What's In the School Bus Box?

School Bus Box

I've been told I possess a lot of patience. When it comes to opening our monthly curriculum box from Mother Goose Time, it's certainly true!
We receive Mother Goose Time curriculum and the Little Goose adapted companion free each month in exchange for our thoughts about the lessons here on the blog. The box, affectionately referred to as "the school bus box" by my children & husband, arrives about a week before each new month begins.
From the moment we get our box, my kids are ready to open it.  I'm usually forced to hide it. [I prefer that we finish the previous month before they get too excited about the next theme.]

This November, I decided to let everyone peek into the new box with us and see first hand some of the great things Mother Goose Time includes in our monthly curriculum subscription.  Here we go! ...

Teacher Tool Bag, Thanksgiving Kit, and Free Gift

Mother Goose Time really knows the way to a homeschool mama's heart: organization! All the components of our curriculum are organized and split into clear plastic bags.
[I know, I know... not exactly the most Earth friendly solution, but we do reuse our bags as much as possible to cut down on waste.]
The Teacher Tool Bag contains a separate teacher guide book/planner for each week.

Each month we also receive a free gift. November's Free Gift is a wooden goose stamper.

November (like our October box) contains an extra bag for a special holiday celebration of Thanksgiving complete with a teacher guide, games, themed snack suggestions, songs, and finger plays.

Up next is the Mother Goose Time Theme Web.  This nifty poster goes on our wall to help the children (and me!) keep track of all the things we're learning this month. With each day focusing on a different subtopic, it's easy to lose track of how everything is related. This poster helps the kids see how all the things we learn are related in a way that's easy for them to understand.

November Theme Web

November Activity Calendar

Mother Goose Time also includes an activity calendar that I was initially very excited about, but I've found we don't use it much in our home based setting. It is a nice way for me to check that we are covering each skill area on a regular basis though. I also think part of the reason I get less use of the activity calendar is because we mostly focus on the adapted activities in our Little Goose Teacher Guide which aren't always listed on this calendar.
However, I think in a more formal classroom setting this calendar would be a great informational poster for parents to see in advance just what their children are learning on any given day.

Finally, I unpacked one of the daily lesson bags so you can see just what's included in each day with Mother Goose Time.  Lesson 1 of November's rain forest theme includes tactile letters, a letter poster, Make & Play craft, a themed "create-your-own" classroom calendar, letter poster, name tags for each student, a family newsletter for the month, and My Creative Mind parent hand outs about the daily craft & lesson for children to take home. Since we homeschool, our family newsletters & My Creative Mind papers are included in our portfolios.

The last image shows the Mother Goose Time teacher guide pages for Lesson 1.  This guide helps me set up for the day, teach the lesson, and track our children's progress along the way. Like everything else with Mother Goose Time, it's well organized and easy to use.