How we use FIAR

Five in a Row (FIAR) is a US curriculum which, in the words of the FIAR website, provides students with a unit-study approach to early education based on outstanding children's literature. In practice this means that you read a book together every weekday (hence five times in a row) and follow up with various activities covering a range of areas. Lots of the activities are very practical and exciting for the children and Harry is usually really engaged.


I love this approach and it is how I first envisaged some part of our home education taking place before I had even heard of FIAR. The benefit of loosely following the curriculum is that lots of people have done it before, so ideas and resources can be readily accessed and it also introduces books that I would not have considered otherwise, as many are American, but there are some great titles included.


We do not strictly follow the FIAR method as my aim at the moment is to row one book every month, although this may become more often as Peter's participation grows. It is difficult to fit in more of this format while only doing the reading and activities with Harry. When we are rowing a book, we do read it every day as, even if we do not actually do many activities, this gives scope for discussion.


I see FIAR as an important and enjoyable part of our home education and I expect it to grow in importance over the years.