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Schoolrmacres
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| Posted: Feb 12 2005 at 9:20am | IP Logged
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We are currently doing FIAR after unsuccessfully trying chrono history.DD is just shy of 6 1st grade. We really enjoy doing FIAR but I would also like to do Chrono History as well. I know there is a list of the FIAR books in chrono order but not much is covering early history.
Would you bother trying to use both of these programs/methods or what would you do?
Thanks for opinions.
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Darlene, wife to Shawn and mamma to Haleigh Elizabeth, our Gift from God through adoption.
Peace be with you
http://achampionfamily.blogspot.com/
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Elizabeth
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Dear Darlene,
I think you can do a few FIAR books to get the feel of it, then if you want to do ancient history using picture books ala FIAR, there are pletny of us who can provide booklists. I can even post lesson plans for Ancient Greece, though I doubt you'd need them after getting a feel of things with FIAR. The key is choosing great books and then the books drive the whole experience.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Chari
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Darlene.......I just want to second Elizabeth's, suggestion. You can FIAR ANY book or topic, once you get the original experience!
Enjoy!
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Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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cathhomeschool
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I will "third" Elizabeth's suggestion! We started using FIAR this year, and I love it's ideas. We've also gone down rabbit trails to study vikings and (thanks to Elizabeth, Mary Chris and Kim) Gingerbread and Reindeer. The Sonlight Catalog and others, like Veritas Press and Beautiful Feet (I would not buy from these, only use the booklist.) can provide good living books for early history. "Rowing" them is easier after you've "practiced" with other's lessons for a while.
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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burgerktjds
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| Posted: March 05 2005 at 9:38pm | IP Logged
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I LOVE this forum and thank you to everyone who takes so much personal interest in responding and also asking the wonderful questions--I love hearing and learning. My boys are 8 and 6 (and a 3yr old girl who is does 'big school'with us too) and we've tried FIAR for 3 books, have used unit studies (many from Jennifer Steward with history kits from Hands-n-Hearts) with lots of books that last about 4wks or so. We've never tried lapbooks and every picture that gets posted makes me more anxious to try them--just need to go for it. My problem is I think we're floundering with a 'plan' or even a flow for our year. I DO NOT want to go into the hs curr. fairs this summer without a good idea of where we're going--too easy to overspend. MY QUESTION: What do you plan to study? Do any of you have a general outline of what comes next? Life would be so much easier if I stop looking at all sorts of other history programs and just trust FIAR, lots of living books & biographies, using the 4Real booklist, the children's hour booklist from Literature ALive, etc. We do have 'table time' that includes MUS, AVKO spelling, short-short copywork, and read to mom. Ideas?? Recommend another book to re-read to get focused better?
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cathhomeschool
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| Posted: March 06 2005 at 7:38am | IP Logged
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I am a major planner. I love having things nicely laid out, and usually have a rough sketch of what we'll be covering through my dc's high school graduations! That being said, I must add that the plan changes CONSTANTLY! Every time I think I've figured it out, something new and wonderful pops up (like FIAR and Elizabeth's Transitions curriculum) that cause me to change the plan. That's okay with me, since I love planning. Our current plan is to continue with FIAR for another year or two, and then start Transitions with my oldest and continue FIAR with other 3. After that, oldest will start high school stuff, 2nd son will start Transitions, younger 2 will FIAR. I'm sure that this will change again, but having a plan gives me direction.
Now, in the short run, I no longer plan too far in advance. When we were using history as a spine, I planned how much time to cover per year. Now that we are using FIAR and FIAR type units as our focus, I only plan a unit or two in advance. We are using Alice's wonderful Easter Vigil unit now. When we finish, we'll study the Ukraine and Ukrainian Easter eggs and icons. When we finish that (which should take 2-3 weeks), we'll move on to row and lapbook Salamander Room. I have no idea what we'll do after that. The great thing about FIAR is that there are always exciting books that we're waiting to row, so there's never a time when I'm at a loss for what to study. This year we have turned to the seasons and the Liturgical Seasons for structure, focusing on Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter at the proper times as our major units, then adding appropriate FIAR material for autumn, spring and summer in between Liturgical studies. We've enjoyed it so much that I think we'll continue this method.
Since we don't plan what to study too far in advance, I tend not to buy too much in advance. At curriculum fairs I focus on books about the saints or liturgical year and our math curriculum, as we can't get these items at our library. We get most of our other books from the library, substituting titles where necessary. If we love a book after checking it out, we'll buy it later as a Christmas or birthday present, or during Educator's Week (get 25%off at Barnes and Noble that week). I keep a running list of "wants," and also check Amazon for sales. Another "help" in this area is that we have a Barnes and Noble mastercard, and we charge everything possible and just pay it off at the end of the month. This way we earn credit at Barnes and Noble, and they mail us $10 gift certificates towards purchases. I collect these and have gotten MANY books for free over the past few years.
I agree that you should just trust FIAR, the 4Real booklist and Literature Alive. There is enough variety there that you can cover most rabbit trails well. When you come across an area of interest not covered, asking on this board will usually provide you with a good booklist. Macbeth's website is also invaluable for suggestions.
How to re-focus? Re-read Real Learning. Elizabeth discusses using the Liturgical Year, Rabbit Trails and learning as a natural process. I always find her writings right on target and so inspirational! Educating the Whole Hearted Child is another great book that focuses on method and direction, not on specific curriculums. I find it very inspirational too. When I need quick ideas on how to re-focus for specific subjects, I turn to Catherine Levison's Charlotte Mason Education. The chapters are short and each covers a specific subject area.
Hope this helps!
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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burgerktjds
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Oh, thank you! I appreciate your post and encouragement. Just a tiny, tiny question :-) When you row a FIAR book do you think tend to go longer than a week...perhaps just to include other books or activities? Or with my ages (8,6,3) could I just do straight FIAR, our table time, tea time, nature studies, picture study, other booklists I mentioned, etc.
Teresa in GA
wife to a USMC for 13yrs and mommy to 3 sweeties
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cathhomeschool
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| Posted: March 06 2005 at 5:59pm | IP Logged
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We tend to go 2 weeks per FIAR unit. When there are several rabbit trails that we want to take, we go a little longer. I always add extra material to FIAR's suggestions.
And if you're adding nature study, picture study, other books, then you're not doing straight FIAR either.  I would supplement, as you've mentioned, trying to add extra picture books, read-alouds, easy readers and crafts/projects that tie-in with the FIAR book you're rowing. I feel that we get more out of the study that way. I try to tie most of our books for each week to our unit. We also always have a unit-independent "with Daddy" read-aloud going and extra unit-independent picture books for quiet time (that I've picked up at random at the library). I do think that extra reading is necessary, but it doesn't have to go along with what you're rowing. It's just easier on me, and I feel like I'm moving in a *direction,* when most of the books/projects for the week mesh together in "unit study" form. The boys still follow many rabbit trails that have nothing to do with our units, but this usually happens during quiet time reading or free time. If you're looking for extra suggestions when rowing a book, the FIAR message board has lots of good ideas for projects and extra reading. You can search for your book title and the appropriate threads will come up. I recommend searching versus navigating their board, because I have found threads in searches that somehow I couldn't locate on the board itself on my own -- not visible in the thread list or something.
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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Leonie
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Hi!
Valerie Bendt, in her unit studies book, advises against too much forward planning. She believes that a scope and sequence is handy to have, for the mother, but that planning to study *this one year and *that another would be limiting for both parent and child.
Mrs Bendt discusses how she plans a literature, CM style unit in advance,loosely, in order to allow for rabbit trails and the children's interests.
I think you could do the same with FIAR - plan the next two books and allow plenty of time for "flow".
Check in with a scope and sequence , ( yes - even a classical scope and sequence!) if you are concerned about covering history topics, etc.
I find we cover all the outcomes on our state's syllabus, when I check this for our yearly home education registration visit, through our living and learning together.
Just some passing thoughts! 
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Leonie in Sydney
Living Without School
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burgerktjds
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Thank you again for the help. We're in the middle of Valerie Bendts Making Books with Children and are really enjoying the variety of ideas the children come up with. They do, however, want to do the WHOLE thing (write, illustrate, hardcover,etc.) right away--not understanding how this can stretch out a bit. Hmmm..I remember her suggestion of planning about 2 studies in advance and purchasing for those, but not much more or you'll end up with lots of $ in your closet. That is helpful. I guess I was a bit more curious about how to use unit studies (lit. based and CM of course)and planning just enough to know that we'll cover some of American History this year (finished ancients)and still break it up with other fun books/studies. Like one on chocolate, for example :-) I"m not sure if we want a year round history study going with mom leading the way...but if we do read something we can put it on our wall timeline and nb timelines.
I'm finally about to make the leap to a book of centuries to hold their work when the history event/person we discover isn't part of a formal study. We always take note of it, but I don't have places to put it yet. For instance, Lincoln and Washington were read about because of Presidents Day...I encouraged nothing more than the book and discussion (sigh) and now really regret it. We read the hilarious book of George Washingtons Teeth about 6-7 times and my 3yr old requested it at breakfast for the entire week!
Anyway, thank you again and I do hope there will be a way for me to share and contribute...not just ask and need!
Teresa in GA
wife to a USMC for 13 yrs and mommy to 3 sweeties
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Classical/Unit studies
