What is the "Literature Learning Method?"
The "Literature Learning Method" is popular with many homeschoolers because it offers a low amount of planning, wonderful books, and a format that allows teaching multiple ages together. The "Literature Learning Method" or literature approach is centered around reading and enjoying both fiction literature and non-fiction books that are filled with exciting content and hold your family's interest. These literature materials allow several desirable learning goals to be accomplished:

• Families read many of the books aloud together, which allows a format for open discussion.
• The open discussion (combined with the quality of the books themselves) fosters thinking skills and encourages discussion about important issues.
• Over time, these discussions bear fruit in your children; they will develop an ability to answer open-ended questions, make educated guesses, propose possible solutions, and even defend a point of view. This is true education!
• The literature and discussion format means you can school several different ages at once, since you can tailor what you focus on and what you skip over depending on the ages and interests of your students.
• As an added bonus, the books provide a flexible learning environment that is portable and easily adaptable to the needs of most families.
• Program guides schedule all of your resources and let you simply "open and go" each day.

BUT REMEMBER! It is important to note that WinterPromise combines this "Literature Learning Method" with some of the best aspects of other approaches to form a multi-faceted program. These aspects include notebooking resources to aid in retention, workbooks to allow students some independent work, and activities for making memories together as a family. In addition, our programs are linked to the internet and have DVD suggestions to really pull together other media avenues for learning. It's the best of all worlds!

Philosophy of Education & the Literature Approach to Homeschooling
Most homeschoolers come to a point where they must, in their own mind, take a hard look at what traditional educational systems embrace as their philosophy of education. There are so many differences between a traditional classroom setting and a homeschool setting, that what is seen as success for a traditional educational system may not be the same measure of success used for the homeschool setting.

For understanding of these differences, let us make a contrast. In a traditional school setting, how can a teacher know if he or she has adequately covered the material and taught it in such a way that the students understand and can use that information? Usually by testing. How can a teacher teach 30 students of different learning styles adequately in one classroom? By teaching them success within the system as their primary goal, and learning as the hoped-for result. How can a school district be held accountable to parents for doing a good job? By being able to show a scope and sequence on paper that “everything has been covered.” These traditional schooling systems clearly have limitations, and are held within the confines of these limitations by their size and their need to have the best “chance” to “educate” most of their students to come out with a fairly uniform student outcome.

By contrast, a homeschool parent has the opportunity to personally interact almost constantly with their limited number of students, judging student performance and understanding by interaction and discussion, not just testing, and can educate according to the student’s learning style, adjusting when necessary.

The base question then comes back to the same one the school system must address – how do you convince yourself and others you have done a good job? Or – better said – how will you measure success? The school system must judge its success by its scope and sequence, and testing scores. However, would you say that this is your definition of a good education?

Most homeschoolers find their goals for education rise far above that. They want their child’s education to have an outcome that includes a child that can:

• Read and write with mastery of the English language, with skills that will help them in their chosen profession.
• Demonstrate competence in mathematics in accordance with their skill set, progressing to a point needed for their life’s career.
• Not only absorb information, but discuss that information, be willing to make guesses or judgments when asked for, draw reasonable conclusions, defend a chosen position, and/or to interact with confidence and humility in an educational setting, with the idea that those skills will be brought into their future career.
• Put together information in such a way as to make it practical to a life situation, i.e., not to simply know something, but to use it with confidence.
• Be motivated, in and of themselves, to pursue excellence in studies and in many other areas of their lives.
• Develop the understanding that self-discipline, perseverance and hard work ethic accompany any pursuit that is worthwhile, and be known as a person who possesses all three of these character traits.
• Link up ideas or facts from different disciplines and draw from those experiences or facts a reasonable conclusion, a new idea, a prediction of outcomes or a careful evaluation that leads to reasonable action or responsible inaction.
• Demonstrate care for the fine and wonderful things in life, putting off evil, and pursuing goals that enrich the lives of others or mankind as a whole.
• Communicate effectively with a wide variety of people, be able to work effectively with them, as part of a team or an accountable individual, and to decide when to put the needs of others or community ahead of one’s own selfish desires.
• And most of all, to become an adult that truly enjoys learning, not for the outcome of passing tests or doing well for the approval of another, but for the joy it brings to him, and for the satisfaction of a well-developed curiosity.

With these goals in mind, we may perhaps sum up our definition of a good education as a child who has discovered the joy of learning and is pursuing it with excellence.

By this definition, we need to foster a different attitude toward our homeschooling than which is necessitated by a “traditional” schooling system. Schooling with the idea of good testing grades or covering everything is a goal that falls short of most homeschoolers’ measure of success. Although we certainly must provide to our children the basics of the three “R’s,” and in these days, a good education in technology as well, our primary goal is to help them to be self-motivated learners. Start with joy and you will be able to pursue your other goals of education. Once they take joy in learning, they will be motivated, and will learn the value of the education itself. With time, they will add self-discipline, confidence, and perseverance to their joy.

No student and no curriculum will ever hope to teach every child everything he would ever need to know for their future. If that were true, we’d never need any job training. Instead, a student needs to learn mastery of the basics and a joy for everything else. Then, he will be motivated and have the skills needed to succeed in life as a confident, continuously learning individual.

How does the literature approach fit into that goal? By offering students wonderful and challenging books that are discussed and enjoyed together, many of the skills a parent wants to encouraged are fostered every day. Heroes and villains in these books demonstrate outcomes of choices and give opportunities to talk about the values important to the student’s development. Cross-curricular materials help students link up ideas with other pertinent information to help them draw good conclusions and develop confidence in their own skills and ideas. Constant discussion and use of information will help students make judgments, interact respectfully, work as a team, and become a good conversationalist. Tailoring the work to fit student strengths and weaknesses will allow a student to develop well-earned confidence, as well as a good dose of perseverance in a difficult subject, and self-motivation, self-discipline and personal accountability overall.

As homeschool parents, many of us need to rediscover the joy of learning, and be able to communicate that to our children. We need to know that we can “journey” along with our children and learn with them – discovering new joys for ourselves. What to do? Make sure you have a solid curriculum for the three R’s, then -- find a curriculum that offers joy to you and your family. Take joy in the moments and challenge your student to think – really think -- in new and wonderful ways every day!

I Don't Get It -- How Can I Combine Several Students at Once?
Each of our programs includes books to read together and discuss as a family. During these discussions, questions can be tailored to the ability of each student. The content and stories themselves are ageless, meaning that they will be interesting and absorbing to almost any age, even if the reading level itself is not at the age of the student. Additionally, our program offers activity ideas, workbooks, notebooking, timeline building, DVD suggestions and internet links -- resources that can be used or discarded as they work or don't work for your student(s) particular learning style(s). This variety of resources also means that a family can require older students to complete/use more of the resources, while younger students do less. Finally, a range of language arts programs are available to coordinate with the history or science program that is right for your family.

Can You Explain How the Different Parts of Your Basic Programs Relate to Each Other?
Each of our basic programs has several different aspects: history or science books, pleasure reading, activities, research resources, Bible study, additional resource suggestions, map work, timeline building, and notebooking. We have incorporated all of these aspects so that there are plenty of learning avenues for the different learning styles your family represents. The variety means there is plenty to do, and some to discard if it is not working for you. So how do they relate to each other?

• History or Science Books form the backbone of the program. They are living, wonderful books that share the things your student needs to know in an interesting, engaging way. All of our books are chosen because they will capture your student's interest and get them thinking and interacting as you read them together.
• Adventure Reading Books are pleasure books that are read aloud as a family. Ideal for any family time, they will draw your student into real life adventures or fictional journeys and help cement the things they are learning in their history or science studies.
• Activity Ideas are included to help your family make memories. Each program has books devoted to bringing you activity ideas, while some have kits or art books that also help along the fun! Many activities require supplies that would be found in any well-stocked homeschool art cupboard, and recommendations are made to guide you toward the activities that bring you the most fun for the least amount of preparation. Additional ideas are included in your guidebook, too!
• Research Resources become more common in levels designed for older students. One of our goals is to teach your student to make educated guesses, use research tools, make judgments and summarize important facts. As your student progresses to our higher grades, they will be able to formulate answers to the open-ended questions they'll find in college classes, analyze ideas and philosophies, and take and defend a position on important issues.
• Bible Study Resources build Bible knowledge in lower grades, add memorization and application in the middle grades, and get students researching Biblical history and geography in high school.
• Additional Resources Suggestions pull together other reinforcement tools in your guidebook. These include DVD suggestions, website links, field trip suggestions, and a variety of other media reinforcement. From listening to the Rebel Yell to taking a tour of the Seven Wonders of the World -- your student will have the globe at his fingertips.
• Map Work gets students' fingers trotting all over the world. Lists of places to locate are sprinkled through books and resources scheduled for you.
• Timeline Building helps your student grasp how time and human history are woven together, how pivotal events changed the world, and how one happening, discovery, or development led to a change in history or the human experience. We offer timeline figures in each of our history programs and timeline dates suggestions in each of our guidebooks. These figures and other dates are designed to be placed in our "Timelines in History" timeline book. This book includes a blank timeline with dates on each page, as well as headings on each page that describe major civilizations, wars or developments to keep students mindful of what is going on in the world. This timeline book is hole-punched so that student work and our own notebooking resources, the "Make-Your-Own History" series, can be filed within in. Students will collect their art, reports, timeline figures, and notebooking pages to literally "make their own" history book with it!
• Notebooking is one of the most desirable ways to help your student remember day-to-day learning. Our "Make-Your-Own" series are informative and interactive! Our pages aren't like some resources where each page is the same -- no, we've done the work to offer you many different pages that offer students chances to illustrate pages, write "newspaper" entries, create period placard signs, solve codes, and so much more. It's a great way to reinforce daily work and a creative outlet for art-happy (and even not so art-happy) students.

How Does This Program Change from Level to Level to Meet the Changing Needs of Students?
Our youngest learners begin with programs that focus more heavily on crafts and do not have as many different kinds of activity suggestions as older programs do. "Animals and Their Worlds," for example, has fewer suggested videos and “activity-based” ideas like games or cooking. Instead, this program focuses on giving this additional space to alphabet activities written into the program, designed for learning and reinforcement for young learners. It has less written work, no independent work to speak of, and includes a few picture books (which our other programs do not); primarily because this is written to target young learners. You see, this program is specially designed to meet the needs and interests of young learners, and to give them plenty of time to master reading, which is their top priority at this time of their education. As students mature, the programs Amer 1, Amer 2, Adventures in the Sea and Sky, and Ancient World 4/6 all focus on interactive opportunities with written work as well, with an emphasis on hands-on, experimental learning. Independent work is introduced and gradually becomes a greater part of the program for middlers. As we move into our high school programs, the emphasis changes once again. These programs focus on a balance between the hands-on experimental learning, research opportunities, written work, great literature and discussion sessions. In short, our program grows and changes as a child’s skills, mental development, and interests grow over time.

How Do the Language Arts Programs Relate to the History/Science Programs?
Each of our language arts programs cover all the language arts skills, including grammar, spelling, handwriting, vocabulary, and creative writing. We offer a variety of resources in our language arts programs. For many of our younger grades, you'll find activity ideas that are hands-on for kinesthetic learners among the resources. Workbooks make up some of the resources, which offers independent work to allow parents freedom to work with other students and reinforces valuable written and testing skills for students. You'll also find unexpectedly fun resources like our "Hands-On Activity Pack," a Grammar Rock CD game for grammar reinforcement, and even the lighthearted, "To Root, To Toot, To Parachute: What is a Verb?" In addition, all of our creative writing programs integrate with the student's main study, offering a cross-curricular approach many parents love and writing assignments that draw students into wanting to complete them. Finally, all of our main programs offer several language arts programs--and different reader sets--that are tailored to meet all your students' needs, no matter what their grade level. This means the American Story 1, which is targeted for grades 1-3 has a coordinating 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade language arts, each with their own reader set. It's really designed to meet your family's needs perfectly.

I've heard that your program incorporates the "best" of many homeschooling approaches. It's obvious that WinterPromise is heavily influenced by the literature approach. How does your program reflect the methods used by the classical approach to homeschooling?
Yes, our program does incorporate many of the best methods and ideas brought into homeschooling. While our basic methodology is based upon the ideas and ideals of Charlotte Mason, we also include ideas and perspectives of merit from other approaches. We hope to "marry" them into one substantive and joyful approach that stands apart from other curriculums. It may be helpful to remember that one of the ways in which the classical approach differs from the Charlotte Mason method is that the CM method advocates joy and exploration in learning, while the classical method is a more regimented methodology, having identical learning goals for all students and reaching those goals through methods such as memorization, challenge and argumentation, and oral presentation. While in this way, these methodologies cannot be reconciled while adhering strictly to both, we embrace the joy and exploration of the CM method while keeping many of the principles of the classical method, but reinterpreting them in a more "joyful" presentation. With that in mind, let's take a look at the methodology of the classical approach, and then look at what we've taken from this approach that fits classical goals, if not the strict methodology.

The classical method of homeschooling is attractive to many parents for several reasons:

• It places an emphasis on stages of development of the mind and use of knowledge.
• It teaches toward these stages of development (grammar, dialectic, rhetoric) and changes the approach as students progress through their education.
• It spends time working through great books and classical literature, often including a study of the Greek language.
• It embraces a chronological approach to learning, keeping this as a primary guide for how programs are assembled.
• It often advocates teaching history in three four-year cycles throughout a child's education (Ancients, Medieval, Early Modern, Late Modern). Thus, the repetition of the history is an important cornerstone in classical learning.

How does WinterPromise incorporate these ideas into its curriculum?

• WP programs change in their approach and requirements as students progress through our curriculum year by year to meet changing educational goals. However, this is not attained by adhering to methods such as memorization, argumentation and oral presentation, but by a wider variety of learning avenues, including narration, creative writing, educational notebooking, timeline building, service to others, oral sharing in real-life settings, practical skill development, and so on. We also provide assignments tailored for various learning styles, to reach children differently based upon their own unique way of learning about their world. For more information about how the program changes, see another FAQ, "How Does This Program Change from Level to Level to Meet the Changing Needs of Students?" WP also incorporates great books and classical literature, as this is key to the Charlotte Mason method. We do not include a study of Greek, simply because we offer so many other learning avenues and opportunities; however, this can easily be added if a parent would choose to make it a part of their children's regimen.
• WP programs, within themselves, basically use the chronological approach, although when it better serves the student to follow a theme or civilization for awhile, strict chronological adherence takes a back seat to presenting the material in a way that makes it more memorable (and, we find, often more enjoyable) for the student. For instance, most of Egyptian history is studied together and followed in our Ancient World program before returning to the "main" timeline thread of our program and resuming with the world history thread. We feel that to adhere too strongly to strict chronological order can confuse students in some cases, and leave them feeling they are not following the progression of individual civilizations or movements in history very well.
• WP also offers our four-year history cycle -- Quest for the Ancient World, Quest for the Middle Ages, Quest for Royals and Revolution, and Quest for the Modern Age -- and these can be approached at least once during a student's education, and can be worked through twice if a parent chooses to do so, using our two-part American history series as a substitute for the last two programs when the student is in the middle grades. However, we also have found that the predictable repetition of the material three times during a student's education to be a little lacking in the spirit of joy and investigation that Charlotte Mason advocated. So, instead, we take the idea of repetition and reinterpret it. Instead of gaining repetition by simply repeating, we help a student encounter facts in world history by looking at them again and again, but from entirely different perspectives. Take a look at a summary of several of our programs summarized from their "perspective."

Hideaways in History - A one-year look at world history from a "story" perspective, adding the joyous fun of re-creating places in time, inspired by the childhood fun of "playing tent."
Children Around the World - A look at world history, but country by country, something that emphasizes the repeated movement of nations from agrarian settlements, to connected towns, to feudal states, to modern nations.
Adventures in the Sea and Sky - A look at world history through the history of transportation, which allows students to see how key developments in shipmaking, navigation, air travel and space exploration affected pivotal events in world history and influenced movements such as the age of exploration, merchant trade, colonization, nation-building, and more throughout the ages.

In addition, our four-year history cycle (mentioned above) and our American history studies offer a straightforward look at history in the traditional sense. This adds up to a lot of repetition, but in a way that never feels predictable or plodding. You'll never have the "been-there-done-this" feeling with WP. Future releases will include at least one more one-year world history program from another perspective, giving students another facet from which to look at their world.

So, WP seeks to incorporate the principles and goals of the classical method, but reinterpreting some of them to create a sprit of joy and discovery that is a hallmark of the Charlotte Mason method.

What other homeschooling approaches or methods are also brought into WinterPromise?
As mentioned in the previous question, WinterPromise is influenced by Charlotte Mason's ideas, includes a lot of great literature as you'd find in most literature approach programs, and incorporates many of the goals and principles of the classical method. We add to these approaches a strong flavor of the unit study, with its cross-curricular emphasis, so that your student will encounter activities that allow him to investigate ideas in other areas of study related to what he encounters in his main themed study. For instance, not only might your student learn about Tudor kings and queens, but he might complete activities that allow him to delve into Tudor architecture (art), discover navigational advancements (science), read a Shakespearean play (language arts), or run a Tudor-era store (math). Unlike many unit studies, however, most of our activities are designed to be very low-prep, but still retain a high learning impact. In addition, we add our own line of educational "scrapbooking" materials to create historical notebooks, timelines and maps that are a new reinforcement method often referred to as "lapbooks" or "notebooking." We use some traditional textbooks to allow students to get a feel for a more traditional presentation of facts and learn traditional testing skills. We also include some workbooks -- a simple, ready-to-use solution that allows parents the freedom to work more closely with another child while the first is engage in a ready-to-complete worksheet. We always include website and DVD suggestions to harness today's top-notch learning resources, and we add a dash of up-to-date multi-media suggestions for computer- and electronics-savvy young adults. With so many learning avenues, students of every type of learning style are engaged, and there are enough avenues so that if one or two don't connect with students, there's still a full program waiting to be explored!

How Do I Know My Student is Meeting State Standards?
First, when a parent asks this question, he or she usually means, "How do I know my student is studying the right thing at the right time?" and is wondering if their student should be studying American history in third grade, or volcanic activity as a middle schooler. However, the issue of state standards more often relates to skill ability rather than content studied. Therefore, the meeting of state standards is really a question of "How do I know my student is acquiring the right skills at the appropriate pace?" We'll answer both of the above questions here. First, the matter of studying "the right thing at the right time" as relates to state standards is an impossible task for any curriculum for two reasons: (1) content that ought to be studied in a certain year varies from state to state as states or school districts, not the federal government, determine content for certain grades, and (2) these content standards are constantly changing as states or school districts update and rearrange their schedules. So, really, the more important question about state standards is "acquiring the right skills at the right time." WinterPromise usually exceeds these state standards if the entire program is used as written (with the elimination of some activities, of course, as we have given you more than you should be able to use). If you're still curious, it may be helpful to look at your state's standards. Here's a website that has compiled most of the state's standards: www.greatpyramid.com . Click on the "Educational Standard" link about halfway down the page.

Do You Incorporate Tests in Your Curriculum?
This is not a simple question, as the Charlotte Mason methodology and the literature approach method on which our curriculum is based generally do not advocate a strong testing paradigm.  One thing many parents find as they investigate homeschool methods  is that really good methods turn many “traditional” schooling methods on end!  Assessment is definitely one of these issues.  Assessment in the traditional schooling sense is designed for a teacher of 20 or more students must determine their mastery of material.  This goal for testing diminishes in relevance when you as teacher have direct contact with just a  few students in such a way that you are not "teaching" them as much as you are "learning with" them.  The Charlotte Mason method our curriculum employs encourages discussions, open-ended questions, and instant feedback that, in a homeschool setting, is leisurely and increases with time to a way of life.

For clarity, let’s consider an example.  One of our families recently reporting being engaged in a conversation about the Romans' development of naval ships.  They discussed at length why that was important and what happened on the international scene as a result.  One child offered that the Romans fought at sea as if they were still on land, using hand-to-hand techniques.  Another mentioned that their techniques required the use of elevated platforms for archers.  Another brought up their use of the gangplank to bring enemies into their type of fighting.  Another talked about how their dominance at sea allowed a peace that brought trade, prosperity and connection between peoples.  This conversation is precisely what our methologies desire as an educational outcome; an ability to ask an open-ended question, require reasoning, and receive answers that combine facts to make a conclusion. The goal is not to simply recite facts.  Now, I could assess them each with a test, but to test them I'd actually have to test them for information – reciting facts -- that isn't really my goal for them.  My goal in teaching them really isn't to establish that they know isolated facts like "Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 ..."  Instead, my goal is for them to know in what period he sailed, why it was important, and what happened as a result.  With this goal in mind, assessment changes totally.  Assessment of my success with my student must be gained differently.  How?

Decide what your true goal is for your student. 
Set your mind on your goal for your student, then ask yourself how to get that.  Usually you'll find you're very in touch with what your student does/does not know on your own, so assessment may be more often for the benefit of state agencies, than even for the benefit of you, the parent.  But, it's still nice to have peace of mind as a parent!  So, below are some ideas we've used for assessment for these agencies with great success (and for giving a parent peace of mind that he is holding the student to a standard for success).  The big thing here is, you've redefined the "test" to meet your own goals for your student, which more closely reflect your methodology and your ultimate desire for them to be "well brought up," as Charlotte would have said.  We've never had a state agency question these types of grades.

Use varied techniques to assess that more closely represent your true goal for your student.
Use the narration starters we've provided for you in our guides, and give a daily grade for student success with them.
Assign a daily grade for discussion participation.
Assign grades for reports done/projects completed based upon activities we've given you in the guides.  Elaborate with learning goals accomplished.
Give a student a "narrated test" that simply allows them to tell what they know, rather than a Q & A format.
Assign grades for daily review that you incorporate.
Assign grades for volunteering or skill learning that supports your learning goal.
Assess student achievements as an overall in a set "rubrick" that defines your own goals.

Use traditional techniques if you really need the peace of mind, or to reassure yourself you’re doing well until you grow in confidence with this new way of “teaching.”
If you'd still like to do more traditional testing, an easy way is to underline key facts in key resources as you are reading them aloud to your students.  Then, use these underlines to perform daily review.  Finally, every 1-2 weeks, simply read aloud a "question" based upon the fact you've underline and have your student write the answer.  Grade the impromptu test right away, and you'll have an instant, low-prep test.  This is an easy way to feel as though you've done some more traditional assessment.

A couple of practical notes -- You might be surprised that the state agencies parents often “worry about,” for their turn rarely worry too much about assessment techniques.  Why?  It’s hard to say; perhaps it's because the state knows assessments can be manipulated by parents anyway.  Most agencies want to see work samples and sit down with parents to make a judgment about the probable success of their students.  It is likely that any assessment you do will demonstrate a far more personal understanding of your student's progress, and also demonstrate your commitment to their success, than any assessment the state could perform.  Then -- as to getting to know more about these different approaches -- we’d encourage you to read "A Charlotte Mason Companion" by Karen Andreola.  It is a great resource for additional, practical ideas, and a comfort in those moments you might feel unsure.  If you have read it, we'd encourage you to try to take her ideas the next step to a home setting.  I say all this to reassure you that, as you slowly immerse yourself in this world of homeschooling, you may find a new freedom to leave behind some constraints to be found in the practicalities of managing a multi-student classroom. When you work one-on-one with your child, you just know a lot more about what they are learning!  Enjoy the journey!

I'm Not Sure Which LA My Young Student Needs -- What's the Difference Between the First Three Language Arts Programs?
Basic Phonics
Basic Phonics begins as if the student does not know anything about the alphabet or any of the sounds, yet does not move so slowly that a student would be bored if he knew some of the sounds. Basic Phonics covers all the sounds of the alphabet, all the vowel sounds (short, long and additional) and, at the end of the year, covers some of the two-letter sounds such as ai, and sh, etc. By the end of the year, the student will be reading three to five letter words, or even reading easy sentences, depending on the motivation of the student.
Advanced Kindergarten
Advanced K starts just as the student has learned most of his phonics sounds and is ready to start putting together and reading three-letter words such as mat, set, and kit. The readers support this goal, and the phonics cards and instruction continue to introduce and reinforce more advanced letter combinations such as ea, ch, tch, and so on. By the end of the year, the student will be reading short paragraphs from easy readers.
1st Grade Language Arts
1st Grade LA begins with the student reading 1-2 paragraphs each day and progresses to the student reading easy chapter books by the end of the year. They will be prepared to progress to short chapter books in the second grade when they complete this program.
One More Note:
It is possible that a student could progress straight from Basic Phonics to 1st Grade Language Arts as far as their reading ability, although the student may miss some of the work done in the workbooks in Advanced K. The Advanced K program will help the student progress in other "lateral language skills" such as reading comprehension, spelling, handwriting and vocabulary. It is important that these skills keep up with a student's reading level, and skipping Advanced K for that reason may be undesirable for most students.
NOTE: Additional Information on this question, and a summary of ALL our Language Arts programs appears on our "Language Arts" page. You'll find even more helps to placement questions there.

What Types of Activities Can I Expect to Encounter?
Each of our programs has books devoted to bringing you activity ideas, while some have kits or art books that also help along the fun! Activities may include making simple historical crafts or "artifacts," cooking period food, arranging a family dinner, creating games for family fun, making simple costume pieces, recreating historical events, watching a historical docudrama, or creating your own posters or newspapers. Online fun may include visiting historical sites online, taking a peek inside museums around the world, playing games that reinforce what you've learned in your studies, journeying through another land, researching a topic online, or even hearing the sounds of a culture or important person in history. The most important thing to remember, however, is that the vast majority of these activities are activities that you will actually follow through and do! Most require a minimal amount of preparation, or even no prep! You'll follow through because of a number of factors that help you along the way:

• Some activities are just so easily available with no preparation, such as online activities
• Many activities require only the most commonplace of supplies
• Many activities are so simple that if you provide supplies, students can complete them independently
• DVD suggestions are easy to plan for at the beginning of the year, and specific titles and ISBN numbers are given to you to help you get just the right volume
• Some activities fit easily into your family life, such as cooking, which needs to be done anyway
• Many activities are provided for as part of kits that have everything you need to begin
• Notebooking opportunities also provide some activities and require only your student's imagination
• We let you choose from a variety of activity opportunities -- there are so many, you'll have plenty to discard if they don't work for you!

What Kinds of Supplies Will I Need?
Many activities require supplies that would be found in any well-stocked homeschool art cupboard, and recommendations are made to guide you toward the activities that bring you the most fun for the least amount of preparation. All of our guidebooks for the 2006-2007 school year will bring you a supply list for you to look at and plan for the coming year. This includes a list of what kind of common supplies you'll need to have on hand as part of your craft cupboard. Not only that, but we provide a yearlong "Activity Planning Sheet." Divided by week, you'll have plenty of advance notice for any unusual supplies you'll need, and you'll be able to decide ahead of time which activities you do want to complete and which ones you'll pass on.

What Should We Do to Enjoy Our Crafts Long-Term -- Without Them Taking Over the House?

• #1 NO MATTER WHICH IDEA YOU USE BELOW – YOU’LL WANT TO USE THIS ONE! Write on the back of your projects (or tag them) with the date (with perhaps the WP level you are studying) and something YOU remember about the craft, some funny moment or delightful thing that accompanied the time you spent studying that time period. You may want to copy this information into a scrapbook at some time in the future when you have time to do that. Don’t trust it to memory alone!
• #2 CREATE MAGNETIC FRAMES FOR THE FRIDGE -- A local craft store will have 8 ½ inch magnet sheets (often office supply stores carry them also). Sometimes you can even find these sheets with adhesive on one side, so you can apply a decorative paper to one side. Cut out the center to form a frame. Place on the fridge and rotate each week’s project or artsy craft in the frame. Another idea is to purchase one of those new-fangled magnetic boards that come in large poster sizes, and rotate art on and off. Hint: Don’t throw away the center of the magnetic sheet you cut out. Keep cutting descending-size frames out of the center. You should have 3-4 by the time you finish with one sheet. OR, apply art to magnet sheets and use as magnets, OR apply art and cut apart to make a magnetic puzzle.
• #3 CREATE A HANGING CORNER IN CHILD’S BEDROOM -- Using fishing wire with hooks attached to the ends, create a corner in your child’s bedroom where he can hang bulky projects – give him space for 4-6 things to hang at various heights. The key here is to tell him that every time he wants to add something – one thing gets thrown away (or you decide to put it in storage because you can’t part with it!) This way a child can keep something long-term if he’s really in love with it, and still has room to rotate other things in and out. Hint: If you don’t have a corner, hang wire from a curtain rod over a window at various heights so it looks kind of decorative!
• #4 ENCOURAGE GIFT-GIVING -- All of us know Grandma Smith is lonely, but we rarely think to surprise her with a homemade craft. After a craft has served its lifecycle at home, consider gifting an elderly relative or a shut-in at church with a craft. To add to the personal nature of the gift, encourage your child to write a note on the craft, or attach a gift tag with a personal note or even add an encouraging Bible verse that goes along with the craft. Hint: Grandma Smith probably won't have any qualms about throwing “gifts” away if she keeps receiving more of them! (Tell her to feel free!)
• #5 REPURPOSING -- Sometimes crafts can be re purposed into something you – or a relative -- will use! Try putting a drawing into a see-through mug, or laminate a neat report about your family vacation and use it as a place mat. Take bits and pieces from crafts you really can’t keep and decoupage them onto a wooden box or crate. Cut out round disks from pictures that highlight the most important parts, hole-punch, put a ribbon through it and use it as a Christmas decoration or to decorate a wreath to give to Uncle Joe. Collage a table runner. Use them as backgrounds for scrapbooking! Make a magnetic puzzle as in Idea #2 and give to younger cousins, or your church nursery with a magnetic board to hang.
• #6 MAKE A YEARLY COLLAGE -- Take strategic pieces of your crafts for the year that have meaning, perhaps things that give the flavor of what you studied for the year. Add family photos of study time, craft time, field trips or museum visits, and create a great collage that will reflect your family’s memories for a year. Let the kids work on it together at the end of the year. Collect things throughout the year, and together make a decision about whether to use it or not. You can even purchase a shadow box frame at a craft store to make it look really special. If you’ve made something really 3-D, cut out only one half or the front part to use. If you have extra that won’t all fit, and you really don’t want to toss, make a couple of extra smaller ones for grandparents, or to keep for the kids to take with them when they leave home.
• AND NOW ... THE “FINAL SOLUTIONS....”
• #7 PURCHASE FILE BOXES OR UNDERBED STORAGE BOXES FOR LONG-TERM STORAGE -- Inexpensive cardboard letter-size file boxes are available at most discount or office supply stores. So are plastic storage boxes that go under a bed. Assemble them, then start folding paper crafts into the boxes. It may be helpful to throw away the bulkier crafts after each month of display, and store only those crafts that can be flattened. We all know it isn’t worth it to keep everything your child produces. Sometimes it may seem now like it isn’t worth it to keep anything – but that isn’t the case. You’ll want to shed a few tears over this stuff when the kids are off to college. You may even want to make a cute display on a graduation or wedding day. Keep the things that reflect your child’s special personality, or interests, or that will remind you of some special memory, as we’ve stated in Idea #1. We can’t stress the importance of this enough. Hint: When your box gets full, and you want to add more, go back and weed out some things that you really feel you don’t need to keep, whether they are duplicates, or similar, etc. Take digital pictures of whatever you don’t want to keep (Idea #8), and stick to your guns that you REALLY aren’t going to exceed one box per child for school memories!
• #8 TAKE DIGITAL PICTURES OF “CRAFT CASUALTIES” AND SCRAPBOOK THEM IN YOUR “MAKE-YOUR-OWN HISTORY BOOK" -- This is such a great solution. Take the digital pictures once a month. If you’re smart, you’ll also write down in the order the pictures are taken the notes you’ve attached to them or written on the back about your special memories that you associate with them (remember #1?). It’s important to write them in order or you’ll get all mixed up when you actually get the pictures back. Write these memories on a piece of paper to tuck & rubber band with the pictures if you don’t get to your scrapbooking right away. Then, let your student scrapbook them into their “Make-Your-Own” history book or “Timelines in History,” with your special notes. You might want to get double prints of the pictures, so Mom & Dad have a copy to scrapbook of their own.

What is Involved in Timeline Building?
Timeline building offers students a chance to get to know the flow of history by recording dates and events into a timeline book. Students write in their timeline book as they learn key events and their significance in their main program. They can also write in dates important to them personally, such as family events or things they learn in their own reading time. Timeline figures are a fun way to add to the color and flavor of a timeline book. WinterPromise provides colored timeline figures for students to cut out and paste into their own timeline book. We also provide a week-by-week schedule of when to use each figure, and additional dates to write in, along with the historical significance of the event.

WinterPromise also offers you a unique timeline resource, our "Timelines in History." It is copied on heavy-duty cardstock and should last a student throughout their school years. Each student usually enjoys having his own, as it is a personal journal in which they can record any information they'd like to. Our timeline differs from other similar resources in two key ways that help you with introducing "notebooking" into your studies. First, each page doesn't just contain endless rows of meaningless numbers; instead, at the top of each page are 2-3 descriptors of major movements, civilizations or events in history. From the "Middle Kingdom of Egypt" or "The Age of Exploration" to "World War II" or "The Industrial Revolution," these descriptors aid your student in true understanding of how history flows and relates to real events. The second distinctive feature is its loose-leaf nature; it is three-hole punched and copied on only one side. This feature provides a blank spread in between each date spread. This means your student can file "Make-Your-Own" history pages, artwork, reports and more in between their timeline pages. Year after year, they'll collect "Make-Your-Own" pages and their own work in this one resource. They'll literally "Make-Their-Own" history book that will serve as a scrapbook of homeschool memories they'll never want to part with.

How About the Notebooking Resource -- What is It and How Does it Work?
Notebooking is one of the most desirable ways to help your student remember day-to-day learning. Notebooking has become very popular amongst homeschoolers as a way for home educated students to feed back on what they have learned. In general, notebooking pages require students to use what they have learned to fill out a page to be kept as a bundle and collected. Our "Make-Your-Own" series are exclusives to WinterPromise and are informative and interactive! Our pages aren't like some resources where each page is the same -- no, we've done the work to offer you many different pages that offer students chances to illustrate pages, write "newspaper" entries, create period placard signs, solve codes, and so much more. It's a great way to reinforce daily work and a creative outlet for art-happy (and even not so art-happy) students. The pages can be collected and filed in between our "Timelines in History" resource, and added to year after year, to literally "Make-Their-Own" history book!

Where Can I Find the DVDs You Recommend?
Many of the DVDs are proven resources that can be found at your local library or requested through an inter-library loan. They can also be purchased from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or other reputable companies that offer a full-line of media products. Some parents have had success using DVD borrowing services in which a flat fee is paid for a year’s subscription, and different DVDs are sent when you return others. This option may be difficult to “time” just right to accent your studies, however. Each of our themed program guides features a list of DVDs used throughout the year with a rating system that will allow you to choose which ones to purchase if you’d like to invest in owning some that are real gems!

I have a child identified as autistic. What parts of this program will work for him or her and how?
We have received some feedback from parents using our program with autistic children, and these are some of their thoughts. Autistic children often have trouble with caring to learn if they can’t see how it relates to their lives. They may also have difficulty with too much sensory input, and do not do well with multi-tasking. They do, however, learn well when they are motivated, work well in a sensory-controlled environment, and apply themselves well to tasks broken down step by step. Therefore, before you begin our program, it may help to remember to set up a learning environment that reduces distractions and interruptions, and does not over-stimulate your student. It may also help to develop a pattern of breaking any assignment down into smaller steps. And most of all, it may help for you to “follow” your student toward those things that catch his or her interest, especially as you begin. Parts of our program have been successful for some parents, although you will want to follow your child’s lead as you choose what to do. Our history books are often well-received as they are quite visual and interesting to read. It may help to ask the child to read some of the titles on their own or aloud, then read aloud the rest to him or her. The activities have been successful if they are not too easy, nor too difficult, and if you plan to break it into steps. Plan to set the activity aside in the middle for a time if your child becomes frustrated by the process; plan to come back to it later, not by forcing the child, but by interesting the child in completing the project. DVDs have also been highly successful, and some parents have noticed children taking material from the DVDs and using the information learned by setting up play scenarios, literally reinforcing their learning in their play activities. Our program does offer many learning avenues, and often one or another of them will catch the autistic child’s interest. Let him or her explore areas of interest, and gradually, with time and patience, you might find you’ll be able to do more and more leading into areas that aren’t of strict interest to the student. One parent’s best advice was to make sure above all else that the child is developmentally ready for whatever level you choose to do. As to math, one parent recommended using real-life kinds of simulations, such as shopping situations or playing money games like Monopoly, and using manipulatives to make the math three-dimensional and practical for your student.