How to Set Up Tapestry of Grace for the year PART ONE BOOKS

Well, it is how I set up Tapestry of Grace BOOKS.

1) You must purchase Tapestry of Grace.  I am using year 2, so that is the link, but you can do any year at any time.

Tapestry of Grace Year 2 Digital Version

2)  Books...
I know this is the major part.  When I lived in Africa, I just bought all my books because the libraries didn't know what they had and the majority of the time it was chaos.  However, now that I am in USA, I use my books that I have, friends, library, used bookstores, kindle/nook, then I buy some books.  This year I will be buying two books.  Yes!  Just TWO BOOKS.

  
I begin by printing out the primary resources and alternative resource pages from the Tapestry of Grace pages.

I place them in a notebook that is a TOG year 2 working notebook.

Then I see if I have any books- I put a check if I do on either the primary or Alternate resources.  Or if I don't want a certain book, I cross it out.  *there is only two books that we don't like in the Tapestry books so far (America:ready to us Interdisciplinary Lessons and With Pipe Paddle and Song)

I see if my friends have any books. If they do I put their initial beside the book and gather them prior to the start of school.

Fun part (for me at least), I can search two major library districts and I find if they have first the primary and only the alternate if I am missing a book in the primary resources.
For example:  If I needed for Dialectic Literature book "Almost Home" by Lawton and the library didn't have it, I would look up the alternate resource "The double Life of Pocahontas" by Fritz.  I won't have a worksheet for the alternate but, it would cover the time period or the person I was studying.

I then mark on my TOG book notebook beside the book an initial of the library so that I know where I need to request the book from or put it on hold.  Our library has a 30 day checkout period and a two week hold, so I can request way in advance for the books I need.  One weekly trip is all that is needed.

*Look also for the audio or downloadable e-books as well.  If you child gets a break from reading and can listen to the book.  How fun is that!

Then I go through each week, and see if I have any holes.  The major holes I look for is literature because TOG has great interactive sheets for the specific books.  Then I look if I need any history books that is not covered in the primary or alternate resource. I write in the working notebook my alternate book that I want the children to read.  (Very important or you will not remember that you have a different book and you won't ask your child to read it that week)

 However, if I see that UG has a book on Jamestown, and LG doesn't I will just let my younger daughter listen to some of Max's book.  Second, I then see if there is any other books at the library that will cover the subject.  "You wouldn't want to be a ..." series is fun and they are so new that TOG might not of used them because I have been using TOG for 5 years.

Then I type out a list of the still needed books.  This year I created a spreadsheet of the books and then did a cost of purchasing these books (amazon, Bookstore central). I kept that little list around when I went to second hand stores or garage sales.  I found about 4 or 5 titles for .25 cents a piece!

Now, it is almost time to purchase the needed 23 books.  But read on to find out why Palmer Public Library is the BEST.


AMAZING: This year I had about 23 books that I couldn't find, for LG, UG, and D.  I went and filled out a "book request form" at the local library.  They ordered EVERYONE!

I put my books in order from which week and unit on 4 shelves.  So, Unit 1 first shelf, Unit 2, second shelf, etc.

I also order them by weeks so I won't need to search the house for them. (biggest pain). After the school year is over, I make sure these books are around the home so that the children can re-read them. But, not the current year.

This is getting to long.  Part II will come out later.