I just recieved my first kit today (buttercups) and I was looking through the program. It doesnt seem like there is stuff to do everyday. i see it says day 1 and day 2 but are you supposed to repeat everything for the rest of the week.

Also, I was thinking that it seems easy enough that I could just purchase what I need and save it for next year to use. Do any of you do that?

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Buttercups is designed so that there are only 2, sometimes 3 days, per week of craft/art time. On the few pages after Day 1 and Day 2 are some other activities for other developmental areas to do for the other days of the week. Buttercup is for toddlers so the structured part of their curriculum is pretty vague and really general. I used to use Firefly for the older kids but this year I have a younger group so I thought I'd try the Buttercups. It is ok so far but I really liked the way the Firefly curriculum was set up. I have used the Funshine Express for the last 3 years and I have saved all of the curriculum guides and have found it is fairly simple to plan ahead and buy the necessary items for crafts and reuse parts of the curriculum but I have had a tough time with the crafts that are pre-printed. (can't restock them myself). I have learned to make a copy of the pre-printed craft page before we do the craft and then put it away as a "master copy" because I know I will want to use it another year. Once I remembered to do that it has been really nice.

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My first year using Funshine and also do the buttercups..somehow I have been able to do daily stuff from the book each 5 days. I went through the entire book and marked each section of what I was doing for the day..so part of the page was on the 1st of the month, another part of the page was the
2nd of the month and so on..somehow I have no idea how but it has worked out that the whole book I was able to do something everyday for the entire 3 months.

Like day one (Monday) I do the Physical stuff, Tuesday Cognitive, Wednesday Social , thursday Craft day , Friday something else I cant remember right now.

Not much help but it was very overwelming for me at first and over a couple of days I figured out what to do.

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I use that pull out that comes in the center of the book. Ipost it on the cubboard door so I can reference it easily. It says different headings for each day like, Lang. Devel, Songs and Rhymes, Cognitive Devel, etc. It lists all the weeks and days so it is easy to follow. I had a tough time at first, but you are so right about once you start to use it for a bit, it definitely gets easier.

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I just looked at some of this funshine stuff.
some craft they recomend for the little little ones
the glue? my 18mo old would eat the glue
I don't get it.
do I have abnormal kids
I could NEVEr bust out glitter and glue with this age range
what am I doing wrong?

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For the little ones I usually have them create it with no glue - like put the eye where they want it, the feather whatever then I will glue it down where they put it. At least they are handling it and still using their imagination creating their project...Im just the one making everything stick.

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My 18 - 20 month olds LOVE glue. they touch it, stick, unstick, restick, touch it again... White school glue and glue sticks. We use glitter glue like paint, with sponge brushes. I just make sure I do it one child at a time so I can be there to make sure it doens't go in the mouth.

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The glue stuff does get difficult but I try to use glue sticks and thank the lord I only have 3 toddlers so it isn't like having a group of 10 kids under 2 with glue. Yikes! That would be horrible! Some of my pre-schoolers have a tough time with glue. I do try to modify (or skip) the craft activities the best I can. For example some of the art/craft things involve small bit of dry beans and seeds and I skip those and do something else. I've looked at other curriculums but haven't found anything yet that is better. I like the way Funshine is packaged and presented.

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Oh, and I was pleased at first with BC but as I got on with it, "I" got bored with it. I am thinking of trying Mother Goose Time to see if I like it better.

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Same here. I purchased 2 3month sections and was bored with it. I am in the process of ordering the Mother Goose Times too. I heard it was much better. We'll see. Maybe its all in the preparation and planning of these types of curriculum rather than the literal sense of them.

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I have no experience with purchased curriculums but wanted to second the suggestion of glue sticks. They are far less messy, not as sticky and easier to control than white glue at that age.

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Does mother goose have a toddler curriculum? I can't afford it anyways but I too have heard that it is better. I'm not sure my toddlers will sit still long enough for these activities but we'll see. Let my know how mother goose time goes.

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