How do you FIAR?

[Senorita Tuna Fish]

Do you follow it as printed?

Do you use it alone or in conjunction with another program?

How old are the children you use it with.

Is it good at incorporating math or do you add that in?

How does a typical school day look with FIAR for you?

Got a blog that documents your use of FIAR or a blog/website you use for inspiration?

 

I have a BFIAR and FIAR vol 1 and I was thinking about using it but not sure where to start so any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!:001_smile:

[UmMusa]

Oooh, I like your questions! I'm subscribing to this thread b/c I'm curious for my soon to be 3yr old. What age is BFIAR for?

[boscopup]

:lurk5: I may use FIAR for DS2's K year next year. I will say that homeschoolshare.com has some nice lapbooks (free!) to go with a lot of the FIAR books. :)

[momsuz123]

I just started using FIAR a few weeks ago. I am a new hs mom this year and we are just starting our 5th book - and LOVE IT. I started our first book, Storm in the Night 2 days before I planned because an awesome thunderstorm hit in the afternoon on a Saturday. I took my kids to the library that day and read them the book (before the storm hit). Then when it hit, I grabbed other books that I rented on thunderstorms, lightning, clouds, etc and read the girls these books on the covered porch with a blanket. My older dd, who loves to read, jumped on the Usborne quick links after reading a page in the Science Encylopedia on storms - she went at it for 2 more hours! We did a great art project with cotton for the different types of clouds, etc. Then I had some Bill Nye the science guy videos related to storms, etc. All in all, it has been great. When I noticed an air show was coming to town, I quickly changed the order and read The Glorious Flight. Now what ps would do field trips like that? We are going to start Madeline tomorrow. I have some Madeline dvd's for the fun part of school (recess), many more Madeline books to read, some crafts etc. I may not have answered all your ?'s, but hopefully this helps. :)

[Senorita Tuna Fish]

Oooh, I like your questions! I'm subscribing to this thread b/c I'm curious for my soon to be 3yr old. What age is BFIAR for?

You can subscribe to a thread????? I didn't know that! How does one do that?

:bigear: I know I probably sound really silly but I'm serious, I really don't know how!

[Senorita Tuna Fish]

I just started using FIAR a few weeks ago. I am a new hs mom this year and we are just starting our 5th book - and LOVE IT. I started our first book, Storm in the Night 2 days before I planned because an awesome thunderstorm hit in the afternoon on a Saturday. I took my kids to the library that day and read them the book (before the storm hit). Then when it hit, I grabbed other books that I rented on thunderstorms, lightning, clouds, etc and read the girls these books on the covered porch with a blanket. My older dd, who loves to read, jumped on the Usborne quick links after reading a page in the Science Encylopedia on storms - she went at it for 2 more hours! We did a great art project with cotton for the different types of clouds, etc. Then I had some Bill Nye the science guy videos related to storms, etc. All in all, it has been great. When I noticed an air show was coming to town, I quickly changed the order and read The Glorious Flight. Now what ps would do field trips like that? We are going to start Madeline tomorrow. I have some Madeline dvd's for the fun part of school (recess), many more Madeline books to read, some crafts etc. I may not have answered all your ?'s, but hopefully this helps. :)

 

Great great stuff!This is really helpful! I like that you can move things

around to fit the happenings of real life events!!!! What do you do about math? How old are your kids?

[mystika1]

Hi,

I used Fiar for several years and we loved it. I would order my chosen book from the library a week before we would row it. I would also look at the science topic for that week and order several books about that from the library. I would print out anything that I wanted to use from homeschoolshare ahead of time to have it all ready to go. I have uncle Josh's maps so I would print out any maps that I wanted my dd to label and color. Once all of that is printed and collected I just followed the manual.(Monday=Social Studies, Tuesday=Language Arts, Wed......)The only thing that I added/changed up was that I would read a book each day about the science topic. I did that mostly because my dd loves science and the library had tons of books on our science topics anyway so...why not? We still had plenty of science books to study on the scheduled science day each week.

 

We had some wonderful times with FIAR.

 

HTH,

 

Penny

[Mommy to monkeys]

:bigear:

[momsuz123]

I took the advice from many on here, and added a math curriculum. My girls are 6 and 7. We do MIF (singapore). I do a lot of what the pp said with planning a few days in advance and seeing what the library has that is suggested in the manual or by others rowing. There is a FIAR website that also has ideas about the books too and archives of their best posts. If you just google the name of the book and FIAR or lesson plans, you'll get more than you need.:tongue_smilie:

[mystika1]

BTW...I added a math program and a phonics program. FIAR does cover the rest. MEP is a great free option for math. We used FIAR from ages 4-8. I will be rowing again soon with my youngest.

 

HTH,

 

Penny

[KristenR]

I blogged about a handful of FIAR books we did together. We loved them. I keep meaning to go through my old pictures and post about other FIAR books we did. Just never seem to get around to it.

 

Hope these few posts help give you an idea of some of the fun things you can do and add to it.

[blondeviolin]

Do you follow it as printed?

Yep. I sit down with the book, read it if I'm not familiar with it. Then, go to the manual and pick one activity per subject.

 

Do you use it alone or in conjunction with another program?

Well, I add math and phonics, but otherwise, no.

 

How old are the children you use it with.

5yo...and sometimes my 3yo enjoys it. The last row we did (Wee Gillis) he did a few things with it.

 

Is it good at incorporating math or do you add that in?

IMO, the math is fairly weak and something we do conversationally. At my 5yo's level it is a lot of counting of dishes or spots or birds or whatever on a page. We do it, but I don't count it as our math work for the day. Because of this, we actually only do Four-in-a-Row (LOL) and just do the applied math during our first reading or whenever I think of it...

 

How does a typical school day look with FIAR for you?

We do FIAR either right before or after dinner. (Usually late afternoon...around 3pm.) Abby doesn't think of it as school...just story time...which I LOVE.

 

Got a blog that documents your use of FIAR or a blog/website you use for inspiration?

Yep, it's in my sig. :)

 

I will say that we use components from HSS and make our own lapbook-ish components. Sometimes our pages come out with a lot, sometimes only a few things. I like that it is built-in-review, Abby likes to do the mini-books. If I had to drop it and do it conversationally, I think she'd still get as much out of it.

[beaners]

You can subscribe to a thread????? I didn't know that! How does one do that?

:bigear: I know I probably sound really silly but I'm serious, I really don't know how!

 

Go to the top of this page to thread tools, and click on subscribe to thread. You might want to check your User Control Panel to make sure you automatically subscribe to threads you post on, if you haven't already. If I post I automatically see the thread on my control panel. If I want to follow a thread but not post, I just subscribe to the thread.

[Rivka]

I have a BFIAR and FIAR vol 1 and I was thinking about using it but not sure where to start so any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!:001_smile:

 

Taking your questions one at a time:

 

Do you follow it as printed?

Sort of. It isn't exactly scripted. I do lessons from the book, supplemented with other ideas that occur to me or ideas listed in the archives of the FIAR message boards. (You have to be a registered member to view the archives - they are full of great ideas and supplemental books.)

 

Here's a post I wrote about how I plan out a FIAR study.

 

Do you use it alone or in conjunction with another program?

If your child isn't reading well, you'll need to add phonics. You also need a math program; we use MEP. Some people add a separate handwriting program and others just choose copywork from the FIAR book.

 

How old are the children you use it with.

She's a six-year-old first grader. This is our second year with FIAR.

 

Is it good at incorporating math or do you add that in?

You have to add in a math program. The math in FIAR is practical, everyday math - for example, you might practice measuring or set up a play store and "sell" things, paying with coins. It is not a full math curriculum that progresses through all the skills. It can't be, because FIAR is for ages 4-8 and you can do the books in any order.

 

How does a typical school day look with FIAR for you?

We start our day with spelling and Writing With Ease, and then snuggle up on the couch with our FIAR book of the week. My 2.5-year-old listens to the story too. After we read the story, we find its location on a U.S. or world map. Then we do one or two lessons from the FIAR manual. That could be almost anything. This week we're reading a book which has a disabled character in a wheelchair, so today for a Social Studies lesson my husband took our daughter out into the neighborhood and they looked for accessibility features. Tomorrow we'll read about beach life as a science lesson. After we're done with FIAR for the day, we do math.

 

Got a blog that documents your use of FIAR or a blog/website you use for inspiration?

I thought you'd never ask! :lol: Yes, I blog about FIAR a lot at http://tinderbox.homeschooljournal.net - scroll down the right hand side of the page and you'll see links to each of our FIAR studies.

 

BFIAR is really different from FIAR - it's just a loose set of learning activities you can do with a preschooler when you read a certain book. If your child is 2.5-4, BFIAR is probably a good fit. If your child is 4.5-7, go with FIAR.

[Amy Jo]

Do you follow it as printed?

Pretty much, except we do three days a week, two weeks per book (including the character supplement = 6 days.)

 

Do you use it alone or in conjunction with another program?

5 yo uses it with Miquon & Webster's Speller (just started both this year). He will start MEP R in a few months. 7 and 9 year olds have 'regular' school subjects. Last year we did a few books with him (5yo), and used it stand alone.

 

How old are the children you use it with.

I'm targeting the 5 yo, he gets to sit in my lap. I don't schedule the other two boys, they may listen or play quietly. So far this year the 9 yo has always looked and listened, the 7 yo listens and comes over if he wants to see the picture. I like to have my 2 yo sit with me as well (we sit on the floor).

 

Is it good at incorporating math or do you add that in?

I add it in, but I haven't done many book yet. I think it helped my 5 yo's counting, because in Miquon 99% of what we are doing is learning the written form of the numbers. My favorite part is actually putting the circles on the map with the kids.

 

How does a typical school day look with FIAR for you?

It works best to do FIAR first, so the littles have had some attention and want to go play. We are low key, I read the options for whatever subject that day, and choose one/some to do. (I target the 5 yo first.) Then I read the book, then we discuss / do the activity. But we haven't had a typical day yet :lol:

[fruitofthewomb]

Disclaimer: I am new to FIAR but this is what I know so far:

 

Do you follow it as printed?

Pretty much. I have used a few things on homeschool share but I do not lapbook or use a lot of printables. I do use youtube and PBS programs or library videos to go along. I check out books at library that correspond but we don't make a big deal about them-only if we have extra time.

 

Do you use it alone or in conjunction with another program?

I added math, handwriting, and phonics.

 

How old are the children you use it with.

6 year old daughter while 3 y/o and 10 month old listen in

 

Is it good at incorporating math or do you add that in?

It has applied math-usually one suggestion and usually counting things in the book-we do whatever the book recommends but we do our own math program

 

How does a typical school day look with FIAR for you?

It is separate from other stuff. We sometimes read the book first, chat about it, then go to the table for the recommended activity (usually only on art and science day). Then we go on to other studies. Sometimes we do book after other stuff (especially with art so I don't panic and feel like we are spending way too much time on one thing, but we LOVE the art in FIAR).

 

I try to incorporate the culture of the book into our days. This week we are reading Papa Piccolo which is set in Venice. We use Italian words and eat Italian foods-like Nutella for snack and panini with marinara for lunch. I use youtube a lot to show her more of the culture. I sometimes find travel shows on PBS Create channel to go along. But that is just for fun. I don't spend a lot of time on it. And sometimes she is just not into it and that is ok with me too. I have enjoyed it!

 

I usually spend one week but this row has lasted 2 weeks b/c of scheduling issues. I think next 2 will take up 2 weeks for the same reason. But I like doing it all in one week. It's easy to do any way you want because it is flexible.

 

Got a blog that documents your use of FIAR or a blog/website you use for inspiration?

I love Delightful Learning website.

 

Good luck! I love FIAR and am glad I went with it this year!

[BetterthanIdeserve]

Oooh, I like your questions! I'm subscribing to this thread b/c I'm curious for my soon to be 3yr old. What age is BFIAR for?

B4FIAR is for 2-4 year olds. I pretty much followed the suggestions of FIAR with my firstborn for KG. I just got B4FIAR do with my DS3 but honestly I haven't done much with it yet - it's been more of a book list than anything. Some of it is busyness on my part (hs a 1st grader and keeping the toddler for wreaking too much havoc) and some of it was that I just wasn't as interested in the suggestions for the books we have read. I also feel like a lot of what is suggested gets covered in everyday life around here - it helps to have older siblings. I'm sure I would have done more B4FIAR activities with my firstborn if I'd had it then.

 

update: Sorry, I later realized you were asking about BFIAR which is recommended for 8-12 yo. Silly me - I've got preschoolers on the mind!

Edited September 8, 2011 by BetterthanIdeserve
fixing an oops

[JessieC]

I use FIAR with my first grader--we have used it since halfway through her kindergarten year. My 4yo does most of the reading and activities with us.

 

We start the day with reading the FIAR book, then do an activity related to the book. Sometimes it's very simple (pointing out contrast, for example), and sometimes it's an involved science or art or writing project. We put the story disk on a map of the world and try to have snacks or make a meal from that part of the world at some point throughout the week. I have some extra books from the library on the topic(s) of the week, and we read those too. We often watch youtube clips or science videos of the topic too. I also get a lot of ideas from blogs, homeschoolshare.com, and the FIAR forums.

 

My kids love it. I never let them see what book it will be until the first day. They have learned a ton from the program! FWIW, we're secular homeschoolers and I haven't had to revise anything to fit a secular worldview.

 

I also use a math program and phonics program for my first grader.

[lorisuewho]

Do you follow it as printed?

Yes, but I'm also adding in some activities from Homeschoolshare and Homeschoolcreations

 

Do you use it alone or in conjunction with another program?

FIAR is our main spine for Kindergarten. We are adding in phonics (Explode the Code and All about Spelling). I am integrating copywork from the books for our handwriting.

 

How old are the children you use it with?

I am using FIAR with my kindergartner. I am also doing a separate Before Five in a Row book with my 4 year old and almost 3 year old.

 

Is it good at incorporating math or do you add that in?

We have bounced around a bit trying to find a good math program for us, but as of right now our main math spine will be RightStart, and then we will do all the applied math from the FIAR manual.

 

How does a typical school day look with FIAR for you?

Here is my schedule. It is complicated because of driving to and from playschool (preschool) for my 4 yr old and 2 yr old, but it will give you a general idea.

 

 

08:15 AM - 8:45 AM

 

EVERYONE: Breakfast, Bible, Calendar, Memory Work

 

08:50 AM

(M-Th) Go drop someone off at preschool

(F) Nature Study

 

09:45: AM- 10:00AM

Chores

 

10:00 AM

KG: Five in a Row

 

10:30 AM

KG: All About Spelling or Phonics Pathways EVERYONE: Snack

 

10:45 AM

KG: Math Lab (May be FIAR, rice box, cooking/baking, Miquon, pattern blocks, etc)

 

11:00 AM

KG: Explode the Code (about 2 pages)

 

11:10 AM

KG: MAPS (W, Th)

(F) EVERYONE: Art Project (related to FIAR)

 

11:45 AM

Pick up at Preschool (M- Th)

 

12:15 PM

Lunch, clean up lunch, outdoor play, Mommy chore list work

 

01:00 PM

M & S: Little Hands to Heaven

 

01:15 PM

M & S: Before Five in a Row

 

01:45 PM

More read aloud and Littles go up for Nap

 

2:00 PM

KG: RightStart Mathematics

 

 

It looks like a long day but really we just have many breaks. It doesn't always fall in these time blocks, but this is the plan. We have to be flexible.

[kolamum]

Do you follow it as printed? Yes, reasonably, but I don't always do everything listed. There's a LOT of stuff for some books, and feeble for others. So I pick and choose & add in what we feel we want more of. As a previous poster mentioned I also use stuff from HSS.

 

Do you use it alone or in conjunction with another program? One year, we used it with Galloping The Globe which was heaps of fun! We spent one week on the Country & one week on the FIAR book. Worked well for us and we enjoyed ourselves heaps and heaps!

 

How old are the children you use it with. I started my kids at 5 and they remained in until 9 or so. It depends on the child, there is a lot. Some mamma's stay until they complete 4th grade {vol. 4} then they move to BY for 5-6 or so. We did not.

 

Is it good at incorporating math or do you add that in? It only has applied math. You really do need your own math programme & phonics to go with it. :)

 

How does a typical school day look with FIAR for you? Typical day with FIAr would be: Math & reading with the kids. Small break depending on how long it took to accomplish; FIAR book read aloud, lesson taught from manual that applied to us that day; complete a notebooking or lapbooking item that accompanies said lesson. That's it. Sometimes we read an extra book, sometimes not.

 

Got a blog that documents your use of FIAR or a blog/website you use for inspiration? No, but we did document our own journey on our blog and shared notebook/lapbooks we made. :D I found most FIAR blogs to be a tad overwhelming. They are often an all or nothing experience and on top of that I didn't have access to half the stuff American people have access to. ;)

 

I have a BFIAR and FIAR vol 1 and I was thinking about using it but not sure where to start so any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!:001_smile: What age are your children? BFIAR isn't a curriculum. It's a few fun things to do with toddlers or preschool aged children. I own it, but never really got into it for a variety of reasons. With FIAR I'd start at the beginning and just work through. FIAR doesn't HAVE to be done in order though, so if you see a title that grabs your attention, go with it! :D

[Nancy Ann]

I come across this question a lot so I wrote a detailed explanation with lots of links on my blog. http://allthingspraiseworthy.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-to-use-five-in-row.html

 

For k -2nd I add phonics, math, penmanship, extra reading books like Readers and Read Alouds.

by 3rd grade I add in spelling. If you want grammar you can add Easy Grammar or English for the Thoughtful Child. I try to be careful how much Language Arts I use.

Edited September 8, 2011 by Nancy Ann

[Tracy]

Do you follow it as printed?

I used it for my oldest when she was 4yo. I used it as it was written. There are so many lesson plans to choose from, I am always a bit :confused: when I see people wanting to add in more. But I am very practical and utilitarian.

 

 

We did a vocabulary study, as suggested in the introductory material. Dd identified words in the book that she did not know. I told her what they meant. Then in each subsequent reading, she looked for those words in the books and told me what they meant.

 

 

Do you use it alone or in conjunction with another program?

This was my first year homeschooling my first child, so I overdid it, naturally. :tongue_smilie: From that experience, I will add only SWR and some math games.

 

How old are the children you use it with.

Dd was an advanced 4yo. The next time around, I will use it at 5yo for K.

 

Is it good at incorporating math or do you add that in?

Math is a particular weak point. While the other topics usually have several lesson plans to choose from, the math portion often only has one lesson plan, many of which are about counting. So I often skipped math and did an extra of another topic. But since I am going to use it for K, I will not add a formal math program. Rather, we will just play some math games, unless ds wants more than that.

 

 

HTH

[Susie in MS]

I have only read the 1st page so far, so sorry if i repeat. i will go back and read the other 2 cuz FIAR is a topic I LOVE! In my answers below you will see that I add to the manual. This is not necessary. We just love bunny trials.

 

Do you follow it as printed?

~~Sometimes I do and sometimes i don't. Sometimes I do the mon-Ss, tue- LA, etc and other times we add to each day science reading on the related topic or watch Magic SchoolBus, or do an experiment or activity. All spread throughout the week. If it is a book or topic we especially love we may row for 2 weeks instead of 1.

 

Do you use it alone or in conjunction with another program?

~~Sometimes we add ideas from Galloping the Globe when our book we are rowing is about another country.

 

How old are the children you use it with.

~~Currently my dd is 6 yo. We started when she was 4 and we are re-rowing now. I plan on having her in FIAR for a while longer. Probably through at least 3rd grade. There is too much good stuff to miss.

 

Is it good at incorporating math or do you add that in?

~~On the math days I use the math that is in the book and what is at homeschoolshare. Other than that i do my own thing or sometimes give my dd a wksht. When we covered clocks with Finest Horse in Town we did clocks every day. Some weeks we will work on skip counting other weeks something else. It doesn't always match with FIAR, but sometimes it does.

 

I like to do my initial planning well in advance. So I went to HSS and the FIAR archives and found any related materials that i wanted to use with each book from vol 1-4. I then placed all printouts in a file folder that is labeled for each book (one folder per book). Then about a week before we are ready for the book I will get the folder out along with the manual and plug things in on the schedule chart one of hte FIAR moms has shared on her blog. i use books I have on hand and vids that go along with our studies. For instance when we were in China with Ping we also watched Big Bird in China and The Inn of the 6th Happiness. When we did Storm in the Night we read a book about weather and did a cool cloud craft with craft stuffing. Next week we are doing our own version of gluten free apple pie math and reading Johnny Appleseed while rowing How to make an Apple Pie and See the World. We will also match natural resources with the countries they are paired with in the book. There is so much more that i am not telling you. The fun is endless. Almost every day my dd as, "Are we doing school today?!" or "I love school, it is so fun!"

[Tmhearn]

This is my 4th year using FIAR. This year I have a 2nd grader and Pre-K'er. I like to group the books into units (seasonally or by groups of animals, etc.) This year I am grouping by animal habitats. I am also mixing in BFIAR. (If you are using both, Homeschool Share has a chart showing which books match up in both curricula.) So, we might read "Another celebrated dancing bear" and "Ask. Mr. Bear" in the same week and talk about bears. The next week, to continue the woods theme, we might read "Owl Moon" and "Goodnight Moon."

 

We do our regular school work (reading, writing, math, etc.) in the morning. We do FIAR in the afternoon. We will read the book in the afternoon during snack time, then do an activity or craft to go with the book. I followed the manual pretty closely the first year or two. By now, I am more familiar with the books, so it's easier to plan on the fly.

 

The only downside is that my kids expect a go-along craft or activity everytime they read a book. Ha ha ha!