Homeschooling Children With Different Ages

As many of you know, I use the Mother Goose Time homeschool curriculum to teach my 3 year old daughter (Bella) from home. This month I added my youngest daughter (Trinity) who is 16 months into our program since she was showing a lot of interest!

You are probably thinking, how in the world are you teaching a 3 year old and a 16 month old  the same topics? The answer is simple: flexibility! Mother Goose Time is amazing because you can adapt it to your needs and your schedule. The projects come with all the supplies which is SO helpful. I can customize each project to fit Bella's skill level and Trinity's skill level.

Here are a few examples of ways I teach both of my children with Mother Goose Time. First, both girls love the book that is included monthly in our Kit! Trinity usually wants to read the book a few times, so while I read the book again to Trinity, Bella will put together the matching Puzzle that is also included in each monthly Kit.

During this time, I will point out more basic details to Trinity like "duck" and make the noises "quack, quack" etc. Trinity loves pointing out items in the book for more information!

Whenever we create our project for the day, I customize the supplies each child will use. For this day we rolled a dice and however many numbers was on the dice, Bella would "poke" the "P" with a red marker to create a poke much like a Mosquito pokes us. Since Trinity doesn't grasp numbers yet, she simply enjoyed coloring her picture and rolling the dice!

For other crafts where gluing/taping is involved, I help Trinity create her craft (which I enjoy a lot).  For this Make and Play, we created a Mayfly! Trinity colored her stick herself.

When Trinity was done coloring her stick I created the Mayfly for her to fly around the room. This entertained her while Bella worked very hard on her Mayfly!

When Bella was done with her Mayfly they spent forever flying them around the room together! I love how they can create things and play with them throughout the day and beyond.

There are tons of ways both children enjoy learning throughout the day like the shape manipulatives, letters, stamps and games. While Bella may be using the manipulatives to count or organize colors, Trinity simply enjoys playing with them, stacking them or putting them in and out of containers. While Bella may be using a Triangle stamp to created a specific project, Trinity enjoys pressing the stamp in the ink and stamping it on the paper over and over. While it might not seem like a lot, Trinity watches her big sister and is constantly learning and adapting her motor skills.


Each day we customize in a new way so both children (and I) can enjoy the day! If Trinity is asleep, Bella and I will do a craft Trinity may not be able to do (like a project with beads). If Trinity is awake and in a great mood, we may do a couple days in one day! I love how we can do what we enjoy, when we want and how we want to. If you are intimated by homeschooling with a toddler and a younger child, don't stress! Mother Goose Time makes it hassle free and FUN!

If you are interested in teaching two children at different ages, but are a little intimated by coming up with ways of adapting the program, Mother Goose Time also offers supplements to make it easy for you! They offer the Little Goose supplement that will offer lessons plans for younger children AND Experience Baby for even younger participants!  They are definitely worth checking out!

After months of being a paying customer, I was given this month's box for free in exchange for my personal experiences!

Unboxing of Mother Goose Time's April Box - Bird and Eggs

Here is the live unboxing of Mother Goose Time's April Box!

Mother Goose Time is the monthly preschool curriculum I use for my 3 year old and 16 month old daughters! It comes with 20 days of activities, supplies and so much more! Check it out!

After months of being a paying customer, I was given this month's box in return for my personal experiences!

Celebrating Saint Patrick's Day!

I love holidays and decorating as often as I can! Mother Goose Time made this Saint Patrick's Day easy! This month we received an extra Party Pack filled with items to throw a party for Saint Pattys Day. Since we have big plans for tomorrow, we are using our party pack a little differently.

Lots of ideas, games and projects were included in the pack but since we are crunched on time we chose to create something a little different! That's what I love about Mother Goose Time, you can completely customize this program for whatever fits you.

When I was young we used to make Leprechaun traps and receive treats instead of a Leprechaun. After reading a book about Leprechauns with Bella I decided to try the same concept with some of our Mother Goose Time materials!

First, we started with the invitation included in the kit. Since I do not run a daycare, I told Bella the invitation was for the Leprechaun! She "wrote" a long letter to the Leprechaun asking for gold.

When she was all done she placed the invitation in our mail box.

Next,  with the rainbow included, Bella colored her rainbow and hung it on the wall to attract the Leprechaun (since they always put their gold at the end of the rainbow, of course). We placed a cup underneath the rainbow and created a pot for the gold (black paper included).

Lastly, with the included shamrocks we created a trail from the mailbox to the rainbow!

Bella is SO excited to wake up and see if the Leprechaun will bring her gold in the morning! But will he? Of course! Because Mother Goose Time also included gold coins in this party pack!

I can't wait to see her face!

After months of being a paying customer, I received this month's kit in return for my honest experiences!

It's All in the Details - Homeschooling with Mother Goose Time

This month we have started the Mother Goose Time "At the Pond" curriculum. Bella was super excited to start this month because I told her about all the new things we would be learning.

Homeschooling for preschool can be monotonous and hard. I struggled greatly with finding new topics to teach Bella and that is when I found Mother Goose Time. I can go on and on about the reasons why I love this program: the endless amount of supplies provided (20 days worth and MORE), the innovative topics, the creative lessons etc. I chose to write about this little blip out of ONE of our days because it just goes to show how creative Mother Goose Time is!

For this particular day we were learning about snakes at the pond. We were learning about what snakes eat, where they live, how they swim and so much more. We were given a project to create a snake out of a pipe cleaner and beads. Bella took her time to create her perfect snake while observing her example photo. She used her motor skills (which have become so much more developed since starting this program) and placed all the beads on herself.

If you notice the yellow pieces, those are pieces of a straw that we cut. These pieces of straw were used to demonstrate the second layer of skin that the snake sheds.

Bella placed all of the straw "skin" over her beautiful snake. She was so proud of her finished snake!

When she was finished placing all the "skin" on her snake, we then slid the extra layer of skin off. I explained to her how snakes shed their skin and then have a bright beautiful new layer of skin underneath. Bella was so interested and kept asking questions like "Do we shed our skin?".



While the snake craft alone was cute and fun, the extra layer of skin really made this lesson outstanding. This program always surprises me in the way it teaches topics (that I would never consider teaching my 3 year old) to toddlers in a way they understand and enjoy. When my husband arrived home later that day my daughter ran up and told him all about snakes and how they shed their skin. This program to me is priceless! Like I said, this was just ONE project out of a day full of lessons, out of a month full of exercises like this! If you haven't tried this yet, TRY IT!

After months of being a paying customer, I received this month's kit for free in exchange for my honest experiences!



Bible Verse Memorization with Mother Goose Time

 

I'd like to start this post by saying that we are a Christian family that is far from perfect!  I try to teach my daughters about God on my own, but trying to teach such an important subject to a 3 year old can be HARD! There are so many complex stories, lessons and verses! Where do you even start??? When I started Mother Goose Time, I immediately started their Experience God Christian Program. This is in addition to the monthly kit, and it brings God into your daily preschool teachings.

With all things Mother Goose Time, I am constantly blown away by their creativity and ability to make lessons and activities that young toddlers will love to create and learn from. Their Experience God pack is just as wonderful as their kit!

This is just one activity from last month's kit, but I had to highlight it because it is so creative and it really works! To help with verse memorization, we were given a Bible verse to cut into strips, popsicle sticks and ribbon. We cut out each line of the verse and glued it with a glue stick to each separate popsicle stick (spreading the verse onto multiple sticks).  

 When they dried we read the verse from the Bible, and then put the sticks in the correct order.

 

When we got the sticks in the correct order, we mixed them up and re-read the verse and put them in the correct order again. This exercise was perfect for Bella because there are also small pictures next to each line to help her recognize what was happening on that stick. To her it was a puzzle, but really she was learning so much more!

When we were done we tied up the sticks with the ribbon and will be using it all this month to memorize the verse!

This idea was so awesome that I am going to incorporate it monthly with our Bible Verse we receive each month.

If you are looking for a fun way to bring God into your toddlers life, please give Mother Goose Time's Experience God Program a try. You will not be disappointed!

After months of being a paying customer, I was given this month's kit for free in exchange for my personal experiences!

A Day Inside Mother Goose Time Homeschooling - Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

 

I use the Mother Goose Time monthly box for preschool homeschool with my 3 year old daughter. Each month, a few days absolutely stand out as my daughter's favorite. This week's was Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star! Here is a look at our lesson from my favorite box to date: Nursery Rhymes.

 

Each day we start off with our Daily Topic Poster. Each day's poster had the corresponding Nursery Rhyme right on it, which my daughters loved! We would start each day reciting that day's nursery rhyme.

 

 

The Teacher Guide was filled with great ideas on how to incorporate the days activities and theme.

 



 

 

Each day this month we have begun by reading our Nursery Rhymes book that was included in our box. Each month you will receive a real, sturdy, beautifully illustrated book that you can reuse over the years. This book has been my absolute favorite. The girls and I read it inside and out of class time!

 



The "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" page was bright and fun!

Next, Bella has been working on her monthly puzzle! Each month you receive an awesome sturdy puzzle that matches the monthly book. I save them and keep them together in our little library. We have such a great collection of books and puzzles that Trinity and Bella both use!

 

She has really started to get the hang of the puzzles and was so proud of her finished product! She has improved so much not just on the problem solving of the puzzle, but staying interested in the project until she finishes!

Next we used a couple pages in her My Little Journal to stamp and color Stars to go with the day's theme.

Each month you receive a new stamp in your kit! While the Star shape was from another box, I love how you can reuse and incorporate supplies throughout the whole year!

Bella created her own pattern of stamping a star, then placing a star sticker inside that star and lastly coloring the star in with a crayon. I always give her free-range on her My Little Journal and I love to see the things she creates on her own!

Next we created her Make & Play which was a star wand!

She "painted" the glue on the star herself.

She has become so determined on her projects and takes her time completing them.

 

I helped her pour the glitter, but her wand turned out perfect!



 

Lastly, we cut out these stars and the suggestion was given in my Teacher Guide to place them on the wall and have the children practice placement around the stars. While they suggested we use a paintbrush, I used a flashlight for the activity! I placed the stars on the wall with my mess free putty and had Bella come into the hall and use a flashlight to shine on specific stars.

I would instruct her to "shine on the blue star" or "shine above the pink star", "shine below the brown star". It was a great exercise and Bella loved it!

We are excited to begin March with Trinity and Bella both involved! I can't wait to share about it with you!

After months of being a paying customer, I was given this month's box for free in exchange for my personal feedback!