BFIAR or Flowering Baby

[OneLittleWindow]

My 3 year old needs some more routine/structure. I'm pretty Charlotte-Masony and don't really want to HS until K or 1st... but my son needs something. Our lives are currently pretty crazy and it's been really really hard for me, no matter how hard I try, to set up some routine/activities to interest him. He's highly-sensitive and stubborn... and just isn't happy if he hasn't had interesting stuff to do. I've planned more weekly activities (story-time type stuff, playground dates, etc...) but need more at home.

 

SO - I've decided to get a "curriculum" that's drawn out for me and follow it VERY loosely.... just stay super super flexible with it.

 

I have some montessori resources and plan to use them - but I really just need some kind of coat-hanger to hang it all on. I need something that's drawn out completely to get us going on a routine.

 

So - would you recommend Before Five In A Row, Flowering Baby or some other? He knows all ABCs, letter sounds, can count to 100, and when he feels like it he's sounded out short words before. I never push him on it, so I don't know how much he actually knows.

[Guest cmunoz]

I'm completely aware of the flowering baby syndrome!! Both of my kids (ages 2 and 5 now) are constantly pushing me to do more. I also wanted them to have their childhood, but became continually aware that my children were begging for more, even behaving better when I did "get out the schooling". I'm more of an eclectic homeschooler now, with some classical tendencies.

 

For my eldest, I found that I didn't want to have him sit and study with a curriculum at age 2. So I researched online intensely through lots of backchannels - the main one being kids with ADD and how to teach them. My reason was, my son didn't have ADHD, but he was a typical 2yo and didn't need to sit still. The learning, however, did need to happen as he behaved better when intellectually stimulated and intensely learning.

 

Try getting a yoga map and tracing a hopscotch pattern on it with a permanent marker (great nonskid surface for hopping and running). I used index cards with numbers and letters, placed in each square on the hopscotch and he had to hop on them and read them at the same time. Then I changed it to saying the letter sounds, then reading the blends. Now it's reading sightwords.

 

Another one involved flashcards of upper and lowercase letters. I would hide them and he would find them and tell me what they were or what they said. You can also use the letter sounds here or scrambled 3-letter words. We also used the flashcards to match upper and lower case - running from 1 end of the room to the other to pick up cards and put them together.

 

For my daughter, she's less active, more focused. I use a LOT of Montessori materials for her - my own version of sandpaper letters (I use felt instead and put the lowercase on the back of each uppercase), beads that can be sorted by shape or color. We also do lots of walks in the woods to learn about nature, seasons, weather, etc. I get My Big Backyard magazine and that keeps her asking questions.

 

I hope I'm not overloading you. I'm just well aware of the panic that can set in - especially when you want to find that middle ground between pre-school/early learning and curriculum. I hope it helps!

[serendipitous journey]

I have heard of several children who didn't cotton to BFIAR -- FIAR itself is much more robust, I gather -- so would go with Flowering Baby of those two, it seems age-appropriate and Perfectly Fun.

 

For Button, who was sensitive and intense, I ended up schooling him 2/days a week when he was three (I was a full-time grad student then). You are wanting a curriculum so this prob. won't help, but I set us up with math (combination of MUS Primer and Montessori materials; RightStart is prob. a more popular choice or Miquon Orange but that's not as open-and-go ...), some hands-on activity from Toddler or Preschooler Busy Book or First Art, a story (different one each week), a song from Wee Sing Fingerplays, some dancing around music, and literacy -- we did OPGTR and Montessori sandpaper letters until we had the letter sounds down, then some Montessori CVC cards I made and eventually Phonics Pathways.

 

Having some math, some reading, some music, some art/craft, and an effort at something physical like hop-scotch or throwing bean bags or whatever: that kept us busy for most of the morning. Perhaps with a less temperamental child it would only take an hour, though :D.

 

I also usually did something in the afternoon -- usually painting, fingerpainting windows, or making some Baked Good.

 

I thought it was much easier to go along like this -- sort of do-the-next-thing, preschool-style -- with my intense son, because if one resource failed we hadn't mucked up a whole curriculum. Also he never much did any activity as expected anyhow, so curricula didn't work. He used NONE of the Montessori stuff as intended, for example. Also he did none of this voluntarily -- if I hadn't required it, he'd have just slumped unhappily around all day. He was much much happier with his "required" preschool.

Edited September 24, 2012 by serendipitous journey

[serendipitous journey]

Okay, these are 2 of the things I'm looking at for Bot-bot when he's three:

 

Great Books Academy Nursery -- note the actual lesson plans.

Oak Meadow Preschool

 

and you might like

Milestones Academy Preschool -- a CM approach for ages 3-6. NOT a curriculum or a lesson plan, though.

 

I'm not sure I personally will be able to take the Oak Meadow -- I am not Waldorf in disposition, and the fairy tales really get to me (Waldorf fairy tales are quite consciously Archetypal, or if you are me, Patronizing and Chauvinistic and Full of Assumptions About Royalty That are Flat Wrong). And one of the Oak Meadow sample lessons teaches the concept of "two" by taking one stick, talking it up, then breaking it in half: this really bugs me, breaking something in two is just not the same as making two of it. But Oak Meadow is pretty sweet and would certainly add an element of whimsy.

 

The letter/number/color/&c books that GBA Nursery calls for are really glorified coloring books: they have gorgeous covers, but the insides are B&W outlines for tracing or coloring. Just FYI. I am not sure I'll do the Lang's called for by GBA, but I am happy to replace Lang's with picture book tales.

Edited September 24, 2012 by serendipitous journey

[OneLittleWindow]

I have heard of several children who didn't cotton to BFIAR -- FIAR itself is much more robust, I gather -- so would go with Flowering Baby of those two, it seems age-appropriate and Perfectly Fun.

 

For Button, who was sensitive and intense, I ended up schooling him 2/days a week when he was three (I was a full-time grad student then). You are wanting a curriculum so this prob. won't help, but I set us up with math (combination of MUS Primer and Montessori materials; RightStart is prob. a more popular choice or Miquon Orange but that's not as open-and-go ...), some hands-on activity from Toddler or Preschooler Busy Book or First Art, a story (different one each week), a song from Wee Sing Fingerplays, some dancing around music, and literacy -- we did OPGTR and Montessori sandpaper letters until we had the letter sounds down, then some Montessori CVC cards I made and eventually Phonics Pathways.

 

Having some math, some reading, some music, some art/craft, and an effort at something physical like hop-scotch or throwing bean bags or whatever: that kept us busy for most of the morning. Perhaps with a less temperamental child it would only take an hour, though :D.

 

I also usually did something in the afternoon -- usually painting, fingerpainting windows, or making some Baked Good.

 

I thought it was much easier to go along like this -- sort of do-the-next-thing, preschool-style -- with my intense son, because if one resource failed we hadn't mucked up a whole curriculum. Also he never much did any activity as expected anyhow, so curricula didn't work. He used NONE of the Montessori stuff as intended, for example. Also he did none of this voluntarily -- if I hadn't required it, he'd have just slumped unhappily around all day. He was much much happier with his "required" preschool.

 

 

thank you thank you... this all sounds VERY VERY familiar!

[OneLittleWindow]

I'm completely aware of the flowering baby syndrome!! Both of my kids (ages 2 and 5 now) are constantly pushing me to do more. I also wanted them to have their childhood, but became continually aware that my children were begging for more, even behaving better when I did "get out the schooling". I'm more of an eclectic homeschooler now, with some classical tendencies.

 

For my eldest, I found that I didn't want to have him sit and study with a curriculum at age 2. So I researched online intensely through lots of backchannels - the main one being kids with ADD and how to teach them. My reason was, my son didn't have ADHD, but he was a typical 2yo and didn't need to sit still. The learning, however, did need to happen as he behaved better when intellectually stimulated and intensely learning.

 

Try getting a yoga map and tracing a hopscotch pattern on it with a permanent marker (great nonskid surface for hopping and running). I used index cards with numbers and letters, placed in each square on the hopscotch and he had to hop on them and read them at the same time. Then I changed it to saying the letter sounds, then reading the blends. Now it's reading sightwords.

 

Another one involved flashcards of upper and lowercase letters. I would hide them and he would find them and tell me what they were or what they said. You can also use the letter sounds here or scrambled 3-letter words. We also used the flashcards to match upper and lower case - running from 1 end of the room to the other to pick up cards and put them together.

 

For my daughter, she's less active, more focused. I use a LOT of Montessori materials for her - my own version of sandpaper letters (I use felt instead and put the lowercase on the back of each uppercase), beads that can be sorted by shape or color. We also do lots of walks in the woods to learn about nature, seasons, weather, etc. I get My Big Backyard magazine and that keeps her asking questions.

 

I hope I'm not overloading you. I'm just well aware of the panic that can set in - especially when you want to find that middle ground between pre-school/early learning and curriculum. I hope it helps!

 

Thank you so much! I really love the sound of the BFIAR/FIAR program... but I've never really known if it would work at all with my son. I worked with LD/ADHD teenagers a long time ago as a tutor, and so luckily I have enough experience with different learning styles and I can usually figure out what might work or not work... but my son is a challenge, I LOVE incorporating your idea of the mat and physical study. Very important for him I think. He also isn't naturally physically dexterous, so I think it would help him.

[OneLittleWindow]

I love the IDEA of Oak Meadow... but I don't think it's for me or my son.

 

I have looked at the Great Books Academy SOOO many times thinking about it as a core for us to work off of. I love their book selections... I might give it a try again.

 

thank you!

[happycc]

It is so doable for us for some reason. I printed the pages out and spiral bound them and have it on the table and send my older kids to do a certain activity with my 3yrs old. Easy enough for them, makes it easy enough for me.

 

 

I tried BFIAR and FIAR....too much work for some reason. Same with Peak with Books.

 

I am very very happy with Flowering Baby Curriculum. Simple to implement and to add to your already busy life.

[OSUBuckeye]

I've also read some great things about What Your Preschooler Needs to Know activity books (they're activity-filled, crafty, and in color, unlike the original What Your ... Grader Needs to Know series). I haven't gotten my hands on them yet, but I keep seeing them on the homeschooling blogs used with 3 yr olds. I do have the go-along story book, and it's filled with a full but gentle year's worth of mother goose rhymes, Goldilocks-like stories, poems, and basic history and science (animals have babies; animals grow over time; weather changes daily). It seems happy and gentle and geared to modern 3 year olds, no abandoned, cannibalized Hansel&Gretel or subservient Sleeping Beauty. :-) The go-along book is a great snuggle-for-schoolwork book, and I can totally envision how the crafts only make the storytelling better.

[serendipitous journey]

It is so doable for us for some reason. I printed the pages out and spiral bound them and have it on the table and send my older kids to do a certain activity with my 3yrs old. Easy enough for them, makes it easy enough for me.

 

 

I tried BFIAR and FIAR....too much work for some reason. Same with Peak with Books.

 

I am very very happy with Flowering Baby Curriculum. Simple to implement and to add to your already busy life.

 

thank you for posting this review!

 

and, congratulations on your soon-to-be-family-member(s). :grouphug:

[serendipitous journey]

I've also read some great things about What Your Preschooler Needs to Know activity books (they're activity-filled, crafty, and in color, unlike the original What Your ... Grader Needs to Know series). I haven't gotten my hands on them yet, but I keep seeing them on the homeschooling blogs used with 3 yr olds. I do have the go-along story book, and it's filled with a full but gentle year's worth of mother goose rhymes, Goldilocks-like stories, poems, and basic history and science (animals have babies; animals grow over time; weather changes daily). It seems happy and gentle and geared to modern 3 year olds, no abandoned, cannibalized Hansel&Gretel or subservient Sleeping Beauty. :-) The go-along book is a great snuggle-for-schoolwork book, and I can totally envision how the crafts only make the storytelling better.

 

oh, I should have responded to this together with the previous: am happy to see this review. Bot-bot turns three at the end of this school year and I am Making Plans. It is so thrilling! he's my last shot at a fun preschool, and unlike his (darling, lovable, maddening, perfectionistic and intense) older brother he's likely to be a mellow & easy-going preschooler ...