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Schoolrmacres
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| Posted: Oct 16 2005 at 6:44am | IP Logged
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O.K, Here is my problem. This year my dd is in second grade. I am using Mater Amabilis and Five in a Row. It has turned out to be too much to do both of these programs. I LOVE both of the programs so it is hard to give up either one. I definately want to focus on the religion this year as dd will be making her first communion.We are in our second and a half time going through FIAR.DD still enjoys it and we have fun doing it. We are doing fine with MA as well and I believe that dd is getting a lot out of it.
Right now what I am leaning towards doing is doing MA mon-Thurs and then FIAR on Fridays. Have any of you used FIAR in this manner? If so how does it work for you? Any opinions or advice would be much appreciated.
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Darlene, wife to Shawn and mamma to Haleigh Elizabeth, our Gift from God through adoption.
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http://achampionfamily.blogspot.com/
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Mary G
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| Posted: Oct 16 2005 at 7:21am | IP Logged
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I enjoy using FIAR -- but I use it for starting points and go with the flow as far as how the children are responding to the book -- sometimes they just flat don't like the book and certainly don't want to hear it more than once. It sounds like a great idea to do MA 4 days and FIAR one day each week -- we just tend to be more flexible and try to stress too much about what we SHOULD do vs what we are doing. But mine are little K and 1st, so I might get more practical when they're older.
Does this help? I just think FIAR is great, but can be overwhelming -- just do what you and your daughter want to do for each book...you'll give her a great background, even if only doing it once a week.
Blessings,
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MaryG
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: Oct 17 2005 at 3:04pm | IP Logged
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We've used FIAR for years...my third child is working her way through the books. I have found that if we try to do it like they do on the FIAR boards, we all get stressed out. It begins to feel less organic and...ummm..almost "staged" if that makes any sense? Besides, it can take a lot of time too.
We choose a book a week, and spend maybe 2-3 days on it. We read it each day we are going to do an activity related to it, but I should tell you that with my 6 yr old, an "activity" may be me explaining for 5 minutes what a coal miner is and what miner's cough is (Rag Coat).  Done this way, I think it could fit well into any other program that is not literature intensive (I'm using it alongside two other heavily modified programs, CHC and Sonlight's PK).
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kingvozzo
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| Posted: Oct 17 2005 at 4:10pm | IP Logged
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Bookswithtea wrote:
I have found that if we try to do it like they do on the FIAR boards, we all get stressed out. It begins to feel less organic and...ummm..almost "staged" if that makes any sense? Besides, it can take a lot of time too.
We choose a book a week, and spend maybe 2-3 days on it. We read it each day we are going to do an activity related to it, but I should tell you that with my 6 yr old, an "activity" may be me explaining for 5 minutes what a coal miner is and what miner's cough is (Rag Coat). Done this way, I think it could fit well into any other program that is not literature intensive
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This is very similar to how we use the program. The books are wonderful starting points; they often lead us off on rabbit trails, which I think is really the point.
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Noreen
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jdostalik
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| Posted: Oct 18 2005 at 8:53am | IP Logged
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I love Mater Amabilis and Five in a Row and think that adding in FIAR here and there as Bookswithtea and Noreen do, would be a good way to still have the best of both worlds. I would definitely stay with MA, as they are so superior in their choices of living books for Religion--esp. since it is a First Communion year for your dd! 
Thanks, also, for the encouragement on adapting FIAR...I have a 3 and 5 year old who DO NOT want to read the same book every day....but they do enjoy spending a few days pouring over a special book and doing an occasional activity...that is the way we do FIAR, too! It's nice to know we're not alone... 
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Jennifer in TX
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cathhomeschool
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| Posted: Oct 20 2005 at 9:04am | IP Logged
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I think that FIAR is wonderful, but like any curriculum, it must be modified and adapted to the particular family to work well. Using it that way, I think that you could combine it with any curriculum and make it work.
One of the best things that FIAR does for me is that it reminds me to include topics that I otherwise might let slide in our busy lives (like art and cooking and exposure to literary terms). We rarely read the FIAR book more than once. I usually just reread sections that highlight the lesson from the manual. And since we add so much to our units, it takes much longer than a week. (Like you ladies, we don't use FIAR exclusively either.)
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Five in a Row and Mater Amabilis
