Mother Goose Time 2014

Over the Summer we dabbled in Mother Goose Time's boxed preschool curriculum.

I originally found out about it through a friend's blog and felt like it was something Gabe would enjoy.  And when the first adorable box showed up on our porch, I knew I was right.  Trouble was, it was Summer and not only was it Summer, we were smack in the middle of moving across the country.  I wasn't able to put out all the fun circle time materials and we only got through about half of the curriculum.

We still aren't totally settled, but we have gone full speed ahead with September's box.  This curriculum is such a perfect fit for us and I can't wait to share it with you, but today I want to show you the newly designed circle time material and give you a glimpse at what come in the box each month.

First thing's first.  The box is a school bus.

Which gets Gabe all kinds of excited.  My kids like getting any mail, but mail decorated with cartoons? Forget about it.

The Teacher's Manual lays out exactly what you'll be doing each day.  

All of the activities are very easy and, so far, Gabe has enjoyed them all.  I'd say the school part of our day takes about 20 or 30 minutes, longer if we have a craft.  I am supplementing a bit with a handwriting and phonics workbook, but the farther we go in the month the more I'm thinking I don't really need to.

Also new this year is a large teacher section on the website.  I am just now getting a chance to poke around on it, but it looks like there are some great ideas and printables available.

When you sign up for the monthly boxes, you get the circle time set up for free.

We got a set when we first started getting boxes over the Summer, but they have been totally redone for the 2014 school year and man are they cute!

don't worry mom, no walls were harmed in the hanging of our materials!

Each month, you'll get a new color bird and shape to add to the display.  There are also different flowers each month that you use to teach 3 sight words and the letters of the month.

There is also a world map, letter line that flips up to teach phonics, and the weather pieces.  Since we aren't in our official set up, I haven't taken everything out.  I recently saw how one mom put hers on a foldable poster board so that it could be moved around.  I loved that idea and am pretty sure that's what we will do with ours.

The meat of the box is the daily lesson packs.

These make it so flipping easy to use Mother Goose Time!  All you do is open the bag and everything you will need for that lesson is in the bag.  If anything extra (like glue or scrap paper) is needed, it will be listed on the paper inside.  I try to open ours the night before because sometimes I need to cut things out.

Each week is a different theme that fits under the monthly topic umbrella.  This first week in September we learned about body parts.  This week was full of crafts and games that I'll share with you later.

I am so happy with Mother Goose Time.

It's gentle, interactive, and very well rounded.  I feel like Gabe is getting all the fun of preschool without me having to scrounge things together.  I can't wait to see what all we learn this year!