What happened to FIAR?

[Aspasia]

A few months ago, I was somehow completely excited about FIAR. I thought it was so awesome, how it can use one book to hit on five subjects. Then we ended up moving and all of that sort of overtook my plans to start using it. Well, last night I pulled out one of my volumes and started looking at it again. I was totally disappointed. Suddenly all the activities seem lame and many of them seem like a bit of a stretch, just to make up something for the subject.

 

What the heck? Am I the only one who thinks FIAR is not what it's cracked up to be?

[Stellalarella]

I had that feeling at different times, but then my kids would find a FIAR book around the house and exclaim, "I love this book!" Not everybody loves reading a book 4 or 5 days in a row, but it sure connected with my kids. So, I would start again because I could see that the curriculum was producing a love of books in them.

Andrea

[justasque]

Sometimes, a particular book is exactly right for a kid right where they are. Six months later, they're in a different place, and they may be past the point where the book would work. It's a good thing, really, as it means they're learning. :-)

[caedmyn]

I kind of feel the same way after using Volume I since September. I'm hoping to get through the last few books in the next couple of weeks (it's turned into two-in-a-row here with several "subjects" in the same day) and then I'm going to sell it. I'm not much on doing activities so that's probably part of the reason why it's not working all that well here.

[2squared]

Yes, I feel that way BUT my kids don't. My 9yo & 7yo remember most of the activities and lessons that we went through years ago, and they welcome all the FIAR books as old friends. When I read FIAR books to 5yo & 3yo, the older two almost always come to listen.

[Mandy in TN]

We used some of B4FIAR with my youngest when he was like 3. We never read a book five days in a row. We also used Picture Book Activities by Trish Kuffner. I have very fond memories of reading and doing little activities with my last little guy.

 

Mandy

[Aurelia]

Sometimes, a particular book is exactly right for a kid right where they are. Six months later, they're in a different place, and they may be past the point where the book would work. It's a good thing, really, as it means they're learning. :-)

 

Ariel still loves the books and activities in FIAR (we did a volume 4 unit a few month ago), I don't. :blush:

[cbollin]

It's been close to a decade since I used FIAR vol 1-3. (vol 4 wasn't around?). I remember that feeling that sometimes the activities were a stretch.

 

And there were times that we didn't read the same book 5 days in a row either. We enjoyed the books. And many times read them again.

 

I can remember a time where we would do one book on M W F, but on T and TH a different book.

 

I enjoyed reading the stories. Sometimes we skipped activities. and some of the math/science was too much of a stretch so we'd skip it.

 

I remember at the time thinking "this is a great thing to use". I was surprised to hear so many "older" moms at the time telling me they use it just for a great reading list. I thought "but.. the activities?" Then, by volume 3, I was in the mindset of "fun reading list."

 

Do enjoy the books together. and if the lessons don't seem like a good fit, it's ok. They're still young. 3R's. or not even that much since oldest child is only 4.

 

-crystal

[Jay3fer]

I read somewhere that when the show Blues Clues first came out, they didn't have a lot of shows, so they replayed the same one every day, all week... and kids were AMAZED. They adored it! They solved the same puzzles with the same clues every day, and LOVED every minute of it.

 

Everything I've read in WTM and elsewhere about grammar stage and earlier tells me that kids like repetition, consistency, and sometimes, the most lame activities.

 

We haven't done FIAR because we have so much on the go, but I love the reading lists so much I put together my own mini-FIAR unit over the summer around the reading list of FIAR 1. I know the program is much more than the lists, but I was amazed at how much it took me out of my own head, and sometimes, comfort zone, just going to the effort to pick up these books and commit to reading them at least twice (five would have killed me, I think) to the children.

(Even if you don't have FIAR, and don't plan to do it, you can download my free reading list here.)

 

We ended up doing some activities, and some of the homeschoolshare stuff. Not much. But I can easily see doing it as a curriculum, however cheesy some of it might seem to me. There's a lot of merit to the ideas behind the program.

[Mergath]

We've used it off and on, and... meh. I think the idea is solid, but they do need to come out with an updated edition. Real updates to the text, not just a new cover.

[...................]

Looking at your kids ages, they might be a bit too young for FIAR. FIAR, like any unit study, thrives when the children involved are able to intelligently discuss and ask questions, and make their own connections. Thet might ask you how steam engines work and you

Give a simple explanation. Then the child will ask why we don't use steam engines any more, and you explain that simply but clearly. Then the child might get up and grab a book he remembers in his room that was about how cars work.

 

You might follow that up with creating steam in a pot and watching it turn a pinwheel as directed in the manual.

 

I know very very few four year olds that would really be able to grasp FIAR to an extent that would make it a good choice for them. Some kids I know aren't ready for it till nearly six.

 

So I say wait a while.

[jillian]

I bought FIAR for dd and just couldn't implement it or something. It just didn't seem exciting for dd or for me. I like the books though for the story aspect but not the activities.

[Rivka]

We are just winding up FIAR now. Honestly, I found the activities in the manual to be a mix. Some of them were fantastic, and some of them were dumb. I do have to say that some of the ones I was dubious about turned out to be great experiences when we actually did them. Others we just skipped.

 

I didn't worry so much about whether the lessons were only peripherally related to the book. Even if they are, they're often still interesting and worthwhile to cover. One of the things I've liked best about FIAR is the wide range of topics, and the inclusion of general knowledge/practical information that doesn't fit in to traditional academic subject designations.

[Alice]

We use FIAR and like it but I think the real beauty behind it is that it's so flexible. What we do could really barely be called FIAR but it works for us. Some weeks it's just reading books around a topic, some weeks it's closer to the intended "rowing". For me it provides some structure which I need.

 

To plan I read the book and then the manual. The manual gives me ideas for things to focus us on that I may not have thought of. But I rarely follow any of the lessons these days. I use it to give me a sort of "theme of the week" for my kindergartener and we mostly read around that theme.

[Kathryn]

We absolutely loved B4FIAR when DS was 4. I got V1 of FIAR to do the next year for "real school," but when I looked through it, I just wasn't as excited about it. We moved on.