Five in a Row

by Renee
(Nevada)

Product: Five in a Row
Levels Used: All Four Books
Dates Used: 2005-2006

Likes: My daughter enjoyed Five in a Row books tremendously and the activities we completed each day. I felt it was a great way to begin school in a relaxed format using real books instead of textbooks and worksheets.

We made lapbooks for each book. My daughter was just beginning handwriting so I wrote in yellow marker and she would trace the letters. This not only provided her with handwriting practice but made the lapbook hers and not mom's. She is now in her 3rd year of homeschooling and she still loves to look at the lapbooks she made. She even remembers each story line and the characters!

The program does not include handwriting or math. We used a separate math and handwriting program. The lapbooks were practice for our handwriting as well.

They now have the option of purchasing book packages. This may be a good idea...see dislikes.

Dislikes:

As the teacher, I became tired of reading the same book each day. The program does not always seem to be very in depth, however looking back I feel it was good for my daughter at the time (only took 20-30 min to complete each day). You would need to add a lot for older students. We used it only for Kindergarten.

Some of the art concepts seem too advanced for the younger students. You may need to tweak it a bit.

Some of the books are very difficult to find. I went to used book stores and library sales. You could check them out at your library. Our rural libary did not have many of the books since they are older and have been discarded.