Did you get to this page because you want to know if Tapestry is right for your younger child?

We've won awards as the best Elementary-Aged Curriculum out there!  But don't take Mary Pride's magazine subscribers' words for it.  Click here and read about Tapestry and your younger child.

The Grammar Stages

Here is the definition that Tapestry uses for the Grammar stage, which corresponds to the Elementary years.

The Grammar Stage (Typically K-5): This is the stage of "introduction"—the "what is it?" phase. It focuses on fascinating facts and stories. Children's brains excel at memorization at this stage, and they delight to learn, as long as learning involves mostly simple facts and stories with not much abstraction. Simply put, for Elementary aged students, all we’re trying to do is introduce them to the simplest, boldest threads of the tapestry: the most obvious patterns. We are using the framework of history to hold their interest, but our main focus is on mastery of simple skills: reading fluently, writing well, and building strong math skills. If I were to draw a pie representing the academic life of my Grammar Stage child, it would be divided neatly into fourths: reading skills, writing skills and math skills and other enrichment activities.

• Reading skills would include, for K-2, phonics encoding and decoding and for older children (3-5) fluency: lots and lots of practice reading silently and aloud.

• Writing skills would include age-appropriate grammar and punctuation instruction, vocabulary expansion and weekly work in spelling.

• Math would include a daily lesson, usually in a workbook, and daily drills such as Calculadder.

• Other would include, on different days: some simple Science--reading and experiments, history lessons, and arts & crafts. An occasional field trip would round out my children's program.

Where then, you ask, is there room in such a child's day for the Tapestry of Grace curriculum?

• Well, Tapestry presents lots of opportunity to read and be read to!

• It will present a weekly writing assignment that exercises an orderly progression of skills.

• It will  present words for vocabulary expansion.

• The reading plan provides stories that give children new thoughts about which to write.

• Tapestry acquaints students with aspects of cultures different from theirs.

• It offers a Science reading program.

• If there are older siblings in the house doing this program, the family is joined in a common pursuit in which young students can join.

• Hands-on activities provide extra learning and fulfill the "art" component of Elementary education.

So, you see, it is not that you must make time for Tapestry in addition to teaching important basic skills, but that Tapestry gives your young students a fun and interesting context in which to practice their basic skills as they learn them.

I say all the above to be able to say this: PLEASE, DON'T DO TOO MUCH! Mastery of the historic events and connections does not belong to this stage, and is not the primary focus of these years! Remember that the Tapestry guide is designed to serve all ages, and that there's much you won't use in these lower grades! And, as I mentioned earlier, though you will only be communicating limited information to your child, you will be learning much yourself, and preparing yourself to impart much more information to your students as they grow older.

There are two "levels" of ability within the Grammar Stage as Tapestry uses this term: I have called them Lower Grammar and Upper Grammar.  They divide, roughly into Grades K-3 (those children just learning to read) for Lower Grammar, and Grades 3-5 (those children who are fluent readers and can read independently to learn) for Upper Grammar. (Yes, I know they overlap. Some are advanced; some delayed.)

You will want to read most Tapestry assignments aloud, and explain as you read, to the Lower Grammar children. These are the children who will need the least work in Tapestry of Grace assignments, and the most one-on-on time from you. The beauty of using Tapestry teaching plans and methods is that older children spend lots of time reading to learn in detail, and then discuss their reading with you in relatively short discussion sessions. This means they need not have your full attention all day long, leaving you free to teach the most basic "3 R's" to your Lower Grammar stage students.

For Upper Grammar students, you’ll want to pay close attention to the Threads listed in the first page of each week's Teacher's Notes, and in the Weekly Overview Charts. I suggest you review quizzes ahead while preparing to teach each week and then teach to them!

The assignment charts, Student Activity Pages and Teacher's Notes will guide you in assigning the reading, writing, and hands-on activities, which should consume most of older students' independent work time.

Toward the end of each week, you should re-read the Threads Tapestry of Grace lists and see if your child can express comprehension of the concepts listed, either orally or in writing.

Philosophy of Education: Elementary Years (Grades K-5)

I have come to believe that the primary focus, especially in the early Elementary grades, is character development. No amount of knowledge can make up for deficiencies in character. And you will never have more time to work on your child’s character then you do right now. No matter how old your child is now, I can confidently predict that next year’s demands will be greater than this year’s. Diligence, cheerful obedience, persistence in the face of difficulty, follow-through, and a general delight in a job well done will carry your child far in any career he may choose.

We home school primarily to enable the cultivation these fruits through discipleship, obeying the commands in Deut. 6:6-9: These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. As family life progresses, as more and more children enter the academic years, these character traits become essential to the ability to conduct school itself!

I have seen many mothers anxiously concerned that their children not be shortchanged in academic knowledge as the result of their teaching inadequacies. It is easy to major on the minors here, focusing on what the world esteems, and minimizing on what the Lord esteems. 1 Cor. 8:1b reminds us that ... We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Our primary job as parents and home educators is to give our children more wisdom than knowledge. By obeying Deuteronomy 6, we teach our children the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom.

Majoring on character and, secondarily, strengthening your child’s love for HIStory and science, mathematics and writing will give your child the firmest of foundations for life. 2 Peter 1:5-9 reminds us of the order of our priorities in teaching (especially young) children. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. Character development, then, must bracket our teaching of academic knowledge. Character formation is both the foundation for learning and the ultimate purpose for learning. Our child’s knowledge is to be used in the service of our Lord, not merely to get into college or get a job to support a family.

Having firmly placed character development first and last, our academic goals for younger children include cultivation of a love for reading the Word of God first, and secondarily of God’s story (HIStory) and the exploration of God’s creation (physical sciences). Additionally, we want to build a solid understanding of two fundamental skills: writing and mathematics. In History and Science, in the elementary years, we are not working for mastery. We are working to build familiarity with basic concepts in our children AND in ourselves, as teachers. In History, our goal is to help our children recognize the major figures of HIStory and historical events. We want to acquaint them with the tools of historiography as well: familiarity with global features, maps, reference works, and library systems. In science, children should enjoy exploring God’s creation without being burdened by difficult scientific theory. Instead, we want them to get to know the building blocks of science, such as the names of planets, the parts of the body, interesting animals, etc. As with historiography, they should also be introduced to the basics of the scientific method: measurement, controlled experiments, the gathering of data through observation, etc.

The centerpiece of early Elementary education must be a strong Phonics program. After reading skills are well begun, strong writing skills and a strong foundation in mathematics are the other essentials of these crucial years. NOTE WELL: If you are using Tapestry with only elementary students, there is MORE than enough material. Your job is to teach basic, central information, not all possible information. Remember, the goal is to repeat the program at higher levels of understanding. Therefore, be careful to use Tapestry as the "ice cream" in the academic diet, not the meat and potatoes. Otherwise, you and your child may become discouraged. I would rather see you use another program in Grades K-3 than use Tapestry too early, become overwhelmed, and never use it again. The Weekly Overview Charts and Teacher's Notes list major themes/objectives for each week, and you should teach to, and test comprehension of, that grade-appropriate information only.

During the Elementary years, children should have much practice in writing strong sentences and paragraphs. The focus here is not so much formal grammar study as it is good writing skills. Again, we want them to enjoy writing, and to have some knowledge of grammatical terms as useful tools for communication about good writing. Tapestry holds the view that true mastery of formal grammar should come during the middle years, ideally as children are exposed to Latin studies. A study of the Latin language (ideally in Jr. High years) is the easiest and best path to full comprehension of grammatical studies. If grammar is your weak suit, consider using the Easy Grammar series, listed in the Writing Scope & Sequence, as a daily supplement from second grade on. If grammar is your strong suit, you can use the child's weekly writing assignments to teach basic grammatical terms.

In mathematics, Elementary students need first to understand concrete number concepts, and then have an acquaintance with abstract mathematical theories. You will need to supplement Tapestry with your choice of Math curricula.

Tapestry of Grace includes (on our web site only, for now) not only an outline of basic science topics to be covered in Grades K-8, but integrates the History of Science as well. In the Elementary years, there is no national norm for the order of Science studies. Lab Science per se is NOT integrated with historical Year-Plans, but the history of them is!

The suggested plans on the Tapestry web site follow the traditional text book approach to High School science: 9th Grade--General Science, 10th Grade--Biology, 11th Grade--Chemistry, and 12th Grade--Physics. Thus, your younger child can "read along" with older siblings, and you can prepare only one set of lessons for all grades. Thus, Earth Sciences for younger students dovetail with General Science for High Schoolers. Life Sciences for younger students parallel older siblings’ study of Biology. Younger students study "matter" as older students wrestle with Chemistry. And younger students learn elementary principles of "motion" while older students launch out into High School Physics. 

Tapestry of Grace also integrates the history of the Fine Arts, and suggestions for many artistic projects to try and musical selections to listen to. In the High School years, these can result in both a full credit in Art History and one in Fine Arts.

Learning Stages and Appropriate Goals For Them

Dorothy Sayers (a friend of C.S. Lewis's), wrote an essay on education called the Lost Tools of Learning in 1947.  She explained how our medieval ancestors taught their children, identifying their system of education was well designed for the three different learning stages, through which all children go.  Medieval children learned the basics in the "Trivium" (from which we get our word "trivial").  The "basics," in those days, were "grammar" (learning to speak Latin), "dialectic" (learning to debate in Latin), and "rhetoric" (learning to move hearts and minds [perusade] in Latin).  

• Sayers argued that children in the elementary grades are especially good at memorizing things, and not ready yet for true analysis.  She called this the "grammar" or "parrot" phase, and pointed out that all subjects have a "grammar" or basic vocabulary that young children are amazingly well-suited to learn at young ages.  

• As children grow, they lose interest in memorization for its own sake; instead they begin to question everything.  What they want to know is how things connect to one another.  Sayers called this the "dialectic" or "pert" phase.  I call it the "Ohhhhhh!" phase.

• Finally, when children begin turning into young adults, their hearts turn towards the meaning of life.  She called this the "rhetoric" or "poet" phase.  In this phase, mature people are able, when fully trained, to analyze and synthesize; to break down complex situations or ideas into component parts, and then rearrange them in new combinations that are sometimes better!

On to the page on the Dialectic Stage