Whether you have one child or several, the "How it Works" page and the visual graphic under "Not Sure Where to Start?" will give you an overview of the various levels of the FIAR curriculum. Downloading the FREE Sample with units for Before, More Before, and Five in a Row and reading through the lessons will give you a good idea of which manual is best suited to your student(s).

Do FIAR Volumes 1-8 correspond to grades 1-8? They can, but they don’t have to. You could begin your child with Volume 1 in first grade and theoretically use one volume per year, but it’s not necessary to use FIAR in this way. Many families do use one volume per year even though there aren’t 30+ books in each volume. This is because you’ll likely spend certain weeks on holiday studies, your children (or you!) will have illnesses, there will be vacations or other breaks from school, etc. There are also Mini Units you can use to fill in during the school year. In addition to all of this flexibility, Volumes 1-3 are interchangeable (regarding their level of difficulty), and you may wish to combine or alternate volumes if you have a wide range of ages. Five in a Row is an extremely flexible curriculum and all of these options work very well.

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Five in a Row, Printed Products Only Return Policy: You can return items in like-new condition within 30 days of the original ship date for a full refund of the merchandise value. The buyer is responsible for return shipping costs, and the original shipping and handling fees are not refundable. If you receive a damaged or incorrect product, please notify us right away so that we can make things right.

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For preschool (Before FIAR and More Before FIAR), you’ll need no other formal curriculum. You may want to do counting practice or pre-math or handwriting (tracing) skills at that age, just as a part of your day-to-day life with your child. We offer digital preschool and kindergarten handwriting, math, scissor skills, and ABC coloring book options if you wish to introduce them to your child when they’re ready.

For your FIAR-aged child (Volume 1 and up) who is not reading yet, you’ll need a good phonics program and a simple math curriculum at the appropriate age level. For children who are already reading successfully, many families choose to no longer teach phonics but to simply let the child read books that interest him (and you, of course, will continue to read aloud to him!). You’ll continue to do a math curriculum daily, and at some point (this varies for individual children), you’ll want to add spelling, handwriting, and grammar as individual subjects in language arts. You won’t need to add a separate history or science curriculum while using Five in a Row. If your child is especially interested in science or history, we strongly encourage you to help them find library books and other resources in these areas, and you might consider read-alouds on these topics just for fun!

Five in a Row covers Social Studies (including History, Geography, and Career Paths), Language Arts (including Writing and Discussion Questions and Vocabulary), Art, Applied Math, Science, and Life Skills for ages 5-12+.

Finding the right fit for you (the teacher) and your student is the most important criterion when choosing any curriculum. So it’s entirely possible that you will need different curricula for different children in your family. That said, programs that we have personally used and would recommend include those below. Most of these resources can be found through the Five in a Row Amazon shop.

Math

You will need to add a math program to Five in a Row. Many people do this around first grade.

Math-U-See (includes video option)

Math Lessons for a Living Education (foundational math textbooks with a literature/story-driven theme in each lesson)

Teaching Textbooks (online program with video lessons)

CTC Math (online program with video lessons)

Phonics

Five in a Row doesn’t teach how to read. Keep in mind that children may begin reading at 4, or they may begin at 8—both are completely within the usual range of beginning to read.

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (phonics)

Dash Into Reading (phonics)

All About Reading (phonics)

Bob books (phonics based; each simple, short storybook addresses a stage in a child’s reading development)

Handwriting

Explode the Code (basic phonics and handwriting practice)

Handwriting Without Tears (multi-sensory approach to handwriting)

Spelling

Some children will do well beginning spelling in earlier grades (especially if they need more practice), while some can wait until later elementary.

Spelling Power (one book for K-12, includes placement tests, works well for natural spellers)

All About Spelling (open-and-go program based on the Orton-Gillingham approach; hands-on, multi-sensory, good for dyslexia or struggling spellers)

Grammar

If you have a child who loves language arts and is ready for more formal grammar study, you might want to begin in mid-elementary years, around 3rd grade. But many children have greater success with grammar by waiting until later elementary grades to begin.

Easy Grammar and Daily Grams (quick and easy to use, focuses on correct usage)

Rod & Staff English (a more rigorous, traditional approach, includes diagramming and writing exercises in mid-elementary grades; from a Christian perspective)

Music

Five in a Row draws many lessons about music, famous composers, and musicians from the selected picture books. We highly recommend the following study to dive more deeply into a composer study or to incorporate a consistent music study into your week.

Conversations with Composers, which can be found at myhomegrownsymphony.com

The Five in a Row curriculum, from Before FIAR to Volume 8, is not based on the student’s reading ability, and it works well with fluent readers, struggling readers, and non-readers. With the FIAR picture books, you will read the stories aloud to your children regardless of age or ability because of the warm, relational tone it sets for each teaching day. (For the chapter books, you may read aloud or your child may read; this is covered in the front matter of Volumes 5-8.) Be sure to read “Reading the Stories Five Days in a Row” in the “How to Use Five in a Row” section of each manual, Volumes 1-5. This explains more fully why Jane Claire Lambert created FIAR based on the philosophy of reading aloud, and repetitively, to your student.

Will my child get bored if we read the same book more than once? Most likely not. The first time you read a story, children simply want to discover what happens. But each day we peel back the story, learning to write using some of the techniques the author has used, or learning to draw or paint using some of the techniques, materials or palettes the illustrator has used. We learn more about the culture or setting where the story took place, we pull out interesting science topics to discuss and explore, etc. So with each new reading, the child can look at the illustrations, think about the cuisine or the architecture; appreciate the writing style, etc. Each day builds on the previous day’s learning experience. And each reading builds a bond with the book for your child so that they develop a deep and abiding love for each wonderful story. Then each time they read the story they’ll recall and strengthen their grasp on the many lessons learned from that beloved book.

What if my child balks at reading the story more than once? There are lots of easy tricks you can use to make the re-reading fun! For instance, you might tell the student you are going to leave OUT certain words and you want to see if they can catch you when you make a mistake. Or you might ask him to call out each time you read a certain character’s name and see how many times the author has included that name or word. You can ask your child to be looking for pictures that have a particular color scheme or technique from the art lesson while you’re reading the story, etc. Be sure to read “Suggestions for a Resistant Student” in the “How to Use Five in a Row” section of each manual.

It depends entirely on you and your student. Most people find they spend 6-8 weeks on each unit, but some spend longer. In the back of Volumes 5-8, you’ll find sample lesson planning pages that walk you through two weeks of a chapter book study that is found in that particular manual. Those sample lessons are just one way you could approach two weeks of study. In addition to planned study, many families also find themselves on “rabbit trails” at any FIAR level. For example, a passing mention of the solar system or the Revolutionary War may lead to a two-week rabbit trail on that subject as you visit planetariums or battlefields, go to the library, do self-directed research and more. The goal is to get your child excited about learning!

Mini Units are picture book units that are released periodically and are available in digital format. They are called Mini Units because there is one lesson for each subject for ages 5-9 (Social Studies, Language Arts, Art, Applied Math, and Science). There are also two additional lessons for older students (age 9-12) that expand on the younger lessons, as well as suggestions, ideas, go-along books, and teaching tips for ages 2-4. Mini Units cover every age level!

The lessons in the Mini Unit are deep and rich … and the work of finding extra materials (go-along books, videos, websites, etc., for all age levels) has been done for you already. You’ll also find activity sheets for hands-on learning/documentation and a recipe that pairs with the story to make together and share. The Mini Units are really anything but mini! 

If you use all the age group lessons in each Mini Unit (or will use them at a later time with your children as they get older) then you are really purchasing three separate week-long units of learning based on the same picture book. You can row it with a 2, 3 or 4-year-old and then come back around to it in 2-3 years with a 5-8-year-old, and again a few years later with a 9-12-year-old. Each time they will learn new things and revisit a favorite picture book.

Many of the Mini Units have a holiday theme, but the lessons are written to be used at any time during the year.

We are Christians, but FIAR manuals are used successfully by both Christian and non-Christian families.Before Five in a Row and More Before include Bible devotionals for parent and child that can be used or skipped over. For Volumes 1-8, Bible lessons are not included in the manuals because some homeschoolers are not able to purchase religious curricula in order to stay in compliance with their state’s homeschool laws. So for Volumes 1-8, FIAR offers a separate Bible Supplement (in two volumes) that pairs up with each individual story unit. Hundreds of lessons in character development with accompanying Bible references are provided, as well as Teacher‘s Notes pages to record Bible memory verses or copy work, related worship songs or hymns, your student’s drawing of the Bible story you’ve discussed, and more. To see what the Bible Supplements include, download the FREE Sample.

What denomination are the lessons in the Bible Supplement? Which translation of the Bible do you use? We don’t teach “doctrinal” lessons. Rather we connect familiar Bible stories with the stories children are reading. Further, we teach broad Biblical values: honesty, kindness, forgiveness, generosity, etc. You won’t find lessons on which type of baptism is “best” or women’s role in the church or speaking in tongues or church government. We’ll leave that for you to teach. In the rare cases where the Bible is directly quoted in the Bible Supplement (in almost all cases, chapter and verse numbers are given rather than direct quotes), we have used the ESV translation of the Bible. But overall, the Bible Supplement is designed for you to read directly from your Bible and share with your children.

No, Five in a Row covers history topically, depending on the book that is being studied. This method creates interest-based, historical lessons—as they are tied to a character or story that your students is interested in, versus simply learning about an event or period in history because it comes next in a textbook. As your student progresses through the FIAR curriculum, they’ll learn about many topics/time periods/places more than once, at a somewhat higher level each time. This method allows your student to recall and build on previous knowledge, which is highly effective for learning at younger ages. In late middle school and high school, your child will likely study history in a more structured and/or chronological manner.

Five in a Row encourages the use of a timeline if you want to foster a chronological understanding while embracing the topically-driven study of history provided through FIAR.The Homeschool History Book of Centuries: A Portable Timeline for the Young Historian by Anna Travis is one option.

The idea of “learning gaps” is deceiving. We all have learning gaps, no matter where we went to school or what curriculum we might have used—and today’s students are no exception. No one can cover everything or learn everything, nor should they.

From Before FIAR to Volume 8, Five in a Row teaches children to love learning, how to learn, and how to find information. FIAR equips your children to fill in the inevitable gaps whenever they run into them—whether in high school, college, or later in life. With Five in a Row, your child won’t be learning information for a test and then forgetting it a week later. They’ll be digging into topics that spark their interest, learning about things that are new to them in every subject area, and then moving on to high school, where they’ll cover subjects in (mostly) a more systematic and structured way. This method of learning has proven successful for thousands of FIAR families over the past 25+ years.

In today’s world especially, information is at our fingertips in seconds. Five in a Row teaches so much more than mere information. It develops skills and habits of learning that will serve your child well no matter what they decide to pursue after their FIAR studies are complete. They’ll learn how to become critical thinkers, how to enjoy literature and other creative arts, how to research and express their ideas, how to make connections between the things they learn, how to direct their own learning when needed, and much more—all in the relaxed atmosphere of “inspired learning through great books” that FIAR provides.

Gaps are a natural part of the learning process. No need to be afraid or worry about them!