Before Five in a Row and More Before Five in a Row are designed for preschool and kindergarten learning. You can start as early as age 2 or as late as age 4 with Before Five in a Row. You’ll read a short story together and then discuss things from the story, adding in play-based learning ideas from the lessons in the manual. These lessons can be done once a week, several days a week, in the morning, or even as part of a bedtime routine. They are not intended to be used five days a week, and the lesson titles or subjects listed in the manual (for example, Science or Language Arts) are simply pointing to the future “school subject” that a preschooler’s everyday learning would correspond to.

The second half of the Before manual includes a Parent’s Treasury of Creative Ideas for Learning Readiness. Continue using the ideas from this Treasury as you complete More Before Five in a Row with your 3-5-year-old—the inspiration and suggestions will benefit all preschoolers and kindergarteners. You can reference the Treasury at any time to inspire playtime that will be preparing your child for future learning success!

For a 3- or 4-year-old, Before and More Before can be combined by doing a unit from Before and then one from More Before, or choosing a unit from either manual based on your child’s interests or the season. Or, you can complete Before Five in a Row and then move on to More Before Five in a Row.

More Before Five in a Row is perfect for ages 3-5 and continues the discussion-based and play-based learning found in Before while also introducing a five-day, typical school-week structure. It follows the Five in a Row model of one school subject each day being drawn from the picture book. More Before FIAR is not a typical kindergarten curriculum but instead, like Five in a Row, is a deep and wide study of the world around us through picture books. You may think your 5-year-old does not need More Before because they’ve already gone to preschool or kindergarten, but the lessons in More Before are so much deeper than typical curriculum lessons that are available for 5-year-olds.