student that he will find more mistakes this way and that your family can well afford the use of printer toner and paper needed for this crucial step.

Students should be instructed (and if necessary, forced) to read their papers aloud before handing in drafts to you. Again, they will find many errors of style, and content far faster if they make a habit of this step in the writing process.

Again, early training in all the steps of the writing process—pre-writing, drafting, receiving input from the teacher, editing, and polishing—will aid the student in becoming a proficient self-corrector. The more the student slows down and measures his work against well-learned, objective rules of mechanics and style, the better a writer he will ultimately become.

Correcting your student’s writing: understanding four categories for evaluation

Looking at your green sample Supplements from the Tapestry curriculum. They show four categories down the left column: Structure, content, style, and mechanics.

Both of the supplied grading rubrics can be used for grading most non-fiction pieces. One is for Grammar/early Dialectic levels, the other is for late Dialectic/Rhetoric levels. The difference is in how the points are assigned. For younger students, structure and content are less important than style and mechanics. For older students, it's reversed. Older students should have mechanics and stylistic elements down; they need to be graded harder on the overall structure of the piece and on accurate content.

Diving deeper into these four categories:

Mechanics: This category deals with the rules of standard English composition, mostly reflected as capitalization and punctuation. Students, when they leave your homeschool, should know and practice correctly these rules. Your Write Source handbooks contain samples of self-correction sheets at your student’s learning level. Use these as your guide as to what to expect from your student.

Style: This category has to do with the way the writer has chosen to assemble words and phrases into combinations that effectively (and we hope elegantly) communicate his message. Here we are concerned with the “flow” of the writing—transition words, introductory phrases, correctly referenced antecedents, etc.

Structure: This category is very flexible. It can refer to a paragraph, an essay test, or a research paper. All writing genres have basic structures that the writing student should learn well.

A paragraph should have a topic sentence, a concluding sentence, and a body of sentences in between that support, or expound upon, the topic at hand.

Expository essays should have five paragraphs—and introductory one that contains the thesis of the essay and summarizes three supporting points, three supporting paragraphs that each expand one of the three supportive points, and a concluding paragraph that summarizes the message of the essay and offers a final, concluding idea that follows from the argument presented.

Compare/Contrast papers generally have four paragraphs or five, depending on the student’s decision: introduction and conclusion, with either two longer paragraphs comparing two things by listing all points about each topic in parallel order OR five paragraphs that compare two things on three different topics.

Content: When grading papers, one is concerned that the student’s content be correct and complete. This is somewhat obvious. Has your student included enough accurate factual material? Has he included all the important factual material? Are his conclusions sound, and well supported by his factual points? Essay tests, especially, need this category, but so do research papers, persuasive pieces, and even the paragraphs written by young students. Content counts when grading writing!

With all this information at your command, hopefully now you can feel more confident in grading your student's writing assignments.

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Tips for Beginners

Ready, Steady... Go! // MARCIA SOMERVILLE

For many of us, the first week is starting Monday, or soon thereafter. A few brave souls have already begun school. Yay, us! (Don't you think we deserve a cheering session, or at the very least, some background music? Oh, well.)

If you're at all like me, you start the year with lots of pre-planning under your belt. As you worked merrily along during the summer months, visions of the upcoming school year have been dancing in your head. You have dreamed fond dreams, and seen bright visions. "Oh, they will love this!" "This book is really good!" "We are going to get so much done!" You resembled Julie Andrews as Maria in The Sound of Music as the film opens, dancing in the mountain meadow, far away from the everyday cares of life.

The visions can be especially bright for new Tapestry users. "Oh, finally, with this curriculum, things will be different. I will finally become organized! There is so much support that I won't feel so alone! Maybe this year, we really can finish our craft projects!"

Thus we have progressed in a happy little bubble of dreams and expectations. We go school shopping for supplies with the kids. They are all happy and excited about their new things and we think, "See? It's going to be a great school year!" We beam with pleasure as we take them home and set up the school room.

Then, we begin. The first day of school. The kids are tired early, because kids are always tired early on the first day of school, no matter what the setting. (But we forgot that, and we were disappointed.) Suzy doesn't like her math book at all. She says, "It's really boring and dumb with all those clowns." (Oh, the power of a discouraging word.) Jeremy can't sit still now any more than he could last year. Suddenly, all the trials of last year rush to our mind's eye, and the school year ahead looks more like a tall and forbidding mountain to be climbed than a sunlit mountain meadow waiting to be danced through.

It’s encouraging to remember, especially if you're new to Tapestry, that the curriculum will not make magical changes in the hearts and minds of your children all by itself. Your children (and you) remain sinners who have need of redemption and grace from on high. Starting school each year is a tremendous gear-shift. Everyone -- mom included -- will be tired. Everyone will say things that discourage those around them. We, who have worked so hard and planned so long, are often led by our emotions to become quickly disheartened when the first few days of school don't go perfectly, or even if they don't go well at all. We feel defeated before we even begin. But, we need to look up, grasp grace, and faithfully persevere!

If this is you already, here are a few thoughts to help:

1.     Homeschool, like all good works, is not a means to salvation or perfection. This world is not our home, and until we leave it for our true home, we shouldn't expect ease, instant fruit, or perfection. We should expect hard work, disappointed expectations, and sin -- lots and lots of sin. But, but, but: GOD is faithful. Though we and our children are hopelessly flawed, He is already perfectly patient, perfectly loving, and perfectly able to give you what you need to accomplish His purposes in your homeschool over the coming year. Plan on needing God's help on a daily basis. If you have not already done so, PRAY for your school year and (each day) for your school day ahead. Don't just pray that it would go well: pray that God would be glorified in the conflicts, in the hard moments, and in the joyous victories that He sends in order to conform us to the image of His Son.

2.     Keep your eye on the main thing: the gospel. Your children are watching you closely when things do not go right. How will you respond? With anger? With despair? Or, with faith in God, a prayer, and an encouraging word to those who need it? Discipleship is the main purpose for homeschooling. Don't lose sight of the eternal purpose as you wade into the sea of assignments and tasks.

3.     The year is about the journey, not the destination. Ever thought about how commonly the Christian life is described as a journey? It's a walk, along a path, with fellow travelers. We are sojourners, pilgrims, and on our way home. Homeschooling is part of that journey, dear sister. You will meet with difficulties in your homeschooling days, but again, try to keep the larger perspective. Days will be good, and days will be bad, yet the Lord God of the Universe is working through them all to form Christ in you and your children. He sends us each day that we live through to shape us and to yield glory to His Name. We need to trust Him for the outcome: our job is faithfulness and perseverance, day by day.

4.     You're on the runway! I always liken the start of the school year to a plane taking off. Some years, the small, agile plane smoothly glided down the runway for a short space, then effortlessly lifted into the air. But, for most of my 21 years of homeschooling, my school year was a huge, awkward cargo plane that lumbered loudly (rattling some) down the bumpy runway as the engines strained every cog in the effort to increase our speed enough to achieve liftoff. The runway was long, the ride was bumpy, and I wondered if we would get airborne at the end of that runway or just crash in defeat. But, whether smooth or horrendous, we always did achieve liftoff, navigate the fogs and storms, and land safely at the end much closer to each other and much more like Christ.

"Therefore, I urge you, [sisters], in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." - Romans 12:1-2

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Choosing Assignments // DANA CAYWOOD

Tapestry of Grace Year-Plans provide a smorgasbord of choices for every learning level. How does one go about choosing assignments for each child, without overwhelming either the child or the mom? Hopefully the following thoughts and suggestions will help you in the process of narrowing your students’ assignments.

Remember to put first things first: Pray that God will direct your plans. Be sure to seek your husband’s counsel.

Decide approximately how much time you want to spend at each of the various subjects that Tapestry offers. Keep in mind that high school students will spend 1 – 1 ½ hours per day, per subject. My general guideline, per subject, for other levels is: Lower Gr ammar: 15-20 minutes; Upper Grammar: 20-30 minutes; Dialectic: 40-60 minutes.

Decide how you want your child to record his assignments. The use of some type of planner is highly recommended. Blank assignments charts are available on our website (Click here, then scroll down to “For Those Using Tapestry”). For older students, Marcia recommends a real planner book in which your child will record not only school assignments but all the appointments in his life—clubs, sports practices and games, music lessons, babysitting appointments, etc.

Look over the “threads” in the White Teacher’s Notes for the first unit. These goals will give you direction as to choosing specific reading assignments. In addition, take a quick glance at “people” and “themes” from the second yellow page (Weekly Overview Chart) for each week in the Unit.

Take a look at the yellow Reading Assignment Charts. Place a check mark beside the books you own. Pencil in an “L” if you have access to the book through your library. Based on availability and the time you want the student to devote to the subject, make a notation as to their assignment. An easy method of notation is to pencil in the student’s initials next to his academic task. He can then transfer this to his planner or chart.

What about vocabulary words? The words provided in your Year-Plan are related to the weekly topic. I usually check off the words that my boys don’t know.   For Grammar-level students, we did oral review, drew pictures of them, and printed the words/definitions on flashcards. There are all sorts of games (“Old Maid” and “Concentration” were two of our favorites!) that don’t require workbooks or laborious seatwork. As my students entered the Dialectic years, the assignment was to put the previously check-off words on file cards, and the definition on the back.   Oral quizzes ended our week with vocabulary.

On to the blue Student Activity Pages! When deciding on hands-on projects, have a general idea of the types of learners you have in your household. (This is especially a factor for choosing assignments for Grammar-level kids.)   Do you like to assign detailed projects that will likely require teacher input? Or do you prefer independent projects that allow students to go straight to the supply closet and complete on their own? Peruse the choices, level to level, for the entire unit. Put a check mark beside the ones you want to accomplish and make out a supply list of any materials you’ll need to purchase. Put the list in your purse or with your grocery list so that you won’t forget it on your next errand day.

One more choice you’ll need to make is also found in the blue Student Activity Pages. Here you will find a variety of questions, projects, and geography assignments. Again, there is more here than any one family (or student) should undertake. Survey them. To do or not to do, that is the question! Again, using the time guidelines I mentioned above, decide on which, if any, to assign to your students. The older the student, the more the accountability issue arises. Knowing the other academic, family, and church requirements for the week will be a major determining factor in whether or not you require students to complete the worksheets, write out answers to Thinking or Accountability Questions, etc. Using your Reproducibles disc, print up the ones you decide to assign. Put these with your student’s blank assignment chart at the beginning of the weeks for the first unit, and determine due dates for them.

As you plan, remember the multi-year aspect of your Tapestry plan. Will your student be revisiting this Year-Plan one or two times more? One approach that helps many moms to choose assignments with greater ease is to go ahead and plan for all the rotations the child will have in your first sitting. So, if your child is Lower Grammar, look ahead (and even indicate) his Dialectic and Rhetoric assignments, too. Many times, the moms who feels like she “just can’t leave anything out” will benefit from this tangible reminder that she needs to leave something to do the next time(s) around.

Finally, relax and, once again, pray for the start of your new year. Usually, with Tapestry, the biggest hurtle is getting started. No two families implement Tapestry exactly the same way. Tapestry can look daunting and confusing before you start. In holding the hands of many new moms, however, I’ve discovered that there’s a vast difference between the confidence levels and confusion of those who haven’t started yet, and those who have. Recognize that you are changing not only the content of what your students learn, but in many cases, how they learn as well. It will take a few weeks to adjust: be sure, in your own mind, to give yourself and your students, time.
More questions? Feel free to use our forum and ask away!
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Implementing Tapestry's Writing Component // DANA CAYWOOD

Twelve learning levels of writing composition assignments that span the spectrum of writing genres is just what you have before you as you explore each of the Tapestry Year-Plans. To implement the Writing program well, you will need access to a composition handbook. We recommend the ones published by Write Source. You’ll find a chart on page 3 of your purple, introductory Writing Scope and Sequence, that tells which handbook to buy for each learning level. (However, any handbook that teaches you to teach and/or gives students instructions and examples of finished products at their levels will do.) Note that we only recommend the Write Source handbooks, not the accompanying teacher’s guides or workbooks.

Into which level will you put each of your students? Your Writing Component starts with a long, purple section called the Scope and Sequence Introduction. This is a valuable section to which you can refer time and again as you teach your children to write. Browse through it on your way to the end pages of the section, where you will find page colors alternating between purple and white. Begin by looking at the purple, one-page Overview and white 2-page summary of genres for his current grade level.   Read over the 36-weekly assignments and see if you think he is ready for them. For example, Level 6 has a six-week research paper assigned. If your student has adequately written shorter reports in past years, he will likely be ready for this task. However, if constructing a paragraph is still beyond his grasp, you’ll want to drop down to a different level. Level 5 has a long biography, so you might want to back up even further. There is also no reason why you can’t combine levels over the course of the year, since writing assignments are self-contained within units. Thus, you could do, for instance, Unit 1 at Level 5, Unit 2 at Level 6, Unit 3 back at Level 5, and Unit 4 at Level 7, if you wished. The white, genre overviews are copied one-sided with a purpose: you can remove them from the notebook, spread them out on your rug, and look them over all at once.

Well-written compositions compile a number of skills that are built up, year after year. Getting the basics learned adequately is far more important that being able to say that a 20-page paper was completed. Remember that drop-by-drop the bucket is full! And, it is easy to catch up to grade-level once these basic skills are mastered. Here’s a general chart that might can help you in determining your child’s starting point, if you need to back up to hone skills.

*This chart is not inclusive of every assignment in your Year-Plan.

Writing skill:

Taught in level:

Complete sentences

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Friendly letters

1, 3

Paragraphs

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Summaries

2, 3, 4, 6, 7

Poetry

3, 6, 8, 10

Playwriting

3, 6, 9

Reports

2, 3, 7

Business writing

3, 11, 12

Speeches

4, 5, 7, 9

Essays

4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Research Paper

5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12

Debate

10, 11, 12

Multi-media presentation

11

Please be aware that every level, except 12, begins with a review of the steps in the writing process. This fact can confuse newcomers to Tapestry. We do this no purpose for two reasons. First, the review reminds even advanced students of important, basic steps upon which all good writing rests. Second, starting school is an intense and difficult task. Tapestry writing assignments are given weekly for 36 weeks, so any child using our program will be thoroughly instructed! By taking it easier in the area of composition at the beginning of each year, we allow families (especially new ones) to get solid in other important areas: new schedule, extended reading lists, new disciplines like geography or time line work, and fitting in hands-on projects, math, and science classes as well. Newcomers to Tapestry most appreciate this “ramp up” approach once they understand its purpose.

Now, to implement the weekly assignments, get your handbook and the coral-colored assignment pages for your chosen level. Week by week, simply assign the student to read from the handbook about the assignment. For instance, in Level 6, the student is to take reading notes. Look in the handbook’s index and find “ Reading .” WriteSource 2000 has the subtopic of “Notes.” In addition, Tapestry’s Introductory Notes has sections entitled “Taking Reading Notes” and “Taking Class Notes.” You, th