Tot School: Before Five in a Row (BFIAR)

Now that we are done with the Fruit of the Spirit, we need something else to do.  And it isn't that I want to focus on "school" and "teaching/learning" so much as we just need some focused activities for crafts and intentional one on one time.

I read this blog post from Raising Arrows that was posted by a friend on facebook: What does homeschooling look like when your children are all little?. It's a great read and a good reminder!

My 2.5 year old comes up to me and asks for crafts.  She will tell me she needs an activity to do.  Toys are boring for her. She likes to do things with mommy.  So I use that part of her to do what we call 'school' and just use themes for our activities because otherwise I'm always flying by the seat of my pants looking through the cupboards for something for her to do meanwhile there is a baby crying and another that needs a diaper change.

So much though is learned just by doing things through the day and if we miss a day of school, it is no big deal.  Right now, that is the way things are going with the weather being so nice and a baby coming very soon.
I know I have mentioned Before Five in a Row (BFIAR) before as an option for us to do.  I guess there is an actual curriculum you can buy online at their website but with blogs, google, and pinterest, I don't really think it will be necessary.  But I plan to use their booklist as a guide and also just some books that interest Declan and Raelynn. For example, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? is not on their list but it is one of our favorites, so I will definitely be using that one week.

Basically, from what I gather on their website is they give you a curriculum for their entire booklist.  In their curriculum it gives ideas for Bible, Art, Science, Memory, Literature, Vocabulary, Music and Art.  (This is what I got from the example they give you for free for Goodnight Moon)

So I like the concept.  Use a book and do activities based on the book.  Simple as that.  We will read the book each day and base our other activities off the book.


Our first book is going to be Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina.  And who knows, it may take us a couple weeks to "row" a book.  From here we will probably just do the books that we own or the library has. I haven't thought that far ahead yet:)









Here is a list of their books:

Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?, by N. W. Carlstrom
Yellow Ball, by Molly Bang
My Blue Boat, by Chris L. Demarest
The Little Rabbit, by Judy Dunn
Ask Mr. Bear, by Marjorie Flack
Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey
Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown
The Big Green Pocketbook, by Candice Ransom
The Runaway Bunny, by Margaret Wise Brown
The ABC Bunny, by Wanda Gag
If Jesus Came to My House, by Joan Gale Thomas
Caps for Sale, by Esphyr Slobodkina

The Carrot Seed, by Ruth Krauss
The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats
The Quiet Way Home, by Bonny Becker
Play With Me, by Marie Hall Ets
Prayer for a Child, by Rachel Field
I Am an Artist, by Pat L. Collins
Angus Lost, by Marjorie Flack
Katy No-Pocket, by Emmy Payne
We’re Going On a Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen
The Red Carpet, by Rex Parkin
Corduroy, by Don Freeman
Jenny’s Surprise Summer, by Eugenie