Using Five in a Row With Older Kids

Five in a Row has a target age of 5-8, but I am successfully using it with my 8 and 10 year old sons this year! My boys love this curriculum, and truth be told, I love it, too! We do use Math Lessons for a Living Education and Learning Language Arts Through Literature daily; FIAR is our enrichment - science, history, geography, social studies, art, music, and more.

I think FIAR can absolutely be used with older kids. Here are five reasons I am excited to use this even with older kids.

1.) My boys love that we are learning new things every week (sometimes every day!). We aren't stuck in one time period for history or on one topic for science for the year. We may learn about a state in the USA one week and a different country, like Japan, the next. This keeps them from getting bored! It also ensures that they're getting a very broad exposure to many different cultures, areas of science, vocabulary words, literature, and time periods in history.

2.) Even at 10 and 8 (and even my 12 year old joins in quite a bit), hands-on lessons are still fun. Science experiments, art projects, and baking and cooking assignments keep school interesting. These types of activities tend to get overlooked while we check off all of the "right" boxes - math, language arts, writing. With FIAR, these activities are essential and meaningful. They get done because they're a central part of the learning experience with the book.

3.) You are never too old for picture books - especially really great picture books. FIAR's book lists are amazing, even the out of print books. My boys love that I read them the picture books each day. We have been introduced to so many great books through FIAR! The manual provides plenty of jumping off points for discussions, too! Even I notice so many things about the illustrations and literary devices now - much more than I did before. In fact, I tend to have a FIAR view about every book I read to my kids!

4.) This time with my kids is limited. I would much rather spend our days making memories and having fun with our schoolwork than being bored to tears and fighting for their attention. And with FIAR, I don't have to fight for their attention. They are interested in what we are doing, excited about our projects, and eager to learn new things. 

5.) I really enjoy planning and executing our "rows" each week. Pulling together resources, finding related books, cooking new recipes, working on projects...all of this makes school fun for me, too! I don't get bored with the monotony of the same old curriculum; FIAR has something new each week. I also love that I don't have to listen to whining or complaining about schoolwork.

If you've considered using Five in a Row with your kids but are afraid they're too old, I hope this post has given you some things to consider. I fully believe my boys are getting a well rounded education and having a great time while doing so. I treasure and look forward to each day. 

Do you use Five in a Row? If so, what are you kid's ages?