Horizons or Winterpromise Preschool?

[SandraDumas]

The reason I need to know now is b/c I am buying gift certificates every month towards next years curriculum. My dd is bright and already knows the preschool "facts" so I'm not too worried about that. But she likes "school."

She will turn five in November of next year, so will be five most of the year, but it's her "preschool" year. If she really really starts begging me to read sometime I have HOP on hand and ready and waiting.

I narrowed it down to Horizons and Winterpromise I'm Ready to Learn.

I just can't decide. I think I'm more likely to actually do Horizons. But winter promise looks like so much fun, especially with the themes being pond and garden. We have a huge pond (though we can't interact with it much for fear of alligators) and also she loves our little garden.

Then again if I don't *do* it because I'm totally a do the workbooks-and-then read-lots-to the kids mom, it'll do me no good what theme WP has.

Then again I have high hopes for my little homeschool and I want so much to enjoy this year with dd, so I really want hands on ideas and crafts.

Hive Mind to the rescue.

[Chris in VA]

Jessica has a great review of Horizons on her blog--have you seen it? www.triviumacademy.blogspot.com
It might help you decide.

[dragons in the flower bed]

Then again if I don't *do* it because I'm totally a do the workbooks-and-then read-lots-to the kids mom, it'll do me no good what theme WP has.

Then again I have high hopes for my little homeschool and I want so much to enjoy this year with dd, so I really want hands on ideas and crafts.

I found WP to be an easy hands-on program to implement. You don't have to figure out what to do even if you've been away from the program for weeks; the instructions are laid out so you know where you are at a glance. There are supply lists delineated by week so you can collect them easily ahead of time. There are numerous choices, so you can pick from among several projects which one is doable for you today.

[LadyAberlin]

I have the wp I'm ready to learn guide for sale for $18. It is from the year they allowed you to resell it. I also just posted the bible storybook for sale too If you are interested you can e-mail me at lottidah 27 at yahoo dot com.
Heather

[Trivium Academy]

When I looked at preschool programs, I saw a bunch of them that included activity books. Why can't I just buy the activity book and the books they sell and have my own program?

Horizons has everything but a strict book list to follow. You buy the program which is less than WinterPromise btw and you're still free to read whatever books you want. You can read books that tie into the lessons too if you want. I'm VERY happy with Horizons, I think it's the most comprehensive preschool program out there. In fact, I think we'll use Sing, Spell, Read and Write afterwards but I'm not sure where ds's reading skills will be after Horizons so that is still up in the air. Not a bad problem to have.

I do have a great "look- at" post
http://triviumacademy.blogspot.com/2008/02/what-is-horizons-preschool.html

Hope this helps

[SandraDumas]

Jessica- your blog is what really turned my head towards Horizons Preschool. I really appreciated your thorough review.

Also I had no idea WP didn't allow people to resell. I don't like that policy at all.

And I like the idea of being able to get any library books I want (or forget to get them for that matter!)

Thanks, it's settled. Horizons it is.

[one l michele]

Yes, you don't "need" a preschool program and many piece together their own and do fine. However, I know for myself with two slightly older kids to juggle, I wanted something that was "open and do". I don't have the desire or time to search for acitivities, worksheets, plan what we'll do when, and keep track of what we've done and have yet to do. There is really so much to Horizons preschool, it is impossible to do all of the suggested lessons for each day in one day. You can easily make it an 18 or 24 month program or simply do a year and pull out the components you like. I love that it has it all there, then I can decide based on my ds and our family which activities we do. There is a suggested booklist, you can tie it into themes within the lessons, or just read together as you get those books from the library, or supplement your own favorite book list. It's a very easy program to adapt to your goals. It's also quite thorough IMO.

[dragons in the flower bed]

When I looked at preschool programs, I saw a bunch of them that included activity books. Why can't I just buy the activity book and the books they sell and have my own program?

The advantage to WP, for those of us who have a hard time doing stuff more complicated than workbooks, is that it's already coordinated. Yes, you could look up what crafts match your books by looking through the index once every six weeks and matching these to the reading list you have dug up somewhere, and your own lists of which page numbers correspond to which books and plug that all into a calendar, and then make up a supply list that matches the activities you've assigned to each week. But if you're the type of mom who tends to not get to crafts, believing that you'll get around to coordinating them with your books is unrealistic.