Winter Promise American Story Week 1

We started our History and Bible with Winter Promise this past week. It is still early, but from what I can tell... I think we are really going to like this program. It was not too much and not too little. We did the reading and some of the activities in about half hour to 45 minutes each day for four days. Being super busy like every other mom I know, that was a concern of mine. I would say that Savannah is enjoying the book selections and that she definately liked the hands on activities. The teacher's guide was extremely helpful. One of the books we read from was called Wild West. We are actually studying when the first Native Americans came over. I would never have thought to look in a book on the Wild West for info on that. It just seems to be the wrong time period. BUT... there is info leading to how the Wild West was before we came to settle there. That is the beauty of using this program. The author has pulled all these unique books together for you. I am assuming she probably was studying the Wild West and noted that there was some great info that could be taught about the early Native Americans. This really impressed me. I can go the library and spend a lot of time trying to find that info and teach Savannah with real books and I still would not have come away with this book. That in itself has made this program worth it to me. I am happy to find something that does the research for me. We made a Native American diarama, a 3-d map of the Bering Strait, a map of the different regions of Native Americans and finally she made some Navajo bracelets. For anyone considering the program, the prep work was very minimal. I just got a few of the books from the library. Then I used my printer to copy the diarama and 3d map onto cardstock. The bracelets were made from a toilet paper tube, tinfoil, tape, and blue cardstock - all easy to find. We are really enjoying the story of The Birchbark House. I think we are getting a good picture of how these Native Americans lived. All it all, I successful week! I am excited to move on with this and see what is next.