Five in a Row Volume 3 ~ The Salamander Room
The Salamander Room was a great row. We loved the topics that went along with this whimsical storybook about a boy who imagines his room turns into the perfect Salamander habitat. We really embraced LOTS and LOTS of Nature Study for the two weeks we did this unit. Here are just some of the topics we covered with our row of The Salamander Room: Language Arts – list making, story setting, parallel construction (see the activity at the bottom of the post), Reading for Knowledge (ie: how to research), copywork, narration Art – a review of various concepts (shadows, viewpoint, color palette, personification, etc.), creating Salt-dough Salamanders and decorating/painting our…
Planning Five in a Row {Some ideas, free downloads, and my first video…}
I have had so many of you ask about planning Five in a Row. I have tried and tried to take enough photos to properly explain how I plan, but I never felt satisfied. I finally had the idea to try to put together a little video. This video is by no means perfect (I’m such a newbie to videos!) but I hope it will be helpful to some of you in implementing Five in a Row in your home. I plan quite extensively for everything we do in our homeschool. And yes, this includes our Five in a Row units. I would say I typically spend about 2-3 hours…
Five in a Row Volume 4 – The Raft
Rowing The Raft The Raft is up there with some of my favourite Five in a Row studies. It is an absolutely beautiful book with a heart-warming story that we all loved. The themes for this row fit perfectly for Summer nature study and tied in beautifully with our deep appreciation for the river near our home. I was in awe of the captivating art done by author, Jim LaMarche. Absolutely breath-taking! This was a 2-week row (unit study). Photographs from The Raft by Jim LaMarche Some of the topics we covered for our row of The Raft, included: Social Studies – geography and history of the…
Five In A Row Volume 1 – Madeline!
We love Five in a Row. Every time I come back after time away from ‘rowing’, I realize how much I adore this kind of learning for young ones and how deeply rooted my heart is in Five in a Row. Oh, the memories and the joy of learning it creates! A little note: We started this ‘new year’ (we start new in Spring) with Alex (6 years old) doing Little Hearts for His Glory from Heart of Dakota. Within 5 weeks of doing the program, I knew it wasn’t going to really work for him. Or for me! I will say though, we do LOVE Heart of Dakota…
Cowboy Charlie {Five in a Row Volume 4}
We are thrilled to be rowing Five in a Row Volume 4. I can’t believe we’ve been using and loving Five in a Row for over 4 years now, time flies! Cowboy Charlie is a historical fiction picture book by Jeanette Winter. It is the true story of Charles Marion Russell, who was an artist and sculptor in the “Wild, Wild West”. Some of the additional resources we used: Here’s what we studied for Cowboy Charlie: Geography – the USA, Missouri, Montana, the Wild West Social Studies – Pioneers and Settlers, types of homes Social Studies – travel in the Wild Wes and travel for Settlers Social Studies – Methods…
Snowflake Bentley and Snow Unit Study – Five in a Row Volume 4
We had a great time rowing Snowflake Bentley from Five in a Row Volume 4. This is now our 4th year working through the FIAR program and we love it as much now as we did when the children were younger! Snowflake Bentley is a historical fiction picture book about the live of William Bentley, a scientist who lived in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He was incredibly passionate about nature, particularly snow and ice crystals. Through years of determination he was able to capture ice crystals in ways that had never been done before. In doing so, he was able to share God’s intricate designs with people and…
Albert – Five in a Row Volume 4
I haven’t been posting a ton of our homeschooling stuff this year. The main reason is that it takes a really (really) long time to upload all the images and describe every detail of our studies. Also, I often forget to take photos as we are doing activities, and then forget what activities we even did or where I found them online or elsewhere… so I’m not the best at blogging for homeschool, to be honest! So, this year, I hope to share bits and pieces of our homeschooling in an easier way. These will be snapshots of our studies or days and small captions with the photos. Hope this…
Five in a Row: Three Names
I didn’t plan to row Thee Names this year. But then I was gifted with a free copy of the book at a used book sale. Since it was practically handed to me, I figured I should definitely jump into this fun unit study, so the results are below. I have to say, this definitely wasn’t a full-on unit study for us. It was an easy week with mostly reading done to supplement. Still though, such a sweet story with great historical learning. Here are the books we used for our unit study. A combination of books about dogs, weather, and early village life (one room school houses…
Henry the Castaway (Five in a Row)
It’s time for the first ‘row’ of the 2013/2014 homeschool year! This literary study was so much fun but took a lot of work to put together. I find with Five in a Row Volume 3, there are far fewer ready-made resources than there are for Volume 1 and 2. We have to get a little creative! I hardly found any bloggers who had done an extensive study of Henry the Castaway, so I hope this post can be a resource for Five in a Row families out there. What I have always loved about Five in a Row (and continue to love!) is the complexity of the topics studied. Sure, you start off…
The Story of Ferdinand (and Spain)
Our kids had a blast working through The Story of Ferdinand from Five in a Row, Volume 2. We are continuing Galloping the Globe and I’m seeking fun and interesting ways to tie literature into our country units. There are certain books that literally SPEAK to kids. This was one of them. All three children were happy to listen to The Story of Ferdinand over and over. What a great classic. Some of our resources: The Story of Ferdinand the Bull, Usborne’s Big Book of Science Things to Make and Do, Ferdinand the Bull and Friends CD, 365 Things to Draw and Paint (Usborne) Measurement in Inches and Centimeters Part…
