Homeschooling in Small Spaces

Do you live in an apartment, with family or just don’t want your homeschooling supplies out for the world to see? Whatever your home situation is like, if you want to know how to homeschool with a few supplies that can easily be put away, this post is for you!

Backstory: we are building a home that was supposed to be done in July but now we’re looking at mid-October (yay). For the time being we had to move into my parent’s guest house which is perfect, but 1: I don’t want to put anything up in their house and 2: it’s a lot less space than we are used to. For this reason, I really condensed our learning space to move and be put away easily. With this setup I can literally take school anywhere and set up anywhere with little effort. I love it so much that I’m going to keep this setup even in our new home!

We homeschool with Mother Goose Time which is ESSENTIAL for this method. Each month you are delivered a flawless and customizable curriculum with lesson plans, books, puzzles, learning tools and supplies straight to your door. They pre-bag each lesson  so you can literally open the bag and start the lesson if you choose to (like me). This makes my crazy schedules, small space and general preschool homeschooling so much easier to work with.

Here is the way I set up my teaching space:

Step 1: Keep your essentials organized on a folding science board.

These babies fold up to practically nothing and can slide between almost any space. I keep ours in the crack of my couch and the wall where it is completely hidden. I use this size board.

Mother Goose Time supplies you with the labels and decorations on your first order and you can reuse your board for multiple years. Each day comes with a new topic while each month comes with new letters and numbers.

The days of the week and weather is interchangeable for each day, along with the days on the calendar. To make it super easy, I keep them attached in a sheet protector on the back where me and the kids can easily reach them each day. I also keep a glue stick in the bag so I don't have to search for one each time we glue on the new date.

To make it easy to get to, I attached the sheet protector with Velcro Dots for seamless removal. I keep monthly theme posters and interchangeable items on the board with blue putty that hangs items without damaging them.

Step 2: Find a large 3 Ring Binder

This sucker can hold a lot! I’m not even sure why I bought this folder or how old it is, but I had it and wanted to see if a month of bags could fit inside. It sure does! And it is perfect! Here is a folder that is a similar size. 

I kept all the pre-bagged lessons (Daily Discovery Bags) closed and simply put them in order by day. The bags are easy to push the rings through, and it holds the bags sturdy. I use a sleeve to hold each week's Teacher Guide and put them at the beginning of each new week. 

The left pocket I use to hold various items like “My Little Journal”, that week's Teacher Guide, CDs, Letter Cards, etc.. But to make life even easier, MGT came out with a digital album that you can get from any device with internet access.

I simply use my phone or my Ipad to access music wherever we are since I don't always have a CD player available. This is awesome to have and the girls always enjoy their music!

Step 3. Get a Small Storage Box

I bought this slim box at the local dollar store. I keep all of our math tools, magnets and various play items that are included in each month's box. This is a great thing to break out and have your kids play with on their own while you set up. You can use these items for almost everything including math, color organization, categories, building and so much more!

Step 4: Open and GO!

Break out your board, your notebook, your storage box and your phone and you are ready to go! 

Open your Teaching Guide for that day and see what extra supplies you may need (like scissors, glue or paint) and get yourself ready for homeschooling made easy!

Everything you need for the day will be included in your Daily Discovery Bag! Hang your Daily Topic Photo, the letter you will be learning that day and prepare for an awesome time with your kiddos! For more information on the Mother Goose Time Curriculum, or to see how amazingly affordable it is, visit https://www.mothergoosetime.com/

After months of being a paying customer, I received this month's box for free in return for my honest and personal experiences!

It's All in the Details - Homeschooling with Mother Goose Time

This month we have started the Mother Goose Time "At the Pond" curriculum. Bella was super excited to start this month because I told her about all the new things we would be learning.

Homeschooling for preschool can be monotonous and hard. I struggled greatly with finding new topics to teach Bella and that is when I found Mother Goose Time. I can go on and on about the reasons why I love this program: the endless amount of supplies provided (20 days worth and MORE), the innovative topics, the creative lessons etc. I chose to write about this little blip out of ONE of our days because it just goes to show how creative Mother Goose Time is!

For this particular day we were learning about snakes at the pond. We were learning about what snakes eat, where they live, how they swim and so much more. We were given a project to create a snake out of a pipe cleaner and beads. Bella took her time to create her perfect snake while observing her example photo. She used her motor skills (which have become so much more developed since starting this program) and placed all the beads on herself.

If you notice the yellow pieces, those are pieces of a straw that we cut. These pieces of straw were used to demonstrate the second layer of skin that the snake sheds.

Bella placed all of the straw "skin" over her beautiful snake. She was so proud of her finished snake!

When she was finished placing all the "skin" on her snake, we then slid the extra layer of skin off. I explained to her how snakes shed their skin and then have a bright beautiful new layer of skin underneath. Bella was so interested and kept asking questions like "Do we shed our skin?".



While the snake craft alone was cute and fun, the extra layer of skin really made this lesson outstanding. This program always surprises me in the way it teaches topics (that I would never consider teaching my 3 year old) to toddlers in a way they understand and enjoy. When my husband arrived home later that day my daughter ran up and told him all about snakes and how they shed their skin. This program to me is priceless! Like I said, this was just ONE project out of a day full of lessons, out of a month full of exercises like this! If you haven't tried this yet, TRY IT!

After months of being a paying customer, I received this month's kit for free in exchange for my honest experiences!



Pat-A-Cake Perfection with Mother Goose Time

One day of Mother Goose Time really stood out this week as Bella's favorite so I had to share! Mother Goose Time is the monthly homeschooling kit I use to teach my 3 year old. It comes with projects, activities and supplies for 20 days and SO MUCH MORE! I have posted previously about it on my blog like here .

Today's theme was Pat-A-Cake! Bella is my little baker who loves anything to do with cooking so she absolutely loved today's activities! We started off by reciting Pat-a-Cake since it is one of her favorite Nursery Rhymes.

 

 Bella loved reciting it together and has gotten really good!


Next we played this cute cake game that helped Bella with her number recognition, shape recognition and counting.

She was also able to help me separate the hearts from the cutouts. Little exercises like this have really helped her develop her motor skills in a new way.

Bella would choose a card, announce which number it was and then place that amount of hearts on the cake. She also matched the different sized hearts with their correct sized silhouette on the cake.

 

She was so proud of herself when she filled up the whole cake!

 



The next part of the day is always Bella's favorite: craft time! This Invitation to Create was super cute.

Bella created her own "cupcakes". While the recipe called for Shaving Cream, we went a little outside of the box and used real frosting!

Her favorite part was definitely putting the sprinkles on top!

Oh, and of course trying the frosting and sprinkles for herself!

After her first cupcake she was in the mood to create more cupcakes so we used her manipulatives to create out own cupcakes with Floam.

She even put a "cherry on top"!

I love to watch the creativity she uses during class time.

Lastly, to clean up, I had her string her manipulatives onto her shoe string (included in this month's kit). Her fine motor skills are leaps and bounds above what they were when we started Mother Goose Time! I loved watching her accomplish putting all the Blue on her string! The manipulatives are one of my favorite things included in each box.

 

 I love her concentration and determination! She is so focused during her little projects. I love the things we get to do together every day thanks to Mother Goose Time! I recommend this program to everyone!

 

After months of being a paying customer, I received this month's box for free in exchange for my personal experience!

February with Mother Goose Time

This month's Mother Goose Time box is so awesome I had to share a little more in depth what comes inside. The types of supplies that I am focusing on come inside each month's box, but with a new theme. I won't even be going into the 20 days of activities, but rather focus on the tools you can use and save each month. This month's theme is Nursery Rhymes and it is my favorite so far.

Here is an example of this month's Circle Time board that you will use your new supplies on

Each month's box comes with a Circle Time Kit and a Teacher's Tool Bag. Items in these bags will supply you with tools you will use throughout the whole month and beyond! Each month you collect new letters, shapes and numbers along with so much more! I am not even going into the daily bags on this post because there are so many supplies to cover!

Here is this month's Theme Web and Theme Poster. It will break down what topic you will be learning each week and each day.

Week 1: Number Rhymes
-This Little Piggy
-Sing a Song of Sixpence
-1, 2, Buckle My Shoe
-Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

Week 2: Character Rhymes
- Humpty Dumpty
- There Was a Crooked Man
- Itsy, Bitsy Spider
- Hey Diddle Diddle
- Old King Cole

Week 3: Food Rhymes
- Pat-a-Cake
- Old Mother Hubbard
- Little Jack Horner
-There Was an Old Woman
- Hot Cross Buns

Week 4: Little Rhymes
- Little Boy Blue
- Little Bo Peep
- Little Miss Muffet
- Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
- Mary Had a Little Lamb

You also receive a Planning Journal and Teacher Guide. These will help you plan out your daily activities and explain how to use the tools and supplies provided.

The Planning Journal Overview page is my favorite! It will show each day and the project you will be creating that day. I plan Bella's outfit off of this page. I can tell whether we will be using paint etc.

They also supply you with a Gathering Tools List. This list will tell you things you will need to provide for the project. Most of the time it is something super simple or can be substituted with something you have.

 

Each month also comes with a Skills Chart. These help you with your assessments. Check out more about their assessment program here. You can keep track of your child's skills and advancements. All of these supplies come in your Welcome Kit with your first order. I love being able to see the skills Bella is learning and accomplishing.

 

Now for the fun stuff! Each month you receive a new Calendar that goes with the theme. Here is this month's! I let my daughter pull out each day and glue them on herself each morning. It is a great way to teach the dates and days of the week. I explain this more here.

Each month you also learn a couple of new letters. This month's letters are J, R and I. These letter posters can be hung on your Circle Time board each day, and be used with your manipulatives for the children to trace etc.

These smaller letters, words and pictures are meant to be cut and put into a foam Pocket Cube (included in your Welcome Kit). We like to mix and match letters and colors and try to decide which letter is which etc. There are endless ways of using these cards! By the end of the school year we will have the whole alphabet!

 

Each month you also receive a new color. This month is Red. You learn a new shape (and get the same shape on a nice wooden stamp) which is Heart. The Red and Heart is fitting for February! You also receive cookie cutters in the shape of your letters you are learning that month. We use these in play dough, sand and for tracing. Again, the possibilities and uses are endless!

 

 

 

Each month you receive an awesome Dance 'n Beats CD with songs that match the theme. I love the Nursery Rhyme songs this month! They are the classics you grew up with. You also receive Circle Time Songs which have new lyrics to match music from your Circle Time CD.

 

Simply cut out the cloud shapes, duck and numbered fish to add to your Circle Time board (like shown on the first photo).

 

 

One of my (and the girls) favorite supplies we receive each month is the manipulatives! Manipulatives are fun little toys/objects that help teach the children skills or help them learn to count/categorize/separate. This month came with nice wooden blocks with holes that the child can string shoestrings through. This will be excellent at developing Bella's fine motor skills.

 

It also came with these cute sheep. I will ask Bella to separate the Blue from the Yellow, put all the bigger ones together, count out a certain number etc. Ideas are also offered in your Teaching Guide.

 

Each month you receive a beautifully illustrated book and this one is by far my favorite. Inside is every classic Nursery Rhyme! This is something I did not have in paper, only from memory. The girls and I have already read this multiple times.

 



Here is an example of the rhymes inside with illustrations!

 

 

Each month you also receive a puzzle to go with the theme. This is another one of my favorite items included. We have collected 6 puzzles and books. They are sturdy and the kids love to play with them again and again.

 

This is Bella's new "My Little Journal". In this we explore certain colors, new numbers and new letters. The Teacher Guide also gives ideas for things to draw with each days lesson.

Here is an example of what a page looks like inside the journal! I save the journals so I can see how much Bella has progressed over the months. I let her to the journal without influence so I can see authentic progression.

Lastly, I will go over Bella's "Look! I Can Read!" book. Each month she receives a new book with new words and letters. She searches the book for the words that match. PRICELESS. I save these and will continue to use them over and over. I love this idea and the way it gets Bella involved in reading.

 

 

Like I mentioned earlier, this is only the Circle Time items and tools you get every month! I haven't even gone into the 20 DAYS OF PROJECTS! I HAVEN'T EVEN GONE INTO THE 20 DAYS OF PROJECTS! I mean, this box is the best value. I am always impressed with all of the items I receive that I get to reuse over and over again while teaching my daughter such amazing and original topics.

 



If you want to see more, you can learn more about what comes in a typical Mother Goose Time box at their website here!

After months of being a paying customer, I received this month's box in exchange for sharing my personal experiences!