Hello! We used Stories to Short Chapters last year (the level just below). My daughter really enjoyed it, especially following the story throughout the year in the Write-in-Readers. It was a great match for her (1st grade), but she is a pretty advanced reader. There was PLENTY of grammar practice in the program, and lots of review. It looks like the next level is set up in a very similar fashion. If you are really torn about what level your child needs you can take the placement test, here: http://www.winterpromise.com/pdfs/lape.pdf

We have used Winter Promise for a few years and really love their programs. Since history is the main core of their program, you may want to lighten it up if you are using a lot of other curriculum.

We love WinterPromise and have used several of their programs! You can choose to just do the language arts program or theme, they are independent as far as assignments go. The LA does have different readers depending on which history/science theme you are using, but you could just pick any of the reader sets that appeal to you (or choose one that reflects what you will be studying.) We are actually using Animals and Their Worlds next year. I am SUPER excited, it looks amazing. It teaches science and social studies through the study of different animals and habitats, and has lots of notebooking resources. There are quite a few options as far as purchasing goes. To keep costs down, you might want to go for an exclusives-only set and get what you can from the library, or purchase books as you need them. There are two different options for the exclusives-only set: 1-E-books only set 1st-4th (http://www.winterpromise.net/product_info.php?cPath=21_33&products_id=1099) You would need to print many, but not all of the pages. This would be useful if you are teaching on the go a lot, or if you have multiple kids using the program. 2-The Guide and Exclusives Set 1st-4th, which is all print. http://www.winterpromise.net/product_info.php?cPath=21_33&products_id=1291 You would need to add these page packs to the print set (they are included with the e-books) http://www.winterpromise.net/product_info.php?cPath=21_33&products_id=1281

I haven't used this particular science program from WinterPromise, but I have used others. I find their programs to be well thought out and very hands-on. They are designed to take 2-5 hours a week and at a 7th grade level would be mostly used independently. I have used WP for years and have never had a shipping issue.

We have used several WinterPromise programs and really love what they have to offer. We've used Journeys of the Imagination, I'm Ready to Learn, Hideaways in History, Accelerated K LA, and parts of LA 1 and Animals Science (no longer available). This coming year we will be using Animals and Their Worlds combined with Letters to Little Words for 4-K. I love that everything is laid out for me and low prep, yet I can still tweak it to fit my students interests and abilities. The schedule packs a lot in, with the understanding that you will choose which activities appeal to you and not attempt to do everything listed. I know some people have had shipping issues with WP in the past. The company has stated that these issues were mainly due to dealing with 3rd party suppliers and scheduled books going out of print. They have switched over to using mainly WP published exclusives (which, from what I've seen are very well done, and available as portable e-books) to avoid this issue all together.

Hi! I have used several WinterPromise themes and language arts programs. The LA programs do have assignments and reading that reflect the different history and science themes. It seems that as far as writing goes, the LA writing is more creative, while the the theme contains most of the research based writing. The two really do go hand-in-hand (especially once the kids are past 2nd grade and not working on phonics as much). We just finished Stories to Short Chapters with my 1st grader. She loved the Pine Hollow readers set. There was a lot of phonics review, grammar, and comprehension, as well as some copywork and creative writing and drawing. Narration is a large focus of WP, and is encouraged throughout LA and History themes. Here is a link to the sample of their Write-In-Reader for 1st grade: http://www.winterpromise.com/pdfs/samples/LA1_Write-In_Reader_Sample_2012.pdf If you aren't wanting to print everything out, you can buy the print or combined print & ebook format.

I became really frustrated trying to teach my daughter math at that age (after my son who was a natural). What ended up working for us was a combination of JUMP at Home math (REALLY easy confidence builder), Evan-Moore's daily word problems book (with help), Mathematical Reasoning (with help), and addition wrap-ups.

We just use a regular chair at the dinner table, or sometimes the kids kneel at the coffee table in the living room. It would be nice to have something special, but we have too many people in a tiny house!

Our summer school is a bit more unstructured than the rest of the year. For my 4th and 2nd graders we are using Mathmatecal Reasoning (Critical Thinking Co) & wrap-ups for math, Draw-Write-Now for wrti ng & spelling practice, Typing Instructor for Kids, and we are doing a few very light unit studies on penguins, dolphins, whales, fish & oceans. At the end of the summer we are going to the beach & aquarium to finish it off. The kids will mainly work on this stuff when they are "bored".

Thanks for the answers! I was wondering as well.

Hi I'm Stacey. I've been homeschooling kiddos for a number of years, and have frequented this forum as a creeper, thought it was about time for me to actually join in the fun. ;-)

Hi there! We are going to use WP Animals and Their Worlds next year with our 5yo dd. I have the guide now, and I can tell now that its going to be a fabulous year! Our family has used several WP programs over the years, and we have always been thrilled with their quailty. Their exclusives, the books they choose, and the extra stuff - weblinks, etc., are all well thought out. Everything is laid out for you, down to which weeks you will need which supplies for projects. I've tried a few other programs to save some money, but I keep going back to WP because the kids and I love it so much. Did you see that you can download a trial week of the Animals program? Read through that and see what you think. They have e-book options for their exclusives now, which brings the price down a bit, and I have had luck finding the scheduled books either at the library, or used. As far as the shipping issues go, they were a small start-up company and did have some kinks. I think over the last few years they have improved on the issues others have seen. I know there were 3rd party shipping/printing issues. To combat that WP now publishes many of their own titles, and I'm told (by them) now only orders from limited suppliers. My last orders came through timely and complete.