Second guessing my curriculum choice! FIAR?

[~Victoria~]

A local mom is selling Beyond FIAR and it made me look into FIAR.  Now I am wondering if I should do that for first grade.  I guess it would mean me ditching SOTW (which I brilliantly already printed the work pages for)?  For science we were just walking through CLP's Nature Reader and narrating.  

 

So tell me, do you use FIAR and do you love it?  I had planned to read from the Reading Roadmaps list, so that wouldn't be part of my plan anymore either...

 

 

[WahM]

I use it and love it. I do SOTW as a read aloud, no activities. It is such a fun program that is much meatier than sometime made out to be IMO.

[Heidi]

I've never used FIAR, but I know what it is. I have used SOTW, and I think it is better to start it on 2nd grade, personally. I think FIAR in 1st would be much more enjoyable and age appropriate. Doing SOTW as only a read aloud is a good option too.

[desertflower]

I love FIAR!  I don't actually row for 5 days, but love it!  I do SOTW about twice a month since I have a 5 1/2 and a 4 year. 

[AimeeM]

I never could get into the swing of FIAR, as much as I wanted to (and had the volumes in hand). Personally I would stick with SOTW and your nature stories, jmo.

[Chris in VA]

I think SOTW as a read aloud only would be boring! lol The activities made history come alive for us.

 

I like sequential learning, and, even though I like the FIAR books very much, I did not like learning bits and pieces. I do like book extensions, but it just wasn't for us. I did something like it for preschool and K and enjoyed it, but wanted to start the history cycle by the time 1st grade came around.

 

Maybe do SOTW, but do FIAR as a read aloud! I mean, read the books--they are really good.

[Eagle]

We love FIAR. For grade one we are covering only the first half of SOTW1 so we can continue FIAR. We schedule them different weeks. So 3-4 weeks of SOTW followed by 2-3 weeks of FIAR. We find that adding a lapbook to FIAR makes it more complete for us. Many are free at homeschoolshare.com. A good website to get additional ideas for FIAR is http://www.delightfullearning.net

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

Highly highly recommend FIAR for K-2nd grade. We used it and loved it and still have many fond memories

[buram]

My girls and I love FIAR. I started with my oldest when she was five and she has wanted to continue it every year. Both of them remember more from FIAR than anything else. We also do SOTW but just at a slower pace. We use the activity book with SOTW and the work pages. Some chapters we do the activities and some we don't. We like having a variety of things. That is what works for us. The challenging part is finding out what works for your family.

[musicianmom]

I'm a FIAR non-fan, I've even gone so far as to say that if FIAR were my only choice for hs, I'd put my kids in school. Too much jumping around in topics and activities, no clear scope and sequence. I borrowed it and tried to use it. The books were mostly below my dd's level, but most of the activities were above her level. Made no sense whatsoever.

 

I like the reading lists and think they'd make a good literature component for first grade, but as a whole curriculum? Nah, your plan sounds better.

[Mrs. Y]

Really, for 1st grade, even if you'd *only* do phonics and math you would ok.  Everything else is gravy.

 

FIAR is a really good way to teach children.  I actually think the real secret behind it (like Sonlight) is you and your children are READING great books together.  And as with any great book, you'll be learning *something* from it.  Sooooo, as much as I appreciate the effort that it took to compile the FIAR teacher volumes, I still contend that even if you are just reading those sorts of books to your children, you are doing a lot....and for a 1st grade education it is plenty.

 

I don't know if mine are the only ones, but my dc are just not ready or willing to sit through ancient history in 1st grade.  I save starting SOTW until later and I feel like they get so much more out of it.

[paceofnature]

I started FIAR last year with my 1st grader and loved it! We tend to be more relaxed/interest driven at that age, so FIAR blended nicely. It was just enough to ease him into "doing school" and yet not so much that it was a chore or took up a lot of time. You can easily go crazy researching activities and looking at some amazing blogs showing some additional activities to go along with FIAR, but I found that just picking a few hands on activities each week made it much more enjoyable.

[Ewe Mama]

Love FIAR! Why can't you do both?

[freeindeed]

I think you could do both. Alternate days. We used FIAR when my older kids were younger and we all LOVED it! Then I taught it last year to K-2nd graders at our homeschool co-op and it was a BIG hit. My kids still remember things that we learned from FIAR, and the parents of the kids in my class were constantly amazed at what their children picked up in class. I say go for it!

[Ad astra]

I'm a FIAR non-fan, I've even gone so far as to say that if FIAR were my only choice for hs, I'd put my kids in school. Too much jumping around in topics and activities, no clear scope and sequence. I borrowed it and tried to use it. The books were mostly below my dd's level, but most of the activities were above her level. Made no sense whatsoever.

 

I like the reading lists and think they'd make a good literature component for first grade, but as a whole curriculum? Nah, your plan sounds better.

 

I totally agree with this. We loved the literature included in FIAR as read alouds but some of the books in the same level were too easy or too hard. Even B4FIAR was like that, too. There's definitely not much sequence. And the lesson plans in the teacher's manuals... well, I can't imagine those units as a whole curriculum at all. You'd definitely need to add a math curriculum at least. I'm using the manuals to find some fun ideas for book projects in our spare time.. but that's it. My kids would revolt if we read the same book for 5 days in a row.

[Susie in MS]

FIAR is simply awesome! My dd and I loved it some much, I have saved my books for my grandkids. :)

 

[WahM]

I totally agree with this. We loved the literature included in FIAR as read alouds but some of the books in the same level were too easy or too hard. Even B4FIAR was like that, too. There's definitely not much sequence. And the lesson plans in the teacher's manuals... well, I can't imagine those units as a whole curriculum at all. You'd definitely need to add a math curriculum at least. I'm using the manuals to find some fun ideas for book projects in our spare time.. but that's it. My kids would revolt if we read the same book for 5 days in a row.

It's not meant to be a while curriculum. You are supposed to add phonics/language arts and math to it to make a full curriculum.

 

I have found my kids to retain much more through fiar than other curriculums, so that makes it worth it to me. In elementary it's about introducing topics, not mastery of history and science. I'd say it's even great for past the k-2 grades. There is volume 4 and beyond which will easily take you to 5/6th grade.

 

Op, if fiar is something that really interests you is suggest that you join the fiar forums. Those ladies are great and many have actually used all the volumes and have kids in high school or college and have seen the end result rather than here say from people who have never used it all the way through.

[Amy M]

I like your original plan better of SOTW with cLP reader and reading road maps. That said, I'm looking at using FIAR with my littles when they get to 1st, since their older brothers will be doing older curriculum... :)

[Plink]

I love FIAR becuse it taught me how to teach, and it taught my children how to look beyond the surface of any story. I love SOTW and all our other current materials too, but none have made as much impact on our homeschool as FIAR. It is a sweet wonderful way to begin your schooling journey.

[~Victoria~]

I printed off the sample they have for Ping and I already have that book.  I think I will try it with my son and see what he thinks.  I remember reading books and having to discuss them to death - it sapped a lot of joy from the literature.  Maybe that makes me nervous?  I actually didn't know how much I loved to read until after I graduated college and just got to read and enjoy.

[ALB]

You're getting some very mixed reviews!  I'm another mom who has tried FIAR again and again, and wanted to love it.  It just ends up feeling too disjointed and scattered to me.  Some of the activities were always beyond my dc's abilities and the others would be too simple.  I rarely found them to be meaningful enough.  

 

OTOH, I'm not necessarily a fan of SOTW for early years, especially K-1.  I love the idea of a picture book a week with related science and social studies.  Another option is Memoria Press's Enrichment Guides.  They do a picture book a week, with an art print, a classical music selection, a science topic and a history or social studies topic.  It looks easier to use, IMO.

[Jackie]

We tried to get into FIAR twice last year. I was much happier when I scrapped FIAR and just used the book list as part of our literature choices. I think one of our issues was that when DD clicked with a book, we could do a lot with it. When she didn't click with it, she didn't want to ever touch it again and then I had a week worth of plans and a child with zero interest. And I'm happier with sequential learning.

[Love_to_Read]

Do your kids reread books? My littlest will reread a book until memorized, but her older brothers responded to FIAR with complaints that "we already read that!"  I think that sounds wise to try a sample first.

 

My personal opinion was that FIAR was like a buffet of activities for each book, and while you don't HAVE to do every activity, I just didn't click with enough of them.  I liked the idea of someone having read ahead and thought ahead to compile extension activitites, but in practice I only used the obvious ones that I could have thought of myself.

 

I like SOTW's activity guide better, with a book basket of additional readings.  Or we come home from the library with a basket of books on some other theme...in kindergarten-first grade we did some state studies about different memorable features such as lobsters for Maine, the Sonoran desert for Arizona with its cactus and lizards and such, whatever science or social studies stood out. 

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

I'm a FIAR non-fan, I've even gone so far as to say that if FIAR were my only choice for hs, I'd put my kids in school. Too much jumping around in topics and activities, no clear scope and sequence. I borrowed it and tried to use it. The books were mostly below my dd's level, but most of the activities were above her level. Made no sense whatsoever.

 

I like the reading lists and think they'd make a good literature component for first grade, but as a whole curriculum? Nah, your plan sounds better.

:crying:  :huh:  :ohmy:

 

Just goes to show you--- different strokes for different folks!

[craftyerin]

We did FIAR for PK-K. I feel like I agree with all of the previous posters to some degree. We absolutely loved it and have such great memories of the stories and activities, but by the end of the second year, it was feeling disjointed and too non-sequential, and too planning intense. I'm thrilled to be changing directions for 1st. We are still waiting before jumping into SOTW. Instead, we are planning a CM inspired year pulling a lot from AO Y1, but subbing out their history for a DIY trip through early american history using picture books.

 

In your shoes, I'd give FIAR a try. Save SOTW. I really like it better starting in ~2nd grade.

[Dramorellis]

We will be doing FIAR for K this year and did it a bit last year. The thing I like about it is you can go as wide and as complex as you want or not at all. I view each book as its own unit study and we row for 2 weeks. I do not read the same book every single day, instead weaving in several other books and activities. I guess it would be dis-jointed if I were trying to find a common thread through all of the books but I'm not. Each book is it's own topic. I will be rowing with my middle child specifically but will weave in topics with my 7 year old as well (rising 3rd grader). I have had no problems with finding more on level things for him to do and read as a supplement. I however don't think it's enough on it's own and I am okay with that. I can't see it being a stand alone and I have always assumed that it was in addition to our other studies. So to answer your question, I see no reason why I would not also do SOTW and your nature study in addition to FIAR. We still do our own history, math, science and L.A. on top of it. 

[Dramorellis]

I printed off the sample they have for Ping and I already have that book.  I think I will try it with my son and see what he thinks.  I remember reading books and having to discuss them to death - it sapped a lot of joy from the literature.  Maybe that makes me nervous?  I actually didn't know how much I loved to read until after I graduated college and just got to read and enjoy.

 

I agree which is why I try to just read the story and not kill it by asking too many questions. It's more of read it and let them make the connections. For example with Ping we will be expanding that into geography and study of China, which we have already done a bit of with SOTW. So when I mentioned the Yellow River Valley, DS brought up the stories from SOTW that he remembered etc. I presented the activity but I didn't decide where the conversation was going to go and naturally they make their own connections. 

[jnaj]

I too feel that it is very disjointed. I really prefer Memoria Press Enrichment Guides for K and 1st. They are very well put together and include music/art/poetry studies as well. 

[wendyroo]

We tried Five in a Row, I love the concept, but it just didn't work for us.  

 

First, the book choices were problematic.  Five in a Row had many books that were too long and too "scary" for Peter.  OTOH, Before Five in a Row had shorter, more accessible book choices (Caps for Sale, Katy No-Pocket), but the activities didn't hold his interest at all - talk about what colors you see in the picture, talk about that milk comes from cows, count the five cars on the road (okay, that took 30 seconds, not what?).

 

In Five in a Row I found the activities good, but a few were WAY to easy for Peter and many were WAY to hard.  In the section about Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, the math lesson talks about squares having four sides and then for the history lesson it has us looking up the copywrite date of the book and discussing how the age of steam power has been over for more than 50 years but that steam engines first appeared around 60 AD.  Both good activities, but one seems better for a 3 year old and the other for an 8 year old.  

 

Also, many of the activities (in both FIAR and BFIAR) are simply discussing something: discuss stewardship, discuss personification, discuss road engineering, etc.  I tend to discuss interesting topics with my kids even if a book doesn't tell me to, and the topics the kids are interested in rarely lined up with what Five in a Row said to discuss.  The same with their vocab words - some were new to the kids, and others they already knew, but my kids always ask about words they don't know and we regularly discuss them as they come up in stories, so we didn't need a manual to tell us which vocab words we should be discussing.

 

Wendy

 

[sweetpea3829]

I, too, love the concept underlying FIAR, but it did not work for us at all.  It's been sitting on my shelf for three years now, unused.  

[Tracy]

I totally loved :001_wub: FIAR with my first.  I totally hated it   :banghead: with my second.  For me, the child is what makes or breaks FIAR.  My first was a very auditory child who adored being read to, loved language, and looked forward to our FIAR discussions.  She begged for it even on Christmas Day.  Even though I got tired of doing it sometimes, I relished the fact that my dd was so happy.  And I could not fathom not doing FIAR with any and all children.  

 

Then comes my utilitarian, get-to-point ds.  He could not see the point in reading the book a second time, or even opening it up to look at the pictures.  Perhaps it would have been better if he just complained, whined and rebelled.  But no, he would actually try to like it.  After all, everyone else in the house thought it was so awesome.  We got through the first volume, and we were both so relieved when I shelved it after that.  

 

I was already doing SOTW with older sister, so he just tagged along with her, and he loved SOTW way more, because I bought the audio books, and he could play any story any time.  

 

For first grade, I would not do FIAR unless you have a child that really loves to be read to the same book over and over and who really loves stories and language and discussing things with you.  If you have a kinesthetic learner, I would not even touch FIAR for 1st grade (unless you love coming up with kinesthetic activities), because FIAR doesn't have much for the kinesthetic learner.  There are lots of curricula out there that are better for that.  

[Guest jesusbethecenter]

I love FIAR with the young ones.  It does take a little parent planning, but it is so much fun and has so many good memories.  We use Story of the World for the older elem. kids, but I agree with a previous post that it is better suited for a little older than 1st grade.  If you go with FIAR, you are able to get some cute notebook page/ ideas from their website (by subscribing to their blog).  I plan on using it with my little one this year and am looking forward to it!

[nature girl]

We worked through one volume of FIAR over the past year, and really had fun with it, but in my mind the main benefit was that it showed me how to pay attention, REALLY pay attention, to our read-alouds, helping us go deeper into everything we read. Talking about everything from character traits to culture, and as FIAR suggests I'm now getting books on related topics out from the library for us to discuss, topics that might have been dry suddenly become fascinating because we can associate them with characters we've started to care about. (For example, we're currently reading the Catwings books, and as spin-offs we're learning about flight--how wings help birds, planes...and cats!...fly, as well as instincts which are discussed in one of the books.)

 

So now I feel like I've gotten what I needed from FIAR, no need to spend money on the other volumes, I can do it almost as well on my own, with the books I choose (we weren't thrilled with a number of FIAR's suggestions) and without a lot of the busywork they suggested. Learning through fiction is a wonderful, sweet way to learn, and I think it's how we'll be focusing a lot of our studies for years to come.

[Curlymom]

I agree with some of the other posters that you could do both. SOTW is chronological history, which seems very different from FIAR.

 

We actually opted for the Memoria Press Enrichment. But I will definitely be going through the FIAR book list. Those books look so wonderful. I just like the layout of the MP enrichment better. And we are still reading through SOTW and doing related activities. I see them as two different things.

[Meg429]

We did BFIAR, and now FIAR, and we love it.  But I do understand what others are saying - it is teacher intensive at times if you want to add more hands-on learning, and it does jump around.  For K, we are using them as unit studies and enjoy the varied topics.  It seems to hold my kids interest, and the look forward each week to see what the new books and topics are that we are learning about.  It doesn't have to be super complicated though, and it's been a great fit for dd.  I would suggest giving it a try.  

 

I don't plan on starting SOTW until 2nd or so because I feel that my kids would get more out of it then (and I can include younger DS at that time, as well).  

[Spryte]

We did FIAR for K, and for 1st we did SOTW and the AG, plus RSO Life (among other things, of course).  Both are fond memories, but I wouldn't miss SOTW and the AG with a 1st grader.  We had a great time, and the activities were the best part of school!

[Walking-Iris]

I drool  over FIAR. Just save SOTW for another year. I started SOTW with my oldest mid 2nd grade, picking up steam in 3rd. You don't have to completely give up on SOTW. The 1st book isn't even 1st grade...just the 1st book!  Doesn't matter when you decide to do it. FIAR would make  a lovely year!

[Haiku]

We loved FIAR. No reason you cant do both, if you want, but, personally, I think first grade is too young for SOTW. Were I to do it over again, I would spend first grade reading things like 50 Famous Stories, trickster tales, Aesop, Egyptian and Greek myths, etc., and leave SOTW for second (or even third) grade. The first two books were really fun, but the third book was a bit dry for 8 year olds, and I never even read the fourth book to my kids. It was much less "story" and much more war and politics. They weren't interested.

[~Victoria~]

What a variety of responses! I've enjoyed reading through all of your suggestions :)