parias1126 Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 I am trying to finish up the last of my shopping and getting ready to place my Rainbow Resource order. I am looking at FIAR as others here have suggested for K. It looks wonderful! I was thinking of just getting Volume one and going at it slowly instead of completing it in the 19 weeks suggested. Do you think that adding this in for my K'r would be too much if I am already doing HOD Bigger with my older two? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BugsMama Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 I just started five in a row, BUT- It doesn't have to be long, or complicated. You can read the book, and do just ONE activity, and be done for the day, in 30 minutes. I do it with my 4 year old while my first grader is doing a worksheet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoxcell Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 I can't imagine it would be too much FIAR is very light. I will be doing 3 HOD guides next year(PHFHG, BLHFHG, and LHTH).;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 Are you purchasing all the books with FIAR? Have you checked to make sure you can get the titles? I loved the concept of FIAR and bought one of the volumes, BUT so many of the titles were out of print and not available at my library, that I ended up spending a ton of time and money trying to get them and eventually just sold my guide rather than deal with the hassle. I love the concept of FIAR, but I would make sure you can get the books before ordering it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnaShoo Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 I'm going to do it this year with my not-quite K'er (he misses the public school cutoff by one month, so I'm going to fly under the radar and do K with him without making him an "official" Kindergartener). I can't speak to the amount of work, but thought I'd chime in about finding books. I'm buying most of them, since I don't want to have to worry about someone at the library having the one I need at the wrong time - or needing to return it when we still aren't done with it. I've been able to find half of the books for Volume 1 on Amazon, most of them used, for less than $5 each. We're moving so I have stopped looking, but so far, it hasn't been bad. Although, if you won't have the money for that or don't want to buy them, it is true they seem to be older books, so tougher to find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parias1126 Posted July 30, 2012 Author Share Posted July 30, 2012 I can't imagine it would be too much FIAR is very light. I will be doing 3 HOD guides next year(PHFHG, BLHFHG, and LHTH).;) Three guides?? I couldn't even imagine! You need the Homeschooling Mommy of The Year Award! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parias1126 Posted July 30, 2012 Author Share Posted July 30, 2012 Are you purchasing all the books with FIAR? Have you checked to make sure you can get the titles? I loved the concept of FIAR and bought one of the volumes, BUT so many of the titles were out of print and not available at my library, that I ended up spending a ton of time and money trying to get them and eventually just sold my guide rather than deal with the hassle. I love the concept of FIAR, but I would make sure you can get the books before ordering it. RR has the literature sets for each Volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoxcell Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Three guides?? I couldn't even imagine! You need the Homeschooling Mommy of The Year Award! :) :lol: Well we will see how it goes. I did 3 last year also but LHTH isn't a big deal and we only do it like 3 days a week. Next year I will be running 4 guides so you can award me if I'm still sane after that.;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkygirl Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I love the fiar concept but after reading the reviews and book issues am creating my own using printables and other resources that tie back into the book of the week. I was expecting it would be too hard to do on my own but have found a wealth of free and available resources. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parias1126 Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 I love the fiar concept but after reading the reviews and book issues am creating my own using printables and other resources that tie back into the book of the week. I was expecting it would be too hard to do on my own but have found a wealth of free and available resources. What reviews are you referring to? I have read nothing but good reviews. The not so great reviews I have read are from those that have used it with older children (2nd or 3rd graders) complaining that it is not meaty enough. I have only read wonderful reviews from those using it for K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in MS Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I have all 4 vols of FIAR and only miss about 3 of the books. Most can be bought at Rainbow and then your search for the few OOP ones won't be long. Many can also be found at thrift stores. Other than the 3 (out of maybe 70 books) that I am missing the others were easy to find. Just a plug for Purple House Press: they have brought several FIAR books back in print. As to the original question: I don't think it would be too much to have a HOD guide and FIAR going at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teeniebeenie6 Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 RR has the literature sets for each Volume. Actually RR sets are missing quite a few of the books. I've been thrifting a lot in the last 9 months and haven't found one of the rare books. I also watch ebay, amazon, etc. Andy and the Circus goes on average $68+, The Giraffe Who Walked to Paris goes for $48+ and many of the other books are $15+. I am doing FIAR as a supplement. I really wish they would update the manuals and take out the ultra expensive, rare ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parias1126 Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 Actually RR sets are missing quite a few of the books. I've been thrifting a lot in the last 9 months and haven't found one of the rare books. I also watch ebay, amazon, etc. Andy and the Circus goes on average $68+, The Giraffe Who Walked to Paris goes for $48+ and many of the other books are $15+. I am doing FIAR as a supplement. I really wish they would update the manuals and take out the ultra expensive, rare ones. So the Volume 1 set on RR doesn't include all the books for Volume 1? There are 18 of them? Is one missing since it's a 19 week program? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in MS Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Actually RR sets are missing quite a few of the books. I've been thrifting a lot in the last 9 months and haven't found one of the rare books. I also watch ebay, amazon, etc. Andy and the Circus goes on average $68+, The Giraffe Who Walked to Paris goes for $48+ and many of the other books are $15+. I am doing FIAR as a supplement. I really wish they would update the manuals and take out the ultra expensive, rare ones. Yes, those 2 and Babar are the 3 of the books that most just skip because they are so pricey. A wonderful substitute for Giraffe is Zarafa. Same story. There are so many other wonderful FIAR books that missing these 3 is not a huge issue. In my very small library system I was still able to get Giraffe through ILL. The Babar vid is posted at the top of the FIAR forum if anyone wants to use that in place of the book. Worked great for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in MS Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 So the Volume 1 set on RR doesn't include all the books for Volume 1? There are 18 of them? Is one missing since it's a 19 week program? Yes, there is only 1 missing (Cranberry Thanksgiving) and it is coming out in Sept through Purple House Press. Go to their website and you can see it there if you like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in MS Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 These are the ones missing from vols 2 and 3 RR book packs: 2 Giraffe (costly) Babar (costly) Down Down the Mountain All Those Secrets of the World Gramma's Walk 3 Andy and the Circus (costly) Wild Horses of Sweetbriar Henry the Castaway (can be bought from Purple House or Amazon--in print) Warm as Wool (bought new here - in print) Climbing Kansas Mountain Most of these can be found for $15-$20 at Amazon Market Place. I have also bought OOPs from ebay and Abebooks. Not too bad when you consider many new hardback picture books cost $15 to begin with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkygirl Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 What reviews are you referring to? I have read nothing but good reviews. The not so great reviews I have read are from those that have used it with older children (2nd or 3rd graders) complaining that it is not meaty enough. I have only read wonderful reviews from those using it for K. Difficulty finding the books, needing to buy another book set when we already have Sonlight P3/4, the reviews are good for FIAR volumes 1-3, I personally was not impressedm with many of the books frm BFIAR and like the flexibility to tie our activities to one theme for the week/month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teeniebeenie6 Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 (edited) Yes, those 2 and Babar are the 3 of the books that most just skip because they are so pricey. A wonderful substitute for Giraffe is Zarafa. Same story. There are so many other wonderful FIAR books that missing these 3 is not a huge issue. In my very small library system I was still able to get Giraffe through ILL. The Babar vid is posted at the top of the FIAR forum if anyone wants to use that in place of the book. Worked great for us. Thanks for the Zarafa suggestion. Sadly Gramma's Walk is really costly now too. ETA: I still think FIAR is worth it. Just thought some people might appreciate knowing about the books that are hard to find. There are also awesome free units that were made to go with FIAR on homeschoolshare.com. http://delightfullearning.blogspot.com has awesome ideas on her blog. I also love this blog. http://blog.aussiepumpkinpatch.com/ She made some lapbooks to go along with some of the books. She also is a member of this group. Edited July 31, 2012 by teeniebeenie6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 These are the ones missing from vols 2 and 3 RR book packs: 2 Giraffe (costly) Babar (costly) Down Down the Mountain All Those Secrets of the World Gramma's Walk 3 Andy and the Circus (costly) Wild Horses of Sweetbriar Henry the Castaway (can be bought from Purple House or Amazon--in print) Warm as Wool (bought new here - in print) Climbing Kansas Mountain Most of these can be found for $15-$20 at Amazon Market Place. I have also bought OOPs from ebay and Abebooks. Not too bad when you consider many new hardback picture books cost $15 to begin with. Yeah, but 5 books missing is pretty much my deal-breaker point for K. I already have to hunt down books for history & science, I'm not doing it for a younger child too when they can just tag along. Maybe I would have felt differently if I was using FIAR with my oldest, but I might as well just do Sonlight or MP at that point instead since my library will have nearly all the books and I won't have to spend anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in MS Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Yeah, but 5 books missing is pretty much my deal-breaker point for K. I already have to hunt down books for history & science, I'm not doing it for a younger child too when they can just tag along. Maybe I would have felt differently if I was using FIAR with my oldest, but I might as well just do Sonlight or MP at that point instead since my library will have nearly all the books and I won't have to spend anything. Oh yes, everyone will have their limits as to what they are willing to accept due to their circumstances. Vol 1 books will all be in print come Sept. Vol 2 will still have 5 OOP with 3 easy to come by (Grammas Walk goes up and down) Vol 3 has only 3 out of print with 2 of those easy to come by. I hope this info helps someone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parias1126 Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 Oh yes, everyone will have their limits as to what they are willing to accept due to their circumstances. Vol 1 books will all be in print come Sept. Vol 2 will still have 5 OOP with 3 easy to come by (Grammas Walk goes up and down) Vol 3 has only 3 out of print with 2 of those easy to come by. I hope this info helps someone. Thank you for posting this. It's been very helpful. I'm going to start with Volume 1 and just add extra activities I find online and take it really slow. I'll probably just get Volume 1 to last the entire school year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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