WP? the internet link on the sample page is wrong?

[Just Another Jen]

So- We are LCC type homeschoolers. My only daughter is very crafty so I started looking around for something fun. I found wp american cultures. I've printed the first 2 weeks from their website. We both think it looks fun- we'd do it all once a week and maybe on the weekend.

I requested the first books from the library and started checking the internet sites to print out some of their suggested items. One url is wrong. One is just linking to a confusing page, where the info they are talking about is on the website- just not that page.

Sooo- I've read about their shipping problems. I was just going to buy the IG, and 3 exclusives. Is this typical? Because now I'm wondering if I should get the exclusives and figure out the schedule myself. I'm not going to use it as shown anyway- saving $70 is a big incentive also.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Jen

[Just Another Jen]

Bump- bueller?

[Guest aquiverfull]

I used WP American Story 1 two years ago. It was very typical for the links to be dead links. It was frustrating, and in the end I just quit trying the links. I've said this before on this board, if I were to ever do a WP program again I'd skip the IG and do the scheduling myself. To me, it was not worth $70. If you don't like scheduling then it may be worth it to you.

[Just Another Jen]

Thanks Kelli, I do like scheduling so I

think I will skip the IG.

[Guest aquiverfull]

You're welcome. Maybe some others will chime in here and give a different perspective. Perhaps WP has gotten better on updating the links in their guides. In their defense, I know keeping links updated has to be a big task. Sites often change. Since it's been 2 years since I used them, they could have improved.

I don't know.

 

I just didn't find the IG that helpful. I ended up tweaking it quite a bit anyway. But that's just me. I much preferred the SL IG to the WP one. The SL one not only had a regular schedule but also a Bible reading schedule, vocabulary words, dictation, discussion questions, maps, and some teacher's notes. My Wp guide had none of that. However, I believe the guide you are considering does have some of those things like discussion questions for example.

[1shortmomto4]

I have the IG for WP Cultures - this program was new last year and didn't release until last August. I will say this for the IG (links aside), this was the first IG that finally had some discussion questions - and some narration for mom to read (or read aloud) to understand the theme of each week. I believe the updated QAW has them now, too, so slowly WP is improving in that department.

 

As for the links, I must preface by saying we tried using this and I was gung-ho in the beginning but we slowly fizzed out - the Civil War coverage seemed longer than the actual war itself and then when you got the WW I and II - they were given all of a week (give or take) and that was disappointing. There was so much more to WWII that could have been covered - so we ended up just letting it fall to the wayside. The books selected were great and easily readable but this program doesn't have a spine that it works from - just sort of goes through time....

Now, back to the links. There were assignments that you needed to go to these links and print out (some a bit lengthy) where you read about a particular Civil War battle and then mapped some stuff out. If I remember correctly the links were confusing but because it gave you the main website, I was able to navigate through and find the info in the end. Later on in the program there was some research to do about the Flu Epidemic and that was easy to find.

 

The I Can Do It book was great because there were a lot of fun things to read about - like info on Campbells Soup, Levi Jeans, the Teddy Bear - which I thought was great to read about because it helps kids understand where some of our traditions or brands came from and why they came to be which I wanted my kids to know about so that was done well. The little projects that you could do each week were not done around here and my dd loves projects but they were just "eh! projects" so we just read the info and moved on. Some families, I'm sure would enjoy doing some of the projects so some of that is just our family's style. The bible guide was great but I think a little on the young side. We did not use the art appreciation book so no comment.

 

I liked WP but have, over time, figured out perhaps it is not for us. Price is high and there just still seems to be a missing cohesiveness in many of the programs (I've used Sea and Sky (that one actually was probably the best), QAW, AW and AS 1). I've come to the conclusion that if you buy the notebooking pages you could design the program with that as your spine (selecting some of their books, too) except that this new IG does have the commentary for each week....which is definitely a big improvement.

[siloam]

So- We are LCC type homeschoolers. My only daughter is very crafty so I started looking around for something fun. I found wp american cultures. I've printed the first 2 weeks from their website. We both think it looks fun- we'd do it all once a week and maybe on the weekend.

I requested the first books from the library and started checking the internet sites to print out some of their suggested items. One url is wrong. One is just linking to a confusing page, where the info they are talking about is on the website- just not that page.

Sooo- I've read about their shipping problems. I was just going to buy the IG, and 3 exclusives. Is this typical? Because now I'm wondering if I should get the exclusives and figure out the schedule myself. I'm not going to use it as shown anyway- saving $70 is a big incentive also.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Jen

 

I used AW And AS 1, and both would occasionally have dead links, but it wasn't constantly. I bought the guides in the summer and started using them that January. This is why they ask people not to sell the IG's is WP gets requests to maintain the links. They are such a small company that they just don't have the resources to pull it off.

 

I never had shipping problems with buying the IG's. They have supply problems off and on for a variety of reasons, books going OOP, weather (they used to be in Alaska, then moved to the states but on an Island that often had power issues), and they have had continual problems finding reliable e-mail service and change it almost yearly to try to find someone who can manage their account without lots of problems. Generally with shipping it is the people who buy whole packages who have problems. Even then they really have the best of intentions. I have seen them drop ship books off of Amazon 2 day mail to fulfill people's orders. They just finished up their 4th move (if I remember right) and hope that this hsing season will prove to be much better than previous seasons.

 

When I do buy again from them (and I plan to at the least do AW again and S&S) I will call in the order and ask about availability first, and I will order ahead of time, so if something does happen they have time to make it right.

 

Heather