TOS Homeschool Crew Review~ Five in a Row (FIAR): Before Five in a Row 

 Before Five in a Row is a Christian preschool program for children ages 2-4. It’s designed to give a parent simple activities to help enjoy good quality children’s books with their little ones before the time slips away and they’re all grown up.

The first half of the guide is a list of excellent children’s stories with easy activities to reinforce parts of the books. There are art projects, things to do in the kitchen, at bath time, health and safety tips… all important things to teach to your little ones, brought to their attention by reading this great selection of children’s books that you can either purchase for yourself or find at your local library. The second section gives ideas for how to do simple activities with your 2-4 year old to get them ready for their elementary years while still remaining relaxed and enjoyable.

I really like the gentle approach of Before Five in a Row (B4FIAR). I’d been looking for something to fill in the gaps of The Dude’s preschool curriculum and B4FIAR fits the bill. And at just a tad under $25, its very affordable too.

We got off to a bit of a rough start with it because I’ve never really cared for Jessie Bear, but that’s completely my fault. lol. You ever have one of those children’s books you just didn’t care for? I don’t know why, this is it for me. Lol. It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever why the book rubs me the wrong way, it just does. I know, I'm silly. Being a very intuitive little boy, Dude picks up on things like that so maybe that’s why he couldn’t get into that particular book either. Our absolute favorite book was The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. In fact, the whole family loved it. DS and I would read the story together, Tink oversaw the fun lapbook projects we found online and Ninja even got in on the fun. She read to him too. Ninja adores Peter’s (the main character) little red snow suit and says that when she has her own children, she’s going to find a snowsuit just like it to dress at least one of her children in. LOL!

Everything in the story seemed to stick with The Dude. He sees the cover and he immediately begins to say, “Crunch, crunch, crunch!” imitating the sound Peter’s boots made in the snow. He also repeats over and over, “Red means stop, yellow means get ready to stop, green means Go!” after learning about the stoplight in the artwork from the story.

We had so much fun with this curriculum and even though Dude has to go to preschool now to work on some of his special needs, I’m going to continue to use B4FIAR as a nice way to cuddle up with a good book, relax and have some quality time with him.

There are several other FIAR volumes geared toward different age groups. Five in a Row Volumes 1-3 for children ages 4-8, 3 volumes of  Beyond Five in a Row  for ages 8-12, and Above and Beyond Five in a Row  for children 12 and up. They’ve also added a new FIAR digital section for some of their previously out of print products that are now back in digital form, plus some new products like the Fold and Learn packages which look like a ton of fun.

Don’t forget to visit FIAR’s  message boards. It’s a great place to interact with and glean ideas from other parents using the FIAR curriculum.

There seem to be quite a few of my fellow crew members who also use FIAR as their main or as a supplementary curriculum. Be sure to click on the link for the TOS Homeschool Crew either here  or at the top right hand corner of my blog to see what they have to say about it.

FIAR is a gentle, encouraging, affordable curriculum that promotes family togetherness. That’s the essence of homeschooling.