I think I'd like to purchase curriculum rather than spending so much time figuring it out myself.

What are your suggestions?

Reply

supposed to be purchaseD curriculum! Sorry for the typo!

Reply

mother goose time pre planned its ok.... not my fav
reach for the stars
brite stars
zoo phonics

free sites like the mail box .com
all kids network.com

I posted some earlier in a different thread...

Reply

I just create my own. I pick a theme. We go to the library to get books on the theme (we do this when we go to story time on Wednesday mornings). I find a craft or 2 on the theme. The other days I pick worksheets out of the basic preschool workbooks I have (letters, numbers, matching, tracing, ect). We also do lacing cards, sorting beads, puzzles, ect. I want to add a science experiment every week too.

I also blog each week about our lessons, if anyone's interested:
http://mamamusingsblog.blogspot.com/

Reply

I use the Funsteps company. www.funsteps.com. There's funsteps for 3-5 yr olds and they also have one called Twosteps for 2-3 year olds, if you need one geared for toddlers (the two can be used together so that both groups are doing basically the same theme, but have different learning activities geared for the specific age groups). It's a 3 day a week pre-planned curriculum, with pre-packaged crafts. They have no more than 1 worsksheet a day, either a number or letter, sometimes none. It's mostly hand's on learning. A couple things I've found that I'm not very thrilled with is they don't focus on the alphabet or numbers very much (you have to buy seperate alphabet and number programs through them to get more practice. The curriculum includes a little, just not much. So if you want a 5 day lesson plan this would be a good thing to get), and they don't always have the "typical" themes. Most of the time only 2 days are spent on one theme. So if you want to set up your daycare or preschool for the theme that week, you're redoing everything every two days. And a lot of them aren't typical themes, like I mentioned, so you can't really set up the learning centers to go with it.
They are decently priced, and always there to help out with anything. If your number in attendance change throughout the year, they can change your order for that number. They'll work with you however you need.

Reply

I recommend doing your own. When I was at my former center I had Highreach Learning. The first few years were great. Then it started to get repetitive. I eventually made my own.

You can get great information online. Plus check out your local goodwill/thrift store. I can't tell you how many great school book bargains I found.

It maybe overwhelming at first. But trust me: it's really easy!

Reply

did mother goose before. I am not crazy about it. Now we do our own again.

Reply

I used Mother Goose also. Didn't like it one bit. I do my own and it is not overwhelming at all.

Reply

How does one even get started....i have lots of stuff but not sure how to pull it all together...is there a book or website that shows us how to do it?

Reply

The Star-Brite Learning Program is a monthly pre-packaged preschool curriculum. It is laid out each day, 20 days, with over 100 hands-on craft and learning activities. All of your instructions and paper/craft materials are supplied for you!

Reply

It looks great but at $100 a month for 6 kids I don't think I can swing that.

45-60 take home projects a month is amazing, though.

Reply

I used Home Preschool Program for many years. It was great when I was first starting out...simple and all of the materials and lesson plans came monthly.
I tried Mother Goose Time, but I didn't like it as well.

Now I use several websites...kids soup.com, enchanted learning, First-school.ws and DLTK are just a few of the ones I really like and use a lot! I have different themes for each month that correspond with seasons, holidays, etc. The kids love it!

Reply

If you order online and use Coupon code 2045 you can receive 30% off your order!!! Or you can use coupon code 2253 each month to receive $5 off!....Half priced previous month programs are also available

Reply

I don't like Mother Goose either. You can get the book....Creative Curriculum which shows you how to set up centers. You can make your environment the main curriculum by having every thing down for the kids to make choices in what they want to do that day. You will need to have a variety of materials though so they will have lots of choices.....and then rotate them in and out during the course of the year. I also have a "trash to treasures" bin for art. I don't do the copy cat art that Mother Goose provides. The kids make use their own ideas. I also do not give out color sheets. Instead the kids draw. I find that by not having a premade curriculum we are free to do and learn what we want. The kids are happier and involved in what they are doing. Hard to explain....but I've done it both ways and I prefer this....and the kids are learning more this way too. You look for teachable moments and then take advantage of them.

Reply

i use the creative curriculum as well. we also do not do "cookie cutter" crafts, or parent pleasers. i follow the kids lead, and let them choose our themes. they have been hooked on trains and dinosaurs for the last two months!!!! i find by using a different theme each week, the kids aren't really getting anything out of it, and when they do, "bam!!!" time to change themes again. i dont really do letters or numbers "of the week". its more about learning the alphabet and numbers as a whole, through everything we do.

Reply

I am also curious about this... I work 12hr days, I still have to cook and clean and take care of my own kids. I am exhausted at the end of the day and honestly am considering purchasing a curriculum too..

What other ones are there that you DID like?

Reply

I'm surprised so many have said they don't like Mother Goose Time. I have done it for a few months now and love it!

I researched different curriculum for a while because I know I can't make my own. I already feel like I don't have enough time as it is, so that is not an option as I'm not willing to spend anymore time outside of my daycare day than I have to. I am creative and have good craft ideas, but I would always end up spending ridiculous amounts on little things to make one craft. So, I love that with MGT, the crafts come with everything you need (except basics like scissors, crayons, glue). Someone mentioned cookie cutter crafts, but my kids certainly like making the same thing as each other and get a kick out of it. I have tons of scrapbooking stuff that they can make their crafts "their own" with. Buttons, feathers, stickers, letters, paper shapes, etc.

I must say I haven't heard of some of these that you ladies mentioned. But I decided on MGT and I am happy with it so far.

I only order it for 2 kids, so it IS spendy, IMO. That's so far, the only drawback. It's the most spendy for 2 kids. After that, each additional kid is only about $3 each per month. I deal with the price because it's worth it to me to have go-to ideas for the day just waiting in a little yellow box. We don't do it every day. Some days, we'll do all the activities/lessons/craft for the day and other days we'll only do the craft or only sing some of the songs, or only do 1 of the activities. It's very flexible. My kids probably like the cd that comes with each month the best! I buy the infant/toddler curriculum book which has been very helpful and gives me ideas that I never would have thought of on my own. Although, I think that should be included in the price.

Everything is individually packaged for each for day. So, in the morning, I just pull out that day's package, look through it and decide what we'll do out of it that day, and get whatever materials I need ready. Usually just scissors, crayons, glue, etc. Everything else is there. Next month's theme is Nursery Rhymes and I'm pretty excited for it!

I will have to check some of these other curriculum out though. I don't have any die hard loyalty to MGT; but I have been happy with it.

Reply

I used to use funshine express. It was affordable and easy to use because it was literally laid out every day for you and all the crafts were pre-packed and sorted out too. Each month you get teacher supplies and a book as well as all the number and alphabet color/work sheets for the weekly theme you are on. You get a moving to the msic cd every year too. They have toddler, preschool, school age and christian curriculums. http://www.funshineexpress.com/
I bought it for about 4 years but I now do my own curriculum.

Reply

I do Funshine Express and LOVE it! I was thinking about Mother Goose because it looks awesome, so I'm surprised so many people don't like it. For me, it's just too expensive at this point. I've done my own curriculum before and it just takes too much time and I'm constantly running out to get more craft supplies, etc. The cost of Funshine is more than worth it for me (and I have the added shipping and customs cost of sending it Canada).

Not all of the parents appreciate it as much as I would hope, but I can see the progress the kids are making and I know prospective parents are very impressed by it during the interview. It also keeps our day structured and productive, which is good since I have a natural tendency to slack off .

Reply

If you save the curriculum books I have used them again before because each child gets somehting new out of it each time it is repeated since they are older the second time around. You just have to purchase the supplies yourself but the layout of the daily curriculum book is easy enough to repeat year after year.
I have also used Reach for the Stars curriculum where you purchase the CD and just print off what you need. Each day is laid out for you much like the Funshine Expres stuff...look into it and let me know what you think http://www.reachforthe-stars.com/rft...hoolthemes.htm
http://www.rftstoddler.info/
...I have Toddler and Preschool curriculums in all three series.

Reply

[quote=Daycare_Mama;74800]I'm surprised so many have said they don't like Mother Goose Time. I have done it for a few months now and love it!

The problem I have with Mother Goose Time is that it lacks creativity on the kids part. There is basically one way to do the craft. I prefer child directed projects where they can use imagination and create what and how they want....and when as well. I worked at a program where they used MGT and after a few months the kids didn't even want to come to the table to do the craft. As far as the themes go.....they were good, but what happens when a child wants to learn about spiders and not what Mother Goose Time (or other canned curriculums) has in mind? I just find it much easier and child directed when I set the environment up in a way that gives kids many choices and we can learn what they want because that's when their interest is the highest. It's hard to explain. I know everyone has their own ways.....but this is just what works for me.

Reply

[quote=kareng;74856] i agree. And since i've been using Creative Curriculum, i've noticed that it's not only is less money , it takes less prep time as well.

our day, if anyone is interested, looks much like this....

say our theme is Valentine's. (which by the way, i dont pick themes, i let the children decide what they want to do)

the dramatic play area will be set up like a DR.s office (for heart)

the block area is always open, but i may put out just the red blocks

cozy corner has tons of books about valentine's, friendship, and doctors

for fine motor, there will be red playdough, red hearts to lace, hearts to cut out or tear, a homemade heart shape puzzle, etc.

math center has red counters in it, and hearts in different colors and shapes (made from construction paper and laminated) for sorting by size or making patterns

science center might have picures of real hearts, mixing red paint, red cellophane to look through, etc

writing desk has red crayons/colored pencils. (i dont make the kids do worksheets, but there are always ones there if they want to do them, so maybe a few letter H ones, a heart maze, that sort of thing) i would add hearts cut out of sandpaper for rubbings, and letter stencils to make valentine cards.

cooking is heart shaped cookies or sandwiches, friendship fruit salad

the sand table has heart cookie cutters

for gross motor, we hop on hearts made from construction paper. i might put shapes or letters or colors on them, and play games to incorporate that..."hop on a pink heart." or " everyone hop on a heart with the letter H on it".

for art, the easel has red and white paint. i might put heart shaped paper there, or heart stamps. the table has materials put out, and the kids are free to choose what they want to create. (paper of different types, crayons, markers, glue, tissue paper, bingo dabbers, etc) i would probably add heart stickers or foam shapes and paper doiles (i always find at the $ store).

prepackaged crafts are great for fine motor and learning how to follow directions. And i LOVE them for days when the SA are here. keeps 'em busy. but in my opinion, they are not art.


so for me, it only takes and hour or so to change out activites, and look up a couple of songs for circle time. good storage is key, and so is laminating everything so it lasts longer.

Reply

I love the prepackage stuff and bought mgt for a while, but its so expensive for me. I tried making my own, but i found that I had to do it the night before get everything ready. My kids are too young to decide what they want to do so I have to do it for them, but I love prepackaged stuff.

Reply

I really like Itty Bitty Bookworm! You can either purchase a CD or download the curriculum at a very affordable price. It focuses on a book each week and you can use it over and over again. I sometimes purchase the book of the week, if I don't already have it, or reserve it at my local library. It find it easy to substitute a similar book if necessary. I find this curriculum simple and easy to follow, and I can can change it around to suit our needs.

Reply

I have used Funshine Express and Carol's Affordable Curriculum. Both are really good

Reply

I like the christian supplemental curriculum from Funshine.

Reply