One of the most exciting days of our week is when we get in our shiny new little school bus box, otherwise known as BOX DAY!

 

However, the beginning of the school year (September) means an extra special box, because it includes the “Getting Started” kit! YAY!!! We received one of these kits this past May when we started with Mother Goose Time, but this new additional booklet is an excellent resource that walks you through the start up process wonderfully, step by step. I already knew that this curriculum was so helpful and user-friendly, but this really took it to the next level. Being new to homeschooling this year, it was great to have a lot of the mystery eliminated for me and it freed me to focus on important things, like starting a new rhythm for my kids and making sure I was available for them mentally and emotionally during this new transition process, not wiped out from hours of pre-planning and distracted by trying to follow complicated processes.

 

I love this! I am such a visual person, so I love that they took the time to break everything down so you know how to really these resources to their fullest potential.
Included in this month’s box was the Getting Started Booklet (which the following pictures will be out of), as well as the Teacher Toolbag (you get one of these every month in your box), the Circle Time bag with fun new supplies for your circle time board (I will have this posted at the very end of this post), as well as the usual 20 Daily Discovery Bags (these are the bags that have most of the materials you will need for a day’s agenda found in the Teacher’s Guide), and the super fun Math Manipulative bag that you get each month as well with fun new toys. We’ve started quite the stockpile of these since starting in May, and the kids love them. In fact, they are playing with a set in front of the TV as I type this post.

These wonderful visuals so you can easily spot what it what for any newcomer to Mother Goose Time.

Each Daily Discovery bag is sealed individually, with about 90% of all the materials you will need for the activities involved. It’s actually pretty amazing how detail-oriented this company is.

I fell in love with this. Started this past May as a Blog Ambassador, I thankfully had a community of other women that had gone before me that I could pull ideas from and that shared pictures of their set-ups. That was SO helpful when it came to setting up my circle time board at home. However, to see this provided in the Getting Started Packet – it’s perfect. AND the fact that it breaks down all the supplies on the following page to allow you to see the intended purpose, it just takes the work out of it all.

This is a tri-fold board so that you can easily put it away at the end fo the day, if you don’t want a permanent display in your room or classroom. This is great for us since we don’t currently have a dedicated homeschool room, and share the office space for other purposes.

Here the book breaks down the supplies provided fro the Circle Time board that cover annual resources, and then below, pieces that will be added to each month in the following boxes.

As you can see, we’ll be adding letter flags, friendly bees that represent different character traits (the first we received is Respectful), shapes, colors, etc.

Here is some of the reasons behind the idea of a Circle Time board, as well as suggestions for different stations you can set-up to expand the learning opportunities, and roles that each student/child can play to learn responsibility. Although the stations are more geared towards a traditional classroom/preschool setting, we still use the ideas for activities occasionally around our home, even without the designated spot. We just pick and choose what works best for us.

Here the Getting Started book breaks down the elements in the Teacher Tool Bag, which is in each monthly box. It has the theme poster, the planning journal, the Teacher’s Guide that has the daily lesson plans already designed, as well as a supply list to let you know what minimal supplies you will need to gather each day (broken down by day – I mean, seriously, how could you ask for more?!), and then the assessment chart to let you know what skills are being covered on what days of that month’s curriculum.

Here is an explanation of the Daily Discovery Bags, each individually packaged so you can just grab one or two, along with your Teacher’s Guide, and get going for the day.

In some of the daily bags, you’ll find the flag letters that represent 1 of the 3 letters the child/children will be focusing on that month, as well as one book each month (YES, I said a book), games, number cards, and more.

These pages broken down the flow of the daily lesson plan, taking what little mystery there was out of it.

Here are some helpful checklists you can go through to see if you’re getting the most out of the curriculum.

If you are a teacher or mama that care about tracking developmental goals and achievements, there is a built in assessment process with each month, letting you know what skilsl are being taught during what activities each day, and how to best track those.

All throughout my experience with Mother Goose Time so far, it’s evident that the people behind the company have a passion for helping children (and teachers/parents) learn. It’s neat to see how thorough and holistic their approach truly is.

Gotta love a pretty chart, right?

And then here are additional resources, not included in the monthly packets, that you can order to compliment each monthly theme, such as a Toy box, the Experiencing God add-on (which is a-mazing!), the Little Goose guide which offers variations to the daily activities in the Teacher’s Guide to accommodate younger children (ages 18-30 months), Dance ‘n Beats , and the More Math & Literacy workbooks (which we also love that help provide some reinforcement for my oldest that goes along with the month theme).

 

Okay, last but not least, the Circle Time bag that came with the Start-up kit this month!

 

Look at all these pretty pieces!

 

We’re focusing on F, P, and K this month, obviously, as well as the numbers 1 & 2.

 

Here are our day clouds, as well as letter flags and cards, that each include different animals and objects that start with their letter.

 

And this was a fun new addition this year. We’re going to be collecting paint globs each month on our pallet, as well as our paint can will go in Mother Goose’s Nest (see example picture above).

I get so giddy with all the cuteness.

(Pictures of my updated Circle Time Board to come, as soon as I get it finished!)

As an official Mother Goose Time Blog Ambassador,
I receive curriculum in exchange for posting about our honest and authentic experiences with the curriculum.
Click here for more information on Mother Goose Time.

 

 

Tonight Daddy joined us for school! It was so fun to have him be a part of the lesson. I’m so thankful for the flexibility that homeschooling allows us. I was able to go get a much-needed second round of antibiotics from the sinus infection that wants to hold on all.year.long, and we were still able to keep up on our pace for this week’s plans by finishing a few lessons after dinner.

We read the story of the Boys and the Frogs, and how their fun of throwing rocks in a pond was not so much fun for the frogs.

Here is a sneak peak into the lovely Teacher’s Manual that I get every month.

We used little plastic frogs and flipped them around the table, and then played a little game.

Natalie wanted to decorate hers. She is pure girl.

We were having so much fun that we moved on to Day 8, which talked about Crabs! We made our own crabs out of the letter C.

Peter loved having his daddy sitting right next to him during the lesson.

Yay for C!

I just love this picture. It was a reminder of me of one of the blessings that Mother Goose Time has been for our family. You see, I’m a pretty lazy person. I am not super-crafty and if left up to me, we would do worksheets all day. I dig that. But Mother Goose Time provides such fun activities for the kids – taking most of the work out of it by providing the needed materials (and just what you need, not extras that you then have to find a place to store). And so now I have these sweet memories, like this picture, where my boys are working together. And it’s giving Peter some great memories as well!

Crab headbands!

And…Peter is done. 🙂

WE pretty much called it a night, literally at this point, as it was bedtime. But it was fun to try out a new routine and see what night school can look like every once in a while.

As an official Mother Goose Time Blog Ambassador,
I receive curriculum in exchange for posting about our honest and authentic experiences with the curriculum.
Click here for more information on Mother Goose Time.

Today was Day 6 – The Crow and the Pitcher! The kids were so excited because this meant we got to play with water and what they call “jewels,” the little blue stones that came with a previous month’s curriculum as math manipulatives! They were stoked!
This is not my first ball game. Towels were carefully laid out before they sat down.

As the story goes, a crow added stones to a pitcher of water that contained only a little bit of water, which it couldn’t reach with its beak due to the narrow neck of the pitcher. By adding stones, the water level rose and it was able to quench its thirst. So we started adding stones to see if our water levels would change.

Nat was so excited to see the difference we marked on her tub.

Here was Peter’s tub.

And then of course, they free-played with the water and ‘jewels’ for a little while after this, as I pulled out the next activity’s materials.

Crow Shakers!
I’m realizing now that I didn’t get a before picture of the materials, but the kiddos designed the crows themselves, cutting out the beaks. Natalie chose to add red eyelashes and a yellow bow, as well as a long tail.

Here is Peter’s with his short little stubby tail and pokey hair.

Needless to say, there was a lot of musical activity after they were finished. The shakers may have secretly disappeared after moving on to the next activity. 🙂

And just for fun, here is my sweet little Peter building Robot Towers. Because just like the more intentional stuff, I am a huge advocate for free-play learning as well.

 

As an official Mother Goose Time Blog Ambassador,
I receive curriculum in exchange for posting about our honest and authentic experiences with the curriculum.
Click here for more information on Mother Goose Time.