Help, I am a veteran homeschooler,(20 years plus if you can believe it.) I have been using Tapestry for several years (the original version) and I love it. the trouble is my children are overwhelmed by the amount of reading . I have tied to follow a schedule so that they read a book a week and then do the writing assignments, which I think are excellent. I have tried to revamp the schedule taking 2 weeks to do 1 week of Tapestry, and I have taken 2 years to slowly do Year 3. My girls, grades 6 asnd 11 love learning together and especially like to make lap books about what they are learning. I am obviously doing something wrong because the work is not getting completed and we are all frustrated. They also have instument classes and need to practice all that every day. We have animals which take some barn time. there seems to be no free time to play and we are all frustrated. We took a break from Tapestry since before Christmas to do a lap book on the Little House books, which we are enjoying but I'd like to get back to Tapestry. I feel the writing and literatue is so worthwhile. I also would like to balance homemaking skills with our academics. Our oldest married daughter has her masters but struggles with cooking since our focus in the past was too academic. Any advice will be a blessing . Thank you. Hope I didn't discourage anyone. Maria in Massachusetts

Hi Maria,

I can relate to your problem! This is our 5th year with TOG, and we love it too, but sometimes the reading is a bit much for my son. (My daughter, on the other hand, flies through it almost too quickly -- but that's another problem for another post!)

Sometimes I've had to just make a decision to prioritize the books, and only have him read the ones that mean the most to me. For example, a few years ago, in his first Dialectic year, he had an especially hard time keeping up with the literature. I really wanted him to read Oliver Twist, and he was enjoying it, but he was supposed to finish it in 3 weeks (if memory serves). However, it took him twice that long to read it. We just didn't do the other literature assignments those weeks.

If you end up skipping a reading assignment you really like, you could always read it over the summer.

I keep having to remind myself that I am the master of my TOG, not the other way around. I'm allowed to make it fit our needs, even if that means cutting out something wonderful. My kids are still getting a rich experience!

Hi Maria,

When we first started with TOG, I used Classic. We used Classic for 3 years.

This is my first year with Redesigned (currently doing Year 1, Unit 3) and I would have to say that we are all a lot less frustrated. There are less book choices to make and less books overall. I think the assignments are easier and all three of my children agree with me.

We almost "quit TOG" -- until I looked at the Redesigned samples. Redesigned has been a huge blessing in this house.

I don't know if it's in your budget to change -- but you may want to consider checking out the samples to see for yourself.

We start our weeks on Friday so the children can read over the weekend.

First, my radical thought: not all things are for all people. Last year my oldest was 11 and had no struggles with the D level reading level. However my younger I'll be happy if he is doing UG at 11, all on his own. Not everyone is a reader. (Your oldest with the masters makes me curious, what is the masters in?) My brother made me cringe when his first child was born and he read aloud to him. BUT Dupont loves him as a chemical engineer.

Karen has a good idea about starting on the weekend.

You might also schedule reading times and see how they do with those. I'd schedule an hour a day everyday.

Next, I'd look at the rest of their work. My oldest (now 6th grade) does all his work except reading in less than 3 hours with occasionally another hour at most on math. So it's possible there's some other hold up as well as reading.

I have to agree about Classic vs. Redesign. You must be using Classic since you've been working on Year 3 for more than six months now. I also used Classic for two years, and I assigned waaay too much reading, I realize now. My kids never complained - they are good readers and enjoyed it - but our lives were much too full of academics, and we had time for little else. The original Tapestry was meant to be a set of suggestions, not a program to be done as written, but it was very hard for me to accept that.

I don't have that trouble with the redesign. I was tempted, at first, to assign the Alternate readings as well as the Primary - but then I decided to wait and see. If, when my kids finished all the primary assignments and work on other subjects, I thought that what our family most needed was more reading, then and only then would I assign more reading. That's only happened once or twice in almost two years.

Then there are other questions, of course. Sometimes my kids spend all day to do their work, not because they have too much work, but because there's too much dead time in their work hours. One of my daughters can spend 20 minutes staring at her assignment sheet deciding what to do next. Another takes 10 minutes or more to find the assigned page in a book (because she reads her way there). In general, it doesn't matter how much work they're assigned - the work expands to fill the available hours. Fixing this problem is our focus in our household right now. That may not be your problem, but I thought I'd mention it just in case.

Wow Ladies!
Thank you so much for your encouragement and advice! I have wriiten everything down, and will prayerfully put them into practice. May the Lord bless us all as we strive to raise our children for Him.

"Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by constraint but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away."

1 Peter 5:2-4

Thank you again! -Maria