Sensory Friendly Preschool Time

My days are filled with weighted blankets and breathing techniques, and that is okay. Sensory regulation is something my family is trying to manage on a daily basis. It is a small snippet of the bigger picture that is my beautiful, bouncing three ear old boy. As a former early childhood educator, I always made it a goal to address every child as an individual who learns and grow in their own way and at their own pace. Now as a parent who is hoping to enrich their child's education at home, I am tasked will not only addressing my child's unique style of learning, but also meeting his sensory seeking and avoiding needs.

A little over a year ago we began using a home school curriculum called Mother Goose Time. In the last year, the company has taken a lot of feedback from parents and educators and really improved the products and even taken into account fulfilling the needs of children with delays, aversions or sensory needs. We've used a lot of their tips when tailoring our work to our son's preferences.  Because what is the point of buying a toy, going to play place or paying to educate your child if you are just forcing a square peg into a round hole?

I want to give my readers a snapshot of what my three year old's typical day looks like, and how Mother Goose Time fits into that day.

We wake up anywhere between 6:30 and 7:15 am. My son and I race to the kitchen and he grabs the milk and picks out his cup. I make my coffee and my son foams some milk for me. This is a very important job, obviously. I pop some french toast or waffles into the toaster and cut up some fruit. We then sit at the table and read a few books and enjoy breakfast.

We then brush teeth and get dressed, which often involves me chasing him with each individual piece of clothing until he's put together like a ragged paper doll. We grab his "chewy stick" and head out the door to his therapeutic based school. For two hours his therapeutic needs from Occupational Therapy to Social Emotional Regulation are met. I then pick him up and we head either home or to the park.

It might sound crazy to head o a park after two hours of school, but this child needs some heavy work and input. Swings, climbing and jumping or riding his tricycle meet those needs. We then head home and have lunch.

While my son is at school, I take ten minutes and review the Mother Goose Time lesson book and set up a craft based activity, get a book ready and whatever writing or science station we might be doing. after lunch, we usually spend about 45 minutes exploring with Mother Goose Time.

Mother Goose Time does a great job of creating a full sensory experience, so that keeps my seeker engaged. I also make small adaptions that help him stay with the learning a bit longer. If we have a project with paint, Mother Goose Time encourages paint with different materials, from feathers to balls. I will take it one step further and let my son help me make the paint into shaving cream infused puffy paint or let him finger paint at the end.

In any given 45 minutes of Mother Goose Time, we could be blending colors with water and eye droppers on coffee filters or collecting leaves and pine cones to decorate a tree and make a den for a bear to hibernate or even practicing our phonics and reading by making letters from tin foil and play dough or writing in shaving cream. I always keep my son's Z Vibe chewy stick handy and if possible let him take brain breaks and bounce on an exercise ball.

When we have wrapped up, its time for a warm bath to remove all of the dirt, paint and who know what else. Afternoon baths have really allowed my son to slow himself down and not hit that 4 pm crash so hard. We then will either read and use our Mother Goose Time magnetic story pieces and tell stories, play a game or do some math work with the manipulatives. This usually is a 15 minute time frame. Then he watches some Daniel Tiger, Super Why or Thomas for a half hour while I prep dinner.

I hope this peek into our day allows others with children that have sensory regulation issues to see that it is possible for their child to get a lot out of their day with some simple adaptions and a sensory friendly curriculum like Mother Goose Time. 

Where We are on Our Reading Journey

This year, our local library joined the 1,000 books before Kindergarten initiative. We have been on this bandwagon for a while now, and I think it's a great call to parents of the youngest babies to begin reading as soon and you wipe the sleeplessness and coffee haze out of your eyes.

When my son was teeny tiny, he would hoot and holler after his bath and while being changed into his pajamas. The only thing that would calm him was reading a Star Wars ABC book. It got to the point that I would recite, "A is for Anakin, Anakin is an Amazing Jedi...B is for Boba Fett..." when my son would wake up for a night feed, to lull him back to sleep. We would flip through the pages and his eyes would widen at the bold character and rhythmic lines.

While I refuse to credit Star Wars for my son being an early ABC aficionado, I do believe reading to him everyday from the week he came home from the hospital helped.

Fast forward and he is three years old and we are mixing my own phonics style with the multi-faceted Mother Goose Time curriculum.

We began by pointing to words in books and on signs that we notice in our everyday life. I then came across this series of Montessori books, and the Letter Work book has been a staple in our home for over a year. While a full Montessori style of education wouldn't suit my son that has some emotional and sensory regulation issues, I do love the sandpaper letter and number system. They enhance memorization and pre-writing skills.

Everyday, we spent 5 minutes going through this book to solidify each letter's sound and tracing the letter shape. I love that the book reminds the adult and child the correction pronunciation, like "K - KUH like in King." Sometimes as adults we had in our own preformed habits, like saying K - KAH. So I appreciate this books style.

Next we moved on to CVC flash cards and Montessori reading blocks. While I am not a flash card person per say, I do like the simple three letter word on the front and image on the back. My son wants to guess based on the picture, which is okay, he is using context, but that isn't going to work in the future when there are several words on the page. We do a handful of either method at the dinner table most nights.

Then I began my search for early or pre-reader books. We found the Bob books, but at times they incorporated a few too many sight words for a first book. We then found the Flip a Word books at the library. My son really enjoys these. He does try to guess the words based on the pictures, but when it comes time to read the full sentence, I cover the picture with printer paper and then do a little reveal when he's completed the sentence.

We also love how our Mother Goose Time curriculum subscription box incorporates early literacy skills. Every month, we receive a book, magnetic story pieces, and I Can Read book, which combines sight words with words that follow phonetic rules. My son loves using the arrow pointers to read his book. He also enjoys having a book than he can color in and customize. The Mother Goose Time monthly books also do an excellent job of introducing literacy skills. The books follow the monthly theme and engage the children by asking questions, highlighting certain words and most importantly reinforcing the importance of comprehension. This year, Mother Goose Time introduced magnetic story pieces that have been a big hit.

Mother Goose Time sets up the story to make the book a reading experience one that lasts over the whole month. First we read the story. Then we re-read and use the story pieces to act out the story as we read it. Then I ask my son to retell the story with the pieces on our magnetic chalk board. Next, we often do a craft surrounding the topic and incorporating language from the story. Finally, we do a puzzle that is made up of an image from that story.

As a parent who is supplementing their child's education with Mother Goose Time, I don't keep a physical portfolio to track learning, but rather a simple two part method. First I photograph everything. I'm already a Momarazzi type of mom, so this comes easily. I then save his Mother Goose Time learning photos in a Flickr folder. I also save the projects he does and really loves in a Rubbermaid box under the bed. Also in that box, I save the I Can Read books and pointers. Every month or so, I pull out one or two older books to re-read and reinforce his learning. I also tend to leave out a book if the words haven't really stuck in his brain that month.

In this way, Mother Goose Time does an excellent job of repeating and reinforcing a concept in a way that is fun and new for the child that seeks novelty. If we are reading about a bear in winter, we might see the word snow, which is a word that we haven't covered in our CVC cards, but a word that pops up in the lives of children on a regular basis. Over the last week my son has seen the word in his Mother Goose Time books, activities and art projects, so now, snow is an easily recognizable word that he can find going forward when we read our bedtime stories. If you have a child ramping up to read, I highly recommend jumping on the 1,000 books before Kindergarten and Mother Goose Time bandwagons. Feel free to check out the other resources as well and see what works for your early reader! This month, we are lucky to have received the curriculum box in exchange for sharing our experience.

Making the Most of Our Pumpkin Patch Trip with Mother Goose Time

If you know our family, you probably know that we have been utilizing a monthly curriculum box for the last year. From books and puzzles, to music and manipulatives, we love the long-term use we have gotten from each Mother Goose Time box. One of the features that sets this subscription apart is the individually wrapped packs that designate each day of themed activities for you to enjoy with your kids.

Every month, I open the box and look through the packs to decide if any of them coordinate well with outings we plan to do and set them aside for a day or two before that outing. One of my favorite packs every month is the party pack! Mother Goose Time throws in a bonus and it has everything you would need to have a celebration. As a parent of one child, I have used these party packs as play date packs or a chance to have a special day with grandparents.

This month, Mother Goose Time knew we were headed to the pumpkin patch. So we got everything from invitations (which we practiced mailing to grandma,) to a set up for our own little indoor patch, to pin the patch on the scarecrow. We also picked out some books at our library that were a big hit. It's Pumpkin Time and Autumn Leaves are great reads if you are doing a Fall unit or just getting into the spirit of the season with your kids.

Before we left, we made the suggested snacks (because our local pumpkin patch is basically a carnival with bank--breaking caramel apples,) we played pin the patch on the scarecrow and set up a spot for our own patch once we brought home out pumpkins.

Of course, we had a fantastic time. We climbed hay bales, rode ponies and ran through rows of pumpkins. We also took the time to stop and investigate the pumpkins with our Mother Goose Time magnifying glass. We noticed that pumpkins came in different shapes, colors, sizes and textures. One thing that I love about Mother Goose Time, is that they really listen to the parents and teachers that use their product.

This year, I have noticed a marked difference in the suggestions for adapting and assessing a child's work. It has become an easy task to flip to the pages in the lesson plan books and remind myself what skills I should be on the lookout for. Since I am not a teacher of many, I use this and in my son's case, the suggested sensory adaptions, to check how my child is learning and growing over time, both during our learning time and out in the world. While we were at the pumpkin patch I asked my son if he could create some patterns using different pumpkins, then I asked him to sort them back into their correct spots.



When we arrived home placed our pumpkins in their new patch and made our own paper bag pumpkins. We were excited to receive October's box in exchange for sharing out honest opinion. Over the last year, I have come to appreciate making the most of these family moments with Mother Goose Time! I can't wait to see what is in store for next month's family party day.

What is the Weather like Today....On Jupiter

This week we began our new monthly unit about weather. Who doesn't love this theme? Mother Goose Time has us all prepared to delve into sensory play with all things wet and dry. We will be learning about dealing with and getting excited for personal change and change in the seasons and weathering the storms we experience.

We kicked off the week with a trip to the Adler Planetarium. If you find yourself in the Chicagoland area with a space-loving child, you should check it out! We happened to have this little trip on an exceptionally warm Fall day. All this to say, we turned our space exploration trip into a weather inspired field trip.

Prior to going on our trip, I flipped through the lesson plans for the first week and saw we would be able to incorporate our learning about the sun, wind and clouds into our trip. In the days prior to our trip, we made artwork of the sun and moon and discussed their places in our solar system and the importance that the sun has had on making our earth habitable. Then we practiced our comparing and contrasting and ordering by size with our bear manipulatives and coordinating colorful kites. This also created a great fine motor cutting practice opportunity. We made "wind-formed" art with straws, paint, leaves and more. We read one of our favorites, It Looked Like Spilt Milk and made our own cloudy art.

When we arrived at the planetarium, there were models of the sun and moon, (wind powered) rocket making stations, and an IMAX movie experience that mentioned weather on the different planets. Secretly, as I wandered about the tourists, space fanatics and coffee-fueld parents, I beamed. I had prepared to get more than just a two hour run around the museum experience from this trip. I had prompted questions, I had planted ideas, excitement and fuel to for my son to get the most out of this day with our Mother Goose Time lessons.

As we left, we walked along Lake Michigan discussing how the wind impacts the water and how my son really needed to check his pinwheel when he got home. We have been using Mother Goose Time for a year now, and this month we are lucky to receive it in exchange for sharing our experience. It has helped make so many experiences, moments and days brighter; and I am glad to have it as part of our educational experience.

When Learning Something Sparks New Curiousity About Everything

This week, we wrapped up our unit on My Amazing Body with Mother Goose Time. We have touched on everything from our senses to our bones, and our heads to our feet. For us, this unit sparked a strong newfound interest in the brain. He wants to know how our brains work, what we do to make our brains work, what our brains do with out us realizing and how our brains can work differently from one another.

This is one of the reasons why I love Mother Goose Time. It propels new interests and creates questions in a natural way. My son and I both created a self-portraits from simple materials in the Mother Goose Time kit, but then it prompted to ask why I had made myself with a blue shirt, because I wasn't wearing a blue shirt at the time. I told him that my interests and likes influence how I portrayed myself. He then went full blown orange explosion on his self-portrait. My son often sees the world in a literal way and relies on those around him following rules and being predictable. I'm glad that I was able to have an conversation with him about using my mind and imagination to create a picture of myself that made me happy. It was organic.

We also worked on fine motor lacing and pattern cards with the monthly manipulatives. Because we were already talking about our brains and bodies, I used this as an opportunity to explain that these are fun ways to teach are brains to do things that will help us grow faster and smarter. I also talked about how my body and my son's might work a little differently. He might have a stronger memory and I might run faster.

After that, it was full on questions about the brain, our senses and why we like different things or do things differently. I utilized two extra Usborne books to delve a bit deeper. We looked at a lift the flap book called, Look Inside Your Body and the sticker book called, My First Book About Me. The first really spoke to the scientific part of my son's mind. He loved seeing inside of the body and seeing how everything is interconnected. He was fascinated to know that our brain sends signals to our heart to beat or our lungs to breathe, without us having to think about it all day. He enjoyed labeling body parts and talking about our feelings in the sticker book.

Overall, we had a fabulous month delving inside My Amazing Body with Mother Goose Time. We were so lucky to have received this month's box in exchange for sharing our honest, personal experience.

How I Don't Stay Organized...and I Am Okay with That

I am a disorganized person. I literally had gloves with a long strand of yarn fed through the arms of my winter jacket until I was 12. My mom was just completely over buying three to four pairs of gloves a year.

My disorganization probably is a bit due to my ADHD diagnosis and a bit my personality. My brain works like a run-on sentence. I have ideas for businesses, blogs and how to be a better parent constantly jumping around in there. No joke, I did a load of dishes between the third and fourth paragraph of this blog. Being a toddler mom has probably brought my disorganization to an award winning level.

Not only am I a toddler mom, but also a mom who is supplementing education at home. As of this blog, I have officially used the Mother Goose Time curriculum for one year. Last year I prepared myself for the experience. I reread old textbooks, I got the Melissa and Doug work table, I ran out and bought poster boards to create a tidy work space that I decided would be most conducive to my son's learning. I bought extra decorations and "flair" from OrientalTrading.com. It was so shiny and new. It continued to look that way until about January.

What my son loves most about life and Mother Goose Time is the creativity of it all, the art, the mess the dance moves and the total immersion into a world of learning by doing. So around the new year, we continued discussing the calendar and weather with the poster board, but I realized that laying out the games, puzzles, I can Read books and other items across the living room floor was more his style; and in a way, more my style.

I realized that using an old baking sheet on the kitchen table and painting himself blue with a toothbrush, while pointing out how he's using the different senses that we've discussed in our month's unit, is more his style. I began to appreciate the open ended projects and prompts that Mother Goose Time has pre-organized for my and my son. My son loves when I tell him about the artist or style that Mother Goose has introduced to us, but he also then loves to make "Adrian's style." We are so lucky that this month we have received the curriculum box in exchange for sharing our experience.

I encourage any preschool parent to check out Mother Goose Time. You don't need the perfect poster board (Although you get everything you need with this curriculum) or the special toddler desk to invest in your child's education and entertainment. Plus, Mother Goose Time basically does most of the organized for you, with individually wrapped projects and daily activities. No special yarn and glove contraption required!

How to be a Toddler Teaching Parent

Are you talking to, reading to, cleaning with and cooking in front of your toddlers? You are the natural teacher and they are the natural learner.

During preschool years children are able to learn volumes through natural experiences. With so little, they create, explore, and discover. Your job is to foster a love of learning, an awareness of the world and put educational items in their path when they show interest and readiness. 

• Just read. Read 3 books or 30, there is no right amount; but for the most part more is better. Read what they want to read. If they only want to read Splat the Cat today and it drives you bonkers, read about the darn cat for a half hour then go scream into a pillow. It's worth it. If your toddler wants to take out 10 library books, just do it! You will have the occasional late fee, you won't regret later. When they are 18 months to 2 years, start pointing out words, asking beginning sounds of common words. "Buddy, Splat is a Cat, right? What sound does cat start with? 'Kuh,' 'Kuh' cat. The C is cat says 'Kuh.'" They are picking it up, I swear. One day they will spell cat with refrigerator magnets, and it will blow your mind. 

•  Invest in products that don't light up or make a ton of noise. Invest in products that your children can create with, make mistakes, use again and use in different ways. We happen to get a monthly curriculum mailed to our house called Mother Goose Time. with Mother Goose Time, I essentially feel like you can replace all the little crafts, small toys and bits that add up over time. This is because the box has a month's worth of crafts, manipulatives that can be used for STEM fun, stories, puzzles, writing and more. Since we don't exclusively homeschool, we have treated this subscription as a fun and educational addition to our routine. This month, we have a received Mother Goose Time in exchange for sharing our experiences with the product.

•  Create a routine. While we all have bedtime routines, our kids often crave and benefit from anticipating certain activities. Have a story time with breakfast one day a week or sticker box experience after lunch. It's fun and gives a sense of order and calm to lots of kids in a very stimulating world.

• The library has free stuff. Story time, music time, weekly crafts. If you decide to use Mother Goose Time, they will even give you a super simple library list of books that work with the theme. Go get your free stuff.

• Let your child make mistakes. As the parent of a child who is strong-willed, and prone to intense emotions; I have learned the importance of encouraging trial and error, letting kids lose a game and being wrong sometimes. This month with Mother Goose Time, we talked about Our Amazing Bodies. We did everything from paint and brush giant teeth to make instruments to tease our senses. During one art project where my son was expected to decorate and lace together a bejeweled crown, I asked him to place two dots of glue and two jewels on each triangle that was in front of him. I told him that I was hoping we could practice counting by twos. As he was working, I pointed out that a couple had three jewels. It's not a big deal I know, and maybe to some, not worth mentioning, but I want my son to practice following directions so that soon, he can complete the things he enjoys independently. He wasn't happy that I pointed it out, he said I "should have said some two, some three!" I told him that it was okay, and next time I will give him a reminder or ask him to help me pick the number. In fact, I get two sets of Mother Goose Time art projects (a small cost difference) so that we can have fun, make mistakes and have more chances to learn.
  

• Find out if a friend or spouse has a free or discounted membership through their job to local museums, gardens etc. Or find out about free community days. We LOVE our local botanic garden. My son rolls down hills and I take home free seeds for my garden. 

• Go on Meetup.com and Facebook and add yourself to home schooling groups, mom or dad groups. There are a ton. Some are lame. Some are awesome. Go to a meet up. Your kid might find you a new friend and that friend might have new ideas for you. If you give a mom a meet up, she will find a mom to drink coffee with and talk about lack of showering with.