Mother Goose Monday: Under the Weather
I didn’t do a great job taking pictures this past week. Hubby is out of town, and I feel a little overwhelmed at home after our company went home, and real life came back full force. Typically, I am really organized and on top of things, but this week, it was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other. I really struggled to get most things done, and school was one of them! So today, I wanted to share with you guys how we “do school” with Mother Goose Time on days when I really have a hard time doing anything.
I’m a firm believer that a homeschooler should never be a “slave” to their curriculum. There will be days, and even seasons, when doing things as written just isn’t practical. Sometimes, things need tweaked to fit your needs. This week, my energy level required me to tweak Em’s Preschool.
I started by preparing our materials as I always do, laminating what I needed, pre-cutting anything that needed cut, and reading over the lesson plans. Then, instead of putting things in bags, I placed it all in her Preschool Drawer, and moved them down to her level, so this week, she could choose what materials she wanted to use.
Instead of purposefully teaching the lesson, in order, this week I just facilitated the activities as she brought them out during the day. I took a couple minutes to show her what to do, and go over the “lesson” portion from memory (remember, I pre-read) and then let her explore.
Some activities, she played with again and again. This week, one of the activities was to go on a little nature hunt, and collect materials to make a small “pond” in a plastic container. She pretended all week that the rock was a ducky, and moved her pond from the patio to the table again and again.
Finding a good spot for the pond
Watching for “birdies to visit”
It was a very relaxing week, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked out. Mother Goose Time is something special if it is so well organized and prepared that it can get done even when I am feeling under the weather. It was actually really nice to have fun activities just for her; she was able to keep busy, and have fun, while I was busy taking care of myself and my home!
This week, I am back on the ball, and am teaching the program as written. It’s going to be a great week!