Has everyone out there heard of Five in a Row by Jane Claire Lambert? Had everyone but me used Five in a Row in their homeschool?  I have good friends who have used Five in a Row, and I had even borrowed their books, but I had never implemented this unit study into our homeschool.  After receiving Five in a Row, Volume 3 to review and checking out their website, I am now seeing how Five in a Row is a great fit for our family!

In case you don’t know what Five in a Row “is” I’ll explain briefly.  First, I’ll let you know that whenever you see FIAR in homeschool circles, they’re talking about Five in a Row.  I’ve been confused many times trying to figure out which curriculum people are talking about!  So, FIAR suggests a “storybook” that you read to your child for five days in a row, thus the name.  I know this sounded strange to me when I first heard of it; must be because I get bored easily – LOL!  Then they turn that book inside out, taking the information and categorizing it for you to learn about with your child.  The categories include:  Social Studies (i.e., relationships, Geography, culture), Language Arts (i.e., vocabulary, literary devices), Art, Math, and Science.  Of course, they cover these topics at the age-appropriate levels, and there are so many topics available for each story that you get to choose five for the week.  FIAR now has their literature-based studies for preK through Junior High.

As I mentioned above, we received Five in a Row, Volume 3, which is for ages 4-8.  I am also currently reviewing Tapestry of Grace with my 8 and 10 year-olds, studying the Middle Ages, so I looked to see if Volume 3 had a book that would fit in with that time frame, and it did!  We chose The Duchess Bakes a Cake by Virginia Kahl for our FIAR unit study to include our 3 and 6 year-olds in our study of the Middle Ages.  We had so much fun!  We talked about problem solving and consequences, poetry and alliteration, synonyms, plot, foreshadowing and covered the vocabulary!  The kids went around saying “I’m going to bake a lovely, light, luscious, delectable cake!”  And we discussed why the duchess’ cake wouldn’t have been any of those!

Since I’ve been reviewing for TOS Crew I have been learning about the convenience and money savings of digital formats, e-books and audios, and FIAR is providing their resources in this manner.  Actually, they are bringing back previously discontinued items (Cookbook!) and they offer new resources, including a planner, timeline, fold-n-learns (similar to lapbooks), nature studies and audio downloads to help you in your parenting and teaching.  FIAR offers digital “units” where you can purchase one book study at a time including the cookbook pages and the Bible study supplement pages.  This is such a great idea for me, as it will help me include the littles in the older kids’ studies, and I don’t have to buy an entire volume for one or two lessons!

I am privileged to have this opportunity to examine Five in a Row more closely.  I appreciate the online forum where users can receive help and offer advice, plus I just love the new digital site.  I feel the Lamberts are trying to provide us with information and products to help us succeed.  Another great homeschooling vendor on our side!

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Posted by Cyndi

I had no idea what that stood for!
I have heard of it also, but for some reason I had thought it was a pre-school curriculum.
Now, I am interested in taking a closer look at the upcoming fair!

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