Winter Promise timeline and chess questions

[Kris in Wis]

Anyone use Winter Promise? I would like a general appraisal of their programs, especially the timeline.

I would like to use the timeline with my son next year. He will be in grade 6 and has done timeline work previously, but I want a little more depth next year. We used the SL book of time over the last 4 years, and he long ago ran out of space. He doesn't seem to be interested in just putting dates on, so I'm looking for something he can incorporate into his notebooking. What do you think of Winter Promise?

Also, he's shown an interest in learning chess. I know the basics, but not much else. I thought WP chess would be a fun learning experience for both of us, but wanted and objective evaluation first.

If you want, you can e-mail me directly with your opinions. Thanks!

Kris

[Baseballmom]

I haven't used the WP timeline, but I just bought it for next year. It looks like it would be perfect for what you are looking for. It is only printed on one side, so you can insert notebook pages in between timeline pages. It is thick, being that it is printed only on one side and on cardstock.
HTH,
Dorothy

[dragons in the flower bed]

We used the SL book of time over the last 4 years, and he long ago ran out of space. He doesn't seem to be interested in just putting dates on, so I'm looking for something he can incorporate into his notebooking.

You have just described the advantage of the WP timeline. The formatting allows kids to place notebooking pages between the appropriate years. You can incorporate anything that can go on a piece of paper and be three-hole punched.

It's on cardstock and it includes descriptors of the period rather than just dates. We have ours divided into four binders.

We have the old version; I have heard parents have been buying the new one even when they had the old one because it's so much prettier. That's not something we want to devote funds to, but I'm happy to hear that the new design is even easier on the eyes.

Another mom posted pictures of her first graders' timeline books (http://blankvillepix2.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b35d6cb90536).

[SnowWhite]

I have the "beginner" chess set and we love it (however we're only on week 4 due to lack of drive to do it).

For an older child, you would want the older set.

I love all of WP's program that I've seen, which includes:

LA1, LA2
Animals and Their Worlds
World Around Me
American Story 1
I'm Ready to Learn
Chess: A Knight's First Moves

I'm happy to answer any specific questions you may have about any of these.

I have the color timeline figures from WP, but I'm saving the timeline book until ds is in grade 4 (so it will be a more mature completed product, since we'll be doing 2 runs through Amer History).