Well, WinterPromise went back to the source. It looks good on paper. I’m sure it is right for the right kid. Mine wasn’t that kid. I purchased it because it promised, “You can count on activities that are exciting for kids and realistic for parents.“ Umm, nope, not so exciting for us. Again, I’m sure it is exciting for the right kid, just not mine.
The majority of the “activities” were paper crafts which meant I had to first photocopy them onto cardstock and cut them out so that Pete could color and glue. Pete doesn’t like coloring pre-made things, not even coloring books. He prefers to draw everything himself and then color. He also isn’t much of a gluer, unless it is hot glue. Now if these projects would have worked better with tape – we’d have been in business.
I didn’t like reading small snippets from five different books each day. Neither did the kids. Sooo, since this was the history spine, I just sent it all back and purchased Story of The World. The boys love listening to the cds in the car or while we are playing. The activities are varied and interesting. They give lots of suggestions for comprehension questions and resources to find in the library. I’m not even sure now why I tried to switch.
I knew then I wanted a program where everything was already scheduled for me. I knew I wanted a program where all the craft materials came in a big box so I didn’t have to search for them.
I now know, I don’t like somebody else making my schedule. I have all the craft materials – it was just a matter of sorting it all out and organizing a craft closet to hold it all.
So that’s what I have been doing for the past week. Organizing.
~R
Filed under: Curriculum, Homeschool
Which book are you doing? The kids really loved the African feast in the Ancients book. They weren’t so wild about the coloring pages and many of the crafts, so we just did the ones we liked. The library and internet have lots of great projects and crafts to tie in, plus, you’re crafty so I bet you can think of some on your own or come up with better ways to do some of the crafts.
It is tough to find something the kids will like that suits the mom’s taste as well. Lots of people have done Story of the World. My kids were older when we got introduced to it, so they are reading them on their own. Unfortunately, one of our copies has a number of pages that are blank so I have to get a new copy. I need to send it back to the publisher I guess. One more thing to do.
I am doing a Homeschool carpentry 101 with the kids this fall. I started with the girls building gates this week and using the mitre saw. Next is the bike shelter and the donkey shelter. All 4 of the them will know how to use the circular saw, mitre saw, drill, level, hammer and t-square as well as a little something about drawing the design (although I have a bit of trouble with that myself and tend to make it up as I go, too much). Anyway, blogged about the girls with tools and will blog about the projects as they are getting done.
Glad you found something that works better for you.