Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Classic and Redesigned year-plans?

• Differences between Classic and Redesign:
  • Classic was award-winning, and still works great; Redesigned is the newest, latest version (also award-winning!), which we are still in the process of writing.
  • The approach is the same in both: the whole family studies one topic a week, and we try to give moms as much help as possible in teaching that week's topic to all students in her home. The layout is different: Classic was produced in-house by copiers on colored paper; Redesign is professionally printed in colored ink on white paper, with more user-friendly organization.
  • Redesign plans have Writing Assignment Charts integrated into each week-plan; Classic volumes separate out the Writing Assignment Charts into the BASE unit.
• Advantages of the Redesign format:
  • We learned a lot in writing Tapestry of Grace. Redesign represents the best of all the constructive feedback that Classic users gave us over eight years of use, and all of the new improvements and options that are offered to us with changing technology.
  • Our sister company, Bookshelf Central, carries all of the titles from the primary reading lists.
  • We offer a more guided approach to reading lists, while retaining flexibility.
  • Redesigned plans have added history discussion outlines for dialectic (Jr. High) level students. Both Redesign and Classic have discussion outlines for the rhetoric level.
  • In editing Redesigned volumes, and in deciding to sell the primary resources we recommend, we have been able to tighten up the questions/answers that we ask students in preparation for discussion. We did not assure parents using the Classic volumes that all the answers the student needs are in his resources (if you use the exact books we recommend and sell). Most questions are answered in Classic volumes, but not all. (And most questions are answered by alternate history, fine arts, and classic literature volumes; but not necessarily all.)
  • Redesigned rhetoric-level literature is completely reworked and enhanced by a literature specialist.
  • When a primary title goes out of print, we provide the information that you need to make your printed Tapestry and your personal library of recommended books match via our Book Updates Charts.
  • We have designed and written new supplemnents, such as Pop Quiz and Evaluations, to correspond with our Redesigned curriculum to enhance the learning experience.
  • Redesigned has the option of a digital delivery method, which in itself offers multiple benefits and advantages. See our Digital Edition page for more details.
• Classic users can access a 50%-off coupon that enables them to step up to Redesigned volumes in the years ahead. Click here for details.

What are eProducts and how do I use them?

Tapestry of Grace is released unit-by-unit, but some of our full-year products require release as temporary eProducts while we're compiling the content throughout the year. These products can include:

• Evaluations
• MapAids (Redesigned versions)
• Key Documents in Government Studies
• Anthologies or other year-plan specific releases

The content of these products will eventually be finalized then released on CD and integrated into our Digital Edition interfaces. The online interfaces will then be taken down, and each purchaser will automatically have either DE access or have the CD shipped to her.

If you have pre-ordered any of these CDs, you will find the content on our eProducts page until the content is finalized. You need a Together Forum membership in order to gain access to these products.

If you have not yet purchased these products and would like to find out more about them or order them, you can visit our store.

If you have purchased a product and are not able to access the documents, email Customer Service (custserv@lampstandpress.com) and we'll be happy to help you.

Does Lampstand Press recommend or carry materials for subjects that Tapestry of Grace does not cover?

Our sister company, Bookshelf Central, carries many titles for some of the subjects not covered by Tapestry of Grace. You can explore the "Other Subjects" category on their website to see what titles are offered. For any subjects where we do not offer specific recommendations, you can visit our forum to see what other Tapestry moms are using.

How is Christianity presented in Tapestry of Grace?

Tapestry of Grace is a distinctively Christian curriculum without being exclusive.

We believe that God created time and space for His own glory, and that He is unfolding history to accomplish His perfect purposes for His people. Our passion for learning is a direct expression of our passion for God, as we seek to love Him with all our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength.

We believe that it honors God for us to learn the truth that He has revealed in Scripture, in nature, and in history, whether that truth fits into our preconceived notions or not. Some parts of history make us feel good about ourselves, and others make us feel ashamed. Our reason for studying history is not to make ourselves feel good, but to learn from the experiences of others more about God’s character and more about our own frailties and calling. We want God to receive the glory He deserves for all His mighty acts in history. Therefore we seek to study the full scope of church history, at age-appropriate levels.

We love our own church, which is an unusual mix of Puritan theology and charismatic practice. (See the Sovereign Grace Ministries website for more information! We also fully agree with the Statement of Faith posted there.) As much as we love the Puritans, and seek to learn from their deep wisdom, we recognize that they made many mistakes (like beheading their lawful sovereign, Charles I, in their impatience, for example). We seek to learn from their mistakes, not repeat them. We hope that Christians in every orthodox tradition will preserve what is good and learn from regrettable incidents in their own heritage.

Our position in presenting Tapestry is to remain historically accurate and biblically oriented. Tapestry guides present accounts of the events of history in the main body of the Teacher’s Notes, and “commentary” or “in-depth information” in the sidebars. The commentary primarily consists of excerpts from Scripture. Each parent is left to determine for their children how they will interpret the juxtaposition of historical events and these Scriptures.

A primary emphasis in our Teacher’s Notes and Student Activity Page questions is the frequent noting of evidence of God’s sovereignty in history (which will trouble no true believer in God). It is our belief that children need to be led in “connecting the dots” of the events of history with both Scripture and a sense of the loving, active presence of God in world events. It is our aim to strengthen in them a sense of both humility and destiny as they view the sweeping majesty of God acting in HIS story.

Men and women who love God still sin; no expression of the body of Christ has been without sin. Our position is that if children are taught to view the sins or errors of others with compassion (“There but for the grace of God go I!”) and a biblical interpretation (“When I would do good, evil is right there with me,” or various other Scriptures that warn against the love of money and the quest for worldly power), they will both be warned of their own human tendency to sin, and become compassionate, but accurate, historians.

The author of Tapestry of Grace is Protestant, and is therefore most aware of good Protestant resources for Church History. Church History readings are broken out in the Reading Assignment Charts as separate entities. Therefore, those who wish to study Church History from a Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox position can easily substitute resources written from their perspective. Tapestry provides website space for Catholic and Eastern Orthodox users to exchange resource ideas, but can bear no responsibility for the content of these resources because we do not have the time or expertise to review them.

Our sincere hope is that through these pages, we can all grow in our understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So, come, and magnify the Lord with us, and let us exalt His name together!

What is the authors' statement of Faith & Educational Philosophy?

At Lampstand Press, we are committed to classical Christian education, based on our commitment to God’s glory, our understanding of child development, and a deep appreciation for our cultural heritage.

God’s Glory in The Purpose of History

We believe that God created time and space for His own glory, and that He is unfolding history to accomplish His perfect purposes for His people. Our passion for learning is a direct expression of our passion for God, as we seek to love Him with all our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength.

We believe that it honors God for us to learn the truth that He has revealed in Scripture, in nature, and in history, whether that truth fits into our preconceived notions or not. Our reason for studying history is to learn from the experiences of others more about God's character and more about our own frailties and calling. We want God to receive the glory He deserves for all His mighty acts in history.

Our intention in presenting Tapestry of Grace and other educational products is to remain accurate and biblically oriented.Tapestry's Teacher's Notes and Student Activity Page questions emphasize God's sovereignty in history, frequently noting specific evidences of His work as we understand it. It is our belief that children need to be led in "connecting the dots" of the events of history with both Scripture and a sense of the loving, active presence of God in world events. It is our aim to strengthen in them a sense of both humility and destiny as they view the sweeping majesty of God acting in HIS story.

All men and women sin; no expression of the body of Christ or worldly community has been without sin. God has called us to love sinners and tell them His good news, not judge them for their lost condition. Our position is that if children are taught to view the sins or errors of others with compassion and a biblical interpretation, they will both be warned of their own human tendency to sin, and become compassionate, but accurate, historians. They will be better prepared to glorify God by serving His purposes in their own generation.

God’s Glory in Church History

We believe Scripture and church history each help us to understand God’s purposes and priorities, so we seek to study the full scope of church history at age-appropriate levels.

We do not know how to be truly unbiased about something as important as our faith, but we think we have been commanded to be honest about our own beliefs, humble about our own wisdom, confident in God’s care, and respectful of our brothers and sisters from different persuasions.

We are Protestant, and are therefore most aware of Protestant resources for Church History. Church History readings are broken out in the Reading Assignment Charts as separate entities, so that those who choose to study Church History from a different theological position can easily substitute resources written from their perspective. Tapestry of Grace provides website space for Catholic and Eastern Orthodox users to exchange resource ideas.¹

Child Development through Classical Education

“Classical education” has two different meanings for Christian home educators. It can mean a “Great Books” curriculum, which hands on the heritage of Western civilization, but it can also refer to a “grammar, dialectic, rhetoric” model of child development and training. We believe in “classical education” in both meanings of the term.

Medieval educators taught students to speak Latin, debate in Latin, and persuade in Latin before they considered them ready for more advanced learning. The three disciplines of "grammar," "dialectic," and "rhetoric" composed the Trivium, which prepared scholars for the rest of the seven “liberal arts.” Modern scientists have discovered that these three modes of learning correspond to specific stages of child development. Young children are remarkably good at memorizing unrelated facts, children near the age of puberty excel at making connections; while youths and adults are best at analyzing and synthesizing.

Age-segregated classrooms have trouble taking full advantage of modern science and of the medieval model because they must serve all the children in the room, whether they are best at memorizing, organizing, or synthesizing information. We believe this is why educational experts keep promoting “higher order thinking skills” at ever-earlier grades. We would rather take advantage of “lower-order” thinking skills while the child still has them. Young children excel at absorbing stories, songs, sounds, vocabulary words and other material at the “grammar level.” When the child matures enough to develop “higher order thinking skills,” we want him to first organize a rich storehouse of previously-acquired information, and then synthesize in useful and meaningful ways.

The “grammar,” “dialectic,” and “rhetoric” learning levels are objectively real but have no clear boundary lines, any more than “infancy” or “adulthood” do. We therefore make it easy to select assignments from more than one level at any time. A child may try some “hard” material for a while and then decide to drop back for a bit. We are not afraid that this will result in a lot of malingering.When children play games, they don’t “coast” at the easy level.Just as with this type of entertainment, with the right mix of encouragement and opportunity, we expect children to be eager to advance into more challenging work.

Cultural Heritage

The term “classical education” does not just mean an emphasis on the learning levels of the Trivium. It is also routinely used to mean an education in the Great Books of Western civilization, sometimes known as the “Western Canon.” Until recently, a “liberal arts education” necessarily included broad and deep exposure to works by Plato, Shakespeare, Tolstoy, and others. In the latter half of the twentieth century, this approach has often been derided as “works by dead white males.” Since the 1970s, most secular universities have abandoned the goal of passing on any specific cultural content.

While we appreciate the insights of non-Western thinkers and want our students to be able to communicate effectively with people from any culture, we do not believe a “critical” or “multi-cultural” education is the best way to achieve that goal. A child who has no culture of his own is poorly prepared to truly understand a person who is willing to die to preserve his faith or heritage. We believe it is better to be a humble but patriotic citizen of some country than a proud but cynical “citizen of the world.”

Because of this, we utilize and recommend many of the Great Books of the Western Canon at the high school level. We try to serve English-speaking students in general and Americans in particular by helping them study the threads of their own history.

Conclusion

Our goal is not to raise students who are puffed up with knowledge, but to help students understand themselves and the world around them clearly enough to realize their individual and our collective need for a Savior. Our sincere hope is that through these pages, we can all grow in our understanding of Jesus Christ, the Lord of history.

So, come, and magnify the Lord with us, and let us exalt His name together!

¹Because we are not able to devote the time or expertise desirable to review these resources, Lampstand Press declines any responsibility for their accuracy or acceptability; the recommendations made are posted in good faith, and we encourage our Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic families to examine materials for suitability before purchase.

How does Tapestry approach questions about the Old Earth/Young Earth controversy?

In writing all of Tapestry of Grace, we try to maintain a focus on the main thing: Jesus Christ is the center point of an amazing story that God is still unfolding. His Word tells us all that we need to know in order to live godly lives. However, the Bible does not tell us everything about all aspects of God’s plan, and there are things that God has hidden.

In the 1800’s, scientists began to question a literal reading of the Genesis account of God’s creation of the world in six days, based on observations of their world, and the cosmos. They raised hard questions, and earnest Christians disagree as to the best answers for them. We believe that there is no one, definitive response to the questions that Science has raised, but we do believe in the inerrancy of Scripture and the rights of parents to teach their children their view of the answer to this debatable topic.

Our discussion of the first few pages of Genesis in Tapestry of Grace Year 1, Week 4, focuses on what those chapters meant to the Israelites in the wilderness, and what they reveal about eternal questions: why there were problems in the lives of everyday people, specifically, the slaves of Israel. In Genesis, as these slaves heard it, God told them where they had come from and where they were going. We believe that every word of Genesis is true, and we believe God had a reason for inspiring Moses to commit it writing at the time that he did. We want students to hear it through Israelite ears, as if they were there in the desert when Moses retold the people the Creation story that had most probably been handed down orally for generations.

Genesis 1 speaks directly to urgent issues that affected the Israelites: why do we labor and suffer in bondage? Where is God when we suffer? Has God forgotten us? God needed these sons of Israel to understand that there was a plan from the start of time, and that God created them specially and loved them. He had to convey that the Israelites suffered because of sin, and that God had to punish sin, but he also reassured them that a Savior was coming and that a garden awaited them after that Savior should crush Satan’s head and restore them to fellowship with Him. The questions about the age of the earth are modern ones, and don’t belong to the ancient days. We do not want students to miss what was most important to those people at that time because of the modern “old earth/young earth” controversy that continues today.

Tapestry of Grace addresses Darwinism in Year 3 and the "Fundamentalist/Modernist Controversy" in Year 4. Studying these debates when they actually happened enables students to find out who rejected Scripture, why they rejected Scripture, and what happened when they did. We believe this gives students the foundation they need to enable them to come to conclusions which are well-founded, well-reasoned, and God-glorifying. The books that we recommend in Week 4 of Year 1 most predominantly adopt a young earth view, but this does not mean that we “teach” it. It means that the resources that we’ve chosen are the ones that we could locate that are the most directly connected with the Creation and the era of the Patriarchs. As always, you are encouraged to see what we’ve offered as suggestions for books and for discussions, and then substitute and amend our suggestions according to your own convictions on this topic.