Philosophy

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Tapestry of Grace

An integrated, classical approach to educating your children.

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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

Philosophical Underpinnings of This Curriculum

This curriculum takes as its organizing principle the chronological study of World History (which includes American History). Why?

As Christians, we believe in a sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient God who rules and reigns in all the details of history.
We believe that He created all the earth and its inhabitants for His divine purposes.
Therefore, all of history glorifies Him and teaches us something about Him.
Knowing history helps people to know our origins and sense our destiny. It humbles us, reminding us that we are creatures, finite, small, and completely in God’s power.
We do not deny that human beings have free will, nor that our choices are real, and have real consequences. But, in our modern world where we seem to have so much control, it is important for our children to learn that their lives are to fit into God’s plan, not that they are only required to "make room" in their busy lives for Him.

Acts 13:36 says For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. Our children will serve God's purposes in their generation! How good for them to participate wholeheartedly in trying to discern those purposes and fulfill them willingly and actively!

What You'll Teach Them--Content and Scope of all Year-Plans:

Of the historical content itself, you will teach two very different, but complementary, elements to your children.

First, you will focus on teaching major historical flow and themes. These are the broad moves of God in history. They are the aspects of His plan that recur again and again.
Second, you will acquaint your children with the facts of history: the individual events and people and dates which make up that flow and illustrate those themes, and which are not repeated.

Historical studies provide a rich source of subject matter about which to write! This curriculum focuses on creating strong writers. A 12-year plan to build strong writing skills is presented, and these skills are practiced in each Year-Plan by means of 432 suggested writing assignments per Year-Plan.

Historical studies also provide a context for the study of literature. Specific people, who were shaped by the times in which they lived, created all great literature in HIStory. Each work also had effects on the people living during and after its creation. Having a rich understanding of HIStory brings literature studies to life!

The same is true of the Fine Arts: drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, and music. You will have opportunity to do many hands-on projects and look at the artistic styles as they developed over the ages.

Clearly, Church History is a subset of World History. The study of World History brings the study of Church History into stark relief, adding comprehension and interest.

The study of both the Histories of Science and of Creation itself is related to historical studies. The world God created is, in its most basic state, a stage upon which God’s story is played out. Yet, we will study the stage itself, which has contributed to and affected the course of, the "play"! This fact gives science studies extra meaning and—you guessed it—interest.

For these same reasons, Geography is also a major focus in this plan. Each week, specific directions are given for a study of the physical and political features of the lands in which history took place. Emphasis is placed on ways God shaped HIStory through the environment He created for mankind.

For more on the actual academic content of this plan, and information on how it is physically put together, please click the Overview tab above.

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In this "Philosophy" section of this web site, we attempt to explain the "whys" of Tapestry of Grace. Here are some questions we'll ask and attempt to answer:

Why this name? What do tapestries and home schooling have in common?
What do we believe about how children learn?
- What do we believe about the elementary years?
- What do we believe about the "in between" years -- Jr. High?
- What do we believe about the High School years?
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing! Our thoughts on Teacher Development.
Grace-centered home schools: "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up."

Pages in this folder are arranged in a sequence, whereby you can simply click at the bottom to follow a lengthy, logical argument for the philosophical views we hold (click here to begin), or you can access parts of this discussion that most interest you from the links in the sidebars, or in the questions listed above.

We pray and hope that this discussion will help you understand the "whys" of the Tapestry plan.

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