Ready, set, go!

Many newcomers ask, “How do I make choices from the educational buffet that is Tapestry?” Our answer is, “It depends!” Only you can assess your students’ capacity for reading, writing, and discussion. We suggest that you look over the Tapestry lesson plans, make your best guess, and then begin. So many people have written to tell us that, though they planned and planned, they never really got their minds around Tapestry until they had used it for a few weeks. So our best advice is, “Begin!”

Another well-loved strategy is to begin by using only part of the program, and then add elements in after a week or two of gaining momentum into the year. For instance, you might do only History assignments for the first week, then add in Literature readings in the next, then start requiring Geography or Vocabulary work.

You really cannot lose by trying! Tapestry plans offer all levels at all times, which means ultimate flexibility for you. In-flight adjustments are a breeze! If you have questions about where to place your student in reading or writing assignments, again, we recommend, “Try and see!” You can so easily adjust things up or down if you guess wrong.

Note that this is the reason that our Writing assignments start very slowly in the first few week-plans of each Tapestry year-plan. Our goal is to facilitate the start-up process for each year. Taken as a whole, each year-plan’s writing program is very full. Your student loses nothing by working slowly in Unit 1 and then spending more and more time on writing assignments as the year progresses.