Tapestry of Grace Primer Review

Disclaimer – This is a Sponsored post for Tapestry of Grace. All thoughts are my own, but I was compensated for this post. 

When I started homeschooling our oldest child, I had lots of ideas and little energy. I was coming out of a horrible season of life where I struggled a lot with adrenal and thyroid issues. We had a new house that we wanted to fix up, and we had been blessed with our third child.

Even though there is an abundant supply of curriculum available for the early years, I never found what I was really looking for. We tried several things and jumped around as I was trying to juggle life. Looking back, I really wish I had known about Tapestry of Grace.

We are currently using the 4 year curriculum that Tapestry offers (you repeat it 3 different times, and what you study gradually gets harder as you get older). Tapestry of Grace also offers a Primer curriculum, which is for families who oldest child is in K and/or 1st grade.

The Tapestry of Grace Primer is set up similar to the 4 year cycle. There are set core assignments given for each week. The student has assignments in history, literature, and geography, and you have the optional hands on learning assignments and memory work. You get to pick what math, phonics, and spelling you do.

There are four main parts in the Tapestry of Grace Primer set. It comes with:

The Primer Guidebook – this is for the parent only. It is not to be read to the child, rather it gives the parent an in-depth look at the seven “characters” the child will learn about, which is God, people, good, evil, the Word, God’s creation, and man’s creation. It is highly recommended to read these chapters in advance, so you have a better understanding of what you are trying to teach and how it ties into history.

The Primer Handbook – this is what would be considered the Teacher Guide for the curriculum. Every week you have two pages that show you what needs to be done in that week. It does not assign days however – you plan out each week and decide what you will do. I actually like this approach a lot as I can easily move things around as needed and customize each week to fit our schedule. You are given the books to read from (including what pages), memory work, geography (a surprising amount for K and 1st grade), and an arts and activities section.

The Activity Book – you will receive a good amount of fun activity pages for your child to do! I printed some of these off for Olivia (our child going into 1st grade) to do, and she enjoyed them a lot! Map work, coloring pages, mazes, matching people and objects, etc. It provides just the right amount of variety instead of simply reading together each day.

Love The Journey book – This 355 page book is written for homeschooling parents by Marcia Somerville, the homeschooling mother of six who wrote the Tapestry of Grace curriculum (her adult son and wife wrote the Primer curriculum). You can purchase this book separately as well, and it’s full of excellent information from a veteran homeschooling mother!

Big Story Game – this is a fun card game that helps your child learn his memory work! While not required, it’s a good item to have on hand that grows with your child.

So, how do you know if Tapestry of Grace Primer curriculum is a good fit for your family?

You should consider using Tapestry for K and/or 1st grade if:

You want a very strong foundation rich in history in literature.
You want to teach your child to have a good biblical foundation.
You want to explore the world way beyond coloring pages, ABC songs, and basic history textbooks that give a tiny peep into the history presented.
You actually want to spend quality time with your child, versus textbooks that they can do themselves.

You might not want to consider using Tapestry of Grace if: 

You want fill in the blank work pages for your child.

You don’t want to do very much reading out loud.

You don’t want to dive right into history and how it fits into the Bible.

How Much Time Does Tapestry of Grace Primer Take?

This program is written for K and/or 1st grade. It covers all of history, starting at the garden of Eden, and ending the with modern day Presidents. If I was doing this curriculum I would start it in K, and do it for two years. Personally, I think you could even make this curriculum work for 1st and 2nd grade if needed (provided you are doing it with your oldest child).

Would You Do This Along With Tapestry of Grace?

No! The Primer is meant to be used with the oldest child only, or maybe if you have an extreme age gap, like a highschooler and a K age child. I briefly thought about adding this into our school days for our younger children, but after looking at it I realized I just couldn’t keep up. They actually discourage you from doing this. Rather they encourage you to let your younger children do the older version of Tapestry of Grace if you have a large family.

You can download a three week sample and try it with your child before purchasing this curriculum! 

Find the required list of books needed here.

If you are just starting out your homeschool experience, I would highly encourage you to look into this curriculum and see if it will work for you! We are excited to start our second year of Tapestry of Grace!