Classic Tapestry and the Quandaries of Flexibility by Marcia Somerville

Recently, we've been contacted by a few moms who are confused and a little frustrated by the setup of Classic Tapestry.  They bought Tapestry so they could get meaningful direction, and feel that there's still too much left for them to do.  Tapestry isn't as directive as a text book.  It's not laid out with specific answers to the Thinking and Accountability Questions, and so some moms worry that they are never sure if their children are getting the right answers to these questions, or sometimes, they can't fine where the answers are in the reading their children just did.

We understand your concerns.  They arise, though, from our attempt to achieve a very specific and, we feel, worthy, goal.  It is this: we want to create curriculum guides (not text books) that contain enough guidance to give parents confidence, but enough flexibility that parents can rely on the leading and freedom of the Holy Spirit and express their God-given, unique gift mix as they raise their own children to the glory of God.  We are not interested in offering "one size fits all" guides; rather, we are interested in parents learning to actively school their children, mentoring them as they form a lasting, biblical worldview.

What does this mean to you, the parent-teacher?  Well, it means that if you're not used to this kind of approach to teaching, it will take you awhile to feel comfortable with it.  Neither Tapestry nor any other program is right for everyone, but we feel that almost anyone can succeed in using Tapestry if they are willing to learn to work with the way it's conceived and executed instead of wishing it was something it's not.

In this article, I want to take some time to explain in detail the reasons why our book lists and questions are presented as they are, and then to make you aware of aids we've created to help you grow strong in this type of teaching if you have not come to Tapestry with much practice in making resource choices or doing Socratic teaching.  

Let's start with resources.  In our view, all homeschooling families can be divided into four parts when it comes to using books and choosing books:

1. In terms of using books, first, there are those who want to economize and have students share books, level to level. (These don't mind if, four years later, students re-read the same resources.) So, for instance, they'll buy one book for lower and upper grammar levels, reading it aloud to the younger student, then asking that same student to read it independently four years later when they return to the same subject.)

2. Then there are people who want four distinct book lists for four distinct levels of learning. These have students who object to re-reading books four years later, or they want to make sure that students in their house are using books designed exactly for that student's learning level.

3. In terms of buying/procuring books, there are families that are fine with choosing among a variety of choices, and depart happily from any list if attractive alternates appear. They take our lists as guides, but depart from them blithely whenever their public library has acceptable substitutes or they have books already in their home libraries that will do. (These families also find delight in hunting and procuring the books they do use; the TOG lists as written work just fine for them.)

4. Finally, in terms of buying/choosing books, there are the families that wish someone would just TELL THEM WHAT TO DO (minute by minute, if possible!). Choice is hard for them (often because they are just starting homeschooling) and they really crave as much guidance as possible. They also wish they could just order a box and all the books that someone else has deemed worthy would show up at their door.

Now.

We UNDERSTAND all of these types of families, and though some of these desires are diametrically opposed to one another, we are working at serving all of them.

When we originally wrote Tapestry, we wrote it out of our own experience. I, Marcia, am one of those looser people who likes choice and feels that strict lists are constricting, not helpful. However, since we've been serving a wider and wider variety of moms, I've come to realize that we can amend the Tapestry lists to serve more people better.

What is true is this: if we plan Tapestry for those who want distinct levels and book packages (Tapestry in a box) to purchase for those who are, in a way, more structured, or strict, those who are more... loose? relaxed? creative? confident? ... about these things can easily continue in their way to doing things.

The converse is NOT true: if we plan Tapestry (as we have hitherto) with a copious number of choices, and offer no book packages but require moms to go searching high and low for books they choose, we cannot serve those who prefer structure and the ease of one-stop shopping.

Said one more way: those who are relaxed can relax anything. If we produce simpler lists, they don't have to stick to any list; if we offer packages and the ability to buy books separately, they don't have to buy book packages. If we make a firm distinction between learning levels in our lists, loosey-gooseys don't have to keep that distinction. They are free to have their kids share books. But, those who want structure need simpler lists with less choice and book packages to buy in order to feel comfortable.

We have always been committed to updating and revising our book lists every four years, at a minimum.  As we make the next round of revisions, the end result of all this mulling is that we are going to move towards simplifying the lists and selling only the books on the simple lists (these will be in the front page chart of the yellow section) while still providing good alternatives and library call numbers for other alternates we might not know of (these will be on the back page chart).  Until we publish revised lists (as our Redesigned volumes of Tapestry), though, you will need to pick and choose.

One more thing about choosing resources and making assignments: YOU are the teacher.  Our guides are suggesting resources, but YOU are the one who knows how much your child can handle.  Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Note the "OR" that is frequently placed between resources. This "OR" means that the two resources are virtually identical and the student should read one OR the other.

• Note the "AND" that is sometimes listed between resources.  This means that the student will benefit from reading both resources, since they are very dissimilar, and complement one another.

• Note also that often resources with similar titles (subject matter) are very similar.  Unless the Reading Chart stipulates "AND" or "OR," think of books with similar titles as having similar content; so, in other words, treat them as "or's" and choose between them for your student.

• There has been some confusion about the bolded books that is understandable.  I know the note on the Reading Chart makes it look like I mean that you should do ALL bolds in a column in a week, but what I actually always meant in my own mind when I formatted those lists was "these are the favorite books I'd pick each week." So, in bolding, I never took into account the number of pages each whole column would ended up totaling, never thinking that you poor moms would see them that way.  You may need to choose between bolded resources!  We are taking OUT the bolds in the next revisions to end the confusion.

In all this discussion, please remember that we are a young company and we have a young product.  It is your comments and questions that allow us to make Tapestry ever more useful to a widening circle of different users.  We are sorry that anyone should find using Tapestry difficult, and we are committed to smoothing the path over time, but we will need time to do it, so the above thoughts, and the aids mentioned in the next section, are here to try to bridge the gap for as many of you as possible.

Now, about the Thinking/Accountability Questions.*  

Let me launch into another long explanation. 

One of our central goals in designing Tapestry was that we wanted to make our questions to students "topic specific" not "book specific" so that moms could choose from a variety of resource books for their children (and not be locked into the ones we happened to recommend). This philosophy means that moms can borrow books from the library, use used book stores, and use existing books on their shelves when they convert to Tapestry, and thereby save money, which is always a good idea. 

We also really wanted to keep our discussion outlines (scripts) somewhat "open" and "loose," so that discussions would depend on the moms' real knowledge (as tutored by the cheat sheets we call Teachers' Notes) to breathe life and light into discussions with the aid of the Holy Spirit. We believe that closely scripted teacher manuals are death blows to real Socratic discussions, and so have erred to the side of requiring moms to learn something about the subjects they are discussing, not just uncertainly mouthing someone else's prepared script.

So far so good.

But we also have a priority on making life as easy as possible for busy moms by providing answers to questions we ask students in their (blue) Activity Pages. When writing Teacher's Notes, we tried really hard to make sure that the World Book sections and commentary have all the material you need to educate yourself quickly and easily and thereby be ready for discussions and questions your students ask.

Over time, we have found that, at times, either the way our questions are worded or the specific resource that we've used in developing questions led to the answers to Student Activity Page questions not being obvious and crystal clear, and this stresses our poor busy moms (and their students).

What to do? We wanted it all!

In April of '04, our son and production manager, Nathan, has suggested a wonderful solution to this small tension. (He loves you moms so much!) We added four new forums (one in each of the four year-plan divisions) to our online bulletin board where you (or your student) can post questions about Student Activity Page questions if you/she can't find the answers, or if your resources don't cover them.

We know you need timely answers if, during a given week, you or your student gets confused or stumped, and we feel that this lively community of Tapestry moms and learners can best meet the varied needs of busy moms.  Thought we, here in the Somerville house, might not use some of the alternate resources that you out there have chosen and now have a question about, we  feel pretty sure that, if there's a problem with a question because you're using an alternate resource and it doesn't cover our question, someone will have the resource and can help you out.

If it's a question of uncertain wording, we or another user who can read our minds better than you might  can clarify for you--and not only you. These forums will become archives that all can access any time of the day or night.

I truly pray this article has been helpful to you, and I want to encourage you.  Having taught our own children, and over 70 co-op children in our area, using these materials, the fruit is sweet!  Please avail yourself of the aids we've provided: online bulletin board, yahoogroups, phone support, etc. and don't give up easily.  God will be faithful if you are diligent, and we believe that you really can have a wonderful, rich experience using Tapestry methods with your children if you will give yourself time and space to learn.

*Please note that we did a full article on using Accountability and Thinking Questions effectively in our July 2005 issue of Distaff.  You can read that article in our archives.