GTG and FIAR

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I see that some of you combine these two curricula. How do you combine them? How much time does it take? Do you have to skip many activities in one or the other? Anything you can tell me would be great. Thanks!

[MitchellMom]

I'm interested in learning about this, too. I thought GTG was for older children (age 5 and up). I know my dd is 4.5 - 4 months away from age 5 - but quite a few people seem to believe that these 4 months make a difference. However, like you, I would love to combine these two curriculums.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

If it matters I would use this for K, possibly for two years. Did anyone else do this? Did you get bored of it after doing it for that long? DD has a September birthday, and I'm not sure if we'll start the history cycle when she turns 6 or 7. DS, who will turn 3 1/2 in September, will probably tag along.

[mama2girls]

I'm interested in this also. We are using BFIAR now and I've been researching ideas for next year.

[Aurelia]

We haven't used it, so FWIW: I think you can use the FIAR books from different areas around the world as you study the different countries in GTG. I assume it takes about the same time or maybe just a little longer than FIAR. (Around here, FIAR takes maybe 30 minutes, including the story.)

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

That's what I figured, but I was just trying to glean more info. Thanks for telling me the amount of time it takes for you to use FIAR. Using that alone is another one of my options.

[Momto5]

I don't know if you've been to this site already or not but if you go to:

www.homeschoolshare.com and click on Five In a Row and then click on General Resources, there is a document that matches the titles from Five in a Row with Galloping the Globe.

If you have additional questions, I would contact the ladies at homeschoolshare to see if they can put you in touch with the woman who assembled the document. I have found the people at homeschoolshare to be very helpful and encouraging.

I have not used Galloping the Globe but have used Before Five In a Row and Five in a Row. We love geography here so, as we learned about continents, we read the FIAR books that took place on that continent. Of course we also used a lot of supplemental books and read the great FIAR books that are not necessarily easy to place on a map.

Hope this helps.

[Donna A.]

GTG actually includes a lot of the FIAR books on its booklist. If you're doing GTG, then you can just pull the listed FIAR book for the lesson where it shows up and "row" it simultaneous with the GTG lesson.

Another way to combine them is just the opposite... use FIAR for your core lessons and then pull in geography and other ideas from the GTG manual when you get to FIAR lessons in those locations.

Make sense? Or too confusing?

Once you have both manuals in your hands, it's easier to see what I mean.

[melissel]

GTG actually includes a lot of the FIAR books on its booklist. If you're doing GTG, then you can just pull the listed FIAR book for the lesson where it shows up and "row" it simultaneous with the GTG lesson.

We did this...

I don't know if you've been to this site already or not but if you go to:

www.homeschoolshare.com and click on Five In a Row and then click on General Resources, there is a document that matches the titles from Five in a Row with Galloping the Globe.


..and now I REALLY wish I'd known about THIS :banghead: I had no idea that resource existed! Ah well, I'll file it away for our next Kindergarten session in two years. Thanks for posting it :D

And yes, we combined the two and really enjoyed the work. I highly recommend it.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

Thanks for the website! It certainly will make planning easier if I choose to go this route. I would really like to do a year or two of cultural studies before we start the history cycle and this seems like the perfect way to accomplish that goal.