Fitting One Month's Homeschooling Supplies into One Binder!

Homeschooling can be difficult. Homeschooling with Preschoolers  can mean A LOT of products, supplies, curriculum and mess. Luckily with Mother Goose Time I have learned how to condense ONE MONTH of homeschooling curriculum and supplies into one binder! This helps with my small teaching space and dislike of clutter and mess.

All you need is one binder (I use this kind) and a few sheet protectors like these.

From there I put supplies I use all month (or all year) long into the left front pocket.

In here I put supplies like the color of the month, book of the month, music CD, Forest Friends book, and puzzle.

Next I use sheet protectors to hold loose items. I use one at the front to hold things like the letter cards, My Little Journal, Name Tags, Cube Cards and much more.

From there I use the sheet protector to hold each week's Teacher Guide booklet. I will put the first week's Teacher guide and then put the week's lessons bag-by-bag behind it.

The bags are easy to punch with the rings and easily hold inside the folder for the whole month. When it is time to use a bag, I simply take it out of the folder.

I follow this pattern until I have all four weeks into the folder.

It is seriously that easy! I fit the whole box of curriculum and supplies into my binder in preparation for the new month.

I stash my folder away into my office area and pull it out with my Circle Time Board when it is time to teach!

If you have questions about this method, or about homeschooling your preschooler, comment down below!

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

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!

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!



Unboxing of Mother Goose Time's February Box!

Here is the live unboxing of my February Mother Goose Time box! Mother Goose Time is a monthly preschool curriculum kit for parents, guardians, preschools or daycare providers! It comes with everything you need for 20 days of activities and so much more. I have used this program with my now 3 year old daughter since September. This is my favorite theme so far. Check it out!

 

PART 1

 

PART 2

 

After months of being a paid customer, I received this month's box for free in return for my honest feedback!

How to Easily Teach Your Toddler Daily Topics

Daily Repetition in a Fun Way!

As a parent we are so busy taking care of our children and every day responsibilities that it's hard to keep up with the little things you could be teaching your toddler daily. Until I started Mother Goose Time I never considered teaching my (now 3 year old) toddler what day of the week it was, much less the month. Thanks to Mother Goose Time we now have a daily schedule where I can take an opportunity to teach Bella (naturally) about these daily topics.

Here are some topics we learn about at the beginning of the day:

1) Day of the Week

2) Date Today

3) Month We are In

4) The Weather Outside

 

(Each day we also re-learn about our Monthly Shape, Letter and Number)

While this seems like a simple concept, it can be hard to keep a child interested in learning this DAILY. That's why I love the way Mother Goose Time is set up to be engaging and fun. First, we have a display board! Everything besides the board came in the Welcome Kit that you receive for FREE with your first box! I take out the Display Board when we are about to start school. Bella now recognizes what will happen once I grab the board and looks forward to school time.

 

Monthly you "start over" and introduce the new month. This week we started January. On your board you have space for your Month Name, Calendar, Letters of the Month, Daily Topic Photo, Shape Clouds, Numbered Fish and Weather Icons. I use this putty to hang most items that we change frequently, or these self-adhesive Velcro dots for heavier items that we will use all year. While some items come in your Welcome Kit, each month you receive new letters, shapes and numbers so your child does not get overwhelmed with learning too much new information at a time.

 

The Calendar comes with numbered dates that feature characters that go with that month's theme. This month's theme is Baby Animals. The days easily pop out and are great for the child to remove themselves. I have Bella remove the day and will explain "Today is Friday, January 6th". Then she uses a glue stick and glues the date on the calendar herself.

This helps her motor skills and coordination along with number recognition!

Next we grab her Weather Icons which include a Sun, Cloud, Wind, Snow and Rain. I laminated them and placed self adhesive Velcro on the back and on the board so we can easily hang them daily. We then go outside and discuss what the weather is like. We will talk about the clouds and what we see. She also predicts things like "I think it might rain later".

I use a sheet protector to store my extra calendar days and weather icons and hang it on the back of my board with the self-adhesive Velcro.

 

This is our board on a typical day with all of our daily items attached! When we are done with school I fold it up and slide it behind my bookshelf. It's a very convenient tool and super easy to set up and update. It's the perfect start to school time and Bella knows once the board comes out that school is going to begin and we get to glue and go outside to see the weather! She really enjoys the process and consistency of doing it daily. She now knows her days of the week and we are working on the pattern of which days come after today.

This portion of the Mother Goose Time program is really great and has been able to teach Bella many things I struggled with teaching on my own. I definitely recommend trying a month for yourself. The best part is, there is no commitment! If you're like me you will fall in love with this program (which you won't mind since it's so affordable)! Check out how affordable it is here!

Bella Gluing on the Date

This Month's Adorable Calendar Dates

 

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