Winter Promise Science

[GoVanGogh]

I am curious if anyone has any feedback/reviews on Winter Promise's science program, specifically the "Sizzle, Solve and Survive" for grades 7-9.

DS wants to be an engineer/chemist when he grows up and only wants to study sciences. Will he be happy with this? He keeps drooling over the science kit this study uses.

http://www.winterpromise.com/sizzle_solve_survive.html

Thanks in advance.

[Amy+2]

:lurk5:

[missmoe]

I haven't used WP's science, but have used many of the Thames and Kosmos science kits. The kit used in Sizzle, Solve, and Survive comes with an instruction manual when you order it from Thames and Kosmos. WP adds the student worksheets to that. Are there samples of the worksheets on the website to show what they add to the program?

 

I've used other WP programs, and I never felt I was getting my money's worth with the schedules.

[luvmygirls]

I think that I can be of help with this one. First, let me say that we have been homeschooling for 10 years and this is the first time I have ever "ditched" a curriculum mid-year. I had such high hopes for this program and I am really disappointed.

 

Here are my opinions:

1) The IG is very poor. The way that the experiments are scheduled to be completed (often over several days) conflicts with how they are set up in the KOSMOS guide. For example, KOSMOS will run similar experiments under the same conditions in order to compare results. Unfortunately, it looks as if WP didn't really read these through before creating the schedule...it's not possible to compare the results accurately if they are not done one immediately after the other.

 

2) The Power House kit often had extremely poor directions and several times, I called in my husband (who builds models and is extremely inclined in this area) to help us with assembly. NONE OF US could figure it out. Unfortunately, this happened more than once.

 

3) The activities in the student book seemed very disjointed and often seemed like "busy work"--very time-consuming "busy work".

 

4) Alot of the time, I was not even sure what we were supposed to be gaining from an experiment and there was no place where the information was really explained well, I found myself on the internet searching for supplementary explanations, videos, etc.

 

5) This program was advertised as "open and go". For our family, this was definitely not the case. I spent so much time trying to reorganized the IG to help it make more sense. Also, I was not aware that so many of these experiments would have to be completed outside--we live in the Northeast--not likely that we will be using our solar cooker in February-Again, this meant moving things around.

 

I hope that this assists you in making a decision--for us, this was a huge, expensive mistake.

[Just Another Jen]

I think that I can be of help with this one. First, let me say that we have been homeschooling for 10 years and this is the first time I have ever "ditched" a curriculum mid-year. I had such high hopes for this program and I am really disappointed.

 

Here are my opinions:

1) The IG is very poor. The way that the experiments are scheduled to be completed (often over several days) conflicts with how they are set up in the KOSMOS guide. For example, KOSMOS will run similar experiments under the same conditions in order to compare results. Unfortunately, it looks as if WP didn't really read these through before creating the schedule...it's not possible to compare the results accurately if they are not done one immediately after the other.

 

2) The Power House kit often had extremely poor directions and several times, I called in my husband (who builds models and is extremely inclined in this area) to help us with assembly. NONE OF US could figure it out. Unfortunately, this happened more than once.

 

3) The activities in the student book seemed very disjointed and often seemed like "busy work"--very time-consuming "busy work".

 

4) Alot of the time, I was not even sure what we were supposed to be gaining from an experiment and there was no place where the information was really explained well, I found myself on the internet searching for supplementary explanations, videos, etc.

 

5) This program was advertised as "open and go". For our family, this was definitely not the case. I spent so much time trying to reorganized the IG to help it make more sense. Also, I was not aware that so many of these experiments would have to be completed outside--we live in the Northeast--not likely that we will be using our solar cooker in February-Again, this meant moving things around.

 

I hope that this assists you in making a decision--for us, this was a huge, expensive mistake.

 

The quote above mirrors our experience with this program. In fact our power house actually ripped while wewere setting it up. It's made of styrofoam and was just flimsy.

I also found the winter promise materials lacking. We put ours away and hope to do a couple of the experiments this Summer. The rest is going in the trash.

[GoVanGogh]

Thank you very much for the reviews. Scratch that off my list. :tongue_smilie:

[GnomeyNewt]

Thanks for the reviews. I was curious about this myself.

 

The kit looks great though... is the kit not put together well too? Or was it just the curriculum that pieced it together?

[teachmejoy]

I tend to like WP programs for the most part, but I haven't heard anything good about the science.

[Chris in VA]

I'm so glad for this input--we were looking forward to the Power House, but decided to try something else. Pity.