As a Mother Goose Time Blog Ambassador we are given a focus topic to blog about each month. I was so excited when I got the email informing me that January's topic was about Routines. As a homeschooler you would think we might not need a routine, and some homeschoolers probably function just fine without one. My family however needs routine, I need a routine. Without it there is lots of wasted time and fighting to get any type of schooling done. My kids seem to work better when they know what is going to happen and what is expected of them. That being said, our routine is definitely not set in stone. I do not live by the routine or the time frame. I use it as a guideline for how I want most days to flow. I am also constantly revising the routine and making it fit for whatever is happening in our lives at the time. We homeschool year round so I have the flexibility to decide if we need to take a mental health day, or have an easy week periodically. Having a base daily routine to refer to really helps to keep us going though. I have used Mother Goose Time to help us in our routine and also use some of the activities when transitioning from one subject to another. I love that Mother Goose Time can be used to fit our needs whether we want a full day of preschool or we just want to pick and choose a few activities.
I have our schedule posted on our school wall as a reminder of where we should be at any point in the day. Things can happen and a lesson might take more or less time, or it might take me an hour to get my son to get dressed and brush his teeth, but I find having it there helps to keep us on track. Also, lets be honest I do not get up at 8am like I have on the schedule. The sun hasn't been coming up until 8am and it is so cold in the morning. We are in hibernation mode right now and snuggling with them a little longer has been fine by me. We have been better about it lately usually getting up between 8:30 and 9:00. When it is warmer and lighter out we do get up closer to 8:00.
Here is a look at our day, and what our usual routine using Mother Goose Time looks like in our house. Once we get up the kids take care of their morning chores while I make breakfast. This gives them something to do during the time that they are realizing that they are hungry. After the morning chores are done we sit at the table for breakfast. At this time we have our morning meeting. I use Mother Goose Time during this to help introduce our day. We do the circle time activities in the teacher guide, calendar, and talk about the weather. We also do a quick review on the number and shape of the month, and I use this time to introduce and discuss the daily topic that we will be learning about. I then read the recommended book while they finish breakfast or color.
After this it is time to clean up breakfast and brush teeth. This is usually where I have trouble getting them to focus on getting back to learning. I have found that using the Mother Goose Time games are great for this. I have them come back and we either play a new game if one is provided that day or we get out one of the other games that we have saved over the last few months. I usually start with math for my daughter in the morning, I have found that she does better with this subject first thing. I will usually try to find a math game to play with them both because of this. After a few rounds of the game it is easier to transition into the actual lesson. I then can teach her lesson and when she is working on her practice sheet herself I work on whatever math based project is provided for my son. If there isn't anything specific for him that day we pull out our math bin and practice patterns, counting, puzzles etc. Today there wasn't any math games planned in the curriculum so I brought out the pattern blocks and had him do the Marsupial Puzzle activity from the previous day. He did the animal shapes and then made his own patterns.
After math is finished I find this to be a good time to read the I can read books provided, use the story participation pieces, do the journal, or use any other literacy based activity planned in the teacher guide for the day. Then I do my daughters reading instruction with her. She needs me for this one as we are still in the learning to read phase of her language arts instruction. She is almost done though and soon I think I will be able to assign reading while I work more extensively with Preston. At this time I let Preston look through picture books, use an online read to me program that we have, or just play with his toys quietly. Sometimes I let him take out the big box of manipulatives that we have saved. I am planning on making him a reading and writing box similar to his math box so he can have something to do during her language arts time. He really likes to feel like he is doing school with her and I have noticed that he has been coming to sit on my lap during her lessons and being a little disruptive. I think its time I rethink his use of time during this.
At this point it is time for them to do there afternoon chores and then they are given some free time. They have a chore chart that lists specific chores they are responsible for each day. There are other things they do during the day to help out, but this list gives them accountability for these specific jobs. They know that anytime that I ask them to do something they have to help even if it isn't on the chore list. Again the chore chart gives us a routine to make sure all parts of the house are getting cleaned for the week. They have actually really enjoyed having the chores and are proud of the work they do. We give them a small allowance at the end of the week and they are learning how to save money as well. I usually use this time to get my house cleaning chores for the day out of the way as well. It makes it fun that we are all working together and I never have to worry about anybody dropping by and seeing a dirty house. They usually use their free time to play very imaginative games with each other. The Mother Goose Time music CD is used a lot during this time as well. I use the free time to prepare lunch. Sometimes they help cook depending on what we are making.
We aim to have lunch around noon and after lunch I try to do a fun activity with them. Ideally we will have some outside time, but it has been cold and rainy lately so we've been spending more time then we are used to inside. Today was cold, but the sun was out so we bundled up and went out to play the Otter or Manatee activity from day 9. We used it to play a red light green light style game. I stood at one end of the grass and held the signs and the kids stood at the other side. Then I showed the signs to them and they either moved fast like an otter or slow like a manatee. They had a lot of fun doing this and we got a little exercise and fresh air. We have to get out while we can, rain is in the forecast for later in the week. If it is raining I find this to be a good time to do our invitation to create or other art activities. Today we had time to go outside and then come in for our invitation to create project. We could only spend 30 min outside before it got to cold.
After this we spend a little time doing social studies or science. I use Mother Goose Time to help guide us in our science studies. This month is about Baby Animals so I have been getting us books at the library to extend the lessons and we went on a trip to the local zoo and saw some of the animals we've been learning about. At this age we are still very interest led in these subjects and take a more relaxed and fun approach. We aim to be finished around 1 or 2 mostly because I work in the evenings, and it is nice to have them done before dad comes home. It is always a work in progress but after homeschooling for 4 years now I think we finally have everything somewhat settled.
*Mother Goose Time has generously provided our curriculum to us in exchange for our stories and honest opinions*
I have our schedule posted on our school wall as a reminder of where we should be at any point in the day. Things can happen and a lesson might take more or less time, or it might take me an hour to get my son to get dressed and brush his teeth, but I find having it there helps to keep us on track. Also, lets be honest I do not get up at 8am like I have on the schedule. The sun hasn't been coming up until 8am and it is so cold in the morning. We are in hibernation mode right now and snuggling with them a little longer has been fine by me. We have been better about it lately usually getting up between 8:30 and 9:00. When it is warmer and lighter out we do get up closer to 8:00.
Here is a look at our day, and what our usual routine using Mother Goose Time looks like in our house. Once we get up the kids take care of their morning chores while I make breakfast. This gives them something to do during the time that they are realizing that they are hungry. After the morning chores are done we sit at the table for breakfast. At this time we have our morning meeting. I use Mother Goose Time during this to help introduce our day. We do the circle time activities in the teacher guide, calendar, and talk about the weather. We also do a quick review on the number and shape of the month, and I use this time to introduce and discuss the daily topic that we will be learning about. I then read the recommended book while they finish breakfast or color.
After this it is time to clean up breakfast and brush teeth. This is usually where I have trouble getting them to focus on getting back to learning. I have found that using the Mother Goose Time games are great for this. I have them come back and we either play a new game if one is provided that day or we get out one of the other games that we have saved over the last few months. I usually start with math for my daughter in the morning, I have found that she does better with this subject first thing. I will usually try to find a math game to play with them both because of this. After a few rounds of the game it is easier to transition into the actual lesson. I then can teach her lesson and when she is working on her practice sheet herself I work on whatever math based project is provided for my son. If there isn't anything specific for him that day we pull out our math bin and practice patterns, counting, puzzles etc. Today there wasn't any math games planned in the curriculum so I brought out the pattern blocks and had him do the Marsupial Puzzle activity from the previous day. He did the animal shapes and then made his own patterns.
After math is finished I find this to be a good time to read the I can read books provided, use the story participation pieces, do the journal, or use any other literacy based activity planned in the teacher guide for the day. Then I do my daughters reading instruction with her. She needs me for this one as we are still in the learning to read phase of her language arts instruction. She is almost done though and soon I think I will be able to assign reading while I work more extensively with Preston. At this time I let Preston look through picture books, use an online read to me program that we have, or just play with his toys quietly. Sometimes I let him take out the big box of manipulatives that we have saved. I am planning on making him a reading and writing box similar to his math box so he can have something to do during her language arts time. He really likes to feel like he is doing school with her and I have noticed that he has been coming to sit on my lap during her lessons and being a little disruptive. I think its time I rethink his use of time during this.
At this point it is time for them to do there afternoon chores and then they are given some free time. They have a chore chart that lists specific chores they are responsible for each day. There are other things they do during the day to help out, but this list gives them accountability for these specific jobs. They know that anytime that I ask them to do something they have to help even if it isn't on the chore list. Again the chore chart gives us a routine to make sure all parts of the house are getting cleaned for the week. They have actually really enjoyed having the chores and are proud of the work they do. We give them a small allowance at the end of the week and they are learning how to save money as well. I usually use this time to get my house cleaning chores for the day out of the way as well. It makes it fun that we are all working together and I never have to worry about anybody dropping by and seeing a dirty house. They usually use their free time to play very imaginative games with each other. The Mother Goose Time music CD is used a lot during this time as well. I use the free time to prepare lunch. Sometimes they help cook depending on what we are making.
We aim to have lunch around noon and after lunch I try to do a fun activity with them. Ideally we will have some outside time, but it has been cold and rainy lately so we've been spending more time then we are used to inside. Today was cold, but the sun was out so we bundled up and went out to play the Otter or Manatee activity from day 9. We used it to play a red light green light style game. I stood at one end of the grass and held the signs and the kids stood at the other side. Then I showed the signs to them and they either moved fast like an otter or slow like a manatee. They had a lot of fun doing this and we got a little exercise and fresh air. We have to get out while we can, rain is in the forecast for later in the week. If it is raining I find this to be a good time to do our invitation to create or other art activities. Today we had time to go outside and then come in for our invitation to create project. We could only spend 30 min outside before it got to cold.
After this we spend a little time doing social studies or science. I use Mother Goose Time to help guide us in our science studies. This month is about Baby Animals so I have been getting us books at the library to extend the lessons and we went on a trip to the local zoo and saw some of the animals we've been learning about. At this age we are still very interest led in these subjects and take a more relaxed and fun approach. We aim to be finished around 1 or 2 mostly because I work in the evenings, and it is nice to have them done before dad comes home. It is always a work in progress but after homeschooling for 4 years now I think we finally have everything somewhat settled.
*Mother Goose Time has generously provided our curriculum to us in exchange for our stories and honest opinions*
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