'Five in a Row' Literature-Based Unit Studies: Easy, Inexpensive, Fun!

Five in a Row is a literature-based unit study, so it works very differently from most standard curricula. Please keep an with an open mind as you read this, and then check out some of the testimonies! The "five in a row" refers to the fact that you read a certain children's literature book five days in a row and do an activity that relates to the book after reading it. It is easily tailored to fit your family's schedule: many families read it every other day over two weeks rather than once a day for a week.

The FIAR manuals cover five subject areas (hence the five-day reading):
~ Applied Math
~ Science
~ Social Studies (including geography)
~ Language
~ Art

All these subjects are covered thoroughly by FIAR; the only subjects not covered are phonics and math drill.

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This program is really excellent precisely because all of the "teaching" in it is predicated by the child's interest. You can call it child-led education, which I know frightens a lot of people, but that's not the whole story. You the parent are introducing books that you know will spark an interest in your child, and you the parent are using that interest to further your child's education. You read the book, your child watches Madeline go to the hospital and then show everyone her scar, and if you handle her interest right, she will absorb an amazing amount of knowledge - because she is interested. FIAR shows you how to deliberately spark and build on the child's natural interest with simple activities and discussions that cover an amazing breadth of academic knowledge.

Each FIAR volume covers about twenty different children's books, with a wide variety of such lessons for each. The authors have carefully selected a variety of literature so that the child will be exposed to a wide spectrum of types of literature, most of the basic literary and artistic devices, and geography and cultures around the globe, as well as concrete math applications and science lessons that cover an amazing breadth of knowledge.

Too many other curricula try to replicate school at home, trying to make home as much like school as possible, when that is totally unnecessary. There's nothing wrong with seeking to engage your child's interest and then following where it leads. Believe me, it will lead to places you never thought you would go, and following it will lead to all sorts of amazing learning that is truly retained, not just learned for a test and forgotten. The only reason schools follow lockstep curricula as they do is that there is no way to allow thirty children to follow their own interests in a classroom, and the teacher keep track of it. As a homeschooler you are not so constrained. Use the glorious freedom you have as a homeschooler to expand your child's learning far beyond that of their school chums.

Lesson planning is incredibly simple. Choose which book you will "row," and find it at a bookstore or the library. All the FIAR books are widely available used or at the library, which again brings your homeschool costs down.

Each of the five subject areas has several suggested activities. Choose one activity from each subject area for that book, and gather whatever materials you need for the activities. These are almost always items found easily in any homeschool house: pennies, simple art supplies, world map, etc.

The multiple suggestions for each subject area serve more than one purpose: besides giving you a choice of activity, you can return to the book in a few months or even a year and "row" it again, with different activities. This is not at all uncommon; children become very attached to books that are read to them more than once, and will request favorites over and over again.

FIAR is incredibly flexible, lending itself to a variety of homeschooling styles. The most formal will sit down every day at the same time and always do language lessons on Monday, social studies lessons Tuesday, applied math on Wednesday, etc, followed or preceded by a phonics lesson and math drill. Families with lots of outside commitments will take two weeks to "row" one book, with three lessons one week and two the next, possibly adding a sixth lesson from the cookbook or Bible study supplements (separate supplemental volumes; see below). Families who like unit studies will pick a book and stick with it for several weeks, following every interest sparked by the reading, bringing home armloads of library books on the topic, mapping possible routes to the location, delving into the history or architecture of the location, finding more books by the same author and comparing them. Unschoolers will use the manuals as a resource for good ideas and a jumping-off place for creative adventures with their children.

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FIAR is the very best program I have seen to keep interest high and prevent teacher and student burnout. Because everything is contained right there in the manuals, there is not a lot of pressure on mom. There are not a lot of materials to gather for difficult lessons - although you can do that if the interest is sparked and it suits your family's learning style. There is not a lot of preplanning to do - although if you want to do in-depth activities that necessitate such planning, you can. Because the learning stems from interest piqued by the literature, the child enjoys it. If they are school-resistant, you don't even have to tell them they are learning. In fact, most families who do FIAR report that the children pester their mom to "do FIAR!" even on days when mom doesn't feel up to it. That's how much fun they find it.

Most teacher burnout (and student burnout, for that matter) comes from trying to emulate what the schools do at home. Why imitate a broken system, and kill yourself in the process? The whole reason for homeschooling is the idea that we can do it better. Better means different in some way. Is there a real reason to do a snippet of each subject each day? Or are you just doing it that way because that's the way you were taught?

FIAR lends itself incredibly well to teaching children of different ages at the same time - with the same material! Again, so easy for mom. All ages love to sit and have mom (or dad) read aloud, and the activities can easily be simplified for smaller children, or expanded for older children.

Reading Madeline with several children, you could work together with the elders to make a model of the digestive system: outline a body on butcher paper or cardboard and tape a leg of hosiery from the mouth to the stomach, emptying into a plastic baggie, into more tubing for the intestines. Wrap a banana tightly in a baggie and send it through the system.

This and tons of other suggestions for "go-alongs" (books on similar topics) are all over the extremely active FIAR forum discussion boards.

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Besides its superlative worth as a teaching tool, FIAR is wonderful in other ways too. First off, it is - and I am not exaggerating - the CHEAPEST curriculum you will ever find, unless you exclusively use the library (in which case, your late fines will probably total more than the FIAR volumes cost!). FIAR and Beyond FIAR each comprise three volumes (for a total of six); each volume is $20-25. Before FIAR (preschool) is a single volume. That's all you have to purchase, and these manuals will last you through several years and multiple children!

The literature books are easily found at the library, though a lot of people prefer to own their own books. Well, you'll probably want to get a good laminated world wall map, and possibly a US map too; but that's also quite inexpensive and will also last you through all your kids and all your years of homeschooling.

Each volume has an appendix with a sample planning worksheet and a blank to reproduce for each story to help you plan your five (or more) readings of the book. There are ideas for a review week with the student (how many story disks can he correctly place on the map?) and integrating FIAR study with other curricula (specifically phonics and math drill).

The best teacher help you will have is the FIAR website. There is a wealth of information here, including very active message boards where homeschooling families exchange good ideas and helpful hints and great "go-along" books and in-depth activities. Archives are kept by book, so you can go directly to the book you're reading and find even more ideas for expansion than are in the manuals, such as the digestive system structure mentioned above.

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So on day one you check your teacher's manual for the activity you want to do, sit down and read a lovely book together with your child, and then do the activity. Let's start with Madeline and a four-year-old girl (which I did). First I turn to the manual and choose one of the applied math activities. After reading the story together, we play with four sets of twelve pennies, dividing them in different ways ("What if Miss Clavel had the girls walk in rows of three? How many would be in each row?") to gain a basic understanding of math concepts. Other applied math lessons cover relative size (Madeline was the smallest) and symmetry and asymmetry (using the illustrations in the book).

The next day we read the story together again and begin talking about Madeline's appendicitis. We start off talking about proper eating for health but it branches from there (this is very typical of FIAR use) and begin learning about the journey of food through the body. My four-year-old daughter soon was able to recite the journey of food through the body and knew what happened at each stage and a little about why appendicitis occurs. We had the encyclopedia volume with the clear overlay pictures of the insides of the body out every day for two weeks, talking about what this was and where the appendix was and which one was the stomach - and this was completely at my daughter's instigation!

I can just imagine how she would have reacted if I had said, "Let's learn about anatomy and digestion!" Oh yeah, lots of fun that would have been - NOT. But because the learning was coming out of her interests (which I deliberately sparked using a favorite book) she was eager to learn more and still, a year later, retains what she learned and is interested in more of the same.

After rereading the book we go to the wall map and find Paris, France. The back of the FIAR manual has a small story disk for each story, so we cut out Madeline and she colors the disk; then we put the disk on the map on top of Paris. We talk about how far away it is, how long it would take to fly there on a plane or ride on a boat.

Other geography suggestions: color a flag of France (from a picture in the manual); find the River Seine in the book and discuss why so many cities are built on large rivers (for transportation) and possibly go to the riverfront to see the boat traffic; follow the Seine on the wall map to where it empties into the English Channel; and any of the many other wonderful ideas that these things will spark in yourself and your child. There are also social studies lesson suggestions on history and human relations.

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For language, we talk about the literary devices used in the book. Madeline is one long poem, and after finding the rhyming words, we practice making up our own rhyming words. Repetition is frequently in this book, and we discuss why the author used that literary device. There are also new vocabulary words to discuss: appendix, solemn, disaster.

The art lessons cover variety (some illustrations are in color and others are monochromatic), perspective, and architecture (all of the famous sights of Paris are depicted in the book).

There are two separate supplementary volumes: The FIAR Cookbook and the FIAR Christian Character and Bible Supplement. Each of these volumes is self-contained (meaning these subjects are not mentioned in any of the primary FIAR manuals) and a single volume covers all three volumes of the FIAR primary manuals.

For Madeline, the cookbook supplement includes simple recipes for quiche, french rolls, and a fruit platter, as well as a brief note on French cookery.

The character/bible study supplement points out that the girls smile at the good and references Philippians 4:8 which encourages us to recognize things that are true, honorable, etc. They also frown at the bad and Proverbs 1:10 says to turn from evil and reject pressure to join evildoers.

Other studies compare the orderliness displayed in Madeline and references Genesis 1 and 2 which shows us that God is a God of order.

Well, people who think that education must be difficult or boring or hard on the child will have a problem with FIAR. It is fun, it is easy, and children love it. People who believe that education must take place in a school-like setting won't be comfortable with FIAR. It can be done anywhere, anytime, briefly or deeply, as interest and opportunity allow. People who need grades and tests won't get that validation here. The intimacy of the learning situation completely negates the need for it. People who think education must take hours of labor every day won't be comfortable. It is superlatively easy and can take as little as a half hour a day.

But it will work for a wide variety of people and a wide variety of situations. FIAR is great for unschoolers, relaxed homeschoolers, and those who follow other methods such as Charlotte Mason. For those who need to show records to officials, it is easy enough to fill in the provided planning worksheet for each book and document the child's work. It works for children with physical or mental handicaps and is easily and effortlessly adjusted to their special needs. It works for nonreaders and reluctant readers as well.

Practical Homeschooling Magazine:
Five in a Row is the perfect unit study for busy moms, especially those new to homeschooling. It's flexible: you can teach the books in any order; even within a week, the order of the activities is up to you. It's wonderful to use with the little ones while your older students are busy. For preschoolers and non-readers this program is all you need for a gentle introduction to "school". For the early elementary students who already have a reading and math program, Five in a Row does the rest. 5 Hearts!!!

Amanda Bennett
Author, Unit Study Adventure Series
Five in a Row is exactly what moms have been needing. It's simple to use, holds children's attention and brings them all close to you for some real learning, providing a wholesome, natural way to introduce children to books and all the treasures they hold.

Diana Waring
Author, Beyond Survival: A Guide to Abundant-Life Homeschooling
I only wish Jane had written Five in a Row while my children were young enough to benefit from them! These books, along with Ruth Beechick's The Three R's and Susan Schaeffer Macaulay's For the Children's Sake, are my recommended package for beginning homeschoolers.

Valerie Bendt
Author, The Unit Study Idea Book and For the Love of Reading
Mrs. Lambert's enthusiasm and delight for teaching are contagious! Five in a Row offers far more than a study of books. It affords us a fresh perspective for observing and enjoying all literature. Thank you for your inspiration, Jane!

Cathy Duffy
Author, Christian Home Educator's Curriculum Manual and CathyDuffyReviews.com
Five in a Row seems to be extremely user-friendly, especially for the inexperienced homeschooler.

Jane Boswell
Director, Homeschool Support Network
Editor, Home Educator's Family Times
Five in a Row is really delightful, refreshing and oh, so friendly to young parents searching for the best materials and effective methods. There is such a need for a resource like this.

ALLPOSTERS.com: Little Boy Reading Book in Library

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