This article was written in response to questions about the values that direct us when we construct the reading/resource lists for Tapestry of Grace. Someone was looking for it, and when I unearthed and re-read it, it seemed like a timely one to re-post here. I hope it’s helpful to some of you.

The Tapestry approach to high school is both classical and worldview oriented, and the books we choose are classics that we evaluate according to the amount of redemptive qualities that the book will have after it is analyzed from a biblical perspective. Also in our equation is the relevance of the book to the flow of ideas that linger in the air today in our society. Not every book on the “classic” list of “great books” is included in Tapestry plans.

Let me share with you about a long-lived divide among homeschooling educational philosophies that you may or may not be aware of, and then relate Tapestry’s approach to both of them. For we do seek to make a way for parents in both camps to use Tapestry’s materials equally well.The two camps are well represented by these terms: the “greenhouse” camp and the “Berean” camp.

The greenhouse camp takes the view that Christian parents should shield Christian children from evils of almost all kinds. They see their homeschools as greenhouses, where young plants (children) can freely bask in the winter sun and grow strong, never feeling the chilling touch of a winter wind or nor struggling to overcome a single snowflake (much less a blizzard). The hope that these parents have is that if they shield their children from all forms of evil, and only fill their minds with that which is good, pleasing, and acceptable to God (Philippians 4:8) when the children are grown and enter the world, their response to evil will be loathing, and they will instinctively and consistently look away from all forms of evil, when they encounter evil in the world they will be strong young saplings who do not love evil, will shun or flee from it, and who will not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. One Scriptural basis for this is the idea that if you “train up a child in the way he should go, when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Another is this: “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret” (Eph 5:11-12). Another is the injunction that Paul gives Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:22. And there are other Scriptures that under gird this approach. Please note here that I’m not saying that this approach is wrong! Tapestry upholds and applauds this approach, as I’ll explain in a minute.

The Berean model takes its name from this text: “Now these Berean Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). This approach that homeschooling parents take embraces the view that if their children are not trained in their homes to understand the evil and dark generation into which they must someday walk, they may not be able to either speak to it or withstand it. The Berean view is that greenhouse kids may be shocked and dismayed after years of sheltering when they encounter evil. They may also be ill equipped to exercise analysis, discernment, or arguments against the forces of wickedness that they will encounter in the world. The Berean approach, therefore, is to introduce their students (with care and discernment, and at appropriate ages) to measured amounts of worldliness, evil, and malice that are present in the world through books, not experience! They introduce these things on their own terms, in their own households, where they can walk their children through biblical responses, analyses, and counter arguments to the schemes of the devil. Like the first Berean Jews, they teach their children to look at the claims of the books’ authors and then to “examine the Scriptures to see if these things are so.” Proof texts for this method of discipleship abound: Jesus answered the Devil with Scripture when He was tempted for instance. Returning to one of the passages we quoted for greenhouse camp, let’s go further in the Scripture: as we said, “For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.” Going on, though, “But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomesvisible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,and arise from the dead,and Christ will shine on you.”

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Eph 5:12-17).

Consider also the following passages in connection with the Berean approach, which has as its main goal to train our children to remain disciples of Christ while reaching out to a lost and dying generation:

“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor 10:3-6).

Jesus prayed, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth” (John 17:15-19).

“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight” (Romans 12:16).”

And do not be conformed to this world , but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:12-17).

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm” (Eph 6:11-13).”

And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (Jude 1:22-25).

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:17-21).

With our own six children, Scott and I chose to primarily employ the Berean approach. We had a good experience doing so, and rejoice that all six of our children are strong believers, whom the Lord–by His grace alone–keeps in the way. Our young adults are articulate apologists who are unafraid to confront their generation, but do so in love and with gentleness, according to Galatians 6:1-2. Because we can only write a curriculum out of who we are, and from the best of our own experience, we seek to serve other Berean households with Tapestry. BUT, we firmly and totally approve the validity of the greenhouse approach, and feel that most–but not all–of our chosen resources will serve well those parents who feel led to guard their children and raise them in the Lord according to the greenhouse model. This, we try to serve equally well both camps, and make a flexible bridge between them.

Whichever approach you adopt, it is worth saying that it is only the gospel that can save and sustain our children (“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” as we are told in Eph 2:8-9). There are no perfect parents; we cannot boast that either camp saves our kids, yet we are called to actively parent, so we can’t just “let go and let God” either!

In writing Tapestry, as we compile our book lists our first priority is not to shield all students from all worldliness, but to look for redemptive qualities in the standard list of classic books that, if a student and parent are together following the Berean model, the student will benefit from. We have spelled out our reasons (especially for Literature choices) in detail here:  Literary Studies: The Big Picture. This public document is available to all before they purchase Tapestry and then it is mounted on each Loom disc that anyone receives. We are trying to alert everyone of the approach by which book lists are arrived at before they buy, and also after they start to plan.

Since I have come this far, I’d like to make a few more points.

1. Obviously, most families will have elements of both camps during their parenting years taken together. Indeed, within families there are children who need strong greenhouse-type sheltering and those who can take a Berean approach, simply because their individual makeup is vulnerable to worldly temptations!
2. Of course, some Berean students will not be ready for some resources listed for them. Those who wish to mainly use the Berean approach with Tapestry will have an important task each week: to walk their students through the ideas in the books they read, and discuss them from a biblical perspective. Our Teacher’s Notes, augmented by parental prayers and sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit, are supposed to give these parents as much aid as they will need in so doing.
3. Those who wish to use the greenhouse approach with Tapestry book lists will have to give extra attention to the resource-choosing phase than do those who use the Berean approach. We have never claimed that all our titles are appropriate for all students everywhere. We feel that there is no way that we can accurately draw that line for all families–it would be absolutely impossible for us (or indeed any other curriculum provider ) to know in advance what the Holy Spirit is doing or needs to do among all high school students who use Tapestry worldwide. You will need to exercise your God-given role as parents and discern which titles are appropriate for your students, who will (in the normal course of Tapestry rotations) encounter certain resources in differing years of their development. For some parents, this does mean that you need to pre-read resources. For others, our Glance warnings and the warnings on Bookshelf Central, coupled perhaps with a read of sample pages, will be sufficient. (Dana would want you to be reminded that all books purchased from Bookshelf Central are returnable within a specific time frame and in pristine condition.)
4. Neither of these camps is pure; both call for discernment on the parents’ part, because all students are different, and also because of the rotational aspect of Tapestry (discussed in more detail below). An aid to this process for all parents is our weekly “Glance Ahead” sections of Redesigned week-plans. Here we attempt to give detailed information to parents of objectionable material in our resources. We try to be thorough; it is impossible to be exhaustive since content that offends one family may be fine with another.
5. Both of these camps can heighten the mistakes and inadequacies of fallible, human parents. Greenhouse-oriented parents can produce legalists; Berean-following parents can produce students who tolerate too much worldliness in their lives. We all need the grace of God to help us with our parenting! In the end, the students also have a responsibility to choose righteousness for themselves after being saved by grace alone through faith in Christ alone.
6. It must be said, too, that certain eras of History are more worldly, or have more objectionable material, than others. It’s hard to study Renaissance art w/o encountering nudes. You must therefore choose: avoid nudes (and Renaissance art), delay the study of the Renaissance for later, or teach your child about a godly response to nudes and watch your child carefully (expecting to halt the study if needed) as the study progresses. This is also the case with some classic Literature books: the era or the work has wicked elements, but its overall nature can be biblically analyzed to bring redemptive learning for older students. You may know, however, that such learning is beyond the grasp of your child’s maturity or age. This is your role: to choose appropriate resources among those we recommend. Since our lists are full, no child is hurt by selective skipping. And, we always provide Alternate books as well (on page 5 of Redesigned week-plans).
7. Finally, factors beyond the resources themselves are also at work in choosing books for teens. The rotational nature of Tapestry means that you may well have two teen studying, say, the Renaissance, at different ages. One may be a junior girl in high school, one a freshman boy, or an eighth-grade boy who is doing rhetoric-level work. A book that contains nudes may be just fine for your daughter, but totally inappropriate for your son.

So, summing up: Tapestry is a worldview curriculum. We do aim at understanding the world and feel that the best way to do so is to see the world through lost eyes so that we can speak words that they will understand and fulfill our role as ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20). To this end, we present Tapestry as a means to the end of teaching students how to understand lost people by studying alternative worldviews and typical experiences that are a part of the human story that we call HIStory. We do so hope that Tapestry is a blessing to you: only you can determine the best use of our program in your unique home.

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