What is Five in a Row?

[lavendermama]

I have come across this curriculum being mentioned in a couple of threads, but is it a philosophy or something else?

[inesperada]

http://www.fiarhq.com/

As I understand it, it's more of a curriculum than a philosophy. I believe (and I may be wrong :O ) that as far as philosophy, it leans toward Charlotte Mason.

[joandsarah77]

Five in a row is a literature unit study. It comprises of a book list and a teachers manual. The manual gives you ideas to go with each book such as history, geography,maths,science and LA.

[deena]

Ooooh. Yes, I loved doing "Five in a Row" (yes, curriculum) when I was homeschooling my little ones. You read a the same book every day for a week and every day there are different activites you can do based on the story. For instance when we read Ping we counted pennies, representing all the different family members of Ping. We found the Yangzee river on a map. We learned how artists can make water look more realistic. It is SO MUCH FUN! And young children THRIVE on the repetition of the story. The curriculum has it all spelled out for you and some fabulous book choices, but once you get the hang of it you could potentially make up your own. If you were homeschooling a kindergardner that could be the main component of your school day - maybe supplement it with some phonics or letter formation and bam that's your whole school day. It's brilliant.

[Herbwifemama]

I just heard it was bad because it was repetetive, but deena, you make it sound so good! I'm interested in checking it out now! :) It doesn't seem like there's a lot of info on the website- is there a list somewhere of the books used? (I'm interested mainly in BFIAR.)

[The Tickle Momster]

Here is the link to the booklist for FIAR vol. 1 - 4. http://www.fiarhq.com/FIARBL.html

For BFIAR . .. WEIRD, their old website had the BFIAR booklist too. I don't have my copy handy. I have a bunch of the books though.

Jesse Bear What will you Wear by Nancy White Carlstrom
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
Angus Lost by Marjorie Flack
Play with Me by Marie Hall Ets
Goodnight Moon by MW Brown
Jenny's Surprise Summer by Eugenie (This was a favorite, but is hard to find.)
The Little Rabbit by Judy Dunn
I am an Artist by Pat Lowery Collins
Katy No Pocket by Emmy Payne
Prayer for a child by Rachel Field
The Red Carpet by Rex Parkin
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
If Jesus Came to My House by Joan Gale Thomas
Courduroy by Don Freeman
We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen


Wow, we must own most of them. BFIAR is a little different from FIAR but definitely worth doing. We had a lot of fun and the books are great!

[NoodleMom]

I used FIAR when mine were little. I agree with the previous poster. We loved it!! :)

[Close2MyHeart]

Would it be good for k-3?

I guess I should specify. DS1 will be in grade 2 this year and DS2 will be in K/1 DD may be in K.... could i use it for all 3 of them and they would each get what they need out of it?? And can you use it w/ the same kids for more than 1 year in a row or is that kinda pointless?

[joandsarah77]

You could, although I would probably go onto the next volume or 2 (there are 4 volumes) then come back again to the first. By that time there would be other activities they didnt do the first time that they could then do. Lol does that make sense my 2 year old is playing rather noisely!

[Close2MyHeart]

So do you go through only 1 volume per year?

[joandsarah77]

I don't think a volume would last a year unless you made it, if you kwim? We do FIAR off and on and when we do, we do it much longer then 5 days. If you do a new book every week I think it might last 1/2 a year? Someone?