FIAR or ???

[IceFairy]

DD is really enjoying Memoria Press Jr. K... However given the heavy writing in the K, we will not continue on. Plus, we have our own phonics. I am thinking of using FIAR as a base and adding phonics and math and penmanship.... And she will tag along on FIAR with DS.

 

Do you like FIAR? Why or why not? Any other recs for a imaginative, auditory learner?

[Five More Minutes]

We loved FIAR here. It does need math, phonics, and penmanship to round it out. Some of our favourite school memories are from FIAR.

[bttrflyvld]

We have been doing fiar 1 this year for preschool and love it. I like that the manual gives several topics you can choose to study. Also the book selections were a great choice. They are all fun. We'll also dig deeper and go on pinterest find even more ideas when we really like a perticular book.

 

I would recommend fiar for a fun curriculum.

[lea_lpz]

I'm using BFIAR with my 3 year old and am planning to use FIAR vol. 1-3 with my kids. So far we've enjoyed it. It sounds like with math, phonics and penmanship it'll be a perfect K year.

[FromA2Z]

We are currently doing BFIAR (ds 4&3). We are having fun and we'll be continuing with FIAR next year. FIAR will be the core of our school time. I will be setting hard time limits per day for phonics, handwriting and math instruction, but will do FiAR activities and any rabbit trails for as long as the kids are interested.

 

A great blog for FIAR ideas is http://delightfullearning.blogspot.com On the full site there is a pull down menu of her post for each book. A warning though - don't feel like you'd have to do all that she does. It's just an example and for pulling an idea here and there.

[freeindeed]

We love FIAR! We have wonderful memories from those years. It is gentle, yet my children can still identify states & countries on a map b/c of FIAR. If you do go with FIAR, I highly recommend purchasing the FIAR Cookbook. We loved making meals based on each story. Precious times!

[throughpagesandfields]

I'm following this b/c I've almost bought fIAR sooo many times... One of my concerns is that I don't know if DS would be into it if we're not in a community setting. Does that make sense? Whenever I try to engage him with "activites" surrounding a book topic not really into it. He does storytime and enjoys it then... but at home it doesn't work. I'm just not sure if it's my delivery or not. I have Peak With Books and tried that a little... but it didn't work for us yet... I'm wondering if I should try FIAR as a supplement or a fun unit or two... or just wait and try Peak with books later.

[Walking-Iris]

I'm following this b/c I've almost bought fIAR sooo many times... One of my concerns is that I don't know if DS would be into it if we're not in a community setting. Does that make sense? Whenever I try to engage him with "activites" surrounding a book topic not really into it. He does storytime and enjoys it then... but at home it doesn't work. I'm just not sure if it's my delivery or not. I have Peak With Books and tried that a little... but it didn't work for us yet... I'm wondering if I should try FIAR as a supplement or a fun unit or two... or just wait and try Peak with books later.

 

 

 

I really like the "idea" of FIAR, but I haven't bought it because I have soooo many pre-K and K resources that it gets ridiculous, kwim?

 

I do use and love PWB however. What I have done is to plan PWB over several years. So how it breaks down is; around 3 I plan the Everyday Learning Activities and Setting The Stage, at age 4 First Reading and Getting Involved, in K, A Closer Look, Poetry, and Involvement, and in 1st Integration. I pick and choose the extra reading selections in Extensions as we want.

 

I tried to use PWB in a FIAR type way by following the MBTP schedule. But there is just too much to get through to complete that in one year, a book a week. You could do PWB in one year if you skipped one of the Involvements and chose one Integration activity and pretty much ignored the Everyday section. Or just worked on the questions and picked one activity in the section.

 

I chose to stretch it out because I have a 2 year old who likes these books and a Kinder who isn't quite ready for some of the activities, but also loves these books. I read aloud a lot of various picture and chapter books beyond PWB , so I only choose a selection of PWB books to cover at any one age range.

 

Is that clear as mud??? And to confuse things for 1st I'm adding Caldecott Across the Curriculum to do in a FIAR way...only we don't read the book everyday, just weekly.

 

PWB is my pre-k spine though.

[mumto2]

I know so many people who love FIAR but for us it was an utter failure. I wanted to love it. I tried two levels. The books were great, many became favorites. The activities just did not seem to appeal to either on a repetitive basis. For them it was one day in a row and groans if I stretched it to a second or third day.

 

I am not knocking it at all just try it before you spend too much on difficult to find books.

[throughpagesandfields]

Thanks for mentioning that Caldecott across the Curriculum book. That and the similar Early Math book look really interesting to me. I think math especially is something I need to find concrete story examples for DS to get.