Homeschooling in Small Spaces

Do you live in an apartment, with family or just don’t want your homeschooling supplies out for the world to see? Whatever your home situation is like, if you want to know how to homeschool with a few supplies that can easily be put away, this post is for you!

Backstory: we are building a home that was supposed to be done in July but now we’re looking at mid-October (yay). For the time being we had to move into my parent’s guest house which is perfect, but 1: I don’t want to put anything up in their house and 2: it’s a lot less space than we are used to. For this reason, I really condensed our learning space to move and be put away easily. With this setup I can literally take school anywhere and set up anywhere with little effort. I love it so much that I’m going to keep this setup even in our new home!

We homeschool with Mother Goose Time which is ESSENTIAL for this method. Each month you are delivered a flawless and customizable curriculum with lesson plans, books, puzzles, learning tools and supplies straight to your door. They pre-bag each lesson  so you can literally open the bag and start the lesson if you choose to (like me). This makes my crazy schedules, small space and general preschool homeschooling so much easier to work with.

Here is the way I set up my teaching space:

Step 1: Keep your essentials organized on a folding science board.

These babies fold up to practically nothing and can slide between almost any space. I keep ours in the crack of my couch and the wall where it is completely hidden. I use this size board.

Mother Goose Time supplies you with the labels and decorations on your first order and you can reuse your board for multiple years. Each day comes with a new topic while each month comes with new letters and numbers.

The days of the week and weather is interchangeable for each day, along with the days on the calendar. To make it super easy, I keep them attached in a sheet protector on the back where me and the kids can easily reach them each day. I also keep a glue stick in the bag so I don't have to search for one each time we glue on the new date.

To make it easy to get to, I attached the sheet protector with Velcro Dots for seamless removal. I keep monthly theme posters and interchangeable items on the board with blue putty that hangs items without damaging them.

Step 2: Find a large 3 Ring Binder

This sucker can hold a lot! I’m not even sure why I bought this folder or how old it is, but I had it and wanted to see if a month of bags could fit inside. It sure does! And it is perfect! Here is a folder that is a similar size. 

I kept all the pre-bagged lessons (Daily Discovery Bags) closed and simply put them in order by day. The bags are easy to push the rings through, and it holds the bags sturdy. I use a sleeve to hold each week's Teacher Guide and put them at the beginning of each new week. 

The left pocket I use to hold various items like “My Little Journal”, that week's Teacher Guide, CDs, Letter Cards, etc.. But to make life even easier, MGT came out with a digital album that you can get from any device with internet access.

I simply use my phone or my Ipad to access music wherever we are since I don't always have a CD player available. This is awesome to have and the girls always enjoy their music!

Step 3. Get a Small Storage Box

I bought this slim box at the local dollar store. I keep all of our math tools, magnets and various play items that are included in each month's box. This is a great thing to break out and have your kids play with on their own while you set up. You can use these items for almost everything including math, color organization, categories, building and so much more!

Step 4: Open and GO!

Break out your board, your notebook, your storage box and your phone and you are ready to go! 

Open your Teaching Guide for that day and see what extra supplies you may need (like scissors, glue or paint) and get yourself ready for homeschooling made easy!

Everything you need for the day will be included in your Daily Discovery Bag! Hang your Daily Topic Photo, the letter you will be learning that day and prepare for an awesome time with your kiddos! For more information on the Mother Goose Time Curriculum, or to see how amazingly affordable it is, visit https://www.mothergoosetime.com/

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

Easy Teething Relief Frozen Drops Tutorial

My daughter (who turns 1 tomorrow!) has been having a terrible time with teething. I saw a video on Facebook full of teething relievers and decided to try some for myself. I went with frozen Yogurt and Baby Food drops! This is literally as easy as it gets!

Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Freeze Time: 1 Hour


1) Line a pan/flat item with wax paper. (I used a small baking pan that I knew would fit well in our freezer. It was plenty of space for the drops.)

2) Pick your child's favorite yogurt. (These yogurt tubes made it even easier!)

 

 3) Begin placing dime-size dots on the pan with a small gap in-between your drops.

You can also use baby food! I used Apple Sauce and created the drops with a spoon.

4) Place in the freezer for 1 hour!

All done!

Lastly, enjoy! Trinity went HAM on these frozen bites. You could tell they soothed her mouth and she liked the new texture. My only problem was that I couldn't get them off of the sheet fast enough!

JELL-O Creations Review

Quick, Easy & Cheap: JELL-O Creations Kit Review

If you are looking for an easy project to make with your child, this is perfect! I saw this on the shelf at our local Stater Bros and couldn't resist. My toddler LOVES cooking and this looked like something she could easily help make. She had also just learned about worms in her Mother Goose Time lesson so she was very excited!

This is as simple as simple gets guys. All you need is milk and cups!

I used some of my daughters cups that I had handy. It filled up 6 perfectly.



My daughter, who is almost 3, was able to mix the Jello with a little help from me.

We used a spoon to fill the cups (and taste test of course). 

Lastly, she added the Oreo crumb topping and worms!

It was that easy! It took about 15 minutes (prep to cleanup) and was so simple that she could do everything herself. Not to mention, I ate one myself and they were delicious! It actually was quite a bit of food and I could see you being able to fill 12 smaller serving cups that would be more appropriate for younger kids.

This product I would give 5 out of 5 stars! It's DELICIOUS, EASY and CHEAP (under $4)! While it's not something we would eat every day, it was a nice treat to make and share with our friends. I definitely recommend this! They also have a whole collection of different kits. Check them out!

Quick Tutorial: Mess-Free Art Display

Quick Tutorial - Mess Free Art Display

Estimated Time for Project: 5 minutes (unless your kids try to help)

My oldest daughter has started the Mother Goose Time Homeschool Preschool program (which I will explain later) in which she creates a lot of awesome stuff daily. She wants to proudly display it and so do I. This was a cheap, easy and cute way to hang her art without putting holes in the wall or cramming the refrigerator door.

Items Needed:

1) Command Damage Free Hanging (Cord Organization) - I found this at my local dollar store!

2) String
3) Scissors
4) Clothespins

Steps:

1) Hang your hooks on opposing sides of the wall (as level as you can when free-handing it because you don't have time to measure precisely).

2) Wrap the string around your index finger loosely and tie a knot to create a small loop.

3) Hang the loop on the first hook and measure how long you would like your string. You can have the string tight or loose depending on your space. Cut.

4) Wrap the string around your index finger loosely and tie a knot to create a small loop. Hang the loop on the 2nd hook.

5) Use Clothespins to hang whatever you like!

This is our Work-In-Progress Supply Center for Homeschooling