This year I wanted to make things easier on myself by purchasing a “ready-to-go” curriculum. That didn’t go as planned. First, I researched Sonlight and while the books were great choices, the integration of religion was not. I prefer a more secular approach to schooling. I checked out Ambleside and it just looked too hard to put together myself. I saw WinterPromise on someone’s post and decided to look into it. I fell in love with the website, the catalog, the concept, the hands-on aspect of it.
Getting my school-in-a-box was another story. I placed my order on May 31st and on July 26th, I received the last of it. During that time, I received not one single email or correspondence to let me know the status. I read on the forums that WP was a rapidly growing company and having server issues to boot. They were overwhelmed. I try to be empathetic, but when doling out $600, I expect prompt and courteous service. Courteous I got, prompt they were not.
As suggested on this same forum, I decided to make the first of what amounted to five phone calls. Their customer service is superb and frankly the only thing that kept me from sending the whole kit and kaboodle back to them. I’m not sure if I’ll order from them next year. We haven’t really started the program, for obvious reasons, so it is really going to have to wow! me to win me over for another year.
For Pete’s 3rd grade curriculum:
WinterPromise American Story I
NOEO Chemistry I
Complete RightStart Math C
All About Spelling (review 1&2) purchase 3&4
Artistic Pursuits (Gr. 3)
Reading Pathways
Daily Word Ladders
Good Literature
Cursive Handwriting
Review Grammar
For RePete:
Getting Ready for the Code A
Learning lower case alphabet (only knows uppercase)
Kumon workbooks
Everyday math skills
Of course, we use all of this VERY loosely.
Now let’s get started!
~R
Filed under: Curriculum, Homeschool
Wow, your kids are going to be much smarter than ours;-). Sometimes I think I should have done things differently but now it is too late. I think our kids will do okay. They don’t slobber when they talk so at least not everyone pegs them as home school kids;-). Okay, I hope everyone knows I am kidding and even so, I am sure I look like a terrible parent. That, I might be. My kids can get therapy when the move out.
It looks like you have a good curriculum. You are a much better planner than I am.
We’ll be trying out WP this year too (for my 4th grader) We’ll be using a variety of other things for the rest of the kids. I guess I have a sort of Classical-Charlotte Mason- Waldorf approach.