Unboxing Mother Goose Time's October 2018 Box

It's that time of the month! If you are thinking about starting a homeschooling curriculum with your little ones, now is the time to order for October! I received my October box from Mother Goose Time and opened it live with you! Check out my video down below where I show you everything that comes inside the October box.

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

Preschool - The Lessons Within the Lessons

While our Mother Goose Time program teaches the children extraordinary topics daily, I've began to notice the life lessons that the girls are taking away from their homeschooling more lately.

While they are having fun (and not even realizing they are learning) they don't realize the way they are suddenly working together unlike other times at home. When the time comes for a group project, I begin to see them naturally come together to figure out something new. They look to each other for support, comfort and help. While of course I am there as well, they seem to bond over exploring a new topic together each day.

There are a few times during homeschooling that these moments really stand out with them.

During Circle Time

At the beginning of the day, we start with Circle Time which is a time of song, dance and talking about what is ahead for the day. They naturally come together in excitement for finding the date for the day, gluing the day on the calendar, picking the weather and pinning up the new day cloud. Together they excitedly discuss the numbers, the weather and come together to problem solve who should glue, where it should go etc.. These little steps are huge milestones as a mother watching her children bond.

During Play Time with Manipulatives
During this time, I bring out a big box of past months (and current) manipulatives which include shapes, cups, animals, critters and lots of fun little toys. The girls really enjoy this time (while I collect things for the day) to build, share and play together. During this time they are encouraged to help each other create a story line and imagine. The best part is hearing the stories they create with each little figure together.

During Crafts

While my girls are completely different in every way, they are constantly inspired by each other. When making a new or unique craft, they are naturally interested in what the other chooses to create and inspire each other. We recently did a lesson on Picasso. While Bella chose to use the shapes given, Trinity decided to cut the shapes into something she wanted. Bella had forgotten hair, so she asked Trinity what that part was and was quickly inspired to add hair to her art. I truly enjoy these little moments where they speak to each other and explain what they are doing on their own.

During New Games

Mother Goose Time constantly adds new creative games in each month's box. The girls really enjoy doing these together and have a lot of fun. While Trinity doesn't always fully understand what is happening, Bella learns to be patient and understanding with her younger sister.

They really have a fun time together and bond over winning and accomplishing something together.

Every Day

In general, each day this homeschooling offers a new exciting topic to distract the girls from daily toys/playing that helps them bond and encourage each other in new ways. If you have multiple children, I think this is an amazing way to give them an opportunity to share new ideas and create in unique ways together. I highly encourage you to try something like this and see what it can teach your children!

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

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!

Creating our Circle Time Board for Mother Goose Time!

September means a new year has begun with Mother Goose Time! After my knee surgery, I unfortunately had to take some time off of the blog/homeschooling to recover. I am so excited to get started again and so is Bella! 

This pack is called the Welcome Kit and it comes in the September box, or you receive it for free if you decide to begin Mother Goose Time! The Circle Time Board is such a fun tool that helps create a space to gather and learn. Check out everything in the video below! 

Here are the links to the LOCTITE Putty I use to hold up anything that's temporary (like the Calendar) and the Velcro Dots I use to hold on anything we remove daily (like the Day of the Week, the Weather Pieces and the Month). For everything else we used a simple Glue Stick!

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

Dollar Store Find: Fossil Dig

I am all about a good deal. My go-to store is of course a dollar store! I often find good items that can be reused and converted into other things as well!

This week I found this gem at our local 99 Cent store in the seasonal isle.

Aside from my obsession with Dinosaurs, I've finally converted my 18 month old to enjoy them too (YAY)! Slowly we are convincing my 3 year old to be on board too. I was super excited when I saw this because I instantly thought of turning them into "fossils" for the girls to dig and find in the yard!

I bought two sets (one for each kid, of course) and headed home!

I had my older daughter count and turn the other way while I buried the pieces in the dirt outside. I gave her an old paint brush and showed her how Paleontologists gently brush away the dirt to find Dinosaur fossils. Bella LOVED IT!

She gently brushed away the dirt in her fossil zone (I created her area by drawing a circle around the dirt where Dinosaur fossils could be found).

She was so excited when she saw the bright fossil showing through the dirt!

She worked so hard and took her time with each piece.

This was such a fun new activity to do in the backyard! I definitely recommend doing this with the kiddos!

Unboxing of Mother Goose Time's May Box - Bugs and Crawly Things

Here is my unboxing of Mother Goose Time's May box! My kids are NOT asleep this time. You will learn why I normally post while my kids are asleep haha Check out this video to see all the awesome things in this box!!!


Here is the link to the Memory Verse post I was talking about: click here!

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

Creating Bird Feeders with Mother Goose Time

Mother Goose Time always comes with fun activities, but a few always stand out as the girls' favorite. This month's was this Make and Play Bird Feeder. After learning about birds all month long, the girls were eager to feed the birds on their own.

This Make and Play was super simple, yet perfect for little hands!

Pipe Cleaner, ribbons and instructions were included. We strung Cheerios on our Pipe Cleaner and of course ate some as well. Bella was very independent on this project and strung all of her Cheerios by herself! I helped Trinity, but she worked very hard on trying to get the Cheerios on by herself too.

Our finished products were pretty picture perfect! The girls were excited to go hang them on our tree outside!

They fit perfectly in our tree and the girls loved going outside and hanging them.

Once they were hung we watched from our front window. The girls have been watching it every day and love that they created the bird feeders themselves. They get so excited to check on them!

 

After months of being a paying customer, I received this month's box for free in exchange for posting our experiences!