I would love to hear some opinions on this one. I know I will be using Tapestry of Grace, the question is when do I start? Come August I will have a first grader, a kinder, a three year old, an 18 month old and a newborn (due Aug. 31). I am excited to dive into TOG, but at the same time I can see that I may be setting myself up for failure/burnout if I start this year with a newborn. Would it be best to wait another year and focus on phonics and math? Or would it be best to start this year which would allow for my oldest to go through the cycle three times?
Love to know,
Kristyn

Hello Kristyn,

You have lots of littles TOG will work great for you in the future!


I have a 9, 7, 5, 3, and 1yr old. We started when 9yr old was 7. I love the book choices in yr 1 for LG level. I am glad I did start when I did.
*However*
If you are the type that feels you have to do everything I would wait one more year.


TOG is not too much if you are doing just LG. Throw some crafts in here and there for those dc who are interested. If it feels overwhelming then drop it.

Because you will have just had a baby, you might think about just reading the books outloud. (Not adding anything else).

If you decide to go with it and it feels like its too much then you can always put it aside for the next year.


HTH!
Blessings,
Kristen

Let me start by saying that I really like TOG and am so glad that I have found such a great fit for our family. But...I am glad that I did not try to start it when I had only younger children. There are many wonderful curricula available for younger families where you can integrate all the areas of study in a relaxed way. If I had started with TOG I would have tried to do too much with my young ones and neglected areas not included in TOG such as science and nature studies.

My favorite curriculum for young children is Five in a Row. It really taught me HOW to teach my children using whole books. If you click "Find" you can search the TOG forum to read what other families say about Five in a Row.

A benefit of some of the other curricula for younger children is being able to integrate science. It would be helpful to already have that planned in especially when you have a new baby.

Keep in mind that at the grammar level it isn't essential to teach history chonologically because young children are not ready to understand the sequence, cause and effect, and connections of history.

TOG is such a great curriculum. It is not that I think it isn't doable for young families. I just think there are possibly better options, and you will enjoy TOG so much more later.

Blessings,
jfurlough

Because phonics and math should be the focus of those early year, LG is fairly light. If you're planning on reading aloud to them very much, TOG would be a good thing to use for that. Because your dc are so young, you may want to consider taking longer than a year for each TOG YR for your first cycle through. I wish I had been able to do that when I first discovered TOG, but I already had a R student so couldn't slow down the pace.

Tammi

I'm probably the "voice of dissention"...

I wish I had found TOG sooner -- we didn't start until my oldest was in 8th grade.

If I had it to do over, I would start with TOG from the beginning...and follow the suggestions that TammiK gave.