I've been doing daycare for 10 years and have four children of my own. Throughout the years my way of teaching the daycare children was doing the same thing I did with my children...we take a walk and talk about the GREEN grass and BLUE skies etc....but most of all they played with basic toys, I read to them and we talked about EVERYTHING.

This worked out well for me as all of my children excel in school but parent's today want more. They want worksheets, art projects every week, themes...and they want these things as soon as their child can sit up. I don't mind doing a curriculum and themes, although I think it's silly that parents want it so early I think it will be exciting. I recently remodeled my basement for the daycare and it is awesome, now that I have the look I feel I need to amp up the activities.

I don't take school-agers or children under 18 months in my daycare. Currently I have 5 children who are almost two or just turned 2, one 15 month old and 3 children who attend morning preschool. Is there a pre-made curriculum kit that any of you would recommend? I've been looking at Funshine Express and Mother Goose Time.

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I have used Mother Goose and enjoyed that it was all "done". I have also used higher reach. At this time I find them pricey for what I actually used from them. I am better to buy a couple new books every month.
Another idea that I have used for the past 2 years is www.kidssoup.com I can print some worksheets.. because yes, some kids like that format. It has a good variety of crafts, ideas, games etc. I do both kidssoup and ABC twiggles that they offer. If you look at my fb page the Dd letter crafts were theirs. It lets me do what I want and I don't feel like I am "throwing away days". I am just not structured enough for an every day program and I don't have all my kids every day.

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at the age of 2, I'm just trying to get them to share and not color my walls. I think it has to be on an individual thing. I have 1 child that is super smart but doesn't go to school till next year, but she loves work sheets, the other dcb goes to school this year, and well, he has alot of learning ahead of him

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I was wondering if anyone had ever used Carols AFfordable Curriculum. I did Funshine last year and like it but Carols seems to be a little more cost efficient...any thoughts between the two? I have never used MGT but a provider friend of mine didn't care for it... but I think it is all personal preference!

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I'm actually thinking of buying one this year. when I started my daycare over 10 years ago I made my own - just came up with my own themes, found all kinds of crafts on the internet, etc. etc. I enjoyed it, but it certainly took quite a bit of time. Now with 3 school aged kids of my own I just don't have that kind of time. I am trying to find one that is for under 3's but also don't want to spend a lot of money. I know I should just spend some time creating my own again but the ease of it just coming to me in a box sounds rather appealing right now as I usually feel like I'm just barely keeping my head above water with all the things I need to do!

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Mother Goose has the crafts all ready. But, it is pricey. kidssoup does a monthly theme but you have to print, cut out etc and it is not laid out daily. You would pick what you want to do.

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http://preschoolcurriculum.com/group.htm


This allows for you to do one or two projects a week or tailor it the way you want to. It also allows for one or two children. I paid $26 and that included shipping and they package your craft supplies into.

I have used their bigger program in the past and really liked it. I especially like that I can tailor it to two kids. The littler ones can do the songs and calendar etc while the older ones have the take home projects.

Check it out

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This is my 3rd year using kidsoup.com and I love it! It is more cost efficient for me and I can vary the activities for a variety of ages. I used the Home Preschool Program for 15 years off and on and it is much like Mother Goose. It was expensive and I wasted some materials when kids were only part time.

I also use Education.com, Making learning fun.com, allkidsnetwork.com, teachers pay teachers, enchanted learning, kidzone, DLTK, preschool rock.com, learning pages.com & first school are all great sites with lots of great ideas for crafts and worksheets!

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I just signed up for Kidssoup(the ABC Twiggels) and have printed off so much. My kids mainley color as they are not even 2, but I do have 1 older that I use Carols Affordable Curriculum with and I plan on adding this to it as well.

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I also like the twiggles kidsoup. I haven't been a member for a long time, and didn't realize they separated the two into two sites.

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Do you mind printing and cutting things on your own? Right now I am using http://www.kidsparkz.com/index.html It is really cheap but there are a lot of activities that are geared for the younger crowd. We do a group activity, one on one activity, and an art activity each day based off the theme. Some themes take a week or more to complete.

I have 6 two year olds and one 3 year old. They love it, the parents are loving it too. I have sent home some copies of the group activities like memory or size ordering each week. Most of my parents say they love that and keep them in their purse for using while waiting for dinner or at the dr.

It is super cheap and you really only need basic art supplies, paper, card stock and color printer.

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I am wondering if any of you have used MGT and carols curriculum, how are they different or is one better compared to the other? I was going to order MGT but found carols curriculum about $200 cheaper. Thoughts?

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I just got carol's affordable curriculum. I ordered for Sept. It came with a today's weather wheel, for parents: newsletter, songs that we will be singing this month, menus. The crafts look simple for preshool age, it does say 2-6.
Everything was well organized. Everything was sorted per child. There was a curriculum booklet. I was very happy with the kit.

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I use Funsteps and really enjoy it!

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How long did it take for shipping? Also, do they have any assesments that go along with the kit or that you can order?

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I have found Carols Affordable to be one of the best priced as well as organized ones around. All of the stuff fin there I can use. Alot of the other curriculum's the craft stuff is just too much for the younger kids and I feel as if I am wasting money. I was throwing so much of it out! I have used it for years.

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Do you mean assessments that you fill out about a child's progress and such? It came with that.

I ordered it late friday Aug 10 and got it last friday morning. I'm guessing it only went out Monday.

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Oh wow, it came with the assessments? That's great! And reasonable shipping too. Great, I told my parents that I was going to be starting MGT but I think I'm gonna go with Carols. Sounds like a better option to me.

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Over my 17 years I have created my own, used MGT, Carols, Funshine and The Learning Box Preschool.

I think I have liked the Learning box best so far... and will be using it for the 2nd year this year.

http://www.thelearningboxpreschool.com/

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I find that there is so much free stuff on-line that I dont buy anything anymore.

I decide during summer what my themes will be. I then go and shop and plan for that theme. I always look out for the target dollar bin clearance where everything goes down to $.30. yup 70% off.

I then keep the themes in my yearly curriculum that the kids loved best and I continue to build on it over the year. Because I know in advance what I am doing, I know what to look out for while shopping or seeing anything online that I can print out.

I also use the oriental trading company magazine to get ideas on projects. I don't buy them from there, I just copy the ideas that they sell and make it on my own.

I used to spend over $125.00 buying pre-made, now I spend about $45.00 monthly doing my own. I also have 9 kids that participate in the lessons.

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Mailbox books make two really good books that I love Totally for Twos Art and Totally for Twos. There art one is great and they are something you can use over and over again. I paid about $20 per book plus shipping.
There website is www.mailbox.com

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For those that use website based curriculum, do you find yourself going through a ton of ink? Is it very cost effective?

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I don't print a lot of stuff, I just take a lot of ideas. I love sensory bins, which don't require printing anything.

I do print out templates to guide me when creating crafts.

I don't do worksheets so I would say I spend about $8.00 a month on ink and that is for everything that I do, including personal stuff

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I find it to be more complete and cheaper than if I purchased a pre-printed similar product. I go through a color cartridge ever couple of weeks but it isn't used solely for daycare. I have 6 kids of my own that use it for homework, and goofing off.

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What kind of a printer do you have? My printer eats ink like it is candy! I would do more with it if it was not so costly to run.

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hp deskjet 1000. 35.99+ tax target.

I either buy my refills online through a discount website or at costco..

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I have a HP laser and love it!! Print a ton and change the toner maybe every 8 or 9 months. I only print B&W. The nice thing about me printing sheets is that I only print for the kidos that are ready for them. So, everything is geared to each child.
I also love the Mailbox books. My dd is going to be a teacher and I have a library of them started.

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that must be the wrong website...I got a website to buy mailboxes!

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its themailbox

I love themailbox.....I love the book everyday preschool

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