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September 2005

News

Encouragement

Teaching Teachers

Tips for Beginners

Featured Crafts

Stories

News

Photo Contest Winner for September!

Hey there! I'm David, your official graphic designer and host of the Monthly Distaff Photo Contest (or MDPC, as we like to call it). I'm tickled pink to present to you the winner of this month's contest. Valorie and Todd sent this to us, and we think it's just too much fun! We all had a good hoot over it ... hope you do too.

"The Crowning of King Clorax."

Note the rug under King Clorax's feet, the plant by his side, the pot on his head, and (of course) the dog licking his face. The tiki torches and mini-pyramids are such great touches. What a fantastic scene! Valorie and Todd, expect your $10 gift certificate to arrive soon.

By the way, Valorie and Todd also sent in the great picture we used for our front cover this year. Be sure and take a close looks at the hieroglyphics depicting the lives of Ancient Egyptian Chickens.

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!

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Newsflash!

MapAids for Year 1 are in stock, and for all who pre-ordered them, they mailed out yesterday (September 22)! We sincerely hope that they prove to be a boon and a blessing to you. Enjoy!

For those who may not have heard, we are starting to stock the books we sell, beginning with out-of-print books that are key to Tapestry Year-plans. Our first reprint is now in stock. It is the main spine book recommended for Year 4, the Dialectic level. You can order The Idiot's Guide to the Twentieth Century from Lampstand Press today!

New page numbers for recommended replacement books (Year 1) in 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.

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What's going on at Lampstand Press?
Join HSLDA with our new group discount number!

Reminder: Tapestry of Grace 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.

2006 Conferences
The 2005 conference season is over. We are now accepting applications for booth hostesses and speaking engagements for Marcia for 2006. We are grateful to those of you who have applied to host booths in 2006. We are especially interested in hosting booths at the following conventions, for which we have received no applications thus far:

Colorado State Conference/June 15-17, 2006

HEAV State Convention & Educational Fair/June 8-10, 2006

Christian Home Educators Convention/CA, Ontario/July

Indiana Annual Home Educators Convention/March 24-25

NTHEN Winter Convention/January

Mass HOPE 16th Annual Homeschool Convention/April

Michigan Home Education Convention/May

New York Annual Home Education Family Convention/June

ENOCH of New Jersey Homeschool Convention/May 19-20, 2006

South Carolina Home Educators Convention/June 16-17, 2006

Kentucky Christian Home Educators Conference/July

Arlington Bookfair in TX

Knoxville, TN

Email Casey if you are interested in hosting a booth at these state conventions or large local homeschooling events, 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.

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!

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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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 the dissipating "four week fog." Veterans enjoy coming to help out newbies. It's a great time, so please consider joining us THIS COMING Monday, September26, 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."
This month, we will focus on an issue that touches us often as homeschooling moms: criticism. How do you respond to criticism from others? Perhaps you have someone in your life who distrusts your homeschooling choices, and has no problem letting you know it -- often? Maybe you, yourself, are convicted of being overly critical of your husband or children? We are going to take up this important topic this month and see what help we can gain from God's Word. If you want to attend, next time (October 10) please read this free article: "The Cross and Criticism" between now and October 10 (all book club meetings will meet on the second Monday of the month between 9 PM and 12 PM, using IM* chat rooms).
Blessings!
Marcia
*AOL Instant Messenger, available free for download, at www.aim.com. On any given chat night come online and IM " MarciaChatting" to be invited to our private chat room. Confused? Ask your kids for help! Hope we see you there!

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Encouragement

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

Below is the third and last portion of a three-part article on the importance of having a daily tryst with God. It is excerpted from a speech I have given repeatedly in the spring of 2005 at state conventions across the country, and in Japan, entitled "The Nearness of God is My Good." (Read Parts I and II in our archives!) In this last part, I offer some practical tips on how to enrich your daily quiet times with God.

In our first issue, we began this series 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?

Last month, I went on to describe my own 16-year-long battle against craven fear, which caused me to realize my spiritual poverty. Working from the text of 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 confessed how many things have vied for my attention as I foolishly believed the lie that other things (like the desire for sleep or to accomplish desired tasks) were of greater worth to me than time spent with God. These amounted to spiritual laziness, pride, and self-sufficiency, and kept me weak and fearful for over sixteen years! Yet, all the time, the nearness of God was my greatest need--and would bring me the greatest good!

Part III: Application

The Nancy Leigh DeMoss retreat at my local church was the turning point for my fear battle, but I didn’t know it at the time. I went with low expectations and mostly out of obedience. As I listened to Nancy exhort us about the importance of a rich and regular time with God each day, I was convicted of my sloth and pride, and readily admitted to myself that I was making poor choices and would reap accordingly if I didn’t change. When Nancy asked us to stand as a token before God of a commitment to 30 days of QT in the very near future, I took it seriously. I stood, promising God that, to the best of my ability, I would have an hour's quiet time with Him every day for the next 30.

The commitment had an amazing result right away. I learned the first important principle of regular, consistent, daily devotions: stop arguing with yourself. My commitment to the 30 days ended the question, “Do I have time?” For the next 30 days and beyond, I simply made time, each morning, first thing. I set my alarm early, went to bed early, and got up—early! J Amazing! It was no virtue in me that allowed me to change. The Holy Spirit of God was drawing me. If you're reading this, please know: He's drawing you just as surely, as lovingly, as powerfully as He was drawing me. Like me, you can have victory in this area if you will submit yourself to His loving conviction!

God met me in those first few days powerfully. I had recently given up caffeine for health reasons, and so I was totally dependant on His grace to help me rise early. As I shared last month, I was a "night owl" by both nature and preference. But at the seminar, I became convinced for the first time that my greatest good would not be the night time pursuits I cherished, but instead an early morning meeting with my God and Father. As He brought me to this realization, He also really gave me supernatural strength to do the early-morning rising, and to this day, I am now an early riser (and a somewhat earlier-to-bedder!)

There’s an old illustration that I had long known about, and drew on as I began my 30-day trek. I believe I learned it from Steven Covey, but I’ve seen it in other places since. It involves rocks (small and large) and a jar.

The jar represents your day. You have stuff to do each day: important stuff, like homeschool lessons, doctor’s appointments, and meals three times a day. These are the "big rocks" of your day.

Then there are less important things: sewing projects you’d like to finish, a ramble in the park with your toddlers that would be fun, a trip to the dump you really should get done, a call your mom about a recipe, and another load of laundry. These you fit in where you can… or, you allow them to take over your day and make the larger, more important tasks impossible to complete. Say these are the “little rocks” in our illustration.

Each day, your task before God is to fit all the rocks that He has called you to into your daily "jar."

If you put the little rocks first into the jar, the bigger rocks simply can’t fit.

Wisdom dictates that you attend to the big rocks first, then the little, optional rocks will fit in easily around the big ones.

What had happened in my heart and mind during the Nancy Leigh DeMoss retreat was that suddenly I made a commitment to God to move quiet time from the "little rock" category to the "big rock" category. There was no longer room for dispute: I simply made a rule that I had to have time with God first, and everything else could wait. (I did the same with exercise, but that’s a different testimony.)

Because I am a chart person, I also decided that there were elements that I wanted in my Quiet Time and that I needed some form of accountability and structure to keep me on track. I had taken my pastor's course called “Meeting with God” and it had helped me figure out that I needed a plan to approach my Quiet Time. I had taken Self Confrontation, and years before, I had learned the Navigators’ approach: ACTS. I had tried Kay Arthur’s Principle Approach, so I knew about highlighting words in the Bible, and my church had had a seminar with Donald Whitney, who taught us to pray the psalms (see Howard's book for specifics on this).

I knew from experience which elements of all these approaches had helped me the most as I’d diligently learned each one, so on the Sunday night after the seminar, I made myself a two-page chart spread so that I would have places to record my time with God. What I found was that in working through these forms daily, my life has been changed and (I believe) my fear battle has been won!

(Now, I’ve linked you a copy of the forms that I developed and you can use them if they help you. But for the rest of this article, I am mostly using these forms and overheads to show you practically some elements you might incorporate to breathe fresh life into your QT, and perhaps even to simplify and use to instruct your children. Remember, one of our key purposes in learning to have vibrant devotional times is to be able to instruct our children in similar pursuits so that they may learn that the nearness of God is their greatest good, too!)

I never thought I'd share this two-page chart with anyone; I made it for me. But, many people have expressed to me that they were helped by using it, so I offer it with love and hopes that it will bless you. As with everything I write, feel free to take or leave any element as the Holy Spirit leads.

Outline of my plan:

Ÿ    The spaces at the top left portion of the page are there so that I can leave myself "bread crumbs" of my path through Scripture. I don't follow a set reading plan, so I record there where I've been that day. Next day, I can pick up where I left off, or set off in a new direction.

Ÿ    My daily tryst with God begins with a time in His Word. As I am in the Word, I wait for God’s freshening Spirit to highlight some new characteristic of God each day. I often read the psalms of the day, or work my way through a particular book. I then respond to the revelation—that rhema word—I usually receive by writing the insight or impression from the Scripture. (The "Ref." space is a "filing system" for me. I have other charts and forms that I've created to allow me to expand thematic studies, prayer requests, working on my sins, adoring God, etc. Try not to be distracted by them.)

Ÿ    As my mind is renewed, various thoughts and prayers and insights begin to flood my mind. I record them in the “Just Talking to God” section. Sometimes I record prayers for others here, but more often, it's just my own internal sanctification that gets recorded.

Just talking with God…

     Lord, help me to display Your love to my family today. Help me to

overcome my habitual sins of impatience and anxiety. Help me be

really patient with Suzy and Joey today.

     Father, help Jane with her chemotherapy treatments today. She is

so weak. She needs Your grace. Thank You that I get the opportunity

to minister your love to her.

     Lord, I am getting very weary of homeschooling. I wonder if I can

hold out for another 10 years! Then I remember that it’s a privilege,

especially when I consider that Jane would love to exchange places

With me. Make me more grateful, Lord. Help me see Your power and

plan in what I’m doing today. Thank You. Amen.

With my mind cleansed by His Word, I then moved into A-C-T-S.

Adoration: I spend time adoring God simply by choosing two attributes of God to meditate on and extol in about 3-4 lines. (Of course, these attributes stick with me. Over time, here is where the first real break through enemy lines was seen in my fear battle. As I magnified God, day after day, He grew ever larger in my heart and mind. My fears and problems seemed less significant, day by day. His glory, His love, and His ability to keep His promises grew ever larger and filled my gaze. I came to see that His character was all love and all soundness, immovable grace advanced to me through Jesus’ death on the Cross, and I truly had nothing to fear and all to gain by dying.

Confession: With an ever deepening confidence in God, I then moved into confession of specific sins from the day before. I sat before the Lord, and it was nanoseconds before I was convicted of sin. Sin patterns emerged, and it came to be that I wrote the sin down and then pondered simply how I had most blatantly sinned in that area the day before.

I had learned from David Powlison the importance of specific confession of specific sins, so I made the chart at the top of page 2 to enable myself to specifically and full confess my sin. Before this season of my life, I had always felt (and even identified) my sin easily and quickly, but I hadn't dwelt upon its seriousness, nor had I identified patterns of sin. Adding this component to my daily time with God forced me to sit before Him and see in myself the sin that was hurting me and others around me.

This specific confession of specific sins led me to the next section of my chart: Thanksgiving. Here, another lovely surprise awaited me!

I had always been fairly discerning of my sin and ready to admit it, but I had—all my Christian life—been shortchanging myself. When repenting for sin, I had “felt bad until I felt better” about it. I had not seen Jesus as directly dying for specific sins. I had not grasped grace!

With this new form in view (and having freshly reviewed Mark Mullery’s excellent article on preaching the gospel to myself) I began to do business with God each day. I had confessed my sins; now, I applied the gospel to these specific sins and received the forgiveness promised in 1 John 1:9 (ESV) “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

As I received forgiveness from God for specific sins, I found that the grip of fear was loosening at last from my heart. I felt God’s love for me. I saw that Calvary really had paid for all my sins, and more importantly for me, for each of my sins. Each day, as I confessed sins and then applied the gospel specifically to them, I was assured more and more strongly of the Savior’s love for me, and I could not help but love Him back! Grace became increasingly amazing, and my doubts and fears receded into insignificance.

Supplication: Finally, after cleansing my own heart, I felt ready to pray for others. I must admit, this was the shortest part of my Quiet Time, but often, as time went by, I found myself returning to various prayer requests during the day as the Holy Spirit gave me unction. Gone were the mind-paralyzing clouds and the hours of introspection. Instead, through hours and hours of beholding God’s face, glory, righteousness and love for me demonstrated at the Cross, I was freed up to joyfully serve, pray, and minister to others as I am doing in this article.

No one is more amazed than I am that I should be writing on this topic. But here I am. I hope this exhortation, testimony, and these few tips have been an encouragement to you. If you have a rich and satisfying devotional time, guard it as your most precious treasure! The nearness of God is your greatest good. If you are just going through the motions like I was, let me say again, "God has more for you." If you haven’t even been keeping a perfunctory tryst, can I lovingly say that you are missing it, and in danger of God’s loving (but possibly severe) reproof? At the very least, you will reap what you are sowing, just as the generations of Israel did.

Why not, as I did, take the 30 day challenge? Using one or more of the tools I outline above, why not commit before the Lord to meet with him for an hour a day (perhaps throughout the day, if you're a mother with young children)? If you do make the commitment, I recommend that you make it publicly. Tell someone; ask them to keep you accountable, and pray to God for the grace to fulfill your commitment.

I'm going to close with a few helpful Scriptures that convince me that the nearness of God is by far my greatest good:

Ps. 19:7-11 says, “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”

No matter what area you or your children are struggling with—finances, marriage issues, parenting issues, curriculum issues, daily grind issues, health issues—no matter WHAT… the nearness of God is your good. Want proof? Look at me. After 16 years of a daily pitch battle with craven fear, I can gladly say now, with full conviction, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Ps. 23:4.

May you meet with God this month, and may God bless you richly during those daily trysts!

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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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Join our 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.)
In September, we discussed this helpful article," Getting to the Heart of Conflict"
For October, we are planning to read "The Cross and Criticism." If you would like to join us in our monthly chat session, read this article between now and October 10 (all book club meetings will meet on the second Monday of the month between 9 PM and 12 PM, using IM* chat rooms). On Oct. 10 (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. You can also tell us how you are doing on faithfully keeping your daily trysts with God. Hope we see you there!
*AOL Instant Messenger, available free for download, at www.aim.com.
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Teaching Teachers

What Comprises a Christian Curriculum? BY MARCIA SOMERVILLE

Many people buy Tapestry of Grace because they are seeking help with building into their children a firmly Christian worldview. They buy Tapestry thinking of it as a “Christian curriculum.” Some parents, especially those new to homeschooling, have an expectation that a Christian curriculum will naturally only recommend resources for their children’s perusal that reflect that Christian worldview and are accurate reflections of biblical revelation, truth, or even content. Because Tapestry chooses a very specific method for helping parents to inculcate a Christian worldview, it is not limited to Christian content, per se. Rather, it seeks to teach students to develop a Christian worldview through exposure to, and guided analysis of secular resources. In fact, secular resources play a vital role in the process.

Let me outline for you a discussion among homeschoolers that has been around since before I started homeschooling. Simply stated, the debate is this: should parents raise children who are innocent of the knowledge of evil, or children who recognize evil and seek to keep themselves from it while addressing it biblically?

Those parents who take the first view picture children as young plants in a greenhouse, who cannot withstand the cruel weather of winter and must be protected (artificially even) from frost, harm, or blight until they are large and hardy enough to be “set out” in the garden. Such parents say we should shield our children from the knowledge of evil, especially when they are young. Our purpose should be to engender in them such a love of what is good by constant and pure communion with it that they will be rightly horrified by evil when they do encounter it as adults. Our hope is that young adults so raised will flee from evil when they encounter it, as in 2 Timothy 2:22 (ESV) "So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." Another verse that might describe this viewpoint would be Paul's sentiment expressed in 2 Corinthians 11:2-3 (ESV) "I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ." Those who hold this view seem more concerned with personal purity and holy living (albeit in an isolated way) than evangelism or engagement of the culture around them, by and large.

The other viewpoint sees a need for children to become acquainted with the evils of the world at a more tender age than we could wish so that they will have more options as adults than flight or isolationism. This view observes that evil is resident in all human hearts, and that our children will have to deal with it all their lives. Because evil is an integral part of the human experience, our children will encounter it: beginning with sin in their own hearts, then by encountering the sinful hearts of family members, and finally in dealing wisely, bravely, and biblically with extreme evil in the world. To these parents, simply training children to run from evil will not be enough. Because of this reality, they would say that we should seek an education that acquaints our children with evil as an abhorrence to God. As children grow, we should seek to define evil in as many ways as possible with our children, so that they will neither be surprised nor dismayed by it. Note that acquaintance with evil is not the same as experience with it. Parents who hold this view would seek to teach their children about the evils men do without asking them to experience its force too soon. Those on this end of the spectrum would point both to Romans 12:9 (ESV) "Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good," and Acts 17:11 (ESV) "Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so," or Matthew 10:16 (ESV) "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves," or finally, Psalm 127:3-5 (ESV)

    Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
        the fruit of the womb a reward.
    Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
        are the children of one's youth.
    Blessed is the man
        who fills his quiver with them!
    He shall not be put to shame
        when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

They would see their children as future adults whom they are training to interact with the secular culture around them, echoing the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (ESV) “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”

Perhaps the crux of the matter is best seen by dividing the term "evil" into "knowledge of evil" and "experience of evil." Neither of these two camps would espouse purposefully exposing children to active evil in the hopes of teaching them to deal with it. (To be sure, there may be proponents of this idea, but I'm saying that neither of the views I'm outlining above would suggest this course.) The question lies more in when, and how, we should introduce children to the knowledge of evil. Do we seek to strongly establish their faith in God and love of good by shielding them from all possible knowledge of evil (or God-opposing or tempting) views or practices? Or do we carefully teach our children, through literature, history, philosophy, and the arts that mankind is evil, and that all evil is abhorrent to God and must be to the true Christian as well? Do we primarily teach them to run from all evil, or to understand it biblically, so that they have an answer to it and a fearlessness of it because God is so much greater than the evils men do? Is our goal to raise children who shun and isolate themselves from evil (and evil people) or those who run, as David did, to counter evils that neither surprise nor entice them, since they have been introduced to it and understood it from a biblical perspective, and rejected its temptations before meeting it in experiential ways in the world?

I do not pretend to have the authoritative answer to this age-old quandary. Both views have their strengths. But I can share how we have chosen to walk with our children, and which of these views underlies our choices for the Tapestry resource list.

We, Scott and Marcia Somerville, have taken the second view. We believe that the gospel, the Spirit, and the Word combined are active and protective in the lives of our children. We seek to acquaint our children with man’s evil at appropriate, yet young, stages of their lives, in the hopes that they will both understand the evil and (as David did with Goliath -- 1 Samuel 17:48) run to meet and defeat it, secure in their certain knowledge of God's superior power over evil, and with strong faith in His sovereignty and love for them.

The Tapestry book list, which originated as our family’s book list, reflects this viewpoint. Tapestry’s list does not, strictly speaking, comprise a Great Books curriculum, yet it contains many books on that list. We have attempted to carefully mine the works of Western Civilization for representations of truth -- good and bad and ugly -- that will aid us in teaching our children about God, mankind, and the culture which we hope they will affect for good.

For younger children, we have chosen to offer a gentle introduction. We have sought to choose resources that generally portray the good, estimable, and noble aspects of mankind’s history. We look for books that engender hope and good cheer. We also give you choices, knowing that tender little hearts may not be ready for confusing elements of literature, such as mythology, and we provide alternative readings for them. Yet, please remember, our books are secular. You, as a parent, must retain the final responsibility for familiarity with the content of books your young children read, or interpretation thereof when books may not accurately reflect your theological perspective.
For older students, especially, many of our choices involve "tough" subjects: evil is center stage. Les Miserables and Crime and Punishment have sympathetic characters who sin grievously (prostitution and murder); such books as One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and All Quiet on the Western Front detail the brutality of man against man; 1984 and Farenheit 451 give compelling examples of mankind’s hopeless state apart from God, and are bleak and depressing. However, there is real truth in all these works. They do not paint good as evil, and evil as good. They portray the human condition as it is, and the Tapestry guides, through our Teacher’s Notes, seek to help you to bring a biblical perspective to these situations so that your children may be equipped to encounter similar situations in their lives with Christian charity, biblical hope, and compassionate, informed evangelism.

Let me just say, in closing, that our children now range from 14 to 24. They each have (by God's grace alone) a vibrant, unshrinking faith in God and confidence in His ability to guide, protect, and love them, come what may. They are young, and have not been severely tested, so of course in some ways, the full proof of our instruction has yet to be demonstrated. But we rejoice to see that they regularly engage those with alternate worldviews in redemptive conversations, seeking to bring them to faith in Christ. For us, the fruit of this alternative has been sweet. However, I am sure that others who have chosen the other path in faith have experienced sweet fruit as well. Whenever we seek to honor God, we win, because in the end, He empowers those who wholly trust in Him. It's never our feeble efforts or wise theories that raise God-filled children: God Himself fills them as He wills with His Spirit, and we do well to seek Him daily for that provision, and trust in Him which ever path we choose.
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Just What is Prewriting, Anyway? BY DANA CAYWOOD

The very first step that takes place when a writing assignment has been given has been termed “prewriting”. Recording brainstorming and information gathering will help to develop the specific topic assigned. Generally speaking, when a student turns in an inadequate composition project, it is because the prewriting has been neglected or ignored.   Paragraphs, reports, essays, and research papers should be overflowing with facts, facts, and more facts.   The organization and assembly of these essentials will help the student maintain focus for a well-organized assignment.

The organization of information can be done in many different ways. The Tapestry Writing Component keys you in to another term that may be new to you: graphic organizers. These are charts or diagrams that enable the student to arrange his thoughts and research for prewriting in a systematic manner.   Doing an internet search will reveal dozens of different types that can make prewriting fun, especially for Grammar-level students. Check out http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/index.html for some ideas that you can easily print on your own computer. Note that our writing links for each specific Year-Plan provide even more!

One type of graphic organizer that can be used for prewriting is a cluster diagram. Clusters can be simple, for a younger student, or more complex for an older one. This type of graphic is best used for expository writing. Supplements 11 and 19 (on green paper in your Writing Component) can be printed and used for this purpose. Younger students can use big newsprint or posters, while older students can use regular paper. Neatness is not the goal here; but, thoroughness is.

Venn diagrams are a common graphic organizer used for compare/contrast assignments. These are overlapping circles that list similar and different characteristics of a given topic. A sample of a Venn can be found at the top of Supplement 3 in your Writing Component. Personalize your own at http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/graphic_org/venn_diagrams/.

Blank charts are also great tools for organizing information. Supplement 14 was used a great deal in the Caywood household as we learned to write reports. The first column was used for information found in an encyclopedia, while facts from a different book filled the second column.   As my boys got older, Supplement 10 was used, requiring three different sources. Rows were designated for specific information. For example, if doing a report entitled “Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt”, rows could be titled “homes”, “farming”, “education”, “clothing”, etc.

If your students have done outlines in the past, be assured that this is another type of prewriting. In fact, my college student uses this type more than any other for his assignments. The older the student gets, the more he will develop his preference for a prewriting style. However, exposure to various types is encouraged for many years.

Lastly, for many years, the Somerville parents required their students to turn in the prewriting before beginning the rough draft. In this way, Scott or Marcia could verify that enough research had been completed. Imagine that there are enough recorded facts for one typed page, but the assignment calls for four typed pages! Teach your students to avoid this frustration by requiring prewriting.

Check out our writing links:
http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/Year%201/Y1_writing.htm
http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/Year%202/Y2_writing.htm
http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/Year%203/Y3_writing.htm
http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/Year%204/Y4_writing.htm

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Tips for Beginners

Using the Tapestry of Grace website BY DANA CAYWOOD

At Lampstand Press, we have two main goals for our website.

1)                To provide a service to our users
2)                To allow non-purchasers to glean valuable, helpful information

The initial page you’re likely to encounter is http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/index.htm. Today’s article is to familiarize you with the resources found after you click on the right link from this page, labeled as “Tapestry In-Depth”. To use most of our site’s resources, click here, or go straight to http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/usingTOG.htm.

This is what you’ll see after entering the “In-Depth” link. Six stitch-embossed tabs, four of which match the Year-Plans. Let’s focus on using the links for each of the Year-Plans.

Click on the tab for your Year-Plan on the actual website. (You might want to bookmark this page.) After the new page loads, you’ll see, a horizontal bar, underneath the “stitched” tabs with labels like these:

Topics History   Geography   Literature   Church History   Arts/Activities Government Gallery   Evaluations  Writing   Field Trips

(You can click on any of these to see where they go! They are all for Year 1.)

Let’s take some examples from situations you may encounter so that you can get a good feel of how to use these pages.

You are in Week 5 of Year 2. You could find neither a copy of Alfred the Great and the Saxons, or a similar substitute for your Dialectic history student. Simply click on your Year 2 stitched tab, then “History.” Scroll down to week 5 and you’ll see a linked site to Alfred the Great.

Do you want to make the challah bread mentioned in the Lower Grammar hands-on projects for Year 1, Week 7? Under the Year 1 stitched tab, go to “Arts/Activities”.

To Kill a Mockingbird is your Rhetoric student’s Year 4, Week 11 literature assignment. However, you’ve decided to skip our suggestions for Weeks 12 and 13, and do an expansion of Harper Lee’s book. You’ve got it right! Under Week 11 of the Year 4 stitched tab, you’ll find some great study links so that you can do a more in-depth study.

Short stories are assigned in a couple of weeks of each Year-Plan’s Writing Component. Our coral Writing Assignment Charts suggest the use of a “story map” to use for prewriting. Click on your Year-Plan, then “Writing”, then the needed week. Voila! A story map!

Somewhere in the recesses of your memory, you know that the Transcontinental Railroad is studied in Year 3. But where? “Topics” under Year 3 will help you find that this is studied in Week 24.

There are loads of other helpful pages at our site. Nothing on your computer will mess up if you spend some time “clicking around”. In fact, that’s the easiest way to get to know us and what we provide!   Using our site map can be your starting point for discovering loads of new information. http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/Miscellaneous/site_map.htm

Here are some other neat pages you won’t want to miss:

q       Samples: http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/Miscellaneous/quick_prints.htm

q       Find someone using Tapestry near you: http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/Miscellaneous/form_co-ops.htm

q       Teacher Development: http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/Philosophy/teacher_development.htm

q       Grace-Centered Homeschooling: http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/Philosophy/grace_centered.htm

q       Other products we recommend: http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/Overview/Products_We_Recommend.htm

Please note that all of our pages are constantly in the state of being updated. At some point, you’ll likely come across inactive links, or simply not find a link that you desire. I’m here to help! Just send me an email, and I’ll get on it ASAP! J Dana@TapestryofGrace.com

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How To Determine Weekly Grades BY MARCIA SOMERVILLE

Many moms new to integrated learning (unit study) and Tapestry find themselves feeling a little insecure without published tests that they can use to assess their child's progress. We understand! We are in the process of developing such weekly quizzes and unit tests, but many, many families have done integrated study and Tapestry without such tests, and successfully gotten their children into colleges. So, until we publish tests for you, how do you arrive at a weekly grade for your student?

First, I want to reassure you. For many seasoned homeschoolers, this is not a very important question. Such families are secure in the knowledge that, since they are tutoring their children, they need not test in order to find out what their children know. It is a simple matter, in most cases, to quiz younger students orally and determine if they have comprehended their lessons. Especially in Grades 1-6, most people don't have to keep grades for any reason other than personal desire. However, some oversight groups do require them. So, here are some guidelines if you feel you must keep grades for Grammar-level students.

Quiz orally. Especially for grades 1-3, do not require children to write out long quizzes that you spend hours making up. Rather, sit them down at week's end and just have a conversation. Ask what they remember about the main topics you covered during the week. Draw them out on things they are vague about, or information about which their answers are too general.

Create your own True/False or "fill in the blank" quizzes. Some parents might want to give their Grammar-level students practice in test-taking. It's easy to make a quiz that will cover the week's lesson yourself. Since each family uses different resources, and since, for non-readers anyway, you have read these books yourself, go ahead and make up a little 1-question quiz during some weeks. How? Looking at the "Threads" section of the Tapestry Teachers' Notes, discern the main points of the week's lesson. Now, flip through your child's history resources (books) and find the main headings on the page. Devise True/False quiz questions from these, or devise true sentences that leave out a key word or phrase. If you want to, you can even mix these two types of questions. Ten questions for a week's lesson is enough! And, don't stress on whether you got The Ten Most Important Ones. There's no such thing. When curriculum providers make quizzes, all they do is look at lessons and choose random main ideas on which to test. You can do the same with perfect serenity.

Use the work they've already done each week to assign grades! Give your students criteria for their projects before they start them, and then use those criteria to give them a grade. We have designed a Project Rubric as part of our upcoming Evaluations disk that I can gladly share with you at this time. You can also grade their writing assignments, map work (for neatness and thoroughness), vocabulary work (how many words have they learned this week?), etc.

Now, what about for older students? Well, the same thinking applies. You don't have to grade, but if you choose to, you're not doing a bad thing either. As students get older there is an added benefit to weekly quizzes, unit tests, and final exams. These give the student a chance to thoroughly review lessons, to pull back and think about how individual themes fit a larger picture, and to learn to take tests. So, if you make up quizzes or tests for your student, you do well. But if you don't, you can also follow some of the guidelines above while waiting for Lampstand Press to publish Tapestry linked written evaluations. Here are some ideas for you:

Remember not to load your student down with too many quizzes or tests. Again, you are tutoring him, and unless he has character issues, he's doing the reading/writing you assign, and therefore he IS learning.

Written quizzes/tests for Dialectic and Rhetoric students are easily derived from either Accountability Questions or Thinking Questions. You can style them as short answer, true false, multiple choice, or essay questions. Again, don't get bogged down in the feeling that you NEED to find the PERFECTLY RIGHT ten questions. Just choose 10 main ones and rest assured that the Lord will guide you and your student.

For Dialectic students, focus your attention on short quizzes or tests that allow him to display his understanding of connections and facts.

For Rhetoric students, unit and final exams are more important, if only for the experience in reviewing for and taking larger tests. Writing these is not very difficult if you think in terms of breaking the test down into smaller components. Choose from among these for various testing situations, and create unit tests that last about 1.5 hours, and final exams that last 2 hours:

Write 10 T/F questions on important facts or dates. (5 minutes)

Ask the student to write a paragraph on 5 important terms, such as Communism, or "revolution." Use terms that you've clearly defined and that were central to the unit or year. (1/2 hour)

Time line questions are good for helping students review and affix important dates in their minds. Provide a blank time line (for just the segment of history you're testing). Give him 10 important dates, and ask him to write them in where they belong.

Include a map section, if you've been doing geography. Give the student a list of 10-15 places or geographic formations and ask him to label/shade them on a blank map you provide. (20-30 minutes or so)

Charts are sometimes useful testing tools. Have you been reading about parallel cultures in the Ancient World? Give him a blank chart with defined categories and selected cultures and ask him to fill it in from memory. (30-40 minutes, depending on the size/complexity of the chart)

Have the Rhetoric student write his choice of two essay questions. Draw these from either Thinking Questions you've thoroughly discussed, or writing assignment essays that he chose not to write during the unit/year. (30 minutes for a unit test; 45 minutes for a final exam) On final exams, you can also do choice of two short essays (20 minutes) and then also choice of longer essays (40 minutes).

Remember, before you give the student the unit test or final exam, prepare him thoroughly. The student should know the basic components (types of questions) on the test, and should be led through a lengthy review of all subject matter before attempting the test.

Again, it's not necessary to write/give quizzes at all. (We didn't ever do so except for those offered in the Writing Assignments for Rhetoric students! Our kids got into college, so please believe us when we say it's not necessary.*) Instead, you can:

Require D/R students to write out the answers, weekly, to Accountability or Thinking Questions (or both) and then grade the neatness and thoroughness of their work.

Similarly with Literature and Church History and Philosophy assignments and discussions. If there are written questions that we offer, you can use the student's homework to generate a grade.

You can grade their "class participation" during discussion time (pass/fail).

You can grade Geography work for neatness and thoroughness.

You can grade writing assignments.

Oral exams work for older students, too.

So do project/oral presentation/visual presentation grades. (Click on these links to see oral presentation rubrics and oral presentation spectrum sheets we've developed for the new Evaluations disks to evaluate some of these.)

Again, and finally, relax! In our homeschool world of tutorial studies, grades are usually superfluous! They can serve specific purposes (like motivating the student to do his best work, or providing needed information to oversight groups) but at the end of the day, your focus should remain on developing in your child a love of learning. Teach him that, whatever form of evaluation you may choose, the most important thing is to do his best and learn from any mistakes or deficiencies a test or grade might reveal. As in all things, we want to work to please the Lord, and we are full of flaws and shortcomings. Make sure you encourage your student about all he's doing well, and partner with him to help him overcome the fewer areas in which he's weak!

*We assigned "pass/fail" grades to all subjects that for which we had no published tests from curricula -- which was all Tapestry subjects, since Tapestry wasn't published back then. College admissions officers don't esteem the grades homeschool parents give anyways. They look far harder at SAT scores, reading lists, and writing samples, as well as the kinds of extra-curricular activities students engage in and the recommendations other write. So, please be released about needing to generate letter grades!

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Featured Crafts

Fingernail polish adds panache!

Tracy in Kansas shared this fun tip for adding zest to our salt maps:

"My mom, an artist, is helping this year with any artistic projects we have. (How blessed I am!) When we finished our Y1 Salt map of the Nile, mom wanted the water to look more realistic -- to shine. So she thought maybe clear finger nail polish would make it look more real. It works! It looks great! Ya gotta try it on water!

But then, I found the blue sparkly fingernail polish that my girls have... we painted that on the water and POW! Our Red Sea shimmers, our Nile sparkles! So much fun with such a simple thing.

By the way, polish will not come off a brush with water, so use a brush you can ruin or clean it with polish remover."

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Mosaic projects

In both Year 2 (early in the year) and in Year 1 (the last unit) Tapestry guides offer a suggestion for the children to make mock mosaics so they can better understand the effort and artistry of ancient artisans. In reading the Internet discussion loops this month, we realized that the how to's of a mosaic project are not obvious to everyone. We gleaned off the discussion loop and offer these varying insights for your use.

Vanessa wrote very detailed and helpful directions in her post, which gives one a good idea of how to scale this project up or down depending on the age of children participating. Her ideas show us how this can be done with virtually any project:

You will need:

colored paper (or have the youngest ones spend lots of busy alone time coloring blank sheets of white paper.. but filling the whole paper with color.) Once you have colored paper, children can use the square hole puncher to cut the square paper tiles. (I got mine at a local craft store for about $2.00) [Editor's note: Or, just use a ruler to make straight lines in pencil for them to cut on, and mark off grids so they cut up (create) small squares of colored paper.]

child-safe scissors

pencil (for those creating the outline pattern)

black marker (Used to trace over the pencil outline, once they are happy with the design. Erase all incorrect pencil lines after outlining is done.)

craf