Five in a Row and Homeschool

I blogged about why and how I am homeschooling Jenna back in this November post. Today I thought I would explain how we are integrating the Five in a Row curriculum into our homeschool days.

Five in a Row is a literature-based curriculum for a variety of ages. It comes with a list of books, and each week you focus on just 1 book. You read it every day (five in a row) and then pull different subjects/concepts from the story to learn about. Art, math, science, grammer, geography, social studies, etc. It is amazing what you can learn just from reading a classic children's book!

We began back in the Fall with Cranberry Thanksgiving. I had never heard of this book before but now it is such a special, favorite book in our collection.

We watched a short video on cranberry bogs and how they are harvested, and then cut into some fresh cranberries to see the insides. We tasted them (Tart!) and did some basic math with them.

On another day we painted pictures of cranberries.

This book talked about passing down family recipes, which prompted me to get out my Grandma's old recipe book and show it to Jenna.

At the end of the week we read the book for the final time and then made the included recipe for Cranberry Bread.

Another Five in a Row book we studied was Night of the Moonjellies. The boys happened to be home one of the days, so they participated with us. This book was fun because it talked about small business owners. I had the kids dream up what kind of business they would own, and then illustrate it and present it to me. (Ryan would sell hot dogs out of a car)

We read Madeline for the first time, which prompted me to get out one of our Usborne books about the body and do a little anatomy lesson. We learned about appendicitis and how some of our different organs work.

Katy and the Big Snow was perfect to read and study over Christmas break. Once again, the boys were home so we all read this book together and learned about North, South, East, West on the map. We talked about the different jobs that are required to keep a town running, and we also studied a bit about snow!

Jenna and I loved reading "How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World". We devoted one morning just to studying cinnamon, and we are now cinnamon experts! We learned about where it grows and how it is harvested.

Each Five in a Row book takes place in a different part of the world. This book took us all around the world, so I brought out my wipe-clean maps for us to track our journey around the world.

This week we are reading The Story About Ping.

We got out our map again to discover where China is, as well as the Yangtze River, which is where Ping lives.

 We did a little bit of duck art on Monday.

 And today we incorporated science by learning about buoyancy and what causes things to either sink or float.

Later in the week we will learn a little bit about Chinese culture and maybe eat some orange chicken for dinner.

So what does a typical homeschool day look like for Jenna? Well, I would say we do a Five in a Row book about every other week. Depending on what activity I have planned to go along with the book reading, the total lesson rarely takes more than 30 minutes.

Our homeschool morning always starts with some Bible time, usually during breakfast. I typically just read out loud whatever I'm reading. Every once in a while, I will read a short devotional from this book to the kids. Indescribable

Next we do either some music or poetry. I recently noticed how awesome Jenna is at memorizing books, so I'm trying to incorporate more poetry into her life. I got these two classic poetry books from www.thriftbooks.com

(Use this link to get 15% off your first purchase!)
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Have you ever used thriftbooks? I recently discovered it and I'm loving it! They sell gently used books for absolutely amazing prices, and shipping is free over $10. I have found some great finds on here for all my kids, including books from my childhood. I love to have lots of books in the house, but buying books can get pricey, right? We try to go to the library regularly, but they don't always have what I'm looking for. Thriftbooks has been perfect.

On days that we don't do poetry, I try to do a little music with Jenna and Andrew. Lately we've been learning some good old American patriotic songs using this little songbook. And now that I have a piano, I can play along while we sing!

After Bible, poetry, or music, we do the main book-learning portion of our day. If it's a five in a row week, we read that book and do an activity. If not, we might do letter or number flashcards. Some days we do no schoolwork, and that's ok. I have a stash of amazing Usborne activity books up in my closet, and Jenna loves using those to supplement her learning. This week I pulled out this wipe-clean adding book for math time. Jenna is doing well learning her numbers and is more than ready to do simple math.

I try to get the kids outside every day, weather permitting. This morning after reading and math we went on a nature walk and discovered 5 different animals!

During the late afternoon when the boys do their homework, Jenna often wants something to do. This is when I pull out her scholastic Pre-K workbook. This week she is learning about the letter N in her pre-k class, so I had her work on the N page in this book. She is an eager learner and never complains about doing this type of busywork.

Right after dinner is probably my favorite time of day. We have committed to having a family read-aloud time. Right now we are reading The Boxcar Children (another thrift books find!) and all my kids love it! Hurricane Andrew can be a bit noisy, so I always have to give him some special toy to keep him occupied during this time.

And finally, family Bible time. We have never been consistent with this, but we FINALLY have a good routine going. This Child's Story Bible is so perfect. It condenses the Bible into short little stories that are just the perfect length. We are currently reading through the New Testament, and I feel like my kids have learned so much about Jesus' life here on Earth. (As have Adam and I!) It has minimal pictures but my kids don't seem to care. I'm telling you, something about this book is special.

Whew! So there is a rather lengthy summary of how homeschool is going so far, and how I incorporate Five in a Row in to our days/weeks. It sounds like a lot but it really isn't. Some days we spend a good chunk of the morning learning and reading, and other days we do no formal school at all. Jenna and I are both really enjoying this year of homeschool, and I hope I am instilling a love of learning and reading in to my kids.