Choosing Assignments by Dana Caywood

Tapestry of Grace Year-Plans provide a smorgasbord of choices for every learning level.  How does one go about choosing assignments for each child, without overwhelming either the child or the mom?  Hopefully the following thoughts and suggestions will help you in the process of narrowing your students’ assignments.

• Remember to put first things first: Pray that God will direct your plans.  Be sure to seek your husband’s counsel.

• Decide approximately how much time you want to spend at each of the various subjects that Tapestry offers.  Keep in mind that high school students (at the Rhetoric level) 
  will spend 1 – 1 ½ hours per day, per subject.  My general guideline, per subject, for other levels is:  

  • Lower Grammar:  15-20 minutes

  • Upper Grammar:  20-30 minutes

  • Dialectic:  40-60 minutes.

• Decide how you want your child to record his assignments.  The use of some type of planner is highly recommended.  Blank assignments charts are available on our website (Click here, then scroll down to “For Those Using Tapestry”).  For older students, Marcia recommends a real planner book in which your child will record not only school assignments but all the appointments in his life—clubs, sports practices and games, music lessons, babysitting appointments, etc.

• Look over the “threads” for the entire first unit (Classic users: first page or two in the white Teacher’s Notes; for Redesigned users, threads are listed in charts on the first two or three pages of each week-plan.)  These weekly goals will give you a sense of the unit as a whole, and provide direction as to choosing specific reading assignments. Note that you only need to read for the learning levels of students you'll be teaching!  You might want to jot a few notes to yourself about what you want to emphasize as you read.

• Next take a look at the yellow Reading Assignment Charts and Resource List together.  Place a check mark beside the books you own on the Reading Assignment Charts.   Pencil in an “L” if you have access to the book through your library.  Based on availability and the time you want the student to devote to the subject, make a notation as to their assignment.  An easy method of notation is to pencil in the student’s initials next to his academic task.  He can then transfer this to his planner or chart.

• What about vocabulary words?  The words provided in your year-plan are related to the weekly topic.  I usually check off the words that my boys don’t know.   For grammar-level students, we did oral review, drew pictures of them, and printed the words/definitions on flashcards.  There are all sorts of games (“Old Maid” and “Concentration” were two of our favorites!) that don’t require workbooks or laborious seatwork.  As my students entered the Dialectic years, the assignment was to put the previously check-off words on file cards, and the definition on the back.  Oral quizzes ended our week with vocabulary.

• On to the blue Student Activity Pages!  When deciding on hands-on projects, have a general idea of the types of learners you have in your household.  (This is especially a factor for choosing assignments for Grammar-level kids.)   Do you like to assign detailed projects that will likely require teacher input?  Or do you prefer independent projects that allow students to go straight to the supply closet and complete on their own?  Peruse the choices, level to level, for the entire unit.  Put a check mark beside the ones you want to accomplish and make out a supply list of any materials you’ll need to purchase.  Put the list in your purse or with your grocery list so that you won’t forget it on your next errand day.

• One more choice you’ll need to make is also found in the blue Student Activity Pages.  Here you will find a variety of questions, projects, and geography assignments.  Again, there is more here than any one family (or student) should undertake.  Survey them.  To do or not to do, that is the question!  Again, using the time guidelines I mentioned above, decide on which, if any, to assign to your students.  The older the student, the more the accountability issue arises.  Other academic, family, and church requirements for the week will be major determining factors in whether or not you require students to complete the worksheets, write out answers to Thinking or Accountability Questions, etc.  Using your Reproducibles disc (Classic) or The Loom (Redesigned), MapAids disc, etc. print up the pages that contain assignments you have decide to use.  Put these with your student’s blank assignment chart at the beginning of the weeks for the first unit, and determine due dates for them.

• As you plan, remember the multi-year aspect of your Tapestry plan.  Will your student be revisiting this Year-Plan one or two times more?  One approach that helps many moms to choose assignments with greater ease is to go ahead and plan for all the rotations the child will have in your first sitting.  So, if your child is Lower Grammar, look ahead (and even indicate) his Dialectic and Rhetoric assignments, too.  Many times, the moms who feels like she “just can’t leave anything out” will benefit from this tangible reminder that she needs to leave something to do the next time(s) around.

Finally, relax and, once again, pray for the start of your new year.  Usually, with Tapestry, the biggest hurtle is getting started.  No two families implement Tapestry exactly the same way.  Tapestry can look daunting and confusing before you start.  In holding the hands of many new moms, however, I’ve discovered that there’s a vast difference between the confidence levels and confusion of those who haven’t started yet, and those who have.  Recognize that you are changing not only the content of what your students learn, but in many cases, how they learn as well.  It will take a few weeks to adjust: be sure, in your own mind, to give yourself and your students, time.