FIAR - just for fun?

[Novafan]

I do not know how this program escaped me over the years of looking at homeschooling programs, but I just discovered it and it looks like so much fun! I spent some time looking over all of the books in all of the levels last night and we own many of the books so I feel like this would be cost effective to start up.

 

My kids are 6, almost 8 and almost 10 and LOVE to be read to. We read aloud all of the time so I think they would love this. One thing I couldn't really figure out from the website was at what ages the activities would be appropriate. And the would the Before FIAR program be too babyish for my 6 year old (she just turned 6)?

 

I'd love to hear from those of you that have used the program.

[susankenny]

Hi,

 

We love FIAR personally. I used it as our main curriculum this past year for my son's kindergarten year (but it is still great for the older grades too!). When we would row books, we also enjoyed the lapbook go-alongs at www.homeschoolshare.com

 

I still collect FIAR titles and we read them all of the time.:D

 

 

Susan

[Katja]

We used FIAR as our main curriculum for the early years and love, love, love it! (ETA: we used it k-2 and would have used it for 3 but sent her to school instead)

 

I would think B4FIAR would be a bit young for a 6 year old--it's really more about "hey let's read this and do this" kinds of book and activities for preschool age.

 

FIAR is for around grades K-3 and volume 4 is especially for the older end (maybe grades 3-4).

 

But, the activities give you lots of choices and you can easily do it as a family just taking the activities and discussions to a level that suits each child.

 

We have such fond memories of our FIAR days :) --enjoy!

[Spock]

FIAR is aimed at K-3rd grade. It can be adapted fairly easily for a little older or younger, though I wouldn't use it as the only schoolwork for a child over 2nd/3rd grade, and I would use a math text for 1st and up alongside it. I used it for most of kindergarten for my youngest, and his 2nd grade sister did a lot of it with him that year.

 

My two little ones liked FIAR best if the book was one they hadn't read/listened to before the week we studied it. Even then, they didn't usually want to hear the book every single day for 5 days, so I supplemented with other books, while still referring to the core book as the reason for the history/science/geography/art/etc lessons. (The art and geography were our favorite parts.)

[Aurelia]

Before FIAR is designed for ages 2-4, so it probably would be too babyish for a 6 year old. I actually chose to use FIAR when Ariel was 4 because it seemed sort of babyish for her then, but YMMV. Volumes 1-3 are made for ages 4-8, and volume 4 is designed for ages 7-8. Beyond FIAR is designed for 8-12 year-olds.

[Free Indeed]

We are another that LOVES FIAR. We have used it for years for ages 4-8. The books and learning are easily adapted to older and younger. I even had my 10yo doing FIAR, just adapting the assignments. There is a MP3 download where the authors husband talks about having a 1 room school house where families work together on the same projects, on their level. FIAR is very adaptable. Those are the best years of our homeschooling.

[Stacey in NY]

We used FIAR alot in K-2, I have 2 ds, and the older one loved FIAR. We still use it for fun breaks and during the summer months. You should check out Beyond FIAR the work might be better for your kids ages.

[Jennifer in NH]

FIAR never worked well for us. We read the books and did the geography lesson and that is about how far it went. My kids were not interested after day #3. We found quite a few very good childrens books this way though. So, I ended up using it as a literature guide when they were little. So, for us we did end up doing what parts we liked just for fun.

[zantoc]

I think FIAR is one of the best written guides out there and it is very easily adaptable for a wide range of ages. I tried it when my older boys were little and couldn't find my groove but started again now that I have a daughter who is that age and it is amazing! Even my older boys listen in...

[Susie in MS]

We have really been enjoying FIAR. I tried to use B4 with my dd when she turned 4, but it was not us. I did find it babyish, but the books are great. My dd will turn 5 in just a few days, and we have done most of vols 1-3 (skipped a few). But we do short rows most of the time. Because of her age we don't do the more complicated activities and stick with the simpler ones. But also like most kids she looses interest in the book after 3 days. However if we are able to do more of the activities that last longer than 3 days then we will row it without reading the book every day.

 

This I want to add that as a child gets older it becomes harder to make it work UNLESS you have a good library or a deep pocket book. We have neither. I still want my child to be able to do FIAR up to at least grade 2, but I am still trying to figure out where the supplemental books will come from. With a good library I could have a field day! FIAR is great! I am still working on it, and praying about it.

 

If you are the lapbook kind then homeschoolshare has some neat stuff to add to FIAR books.

 

I have a used copy of BY vol 1 and it looks just as great as FIAR.

 

Any of you FIAR fans that don't have Henry the Castaway yet, don't pay an outrageous amt for an old copy....It is being brought back in print this fall!! Woohoo!!

[freeindeed]

We love FIAR. We used Volumes 1 & 2 last year. It would be a great fit for the ages of your dc. I have several posts on my blog of our FIAR adventures. As a pp mentioned, we also used http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ for extras. We also used the FIAR Christian Character Supplement and the FIAR Cookbook. When we studied different countries, we used the Trip Around the World book series. All of these can be ordered from http://rainbowresource.com/index.php.

[Leeandrea]

We used FIAR this past year. I had my 4yo, 6yo and 8yo doing the activities at different levels. For instance, 4 yo would color map, while 8 yo would label and color map, etc. We found a lot of stuff on homeschoolshare.com. It was a LOT of fun. My older children also enjoyed the stories and I could totally see being able to extend the books up to their age by using other literature selections at their appropriate levels, etc. We did a little of that (involving the older children, 10 and 12 at the time), but it wasn't their main thing they were doing. We didn't get to all the books, so I will probably intersperse them throughout the next year in between other stuff for fun and have all the kids involved.

 

I also purchased Before FIAR, but didn't really do anything with it. It just seemed after reading through it that I would rather just enjoy the books listed. A lot of the stuff was stuff my dc do anyway like counting things on pages, etc. I guess it seemed more useful to read through and get ideas on things to pull out of the books. FIAR was a much better fit spanning the ages.

 

FIAR is one of those products that I just sort of fluffed off for a few years, then finally got it, and now I love it!

 

Lee, hs'ing 5 with 1 waiting in the wings.

[Susie in MS]

I wanted to add that even though we have ran thru vol 1-3 due to my dd's age, we will rerow them doing the more advanced lessons.

[Jody]

We used it and our boys thrived on it! I used all levels with them. I plan to do some with my youngest as well.

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

There is also an Above & Beyond FIAR but I think it's currently only available as a digital download from FIAR.

[Rivka]

Adding another vote for FIAR. It's such a flexible curriculum that you can really make it fit your kids where they are. It's also easy to add in more depth.

 

Your 6- and 8-year-olds are a fine age for FIAR. You would probably want to supplement pretty heavily for a 10-year-old - assigning extra reading, writing assignments, etc. But there are tons of resources to help you out with this - for example, lists of chapter books that match up to FIAR books.

[Novafan]

Thanks for all of the wonderful input on FIAR. We're going to try it out. I can see my 6 year old daughter really enjoying the projects and this will be primarily aimed at time with her, but I'm sure my boys will join in too. In fact, my older son (10) will probably join in more readily than my younger (8) son. My 10 year old doesn't skip a beat when he overhears me reading a book to my daughter, no matter how simple the book is.

 

Another question. Has anyone tried their Holiday - Through the Seasons plans? Those look interesting too.

Edited June 25, 2010 by Novafan

[ChrisOR]

FIAR volumes 1-4 would be very appropriate for the ages of your kids. The lessons teach quite a bit. The art lessons go beyond just a project, but actually teach techniques like perspective and color theory, for example. And the language arts lessons delve into literary devices like foreshadowing, symbolism, similes, metaphors, alliteration, personification, etc. So definitely some lessons that are not babyish in any manner, and actually your older children can get more out of FIAR than the youngers. But all is easily adjusted to the needs of your family, with multiple lessons to choose from per subject.

Edited June 24, 2010 by ChrisOR
spelling

[MeganW]

We are using it in combination with Galloping the Globe, and the two are a great combo!

[ALB]

I have this book. It is nice, but not exactly what I had been hoping for to be honest (and I LOVE FIAR!). It is more of how to create special family memories by doing a craft, listening to music, etc. for each day than a unit study of the holiday. Their Fold N Learns on holidays look pretty great, though.