From the Classroom to the Living room - Thoughts and Tips from a Teaching Journey

 I have been working with children for half of my life. I have been a camp counselor making homemade play dough and monkey bread with toddlers. I have been a student teacher in Montessori school, fighting my need to control the days' activities. I have been a volunteer in Chicago Public Schools, striving to act as a pillar of support in a after school program that left something to be desired. Finally, I worked in early childhood special education with children that were mostly non-verbal. Over the last 16 years, curriculum and standards of learning have changed and evolved. As teachers and parents, we are now in a time where educational resources are seemingly everywhere. From Pinterest to the craft store, we could fill swimming pools with projects and workbooks that are supposed to teach and develop the minds of our children.

To be honest, this overwhelms me. Sometimes I feel filled to the brim with ideas and theories and even materials that I find beneficial from each experience. In some ways this is a good thing to be overwhelmed with experience. I think because of this I know what won't work for my toddler who is in constant motion and hates certain sounds or sensations. But in a lot of ways, it has made me feel lost. 

So last October, I began researching preschool at home. I came to this decision after seeing that my son was already receiving occupational therapy, going to gymnastics and having weekly park and library play dates. My gut said that for this child, this was enough of a regular schedules out of the home. 

I was blown away to find that even though sites like TeachersPayTeachers exist, finding a program with some sense of organization that was not work sheet based, was incredibly difficult. I then came across some Youtube videos geared toward moms (my middle of the night addiction) about a program called Mother Goose Time. Working moms of two, stay at home moms of one, women with small, in home preschools were all raving about these school bus adorned boxes. So, after literally a month of watching the videos and checking out the themes for the upcoming year, I clicked the purchase button. I am very happy I did. I truly believe that the theme based boxes have provided the majority of what my preschooler needs for fun school at home. It was Mother Goose Time name tags and art projects that encouraged my son to write his name on his art for the first time. It was Mother Goose Time that introduced the idea of science experiments and it's Mother Goose Time that reminded me as a at home teacher to encourage imagination in stories, asking questions and the importance of comprehension in the books that we read and the work that we do. 

This month I am excited to be a Blog Ambassador, and Mother Goose Time is providing our family with a free box to share our experience. I am happy to report that after nine months, my son still loves the program. From calendar time to exploring the daily theme and even the special party days that we have every month, Mother Goose Time is a hit. 

I also thought it might be beneficial some of the books we read and supplement with that have been a hit in our home:

• What your Preschooler Needs to Know (A collection of poems, songs, stories and information about science and history as well.)
• What your Kindergartener Needs to Know (next step)
• Animalia
• Montessori Letter Work, Number Work and Map Work (They have rough surfaces that the child can trace, great  for pre-writing.)
• BOB books (pre and early readers. Definitely look at your local library or even Costco.)
• Lift the flap and Look Inside books by Usborne. (my son loves Look inside the Body and How Things Work.) We buy used on Amazon or at Half Priced Books.