A Day with Mother Goose Time

Let me just start this post by saying the Mother Goose Time program is completely customizable and able to be used a numerous amount of ways. I am a working mom who also homeschool teaches my 3 year old daughter. I also have a 1 year old daughter that I usually customize school time around. For this reason we do school for 1-2 hours a day. Some days more, some days less. This is just how we do it and enjoy it in our family and you can do it in any way with yours!

Each Morning we start with Circle Time. During Circle Time I bring out my Display Board (which I describe here). When I do this I also put in our Circle Time CD. This has a few songs Bella knows and we use to get in the mood for class! 

 

Each month you also receive a CD that goes with that month's theme. It also comes with custom lyrics each month that goes with the theme! I put this in after Circle Time and play it as background music during crafts and projects.

After our songs we settle down and discuss the days Date and go outside to check the weather. 

 

When this is done we discuss what we will be learning that day! I always turn to my Lesson Planner for guidance on the projects and lessons we will be doing. Here's what a typical day looks like:

 

From this point on, each day is different. We learn a variety of topics and do a variety of projects! On this day we learned about "On the Back" and baby animals that travel on their parent's back. Each month you also receive new numbers, shapes, letters and colors. Today I chose to focus on our shape, the hexagon, and one of our numbers, number 5. Each day I choose what we will focus on. Most days I don't do everything in the planner and only focus on topics that I can fit in during our school time slot.

Each month's box comes with new manipulatives for the kids to play with. This month came with these awesome Pattern Blocks and counting cards. Bella spent time using other shapes to create the hexagon and count out five hexagons total. It was a creative and hands on way for her to learn this new shape.
 

She also enjoyed just playing also!

 

After learning our new shape and number we played a memory game with cards of animals that travel on their parent's backs!

After our game Bella became a mom herself and carried her baby monkey as she enjoyed her banana!

Since she was a monkey herself, we decided to read our story for the day about a monkey and a turtle. She moved the characters herself while I read the story. She learned about how animals move, working together and how roots grow trees!

She made me read it again... and again... and again! She loved it!

After this story it was the perfect time to create her own turtle!

 

While her turtle dried we winded down by reading this month's book which also came in our box. These books are always vibrant, entertaining and teach the kids really well. Trinity, my one year old, also enjoys these books!

 

 

Everything besides the paint and monkey was included for ONE DAY of our monthly kit! Mother Goose Time has done all the hard work and made teaching your toddler so easy and fun. I would never think of these topics on my own. I love it and, most of all, so does Bella!

 

After months of being a paying 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!