FIAR

[MomOfABunch]

Can someone explain FIAR and beyond FIAR to me? I'm confused by their website. Are the numbers corresponding to the programs ages or grade levels? Thanks, my sleep deprived brain can't figure it out tonight.

[dsbrack]

The numbers on the site are ages.  FIAR is for ages 4-8 and beyond FIAR is for ages 8-12.  HTH!  :001_smile:

[MomOfABunch]

Ages. That makes more sense! Thanks

[Irishmommy]

We used FIAR vol. 4 for 4th grade and it was great! We added chapter book reading to it, but FIAR was our curriculum.

[freeindeed]

I used FIAR with my older kids when they were early elementary ages and we loved it - some of our best homeschooling memories. :)

I am currently teaching a FIAR class to K-2nd grade at our co-op.

[canadianjen]

I'm a firm believer that FIAR can be used for grades K-7.  The stories are rich and beautiful and are well suited to all ages.  I am currently working with FIAR for my 5 year old and 10 year old (and the 2 year old listens to the stories too) and we do activities from the manual and I also come up with other fun things that would interest them.  We just finished The Giraffe that Walked to Paris.  We found France and Egypt on a map and talked about how the places were similar and different based on what we read in the book or observed from the pictures.  We measured how tall the giraffe in the book was on a huge roll of paper and then measured ourselves against it as well.  We found a place in the house where the "meaured giraffe" could live and hung it up which helped give a feel for how huge these animals are!  We read books and watched short videos about giraffes and other African animals (could have easily asked the 10 year old to pick an animal to do a more indepth study but this was our easy week to ease into routine after Christmas holidays.)  We talked a lot about repairing friendships or making friends and also about honouring people or animals.  And lastly the kids drew pictures of made up animals and created a habitat for the animal based on the characterisitics they had given their animal.  Next week we are going to do a more indepth study of Ancient Egypt as a "go along" to this book.

 

Using FIAR has created so many memories and bonding moments and it is through this curriculum that I've seen almost total retention and the ability to link similar concepts, ideas etc.  Plus it is FUN!  We love it and I've been using it for many years.   I have not done the Beyond or Before books as I usually find a novel for the 10 year old to read that goes along with the FIAR book we are reading (currently she is reading Cleopatra).

 

 

 

[Michelle My Bell]

Also check out Memoria Press' Enrichment Guides for K & 1st. They are very FIARish.

[MomOfABunch]

Hmm...I think I'm definitely going to use it for my Ker next year. I was hoping to use it for my 7th grader who hates reading (thanks a lot 5th grade public school teacher). I have spent this year so far (6th) trying to make reading fun for him, but he still hates it. He's good at it and not behind or anything, but the interest is gone.

[Susie in MS]

You asked about the difference. I am going to c&p what I posted on another forum. I will try to edit out parts you will not need, but if I miss something please overlook it. This will also address that age old question: "Is it enough?"

 

 

First I would ask what are your goals for elem?  You She said:

" I want them to have a strong foundation in their academics for the content subjects, but I also want them to have fun, enjoy learning, and exploring during these elementary years. "

If this is truly what you want then YES FIAR and BY are gonna be enough. But you need to know that not every event in history will be covered like you see in a text. Nor will every science topic be covered. A lot WILL, but not all. FIAR and BY are what you make them to be. They can be as light or as deep as you want. I find these excellent for fun learning and exploration. 

You can see (and download and use for free) the FIAR unit on Ping so you will know what it is like. But as far as I know they have not loaded a BY sample yet. So I will tell you how they differ. Where with FIAR you read an entire picture book each day and take 1 subject per day (unless you tweak to suit your needs) from that book, it is not possible to do it this way with BY because you are now using chapter books. With chapter books the lessons for that day(s) will be taken from what topics are covered in the chapter. So one chapter may be heavy on science and the next may be heavy in history, etc. It will fluctuate. 

Another difference is that BY is designed to encourage the child to research further any topic that peaks his curiosity. FIAR vols 1-3 are more lead by you, and Vol 4 of FIAR is a good balance between parent lead and student starting to research. It is a good transition. There is a lot more base info in the BY manuals than is provided in the FIAR manuals.

Math and other language arts (spelling, grammar) would be a separate purchase not covered in FIAR or BY. 

S&S Vol 4:
http://aussiepumpkinpatch.com/uploads/pdf/VOLUME_4_MASTER_INDEX.pdf

This is for vols 1-3. It is over 90 pages long, but just scroll down to the subjects you want to check out. 
http://aussiepumpkinpatch.com/uploads/pdf/Extensive%20FIAR%20Classification%20Chart.pdf

 

 

I don't know of any online S&S of the BY manuals so I will give you a sampling of vols 1 and 2 (I don't have 3). Some topics have more info on them in the manual. Others only have a little, and it will depend on you or your child getting info elsewhere if you want to cover it more.

Vol 1

Boxcar Children
Greek and Persian War, King Darius, Industrial Revolution, Dust Bowel, Potato Famine, Depression, Human body/health, climates, plants, eggs, elements, 
descriptions in writing, compare/contrast, point of view, newspapers, letters, vocab, lit suggestions, 
several fine arts suggestions , relationships

Thomas Edison
Gutenberg, Abolition, canals, steam power, telegraph, few presidents, Underground RR, Canadian geog in addition to the American, 
Electricity, speed of sound and light, bulb, scientific method, lab, branches of science, elements, 
advertising, editing, writing styles, 
as with all books vocab, geog, fine arts, relationships

Homer Price
Homer, Red Cross, Constitution, political parties, Suffrage, 
simple machines, horsepower, radio and tv, 
story formats, slogans, 

Betsy Ross
Crusades, King Henry VII, KJ and KJV, Quakers, William Penn, Revolution, Ben Franklin, 
More human body, Pasteur, solstice and equinox, 
literary voice, journal

Vol 2

Sarah Plain and Tall
Sea coast, prairie life, bio of animals, birds of prey, 
symbolism, character development, how to end a story

G W Carver
Hammurabi, Black Hawk War, Homestead Act, DuBios, Booker T Washington, Stalin, Jim Crow Laws, MLK, African Methodist Church, Postal zips, 
Insects, Botany, Sweet potato, peanuts, synthetics, 

Skylark
J. Caesar, Shakespeare, droughts and floods, historic fires, history of automobile and the engine, 
human body, cows, loon, weather station, fire, photography, astronaut and astronomer, tides and oceans, 
interview, symmetry in writing, 

Helen Keller
Robert Fulton, Steamboat, War of 1812, Louis Braille, more presidents, circus, WW11 and major players
primates, more human body, sound, atom
persuasive arguments, etymology, 

Again this is not all that is covered. There is a lot more. And the fine arts projects in BY can go from cooking to different types of painting. From lullabies to charcoal rubbings. From musical instruments to famous artist. 

[Susie in MS]

I'm a firm believer that FIAR can be used for grades K-7.  

 

I agree with canadianjen's entire post, but I wanted comment on the first sentence. Let me give an example using a vol 3 book, Finest Horse in Town. 

 

At 5 years old my dd was able to understand the lessons on not stealing, being grateful, water color splotches, overlapping, practice telling time to the hour.

 

By the time she was 7 she was able to grasp the lessons on 3 stories told within the 1, drawing a flag, and multiplying by 2.

 

An older child would even be able to expand on the 3 stories in 1 and create their own by seeing the example.  They could take the lesson on fall colors and research more on the process and what chlorophyll does for a plant.

 

Note: These are not all of the lessons mentioned for this book.

[mohop]

I'm a firm believer that FIAR can be used for grades K-7.  The stories are rich and beautiful and are well suited to all ages.  I am currently working with FIAR for my 5 year old and 10 year old (and the 2 year old listens to the stories too) and we do activities from the manual and I also come up with other fun things that would interest them.  We just finished The Giraffe that Walked to Paris.  We found France and Egypt on a map and talked about how the places were similar and different based on what we read in the book or observed from the pictures.  We measured how tall the giraffe in the book was on a huge roll of paper and then measured ourselves against it as well.  We found a place in the house where the "meaured giraffe" could live and hung it up which helped give a feel for how huge these animals are!  We read books and watched short videos about giraffes and other African animals (could have easily asked the 10 year old to pick an animal to do a more indepth study but this was our easy week to ease into routine after Christmas holidays.)  We talked a lot about repairing friendships or making friends and also about honouring people or animals.  And lastly the kids drew pictures of made up animals and created a habitat for the animal based on the characterisitics they had given their animal.  Next week we are going to do a more indepth study of Ancient Egypt as a "go along" to this book.

 

Using FIAR has created so many memories and bonding moments and it is through this curriculum that I've seen almost total retention and the ability to link similar concepts, ideas etc.  Plus it is FUN!  We love it and I've been using it for many years.   I have not done the Beyond or Before books as I usually find a novel for the 10 year old to read that goes along with the FIAR book we are reading (currently she is reading Cleopatra).

 

The Giraffe that Walked to Paris has been our favorite book rowed so far!  There were so many different activities you could do.

 

I got the first three FIAR volumes used very cheaply from a fellow forum mom, and I just go through and pick and choose books from those three volumes for my K'er.  She enjoys doing lapbooks, so I find lapbook materials online and get an idea of other hands-on activities that people do through a quick google or pinterest search (a lot of what is in the curriculum guide just says to "discuss" such and such with your child, so we like to make it a bit more hands on).  We usually spend about 2 weeks rowing a book, since we don't always get to it every day.  My DD considers it the "fun" part of homeschooling.  My 2.5 year old doesn't follow along with a lot of the activities we do, but she loves when it's time to read the book of the week and forms her own attachment to the books that we read.  I am planning to add more "academics" next year and am thinking we may not have time for FIAR, but I'm pretty sad about the prospect of not doing it anymore, so we'll see...