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Sonlight and/or Five in a Row Questions
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I am new to homeschooling and my oldest daughter is almost 4, but I am trying to get a head start! 🙂 Anyways, it would make me feel better to start with a curriculum of sorts and add to it (at least until I get the hang of homeschooling!) and from what I’ve read, I’m really interested in Sonlight and Five in a Row. I’m a little confused though – when I have read people’s blogs that use these curriculums, they talk about using them both and I can’t tell if they are using both at the same time or what. I thought that each one could stand alone, but it seems like for example they might be using sonlight and then supplement with five in a row, or vice versa.
I think I like Five in a Row best because it fits my daughter better I think with more activities and hands on stuff, but it seems like Sonlight is a bit more comprehensive? I don’t know, I am very torn 🙂
Anyways, if any of you use these programs, what are strengths/ weaknesses of each and do any of you use both or start with one, then continue with the other? Thank you!!
Which Sonlight are you looking at using? I used the P 4/5 and LA 1 for my son’s first year and we really enjoyed the book selections. I felt I needed a guide or something, but stopped using the guide halfway through it. But we kept reading the good books listed. I think it is a good place to start for someone new to homeschooling. It was a very full schedule and I do not see how it could be used with FIAR (or anything else) also. I have no experience with FIAR.
Before Five in a Row is really fun for that age.
And, I would see no reason to do Sonlight with it. (Or FIAR with Songlight.) What do you have in mind for your 4 year old?
I started with Sonlight when my daughter was 5. It turned out to be way more than we needed at that age (in my opinion). Five in a Row is a gentle, lovely beginning to homeschooling and it provides plenty of learning opportunities! I would never suggest doing them both at the same time — Five in a Row is enough! To try and read what is suggested in Sonlight and follow their schedule, while also getting the most out of Five in a Row would put too much in your day. If you want more information on how to use Five in a Row and get more details on how to use it alone, you can ask on the Five in a Row forum at their webiste, http://www.fiveinarowforums.com. The ladies on there are quite helpful and supportive (much like SCM!) If I had it to do over again, I would jump into Five in a Row and never look back for several years!
Sonlight is a great program, just has quite a bit to it and we found it to be overwhelming for our days. If you prefer to use Sonlight and their schedule, you can still enjoy the Five in a Row books just as bedtime reads or whenever you want. They are great books!
I have used the booklist on here and I have loved it because it has reminded me about a lot of the classics I loved as a child (and even my mom and dad – it has been great because grandma got so excited to read to my daughter Blueberries for Sal which was her favorite book as a little girl!). The reason though that Sonlight and FIAR appealed to me was because of the corresponding activities. I have a 3 month old and am a little brain-drained and I need some good ideas for fun things to do with my daughter because we are in a rut! 🙂
It did seem like the Before FIAR would be a fun and gentle way to begin homeschooling (I definitely don’t want to start officially for another couple of years). Sonlight P 3/4 and 4/5 looked very similar to FIAR, just with more books. My daughter has been getting really frustrated that she can’t read her books to herself so we may start some kind of prereading thing, too.
Up to this point I was of the mindset that until we formally started homeschooling at 5-6, the things she would learn she would just “pick up” in our everyday experiences. She just kind of started to pick up knowing her letters and asking about letter sounds for example. And while there still is a little of that, I’m so tired that I end up not really doing a whole lot with her during the day, and so I feel that having a curriculum would be a great jumping off point to give me ideas and get us doing some fun stuff during the day and learning “accidentally”. So it sounds like Five in a Row for now might be the way to go.
Do you think that once we actually do begin schooling at 6-ish that Five in a Row would still be enough? It seems like there are a lot of people who start out with FIAR but continue on with Sonlight with their older kids, rather than doing the Beyond Five in a row that I think goes up age 12? One thing I liked about Sonlight is it looks like some non-fiction books are included, but I guess there’s no reason why I couldn’t add stuff like that in to the Five in a Row where it makes sense (I’d just have to plan it as opposed to it being planned for me I guess!)
So much to think about! And I guess a lot of this (especially with the first kid) is trial and error to see what works for your kids and your family?
With Five and a Row, you read the same story for a week. With BFIAR, they are short stories and it’s fun for the kids. I have a friend who tried FIAR and for her family, it was a burden to read the same longer story every day.
I have to say we had the opposite experience from MissusLeata. I would say that by Thursday or Friday we might be tired of reading the same story, but the point of it when they are little is that they begin to make those connections (remember them, that is) each time the story is read, and you build on that thinking throughout the week. My daughter loves the books so much, that even now if she sees one somewhere she will say, “Oh, I loved that story!!”
I know a lot of moms who have done Five in a Row exclusively (adding in math and phonics, and building on science, obviously) for several years. Some move into Beyond FIAR, some stop at Vol. 4 of FIAR. Do what you think works best for you, but I would only enourage you to not worry about whether it is ‘enough.’ In many cases, less is more, and most moms who have used FIAR until even ages 10 and 11 find that the retention is awesome and would declare that it is, in fact, enough.
And you are right, it IS trial and error in these early years! I will say it would probably be more reasonable to give FIAR a chance before investing in a boxed curriculum. FIAR is designed for you to add in whatever ‘go-alongs’ you want to — non-fiction included. THe difference is that you are the mom making those decisions and going to the library and picking out those books, so if that is something you dread, it’s a point to consider. I found that to be one of the most fun parts of it, but I’m a former librarian and have only one child to teach.
Looking back, I’d definitely use FIAR before any “boxed” curriculum for a kindergartener. I homeschooled both of my boys for kindergarten and both with boxed curriculum, and I didn’t like the fit for either of them. It’s very difficult to buy a boxed curriculum that can accomodate a child’s particular needs. (The math was too easy, the phonics readers were too “nicey-nice” for my all-boy, etc.)
Now, with my girls, we’ll be doing FIAR this year (they are 5 and 6). I have copywork, some phonics, and some math to supplement. We are just starting to work it all together but I am just thrilled because I can tell that this will be an enjoyable year for all of us.
(And, I have to add, I can see my 8YO sitting in on a lot of it. I think even he will enjoy it.) We started with a few things on our first book this week.
Thank you all so much for the insight!! I did think that maybe reading the same book five days in a row would become dull, but then I thought about my daughter – especially if she loves the book she will request it to be read over and over – I think when I checked out Make Way for Ducklings from the library we read it every day for a solid two weeks! And she still talks about it! 🙂 I do like to plan (I am a former teacher) and I love to search out books at the library (daughter of a librarian 🙂 so that part doesn’t bother me at all (plus I only have 2 kids at this point). I’m not great at coming up with things on my own, but if I have a jumping off point I can usually come up with some creative ideas, so I think having FIAR as opposed to just the book list would definitely help! I think I’m definitely leaning towards doing the Before FIAR this coming year and seeing how that goes. And maybe looking at what Sonlight does for introducing some non-fiction in there too!
I have a 4.5 year old daughter (along with 7 and 2 year olds) and we are going to use a book called Picture Book Activities. It seems similar to FIAR/BFIAR, but the activities are mostly “fun” activities with just a bit of academics mixed in. It has a ton of books referenced in it. Most books have a cooking thing with it. I bought the book secondhand after getting it from the library to try it out. I don’t think it’s currently in print. Here is the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Book-Activities-Preschoolers-Childrens/dp/0743216172
jmendoza, just from briefly going through the FIAR teacher book, it gave me great ideas on how to incorporate additional studies with books we have right at home. If you are a creative-type, I think the FIAR curriculum could be a great fit for you!
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