For those of you who come here to see pictures of the garden and farm animals you’ll just have to hang on with me through a few more homeschool posts this week. Life’s just been hockey, hockey, hockey…..and homeschool. Not much else going on over here. And while everyone else is on summer break we’re testing out curriculums and products and diving head first into our school year. I’ll get you that “chicken post” soon, I promise.
We’ve been hard at work over here with Mother Goose Time. We’ve been crafting, discussing, singing, and dancing. In between lessons we’ve also been swimming and sweating. Because, goodness it’s been hot!
Now that we’re nearing the end of our monthly box I thought I’d give an update on how Mother Goose Time has been working for us.
Mother Goose Time includes a decent amount of “discussion” with each of the lessons. Oliver isn’t so into that part of the lesson. The discussion portion often just goes over his head. I’m still asking the questions and encouraging him to try to participate but he wants to skip past the talking and get to the working. Either he’s a more tactile/kinesthetic learner than auditory or he’s just a preschool boy who’s tired of hearing mom yap about what types of things can be found on a beach. Either way, he’s just not feeling that part most days.
He’s a little interested in calendar time and he really likes the music and dancing portion. But, what I’m a little surprised by is his love of handwritten work. The boy seems to be into worksheet-style work. If he needs to write something for the lesson he’s super into it. If he needs to color it, no problem. If he has to sit and listen to you read a story…..not so much. He’s actually asked for more worksheets. The problem is that Mother Goose Time isn’t a worksheet and writing heavy curriculum….so far. Since we’re in a summer review box I’m curious to see if the regular school year boxes will have more letter writing practice and such. The boy just wants to write his letters and numbers. Who knew?
But there are no complaints in the crafts and games department. He’s loved EVERY craft and game included. I think he would craft all day long if I had the resources laid out around the clock for him. Since the discussion is the bulk of the lesson, and he’s not interested in expanding on this area at all, the day often goes by super quick. So, to compensate for the areas we’re lacking in we’ve often combined a couple days into one. If I ask him what kinds of things he can find on the beach he’s going to tell me one or two things and want to move on. So, I usually try to prompt him with these questions during his crafts. That way he’s distracted a little by the fun part and forgets that he wants to stage a coup over the other part. I get more discussion and thought out of him this way.
But that also means I have to keep the crafts coming. So, some days we’ve done a sunglasses craft immediately followed by the next day’s sand castle craft. All while sneakily “discussing” the lesson.
Big brother helps with discussion on days when I just can’t get Oliver on board. Owen will answer the questions and Oliver usually agrees with whatever his brother thinks. He does a great job of encouraging Oliver to participate (even if most days Oliver would just rather paint). Thank goodness for easy-going older siblings and little brothers who look up to them.
Mother Goose time does include a “More Reading and Writing” and “More Math” book for kids who want do more advanced work. We’ve done a couple of the pages but the trouble we’re having with those books is that Oliver isn’t quite ready for them. He likes that they look like worksheets but the actual material is beyond his level right now. So, I think the only thing we’re lacking is more repetitive activity sheets on his level. Something similar to the “More Reading and Writing” and “More Math”, but not at an advanced level, would really round out our day.
Once we dive into a regular school year box I’ll let you know what the major differences are and if it changes our daily work flow or not. I think we’ll keep using Mother Goose Time either way. But, I might add in some more “meat” with ABC’s and 123’s worksheets instead of letting Mother Goose Time serve as our only curriculum.
In the meantime we’ll keep crafting our way through our summer!
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