Homeschooling with Five In A Row: Your Unit Study Homeschool

Using Five In A Row

I am so thankful that I found (in my very first year of homeschooling!) a homeschool curriculum called Five In A Row. It's hard to fully explain on a website page what this curriculum has meant to me and my family. I don't even think of it as a curriculum anymore, but as a way of thinking and teaching and as a very precious set of books that represent my place in a big family that I call my FIAR family. That may be hard to understand until you actually look at the product, buy it, try it and meet some of the special people involved in the Five in a Row message boards.

The Years I've Spent "Rowing"

The term we use for spending our five days studying one of the wonderful picture books used in Five in a Row is "rowing." We snuggle up and read our books, we do Jane Lambert's wonderful lessons, we make beautiful scrap books and lap books with the work we do, and we tie in a host of wonderful books and field trips with each book we "row." Each unit study--each book--turns into a journey down the beautiful river called learning. "Rowing" is such an appropriate term!

The years I have spent "rowing" with my young children will always be some of the best memories I have. The Lamberts have opened up a whole new way of thinking for me in regards to teaching.

How Five In A Row Works

Five in a Row is a unit study-based approach to learning in the elementary years, using the very best children's literature. There are classics like Madeline used, but also some more obscure titles that will leave you wondering why are these books not everywhere?! There are many things to love about Five In A Row. The manuals are very inexpensive, which is good for the budget of most every homeschooling family I know. Volumes 1, 2, and 3 combined contain lessons enough to cover 55 units. One unit normally lasts a week, but Five In A Row is so flexible, it is very permissible to let a study go on to two weeks if your child becomes intensely involved in what you are studying. We enjoyed studying Paris so much when we did Madeline, we easily went to two weeks. I love Five In A Row so much, collecting the books used in the Five In A Row curriculum has become a hobby in itself! I delight in finding one of the titles on sale or in a secondhand store. I put them up for myself or to give to a friend who uses Five In A Row. I have collected nearly every picture book used in the Five In A Row curriculum and I have purchased nearly every Five In A Row product put out by Five In A Row. This collection of books is a treasure in our home that represents some very special years of learning. If you don't want to buy all the books used, you can use the library to check out the books needed for Five In A Row.

I would suggest that anyone thinking of homeschooling take a look at all the benefits of Five In A Row. There is also Before Five In A Row for preschool and Beyond Five In A Row for students who have graduated from Five In A Row.

I can honestly say that Five In A Row has helped us create some of the best and warmest memories that I have the pleasure of looking back on!

Purchasing Five In A Row

I want to encourage you, if you decide to purchase Five In A Row, to buy directly from the creators of Five In A Row, the Lamberts, at their Five In A Row website. Why? Because they have put so much love and experience into the product. And also because they have provided (for a long time now) a wonderful, wonderful set of message boards for the users of Five In A Row to exchange ideas and glean from each other's homeschool experiences. I'd like to see them benefit directly from all the work they have put into this wonderful homeschool curriculum. Please note, any links to Amazon on this page contain The Healthy Homeschool's Amazon affiliate ID so that The Healthy Homeschool will benefit in a small way. I cannot encourage you enough though to buy Five In A Row directly from Five In A Row so that the Lamberts will benefit from all of their hard work!

Five In A Row Digital

Five In A Row has begun producing digital products! So far, I have ordered and downloaded the Five In A Row Planner and the Memorial Day Fold-and-Learn. The products are great. I ordered and paid for the download, saved it to my computer, and now I can print my planner pages as I need them. I am thrilled to have the Memorial Day Fold-and-Learn. Now we are all set to study Memorial Day in a couple of weeks.