fun activities

Six years ago when I began homeschooling my oldest son, my homeschooling association head recommended several resources for a new Mom who was starting out on the grand adventure of home education.  One of her top recommendations at the time for a Preschool to Kindergarten aged child was Five In A Row curriculum.  I immediately went to my local library to seek out this book just to see what all the hoopla was about and if it was worth my time.  I remember being very impressed by the detailed curriculum written by Mrs. Jane Claire Lambert that suggested fun activities to use with classic children’s books daily for five days each week. 

Six year later, I was asked by The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew to review Mrs. Lambert’s book Before Five In A Row and I literally JUMPED at the offer.  I knew without a doubt that this book was going to be just as wonderful as I had found the original Five In A Row to be when I began homeschooling and I have not been disappointed at all!

In Before Five In A Row, Ms. Lambert provides a list of enriched, engaging classic children’s books that are widely available.  Titles such as Caps for Sale, The Little Rabbit, Blueberries for Sal, Goodnight Moon, and many, many more have been chosen for teaching this curriculum.  For each one of these books Mrs. Lambert has written a detailed lesson plan, providing reading, play, science, math and simple snack ideas that build upon the story to provide a real life experience of the book to the child reading it.  But that’s not all that is provided in Before Five In A Row. 

In the latter part of Before Five In A Row, Mrs. Lambert has provided a section called the Parent’s Treasury of Creative Ideas for Learning Readiness.  This section provides parents with an extensive list of ideas to use for creating their own “unit” study for their own children’s classics and favorites.  It begins by explaining how to gage if a child is ready to learn important reading skills and shows a parent how to build upon those skills as their child grows and developes to encourage a life-long love of reading and learning. 
For our review of this book, I purchased the book Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by N.W. Carlstrom.  Jesse, a small little bear, must figure out the appropriate clothing for each event throughout this book from his rain jacket and boots to his pajamas at bed time.  My preschooler absolutely LOVED listening to the story about Jesse, picking out objects she recognized throughout the books and repeating many of the words she also recognized as we read. 

For fun and as an extension of her lesson, we dressed up her stuffed animals using old baby clothes.  We also colored our own Jesse Bear’s, simple bear print outs I found online.  We practiced the suggested bible verse A cheerful heart makes good medicine (Proverbs 17:22) and a happy heart makes a cheerful face (Proverbs 15:13).  We also colored heart printed outs and drew happy faces on those hearts, as well as on smiley faces.  We really enjoyed reading Jesse Bear and learning through his story.

Before Five In A Row is written by Jane Claire Lambert for preschool children age 2-4.  It concentrates upon building memorable learning experiences and family bonding for young children, as well as strengthening pre-learning skills needed for education.  You can read an explanation of the book here.  Before Five In A Row can be purchased through Rainbow Resource for around $35.  To read more reviews of this book from the TOS Crew click here.

*Disclaimer – Before Five In A Row was provided to me by the TOS Homeschool Review Crew in exchange for my honest opinion of this product.  I was not required to provide a positive review and I was given no money in exchange for my opinion.