Before Five in a Row

Schooling isn't always easy.  In fact, many days, it is down right hard.  I have 6 children that are old enough to be in book learning.  And some days, that just is overwhelming.  Copies have to be made, books have to be checked out, workbooks collected and in the right place, papers checked, graded, and recorded. Not to mention making sure all the supplies are ready. Pencils, paper, scissors, crayons, glue, just to name a few.  And add to that, I have a middle school aged child who is doing "real" science experiments and needs a massive research library, it's enough to send this Momma whimpering back to her room.

And it is always difficult to find things to entertain the young ones.  And while I have one in Kindergarten and one in Pre-K, they still need lots of entertaining too. So how do I keep a 1, 2, 4, and 5 year old busy for the day?  Well, lots of ways. I wrote about many of my tricks of the trade at The Homeschool Village.  And I have found another great resource.  It is the book Before Five in a Row by Jane Claire Lambert.  This is a wonderful book full of "creative ideas to inspire learning readiness".  Basically, this is a collection of 23 units based on children's books.  It however is NOT a teaching manual.  At two years old, my son Anderson is not ready to sit in a chair and be formally taught all day.  In fact, even if he could sit still that long, this is such a special time in his childhood, I wouldn't want to rob him of this imaginative time. 

BFIAR gives you ideas of how to integrate learning into your everyday life.  One of our favorite books, Corduroy  was part of this treasury, so we worked through many of the activities.  There is a Bible verse with the lesson that we repeated often throughout the day.  We remembered and practiced being respectful like Lisa from the story, and worked on our manners with at home and away from home.  We counted buttons from my button jar, and sorted them by color and size.  Their favorite activity was acting like Corduroy.  I overheard them during their play time jumping on the beds, hugging Lisa, sewing buttons on their stuffed animals, and running "just like Corduroy"!



Paulee and Anderson "reading" Corduroy

I love that this book includes "old" books and new. Some of the books we will be reading through next are, Caps for Sale, Blueberries for Sal, and Goodnight, Moon.This is not a book I will use everyday.  It's not set up to be used that day. But it is a book that is indispensable in our home.  And this is a great book for every parent of young children. Not just homeschool parents. These are things you would be doing with your child either way.

You can purchase your own copy of Before Five in a Row for $35 at Rainbow Resource.  You can also visit the website for Before Five in a Row for more on how this book works.

 

*I was given a copy of this book for review.  All opinions expressed are mine alone.  For more reviews, please visit TOS Homeschool Crew.*

 

Beth