Mrs. Lilac Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 So Winter Promise posted on Facebook that they are having a sale on the digital versions of their language arts......around $50 and the programs look really cute. I ordered LA 4 to try with my daughter for the rest of this year/summer. It looks really cute, but I'm wondering if anyone has experience with their LA? Would love to hear reviews/comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 I am curious as well. I have always wondered why you never hear about it . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elizabeth rose Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 I was also thinking about it. I use their history and i suspect that they weave in a lot of LA assignments with the history theme. I wish I knew someone who used it, hopefully someone will chime in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khall Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 I'm using the 3rd grade LA with DD10 this year. She's in 4th grade, but we picked the grade 3 LA because she is animal obsessed. The grade 3 book revolves around Scout the dog, while the grade 4 book is detective themed. I figured that a noun is a noun, no matter what grade is written on the cover of the book. So far this year there has been quite a bit of grammar covered. She's done nouns (common, proper, abstract, concrete), verbs (action and being), adjectives (describing, demonstrative, and another type that I don't remember). The workbook seems to concentrate on one part of speech for awhile, then it will have review of everthing already covered. There's a ton of creative writing, and the assignments are based on WP's themed programs, but it's easy to adjust the assignment to your own topic. For example, the assignment might be to write about a famous person, making sure to include adjectives. Then there are suggested people to write about from each of the different programs. Easy to find your own person to write about if you want. There's also cursive instruction throughout the program, as well as spelling. We don't use the spelling (it's Spellwell) because we have a different program. There are books assigned throughout as well, based on the WP themed programs, but you could easily use a different source for literature. We've liked it well enough that we plan on continuing next year, though we'll skip the grade 4 program. My DD10 loves Scout the dog and he is in the grade 5 book as well, so we'll go with that. Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. Lilac Posted March 3, 2013 Author Share Posted March 3, 2013 Glad to hear a positive review! I'm excited so far.....we're only about 7 pages in, but she is loving it- and this is the child who I have battled with over LA all.year.long. The themes make it really cute! Hoping others will weigh in with reviews? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgrubbs Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 I just looked at their 5th grade and it does look cute. More decisions! My 4th grade son is finished up Rod & Staff 4 and I was thinking of using IEW's Fix-it for 5th for a change of pace and then go back to Rod & Staff for 6th. Now I'm going to have to ponder some more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastTNmom Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Does WP provide online samples of their programs? I am looking on their site and can't find any. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freemanfamilyof6 Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 I have only used the Advanced Kinder LA, but we really like it. I have used other LA programs, and I am loving this program for my 3rd DD. I picked it because she was already reading 3/4 letter words starting Kinder, and it started exactly where she was for the Advanced Kinder. I will probably be using the LA 3 next year for my older 2 and the Stories to Short Chapters for this same daughter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastTNmom Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 They do. Under the experience tab I think. I love the LA especially. Have used older versions of 2 and 3 and new 3,5, and 6. I love it. So cute. Also I ordered LA4 today at about 3pm and my download is ready. Thank you. I was in their store and that's why the samples weren't showing up. Can't wait to check it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. Lilac Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 Those who've seen it, do you think it's rigorous enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgrubbs Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 I'm interested bc it's affordable and looks like it might be more interesting to my son. However, I don't want to have to print the whole thing myself. I also like the looks of the younger 1st or 2nd grade LA. Does anyone use this without using their history programs? Their history programs look great but are out of our price range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. Lilac Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 I am NOT using their history program- just the LA. When I got to one of the creative writing assignments that had you choose a topic from whatever history program you were using, I just let her choose from any of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 They might sell more, if their Web site was more user-friendly. Geesh, I feel like I'm wadding through a murky marsh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Is the LA integrated with the history? Is there a lot of phonics in first and third grade? Is there sufficient grammar and writing? Are the writing assignments more creative or is there narration/copywork/ dictation or both? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgrubbs Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 calandalsmom - if you wouldn't have had rewards at Staples, how much would it have cost for the printing? If you remember, and don't mind sharing! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. Lilac Posted May 3, 2013 Author Share Posted May 3, 2013 Giving this a bump- is anyone using this? Would love to hear feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staceyof1982 Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest blessed3 Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 I ordered Winter Promise's Language Arts 4 Ebook Set. About an hour later I received an email to their download page. They let you download 3 times. I put the pdf ebooks on my usb hard drive then had the books printed (some pages were color) at FedEx. This was $85. Their package prices were actually very good. The mix bundle (print and email) was around $100. I decided to get the ebooks only, which cost $70. Many times, I facebooked the company and they were to quick to reply, on a weekend, and were gracious to answer my questions. I came across their LA after researching their "theme" programs. Their LA programs are darling! They are themed just as you would expect from this creative company. This is our starting point with WP. I saw it as a good way to get a feel for the style of their work and see if it fit our family. I was going to order Sonlight's LA 4 until I came across Winter Promise's. Winter Promise has all that we are looking for in a COMPLETE LANGUAGE ARTS. In the past I tried talking myself into getting LLATL, but the grammar wasn't strong and that's important to us in a LA. My son (9 yrs) has been doing Rod & Staff for grammar & spelling and WWE (with Sonlight readers which we will continue with while using WP LA 4). He is very excited about the mystery theme of his new LA. The theme is of a detective that includes the student in solving his cases. The grammar is very thorough and I love the creative writing (looks great for my reluctant writer). My son (an avid reader) is an auditory learner. Normally anything more than reading or being read too is all he "needs" to learn concepts. Normally he would balk at having to do "extra" hands on material, seeing it as a waste of time. He likes to see the curriculum choices that I research for him to tell me if he likes it or not. I can see that he is enjoying his LA and looks forward to the lessons. This is a boy that also enjoys Life of Fred and WP LA 4 has a similar style to it. I have looked and looked at the 1st-2nd grade LA Stories to Short Chapters (will order soon). My daughter (2nd grade) is a reluctant reader and it saddens me to see her cringe when it is time to read her 1st grade SL Readers. She is very social & outgoing, and loves everything hands-on. I love SL books, but I think it is on the dry side for her. She knows all the phonics in Stories to Short Chapters, yet not reading fluently with those sounds. I want her to gain confidence in her reading and enjoy it so I think this is a great starting point. Stories to Short Chapters' theme is animals that live in Pine Hollow. The readers are write-in-readers which is a brilliant idea. They have samples for each book. I used their placement test for LA and found they would place her in Stories to Short Chapters as well (http://winterpromise.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/lape.pdf). I decided to evaluate my son as well to see how accurate the placement test was and he place in LA 4....very accurate. *In my eagerness to start LA4 with my ds, I had the books printed out that night. A few days later, after telling WP about the price of the ebooks to print, they then emailed me back letting me know that they have a deal with Staples of $15 for printing/hole punching the guide and 4 books (they sent me the rewards #). I really feel they should have included that as apart of their email. I do think it may be in the teacher guide, but without knowing that ahead of time, I spent more than I would of had too. Also, we decided that my daughter stick with her Sonlight readers (she had her first break through moment with Little Bear and went from hating to read to begging me to read). My son is still enjoying WP LA 4. He had been able to work independently on most days, besides the creative writing sections. Since he had a strong back ground in grammar using R&S 3 he is very familiar with the grammar. There are times when I weigh R&S vs WP LA. R&S for grammar has worksheets that go along with most lessons (optional). I suppose these are similar to WP LA workbooks, but my son dreaded the R&S worksheets (he would do a worksheet during the days when didn't do grammar). WP is engaging but only -just enough-, not taking away from the learning aspect of grammar and learning to create a strong paragraph. Also, there is something about the grammar and writing combined (pages for spelling tests as well if you choose to use their spelling or your own) that is less intimidating, rather than having one book for grammar and another for writing. My son has started writing written narrations for each book he completes and weekly for history. I can say that taking WWE 3 during 3rd grade trained him to be able to write narrations on his own. WWE 3 is very gentle if used as a stand alone for writing, but it is the natural approach. I can definitely see the pay offs this year! We still add in dictation every other week and copywork every other week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama27 Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 I used an ebook version of LA3 and I really liked it! It was interesting, easy to use,and fun for my kids. We skipped the spelling part and writing. I wasn't using their history and didn't have time to add the writing in but if I did, it would have been easy to use without using their history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyc78 Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 Following Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolamum Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 We have & use LA 4, it's a lovely mystery to work through as you learn grammar rules & such. My kids ask to do it so that's saying something, right? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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