Why Tapestry

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Tapestry of Grace

An integrated, classical approach to educating your children.

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Statement of Faith Production Calendar

Why "Tapestry"?

Our thoughts on:

Elementary Years

Middle Years

High School Years

Grace-Centered Schooling

Who really IS the best teacher for my kids?

How do I teach all my kids at once?

Teacher Development

Why the name: Tapestry of Grace?

God has woven the strands and patterns of the tapestry of time from ages past. The Tapestry of Grace curriculum helps parents weave new tapestries in the minds of their children—integrated Christian world views that are solid and beautiful in God’s eyes.

By studying the intertwined threads of history, literature, geography, art, science, and church history, we see God’s plan more clearly, and can find our place in it.

By discerning God’s plan, we develop a Biblical world view.

We seek to cement the academic lessons we teach by approaching each "thread" or a given section of the "tapestry of time." Thus, by means of extensive reading (of both history and literature), writing projects, hands-on activities, time line and vocabulary studies, map activities, and discussions that bring Scripture to bear on all our studies, our children remember better and learn to think and discern according to a Biblical Worldview. When the study is completed, our children are equipped to communicate the gospel and to weave their lives into their section God’s tapestry of time!

How are tapestries made?

A weaver weaves on the back of his work, never seeing the front until it is complete.
He usually works from a cartoon, which is an outline drawing of the pattern he is to execute.
Usually, his colors, both in hue and amount, are the reverse of what they will be on the front of the work. Thus, when the weaver sees much dark color on his loom, very little of it will be seen in the finished work. Conversely, a little gold in the work on the loom can result in much gold visible in the finished work. Tapestries take a very long time to weave: usually years.
Hand-woven tapestries take a long time to complete--sometimes years, sometimes decades!

How does that relate to me?

In many ways!

It relates to your life as a Christian. You see "in a mirror darkly." Much that appears dark or difficult in your life will result in blessing and reward in heaven, when perseverance has finished its work.
You try to follow a pattern for your life, an outline, a "cartoon"—the Bible, which is your only authoritative guide.
You live your life without seeing, at any time, the whole design or finished project.
And it takes a long time for your life to be woven into the fabric of God’s gracious plan in the world.

As a home schooling mother raising children to the glory of God, we can worry that we are weaving all wrong. We can also wonder how today’s history lesson relates to today’s science reading and tomorrow’s writing lesson. What vocabulary should my child learn, and how important is chemistry, after all? Some days, we feel like we’re progressing right along; other days we feel like dismal failures. Some days we’re aware of real progress in character development in our children; some days our own characters could use work!

The truth is that God is using all of our efforts with our children: schoolwork, our example, the influences of the world around them, interactions with those at our church and in our home school groups—all are being woven together in one magnificent tapestry of Grace that we will only see when the whole work is finished and taken off the loom.

Where does it say so in the Bible?

Romans 8:28 says:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

And, as Philippians 1:6 reminds us:

...He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Like a tapestry...

This program seeks to both discern the strands and patterns of the tapestry of time, woven by God in ages past and to help parents weave new tapestries—world views that are solid and beautiful in God’s eyes.

Through the study and discussion of all aspects of history, we teach our children the facts, thoughts and experiences of humankind as it unfolded. This organizational framework encompasses all our children need to learn. After all, everything we want to teach them happened in history—even Chemistry! History provides an orderly plan with a place for every discipline and every branch of knowledge.

When fully developed, the Tapestry of Grace curriculum hopes to provide:

Detailed lesson plans and discussion plans for world, church, art, technology, science, government, and American histories, world and American literature, vocabulary development, hands-on projects, group projects, geography, and time line work.
Suggested literature selections (and, in High School, in Years 3 and 4, philosophy) that are presented in context: that is, in the same weeks that students are studying the history of the period in which they were written, or, with fiction, in the period it portrays.
It will offer a writing curriculum that is tied into the historical and literary studies, and builds writing skills cumulatively over 12 years.
It will offer a reading plan for the appreciation of Math and Science in a guide we will call Natural History. (You will still need to purchase Math and High School lab science texts.)
Our goal is to mentor you in building a Christian Worldview in your children. Thus, in discussing art, alternate religions and philosophies, we will aid you in teaching your children to understand why those who wrote these works were affected as they were, and what impact their works have had on society since.
Through writing assignments, map work, time lines, character analyses, science reading, and hands-on projects, each week students will interact with different strands of a single section of God’s tapestry of time, always asking the question: what was God doing? And, how have we been affected by these things?
Interwoven with the strong beliefs they develop will be the skills to communicate those beliefs effectively through writing and speaking. Tapestry of Grace curriculum is replete with opportunities to build, week by week, strong written and oral communication skills.

Even when fully developed, you will need to supplement this program with:

The Math curricula of your choice.
A phonics program for younger students.
Foreign language study, and (if you so choose)
A formal grammar curriculum in High School.
This curriculum will also not encompass High School-level lab sciences.

Ideally, the program is designed as a Four Year Plan that is repeated three times with each child. Each time we return to an era in history, students are four years older. Older students dig deeper into the meaning of the events we are studying until, finally, on the third pass, through reading, writing, and discussion, we help our oldest children build solid, Christian, Biblically-based worldviews of their own, built on a clear understanding of where their views come from and how the Bible relates to all of history. Of course, not all children will get the chance to utilize all three rotations. That’s just fine! Without God guiding our efforts, none of them will please Him. Just one rotation, especially in High School, will thoroughly acquaint your child with his place in God’s Tapestry of Grace.

As 1 Thess. 5:24 reminds us:

The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it.

Would you like more specifics on exactly how Tapestry helps you achieve these goals? If so, click here to see how you can give a rich, classics-based, Christian education to children on multiple levels.

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