Before Five in a Row by Jane C. Lambert (1997, Paperback)

This book was everthing I had hoped for it is exactly what I had been looking for. My granddaughter is four and she loves books but we wanted to broaden her learning and this book helps us to that. Its almost like a guidebook or teachers helper to help us use many of her favorite books.

Before Five in a Row is an "entry level" offering in this outstanding series of publications. The lesson plans outlined in the book have great questions, activities and observations to keep the young learner involved. FIAR books are an outstanding value when you can find them on Ebay at a discount.
The actual books used may already be in your home library or available at your public library. The time spent reading to your child and doing the activities suggested in this publication make for great bonding experiences that can become part of your family traditions and build family identity. If you are not yet convinced FIAR books are for you, borrow one and try it. My feeling is once you try it, you and your child, will like it!

We love using BFIAR! It is so nice to have all the ideas in one place to help you teach your child a unit study. The ideas are creative and always use materials you already have on hand. My two children love it!

This has so far become a treasured resource that encourages me and my children to gather daily around a meaningful book and read and learn together. I think Mrs. Lambert's techniques in drawing out aspects of each book have actually taught me to think in those categories for books not included in the series.

One potential drawback is that, in our case, 1/3 of the books on the list were unavailable in our library system. However, we have been able to utilize the Inter-Library Loan system (which is FREE!) and, with a little patience, the books come in from other libraries around our state, etc. I find it fun to see where these books originate from, and it saves money to do this rather than purchase them all.

I love Mrs. Lambert's suggestions in the appendix of the book on how to engage and educate one's children on every level. I know they are growing fast, and I this book has helped me treasure time with them.

I like how "Before Five in a Row" gives you things to think about and talk about with your children. However, many of the titles are hard to find at the library- our local library only had about 6 of them in their collection - and I don't want to purchase all of them without having read them first!

This book was recommended to me by two people. I was looking for something a little different and creative, yet structured for my preschooler. I really like this book for that reason. We are really into books in our family. I love how the author will take a classic children's book and break it up into different learning lessons from art to geography etc. It really opens up a whole new way of teaching that isn't just repetitious and boring to our kids. I would recommend this book for anyone who is going to home-school their preschooler.