FIAR, have you used them or heard of them?

[Ruthzaad]

Have you heard of Five In A Row (FIAR) books? They are by Jane Claire Lambert. She wrote them as a result from hs her own kids. They are unit studies meant to be read aloud to kids for five days. The lessons are for kids ages 4-8 and include social studies, language, art, science, and applied math. There are 4 main volumes but I think she has more out.

www.fiveinarow.com

If you know of them or about them, how are they? I am really interested in them.

[FrugalFairy]

I've used FIAR for a few years. It isn't a complete curriculum, but it covers the humanities quite well (art, literature, cultural studies). Depending on the age of your student, you will most likely need to add math and reading curriculum; for the younger years (pre-k, kindy) the applied math in the book is sufficient, but for first grade on up, you will need more. 

We also do a lapbook for each story; FIAR sells "fold n' learns" to go along with each story, but IMO they are not worth the $9 price tag; if you have the time, you can find pleanty of free lapbooking ideas online. I really like the lapbooking kits by In the Hands of a Child; they are about $6 apiece, and are much more substancial than FIAR's fold n' learns.

Really, FIAR can work, depending on your needs and how much time you have to put together a lesson; despite their claims, FIAR is not an "open and go" curriculum. I only homeschool my kids part-time, so it's not a big deal, but when i was homeschooling full-time, I usually spent the bulk of my weekends putting together the following week's lesson plan.