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ann@home
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| Posted: April 27 2007 at 2:38am | IP Logged
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I know there are forums for Winterpromise but I like to hear thoughts and reviews from a variety of places. It seems to round out the "real scoop" on a progam 
I've been terribly lax about history these last 2 yrs (focusing on 3Rs) and I like the look of the American Story 1 program. It has some lovely books and some hands-on activities which will be good for my kids (6,9).
Thanks for any input.
Ann
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Dawn
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| Posted: April 27 2007 at 6:08am | IP Logged
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Ann, I haven't used it myself, though I do receive their lovely and intriguing catalog. Here is an older thread about the curriculum you might find helpful.
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys 
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Mary Chris
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We tried Am History 1 this year and gave it up. It could be more us than the curriculum though.
WP appealed to me because of the projects, but I think it lacks discussion.
Like I said it is probably more us not being able to stick to a program than WP.
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mom to MacKenzie3/95, Carter 12/97 Ronan 3/00 and wife to Jim since 1/92
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sailormom
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| Posted: April 27 2007 at 10:17am | IP Logged
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We've tried two WP programs (AW and Sea & Sky) and both of them fell disappointingly flat for us. Both programs felt like they jumped around a lot between books, with very little cohesion. We have the same issues with Sonlight also though, so I suppose it's just the way my family works.
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folklaur
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| Posted: April 27 2007 at 12:14pm | IP Logged
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In idea it is great. The catalog looks so inviting!
But - in reality, I have found the program to be choppy and not very cohesive. It just doesn't flow very well.
My son was bored-bored-bored with the "hands on" as it was almost all paper craft (cut-paste-color).
We have switched back to Sonlight...
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ann@home
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| Posted: April 27 2007 at 1:09pm | IP Logged
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Thanks Dawn for that link to past discussions. That was helpful as well.
The "choppy" comment is so common in many of the history programs I find....I wonder if there is a perfectly flowing one out there??
One thing I did read about WP history though is that you have to realize they finish a "topic" of history before they move on to another so they may cover American Indians for 100 yrs then come back to a topic that was in the middle of that time period and do all of it. Not sure if I said that right but it made sense when I read it ;) I thought that knowing that would at least help me keep it in perspective.
Thanks for your comments everyone!
Anyone else?
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Mackfam
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| Posted: April 27 2007 at 9:36pm | IP Logged
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I'm still relatively new here, so you guys probably already know about this. We like RC History Every time I've veered away from this style of learning - overview to living book to timeline, my dc steer me right back. I too was very intrigued by the WP catalog - SO BEAUTIFUL - but in the end I rely on the solid suggestions from RC History. It's not as pretty as WP but it seems to work for us anyway.
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Schoolrmacres
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| Posted: April 29 2007 at 7:28am | IP Logged
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How would RC History compare to History Links? I too have been lax about History and am ready to get started but definately prefer a Catholic resource.
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Darlene, wife to Shawn and mamma to Haleigh Elizabeth, our Gift from God through adoption.
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Mackfam
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| Posted: April 30 2007 at 11:23am | IP Logged
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I had to get my copy of History Links out again to take a look. If you're looking for something that is really Unit Based and spells a lot out, History Links seems to do that. They cover History, Geography, Theology and Archaeology. I thought the ideas were good, and they do offer suggestions to incorporate all ages. My copy, which is very old and may have been updated by now, doesn't have the extensive reading list like RC History has. I haven't used the program though, so maybe someone else here has some real experience with History Links.
Here's what I liked about RC History. First, they base everything on a good knowledge of Salvation History. They suggest you watch the Great Bible Adventure: A Journey Through the Bible with Jeff Cavins. I had already completed this, so I reviewed it and found it very helpful for the course. I highly recommend it as it really provides the perspective needed, and would be great for a high schooler to view before beginning an in depth study of Ancient History. There are specific book suggestions for different age readers which I really appreciated! I could just take the list to the library and we were done.
I think the program is well laid out with enough background info to not make things overwhelming when it comes time to the rubber meeting the road. KWIM? Some programs seem great, but there's so much stuff, I get lost in it, and then ultimately it gets shelved because it's just too time consuming to figure out. There are 10 units in the Old Testament and Ancient Cultures book guide. For each unit you follow an outline of:
C - Consider
O - Overview
N - Notebooks
N
E - Explore
C - Concentrate
T - Tell
As briefly as I can, each unit contains:
* Background readings for the parent
* Discussion Prompts (these are great)
* An overview of the time period
* Notebook suggestions including timeline items, vocab, Essay ideas, Ideas for hands-on projects, Reminder to use maps(which was a weak area since in my copy you really have to come up with your own maps and ideas - not hard - but disappointing since everything else was so well laid out.)
* Memory and Copy work suggestions
* checklists for kids to follow to keep up with their reading
* A number of reproducible charts to help organize various bits of info in Notebooks
I think they are working on their American History guide still, but have completed the follow-up to Ancient History. I haven't seen the follow-up yet.
One more thing - once you purchase the guide, you can use it with all of your children. If your budget affords, you can build your family library by purchasing some awesome books to read (their suggestions are wonderful and solidly Catholic!) for the year, or if you are on a shoestring, you just purchase the core books (1 or 2) and check everything else out from the library. Their website is terrific - I think I put the link in my previous post.
I hope this helps you out in some way - sorry I didn't know much more in order to compare History Links. Hopefully someone else here will have used History Links.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Erin
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Jennifer
Thank you for the review, what you wrote is brilliant. I have been tossing around whether to get it or not. Up till now I have 'flown by the seat of my pants' and designed everything myself. RC still sounds loose enough to suit our style of learning. I do get a little tired of designing everything, but yet I don't want to be too tied to something either. Hard to please aren't I? RC sounds like our style though.
Whoops, sorry Ann hoping I haven't steered things away 
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Erin
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: Has anyone used Winterpromise?
