We just began our third unit of
Tapesty
of Grace Year 2, which covers the colonial time period. This has been a
year of change and experimentation for me as far as how I implement Tapestry
of Grace (TOG). I decided to change the way we do mapwork by doing all of the
maps for the unit the week before we begin. I think it will be advantageous
for my children to see "the lay of the land" before encountering it
in their reading, as well as during their reading. I am also hoping that they
will have more time to do projects if we do the maps ahead of time - I am really
bad with hands-on activities for TOG!
We took a week off between units to file and organize everything from unit
2, revamp our schedule, do some decluttering, and prepare all of the maps for
unit 3. I wanted to do all of our timeline work together also, but we didn't
get to that - yet.
I own the MapAids
for Year 2, so I printed out all of the teacher maps and enough student
maps for each child. We did the first one together, but I decided I would let
everyone work on their own maps in any order they chose. I let them cheat and
use the teacher's maps, but they had to include everything on the maps. We use
maps often as a part of our studies. It has been my experience that my children
learn a lot just by handling the maps, which is the reason I allowed them to
use the teacher's maps. I might change my mind next time, so if any of my kids
are reading this, it is subject to change! :-) I will be printing out some blank
maps and doing testing periodically just to make sure everyone knows the most
important information.
When everyone completed their maps, they bound them with the ProClick
binding machine
(hat tip to Angi
at Peakmore Academy and Deborah
at Notebooking Pages), which I absolutely love! The kids are expected
to refer to their maps during their weekly readings and check the geography
assignments for extra labels or suggestions. So far, so good, although this
is only the first week of the unit. The bound books of maps are the beginnings
of their notebooks for the unit. We will be adding notebook pages, writing assignments,
pictures and descriptions of projects, and any other pertinent assignments to
it. I am hoping that we will also put together a fold-out timeline to include
with each of the notebooks.
In case you are interested in trying this and don't have maps available, there
are tons of free maps available online. I have listed some favorite map sites
and resources in my Free
Geography Resources category. TOG also offers links to geography resources
for each year plan (click on the year plan to go directly to the geography links
page): Year
1 (Creation to the Fall of Rome), Year
2 (Fall of Rome to the signing of the American Constitution), Year
3 (World History During the 1800s), and Year
4 (World History During the Twentieth Century and into the Present). These
links would be helpful regardless of which history or geography curriculum you
are using.
As I already said, this is subject to change. I think it might work out well
for us, though. Everyone is already doing projects, and it's only the first
week of the unit. Nathan
has a huge project planned, but I won't unveil it yet. Allyson
already completed what was supposed to be a unit-long project: a card game using
figures and information from the unit. Now she and Kathryn
are working on a medieval card game since I am so bad about getting to projects
and we did very, very little for the middle ages! Jordan
made this Jamestown
replica from Home
School in the Woods. I'll try to post pictures of projects and notebooks
as they are completed.
HomeschoolBlogger Comments
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Mar. 28, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by
rcelliott
Wow! Didn't you just take those pictures???
Mar. 28, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by
lcourtneymom
Hi, I visited your blog to read the Front Porch "assignment." Your blog is beautiful. I am going to read some more about Tapestry of Grace. I am really looking for something different next year for history, and this is one I keep seeing come up. Looks interesting!
I own her Writing Workshop CDs, and I found these workshops to be extremely helpful! Marcia has a baby-step way of explaining how to teach your children to write that makes you feel like you are never behind.
Ellen
from 
