It Came!!

My curriculum box arrived bright and early this morning!  I couldn't wait to unpack it and check out all the fun stuff.  I am absolutely amazed at how much is included in the box.  In addition to my Welcome Kit full of goodies to get you set up for doing circle time and other repeating activities, I also received a Teacher Tool kit for the month with a theme calendar to use with the kids, a lesson calendar for my use, a chart indicating the skills that will be targeted during the lessons, a music CD and other fun stuff.  There is also manipulative packet for theme that included a really fun wooden moon and planet toy for counting.  Then there are the daily packets for twenty days of space-themed fun learning and crafts.  I also added the Dance N Beats curriculum because Miss M loves to dance but is too young for all of the dance classes in the area and mommy has no rhythm so is a lousy teacher.

I foresee lots and lots of fun learning with this box.  My "plan" at the moment is to do the friend class two days a week, have a music/dance class with just ourselves and whoever is available to come over on another day and then once or twice a month let my husband to a class on Saturday with his "Dude's Group" (if you've seen the movie "What To Expect When You're Expecting", that's where he got the idea--basically he takes the kids for a couple hours on Saturday morning and gets together with neighborhood dads so moms can have a little time off).  The curriculum is set up to be used five days a week for four weeks so it will take us longer to get through everything but I think that is just fine.

Stay tuned for the report from our first day of "class"!

Start at the Beginning

Since the beginning is usually a very good place to start, I will give a short introduction of myself and the vision I have for this particular blog.

I am former speech therapist turned stay at home mom to two beautiful little girls that arrived after several years of doubting we would ever have children.  Miss M turned two in December and her sister, Littlest, is eight months old.  They are eighteen months and one day apart and while it is challenging at times, I wouldn't change a thing.

I started thinking about possibly homeschooling the girls when Miss M was 18 months old and I realized she knew all of her alphabet letters (upper and lower case) and their sounds, was counting pretty consistently to 10 on her own, identified the numerals 1-10, knew the basic colors of the rainbow (plus magenta, thanks to a coloring app on my phone) and at least five shapes plus could orient a book correctly and tracked words on the page from left to right.  I checked the kindergarten prerequisites in my area and realized that academically, she had met many of them and she still had nearly four years before she was supposed to start.  Having worked in the public schools for nine years, I have seen what our wonderful teachers have to deal with on a daily basis (far, far more than just teaching academics) and began thinking that my quick learners (I'm assuming Littlest will be similar to her sister) might benefit from more one on one instruction and educational tailoring than what would be available to them in a classroom setting.

I began researching preschool and homeschool options on the internet and among the many resources I found, came across a company called Mother Goose Time.  They create curricula that can be used for preschool settings ranging from mom and child at home to professional preschool and childcare classes.  I was intrigued and when an opportunity came to use it in my own home just for blogging about it, I jumped at the chance.

I am eagerly awaiting my first theme box (it should be here on Friday!) and starting up a little "class" with a couple other children Miss M's age to give her some more kid time (she's very social but I'm not, so this scheduled time works out well for both of us).

In addition to Mother Goose Time, I plan to document other learning based activities we do throughout our week as I embark on this new phase of motherhood called raising a learner.