WinterPromise American Story 1: PRINTING

We will be using WinterPromise’s American Story 1 (AS1) for history this year. I must say, it’s HARD to switch history curriculum after almost a decade of getting comfortable with one company! Navigating new waters was NOT easy. I thought I’d chart a course for you! Let’s start with: WHAT TO PRINT.

When you purchase the AS1 ebook package, you will get a MASSIVE set of files. I’m going to walk you through what you need to print and what you DON’T, what paper to choose, binding–allllllll the things. Buckle up.

FIRST: I use The Homeschool Printing Company for my print jobs. They are AWESOME. (Everyone else must think so too– so plan to order from them at least a MONTH in advance, 6 weeks during busy spring/summer season.)

SECOND: I use iLovePDF to rework PDF files. Technology is a shifty beast and by the time I type & tell you how, they’ll probably change their website. Rest assured knowing that it took me about 2 minutes to figure it out so I’m guessing you’ll have it down in seconds. Most print shops will not accept instructions like: “please print only pages 8-10 of this document” so: we’ll have to do some chopping. It’s easy-peasy, promise.

THIRD: PLEEEEEASE verify page numbering before printing. My goal in listing page numbers is to help you quickly navigate your files and make your work easy, but the danger in my helpfulness is that publishers change layouts ALL.THE.TIME. Also: I am human, and perfection is a unicorn.

UPDATE: WP AS1 UNDERWENT A REVISION IN 2021. *ALL* PAGE NUMBERS LISTED BELOW PERTAIN TO THE FILES FROM THE ORIGINAL EDITION. I DO NOT KNOW HOW THE FILES HAVE CHANGED–PLEEEEEASE VERIFY ALL PAGE NUMBERS BEFORE PRINTING! I hope this post is still helpful. I am leaving it up for now–comment below if you have feedback on its relevance, or tips for other users! Thanks everyone!

PRINTING THE GUIDE in (5) steps:

1. PRINT: The American Story “Guide.”
   
   YOU DO NOT NEED TO PRINT pages 39-69. These pages are game pieces. I’ll tell you what to do with these below. (Use iLovePDF to ‘SPLIT’ pages 39-69 OUT of the original PDF file. From this point on, I will spare you the PDF splitting jargon.)
   
   The guide is color-coded, so you’ll want to print it in full color. I printed my guide SINGLE SIDED on 22 lb. paper, and had it spiral bound. This allows me to have the printed plan on the right-hand side with a blank (backside) on the left for notes (field trips, book titles, etc).
   
   Approximate cost: $20
   
   ADDITIONAL MONEY-SAVING TIP: If you want to bring costs down even further, print ONLY the weekly plans, referencing everything else electronically. The weekly plans begin on page 70. To do this print the cover page and SKIP pages 2-69 and 179-216. (Pages 2-69 are mostly reference, book lists, and games. Don’t worry–I explain below what to print for games. You really do not need game pieces bound in your Guide. Pages 179-216 are the journal answer keys.)
   
   
2. PRINT: “Chain Playing Card Set” page 39 in Guide.
   
   This page is for games. Print (4) copies, single-sided, black and white, on CARDSTOCK.
   
   Approximate cost: 40 cents.
   
   
3. PRINT: “Timeline Chain Boards” page 40-43 in Guide.
   
   Games again! Print (1) copy, single-sided, black and white, on CARDSTOCK.
   
   Approximate cost: 40 cents.
   
   
4. PRINT: “Timeline Cards” pages 44-69 in Guide.
   
   These pages are for games and studying. IMPORTANT: these cards are meant to be printed DOUBLE SIDED. The front of each card lists an event, the back has coordinating dates/info. To print correctly, choose DOUBLE SIDED printing. Print (1) copy, black and white, on CARDSTOCK. It should be a total of 13 sheets of cardstock — (26 pages if counting both fronts and backs).
   
   NOTE: WinterPromise suggests printing a second set on COLORED CARDSTOCK for studying purposes or for a “master” set to verify facts during games. Since each sheet is a different topic, the Guide suggests printing each page in a different shade of red. The theory is that red will set them apart as AS1 cards. (Next year’s AS2 set could be printed on shades of blue, for example.) However–I found it impossible to find (13) different shades of red cardstock! So I chose to just print (2) sets right away–BOTH on white cardstock–and I hand-colored the edges with different RED patterns. I’ll include a snapshot below, BUT: please comment if you come up with a simpler method… because my hand-designed patterns took F-O-R-E-V-E-R during a night of binging on Netflix.
   
   Approximate cost: $1.60 (per set)
   
   
5. PRINT: “Timeline Cards FRONTSIDES ONLY”
   
   Again, games! Print (2) copies, black and white, single-sided, on CARDSTOCK.
   
   Approximate cost: $2.60
   
   

PRINTING THE JOURNALS:

There are (3) journals total for AS1. Print (1) copy of each for EVERY student. I printed these on 28 lb paper, DOUBLE SIDED, in full color. (They are BEAUTIFUL!) Note the age of your students–there are separate “younger” student versions of each journal, and they have less pages (=less cost to print).

Approximate cost: varies, $17ish for younger journals, $23ish for regular.

PRINTING “BUILD THE AMERICAN STORY“

This is my FAVORITE resource!!!!! I think, friends, it is WHY I bought this package to begin with. I have an itch for model-building and this tickles it. I had The Homeschool Printing Company print this for me because it’s a HUGE pile of cardstock (229 pages!) and I knew it would make my printer grumpy. WinterPromise sells a printed version but it costs around $70 and if I’m going to spend that kind of money on a model-village it’s going to be made of balsa wood with working lampposts. Amen and Hallelujah. Printing cost me less than $35. I do have some tips!

TIP #1: It’s not necessary to print the instructions on cardstock, or even in color. It took me a few minutes to browse the file and split those out. You can choose to save them as a separate file and print them, or–just access them from your favorite device when it comes time to build. My personal preference was to print them so I’d have them on hand right next to our cardstock building stack. It cost me about 60 cents to print them single-sided in black and white. It would be around $4 to just go ahead and print them on cardstock and not fiddle-faddle with the files. You do you.

TIP #2: Once you get your printed files….DO NOT MESS UP THEIR ORDER! Oh my. This resource is NOT page numbered. Whyyyyyyyyy! I consider myself pretty savvy with model building–but trying to sort through 229 pages of mismatched colonial village pieces would make me wild. Yes, save your original file just in case you have toddlers, epic blasts of wind, or are prone to clumsiness. It might save your neck in the re-organizing process. Let’s just hope for smooth sailing.

PRINTING the FLIP ‘N FOLD MAPS?

I am printing this one at home as we go. AS1 includes **MANY** cut/paste/hands-on activities. I am fully prepared to use other maps in a pinch. If you ARE printing this one, go with single sided, black and white. The maps are not in color.

OPTIONAL PRINTING:

1. American Story Texts.
   
   There are (2) texts written by WP that come with the AS1 ebook set. I chose to print the first volume, since we prefer printed text to virtual text. I’m going to wait to print the second volume though, because I’m not very confident in my idea of multiple students sharing the same physical book! (At 372 pages, full color, double-sided on 28 lb paper, spiral bound… one copy cost me about $35.) My backup plan is to download the texts to tablets or laptops so that it can be referenced by multiple students simultaneously. If we are desperate for a physical copy of volume two, I will be investing another $35ish in the future.
   
   
2. Live the American Story.
   
   This is meant to be a click-and-go reference. That said, I felt it more efficient to reference it electronically from my device/desktop because it contains a LOT of links.
   
   
3. Early American Picture Study.
   
   The Homeschool Printing Company prefers not to print art prints b/c of color variations, etc. Therefore, I plan to use this primarily as a VIRTUAL resource. I may try printing the PAINTINGS themselves onto photo paper using my Epson printer, ONE PRINT PER STUDENT so each can study the picture closely. (And: less fighting!) Otherwise I will use iLovePDF to make a file of only the art prints, and will download it to each child’s device for virtual-viewing. Unfortunately the ‘non-art’ pages in this little booklet have a lot of background patterns and color… so it would drain ink pretty quickly to print the full booklet, even in black and white.
   
   
4. Timeline Figures.
   
   This file is 19 pages, in full and beautiful color. It is meant to be used with WP’s Timeline book (an additional purchase) but could also be hung on a wall. The graphics will match what you see in the texts and journals, a visual-memory perk. We personally will not be using this resource because we already own the “History Through the Ages” timeline by Homeschool in the Woods. (Each child has their very own, used from K-12th grade. The kit comes with its own perfectly-sized, coordinating figures.) If you plan to use the WP Timeline Figures, I would suggest printing them on cardstock.
   
   
5. Independent Study Schedule
   
   (Depending on when you purchased your AS1 ebook package, you may NOT see this in your files. I was alerted to its existence when I was reading through the intro pages of the Guide–but the file itself was not included in my original e-book kit. I contacted WP and they sent me the file separately. They mentioned that they will update the e-book package to auto-include it with future orders.)
   
   This is a collection of all the “Independent Student Study Schedules” in one handy file. (They are also in your Guide.) This allows you to easily print/bind one copy for each student as their weekly checklist. Since this file arrived to me late, it did not get sent to the printer with the rest of my order. And I’m THANKFUL, because it actually doesn’t list ANY of the reading assignments… and the activities it DOES list are often the hands-on activities we will be doing together. So in our situation, printing it may not be beneficial. If it IS a good fit for your crew, I would suggest printing it in color, since the assignments listed are color-coded by age. This file is 37 pages — one for each week plus a cover page.

And PHEW! That’s about it! If I forgot something, or if you have additional questions, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll see if I can help. Better yet, let me know if you prefer things differently or have any tips/tricks of your own! In total, my cost for printing AS1 as described above (only one text, no optional items, and all journals times three for three students…)

Drumroll please….. about $300.

That may sound CRAZY high when coupled with the $199 ebook package price –> YES! It’s an investment of around $500 into one year of history (not including ANY of the coordinating read-aloud books, and with ZERO resale value)…BUT: this is about as TOP-NOTCH as it gets for an interactive, UNFORGETTABLE journey through American history. The graphics are incredible. (I almost CRIED when I paged through the journals.) It was worth the investment for us, since it’s arguably one of my favorite historical eras. I hope this post helps your family pick and choose what to print, and helps you save a few bucks in the process!

Happy printing! (and cutting…)

UPDATE: Want to see what we thought of WP AS1 after using it for over a year? Find the full review HERE.