DiannaC Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 I have read some stuff on FIAR, but I'm still not clear what it is. I'm looking for something fun to do with my 5 & 3 year olds. We are doing phonics, math, & CC as of now, but I want to read a ton & do some crafts. Basically, I want K to be as fun as possible. We have the rest of their lives to dive into history, science, language arts, etc. Is FIAR a good fit for what I'm wanting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyerin Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 I think it could be! I'm using it this next year for K and PK. FIAR is a series of week-long unit studies, each on a different picture book, mostly classics or award winners (lots of Caldecott winners, etc). The units are stand alone, so you can pick and choose or put them in any order. Each unit has you read the book 5 days in a row (hence the name of the program). After each reading, you do a lesson from the manual, one "subject" per day. Each story has lessons on Social Studies (history/geography/relationships), Science, Applied Math, Art, and Language Arts (mostly recognizing use of literary devices in stories or vocabulary). There are also multitudes of blogs and lapbook printables available online to help you beef up and add to any book you choose. There is an optional bible study supplement and a cookbook that you could use to add to your story studies, too. We plan to keep it pretty simple (no lapbooking of us!) and mostly follow the manual. We're adding phonics, math, ETC, and handwriting. Did that help? I can pull a manual off my shelf and give more specific examples of lessons if you want me to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolamum Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 FIAR is what you do or don't make of it. Each manual is broken down by book title. Each book title has things you can do based on specific topics: Social Studies, Language Arts, Math, Art, Science. You can do as much or as little of the ideas listed under the subject. Here's some basic things you might find under each subject: Social Studies has things like: Relationships, Place, Maps, Neighborhoods, & a few more. Language Arts has things like: Vocabulary {all most all books have a few words for this}, sentences, poetry, onomatopoeia, personification, etc. Math: This is always applied mathematics! Count by 2's because the girls stood in 2 straight lines. Count by 5's to figure out how much horsepower was involved, measure your height in inches, count how many cars you saw in the story, etc. Art: There are always a lot of topics under this from what the pictures were drawn with to professional artists who might draw the same way. Science: Animals, water cycle, 5 senses, etc. Some people are very "by the book" & just do the lessons as planned in the manual & are really happy with it. Others like to add a lapbook that matches the lessons, or a field trip, or, or. We were always somewhere in the middle. We added a notebook, beefed up science a little {expanded on it & added a hands on experiment} that was about it. It'd be a great fit for your 5 year old, it might be a little over your 3 year old, but then again maybe not. I used at that age with my children, but didn't expect my 3 year old to do everything we did. If he wished to, that was okay, if not so be it. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in MS Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 I think the ladies above did a wonderful job explaining what it is! I wanted to add don't let nay-sayers poo-poo it for you. There are a number of former teachers (and the author comes from a line of them) that use FIAR and never think it is not enough for the age range suggested. Some rows are light and others are packed. YOu can do what you want with any of them. To give you an idea what I mean: We are about to row Harold and the Purple Crayon. We will cover progressive setting puns creative art vanishing point foreshortening city scenes count by twos factions (how much pie did Harold eat?) transportation survival skills moon As you can see art is a strong point in this row. Next week we will row The Were Strong and Good. I purposely left this one till my dd was older so she could get a good idea of the importance of this book. We will cover: Geography of 3 countries and 3 states (location on map) Caribbean Islands How cities change Schools Occupation of a sea captain Genealogy Civil War/ slavery/ artillery/ etc Pride of family heritage and also seeing that we all have something that is not so good in our lines. emotions vocab similar themes in other books italics good title and how important it is Latin influence contrast and strength in illustrations symbolism counting shapes multiplication bees pollution The Bible in this one is good too. As you can see there is a big difference between the above row and this one. One may be heavy in one subject and the other in another area. I am looking forward to my dd learning about our heritage with this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in GA Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 I just wrote a post yesterday about FIAR. To sum up, I think FIAR is a great supplement and better for kindy and first grade than it is for second and third. So it sounds like it would be a really good fit for you. I also think it works well with a certain type of personality. If you're the kind of person that likes to tweak stuff, add your own ideas (or others' ideas you find elsewhere), have no problem skipping something, etc, FIAR should be a good match. People often dislike FIAR because "there are too many choices" or because they "didn't know exactly what to do when" or because they don't like reading the book every day. I think FIAR works best for people who see it as a "pick and choose menu," and who like that kind of thing. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelbe5 Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 We love FIAR! I have not used it for a few years, but I plan to use it this year with my son who has autism as it is at an appropriate level for him. I plan to have my daughters lead the teaching. The FIAR message boards are a wonderful, supportive forum, also.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiannaC Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 Thanks for your feedback. I found the list of books for volume 1 and all but 2 are at my library. Do you think it would be possible just to get the books & then find creative things to do online? It seems there are quite a few blogs related to FIAR. I'm not really looking for a curriculum, as much as a supplement and something fun to do with my boys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in GA Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Thanks for your feedback. I found the list of books for volume 1 and all but 2 are at my library. Do you think it would be possible just to get the books & then find creative things to do online? If you're "that kind of person," sure! Although if I remember some comments made by the author/publisher, you may not want to tell them about it ...:001_unsure: I don't if it was already mentioned, but the FIAR resources on HomeschoolShare.com were invaluable to us. Also, we got many ideas from the archives on the FIAR message boards. I will say, though, that the FIAR manuals are pretty cheap and IMO are worth getting for a ton of ideas to spring off. Of course, you may be more creative than me. That reminds me of something I'd forgotten ... when I first looked through FIAR years ago, I actually thought, "That's not a curriculum; it's a book of suggested activities." I guess I still feel that way. So in your case, that may be a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmaluv+2more Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Thanks for your feedback. I found the list of books for volume 1 and all but 2 are at my library. Do you think it would be possible just to get the books & then find creative things to do online? It seems there are quite a few blogs related to FIAR. I'm not really looking for a curriculum, as much as a supplement and something fun to do with my boys. You absolutely could do it without the manuals, but I highly suggest purchasing them. You can find them used at great prices here and on vegsource. I have found them to be an invaluable resource. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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