Prepackaged Curriculum Burnout

[Cat Herder]

I use a pre-packaged because my life is a bit over tasked for the next few years. At first the boxes were a huge relief and time saver...

Now???

I resent even opening the boxes, doing all the punch-outs and having to plan something for the other 9.45 hours a day we have left after completing their guides.

The projects are mostly all beige, bland, boring and >>>flame suit zipped<<< the activities and themes seem almost condescending to the average intelligence of the age group it is said to be created for....

We are BORED. Mind numbingly b.o.r.e.d..... I bring down the bins and the moaning starts kind of bored.

I know there are some great ones out there, but my budget took a hit buying a full year of the one we have (through next Sept.) and most of those are out of my financial reach.

Any ideas for a supplemental that is fun, bright, fresh and includes enrichment opportunities for those who may catch on quicker than others???

Thank you in advance!!!

[daycare]

Originally Posted by Cat Herder

I use a pre-packaged because my life is a bit over tasked for the next few years. At first the boxes were a huge relief and time saver...

Now???

I resent even opening the boxes, doing all the punch-outs and having to plan something for the other 9.45 hours a day we have left after completing their guides.

The projects are mostly all beige, bland, boring and >>>flame suit zipped<<< the activities and themes seem almost condescending to the average intelligence of the age group it is said to be created for....

We are BORED. Mind numbingly b.o.r.e.d..... I bring down the bins and the moaning starts kind of bored.

I know there are some great ones out there, but my budget took a hit buying a full year of the one we have (through next Sept.) and most of those are out of my financial reach.

Any ideas for a supplemental that is fun, bright, fresh and includes enrichment opportunities for those who may catch on quicker than others???

Thank you in advance!!!

I do my own. I have some prepackage that like you we dreaded for a time so we put them up. Now I just find ways to add them in.

I have been doing the same curriculum for the last 3 years it has only slightly changed do to the age of my kids or the fact that I could not find something.

What I have found is that once you have written your own, you dont have to plan, read, prep and do it all over again. I sit and create enough for 2 years at a time. Right now I am doing March. I will follow my directions from last year. I bought books from the mailbox.com a few years back when they were close out cost of $2.00 each.

I also love to do quick center that take almost no prep time at all. I will have all of the kids rotate through the centers when we are done with the lessons/arts/crafts etc.

In the start of my curriculum I spent many hours on it. I have weekly news letters that I wrote years ago and save in a file. when the next year comes, we do the same exact thing. Children love repetition, it is awesome to see what they remember from year to year.

Currently we have the learning box, which again is a premade kit, but I found that it worked best with the type of program I teach.

I do a 5 day read out loud the same book. Each day we do a different activity based on the book, different craft, writing project, dramatic play and so on.

I say that you just need to find what works best for you and stick to it.

[sunlight]

Super curious as to what curriculum you currently use? I once purchased a full year of a curriculum and really wasn't happy with it. I was able to get a refund and just pay the shipping back on the following month when they sent it out to me. Depending on the curriculum maybe they would do the same.

[Cat Herder]

Originally Posted by sunlight

Super curious as to what curriculum you currently use? I once purchased a full year of a curriculum and really wasn't happy with it. I was able to get a refund and just pay the shipping back on the following month when they sent it out to me. Depending on the curriculum maybe they would do the same.

I don't want to state the name in this post, but peeking at my past posts will answer that. We used to love this curriculum but I have had the same kids for 3-5 years... it has become monotonous. (the quality has also gone down, imho)

I feel asking for a refund would be wrong since I knew very well what I was ordering and they are fulfilling their contract in good faith.

Making my own would be much easier if I had one age group, but the shopping for the crafts my clients expect can be tedious, especially with the small number of kids I have in each age/ability group.

Buying "creative" supplies in bulk from school supply stores would take me years to use, thus becoming redundant themselves...

I am sure when I have the "big turnover" in the next year or two the prepackaged will work again on the new kids... This group is really just burntout.

[Blackcat31]

I PM'ed you.

[daycare]

You dont really need to buy things for the under 3 crowd. I create active games/activities on a seconds notice just following their lead.

like today we played dump the cubes into the cup back and forth for almost 20 minutes, then we played empty the box of puppets,. fill the box, empty the box, fill the box. Another 20 minutes.

Then we took the hand puppets and we played with them for about another 20 minutes. We acted out their sounds, movements and learned to use our words to pass and share with our friends. We did this while the older kids were playing centers. We also used empty boxes to make sleds today. We are reading a book called Red Sled. The little kids really enjoyed sitting in them and getting pushed around the floor.

Yesterday the bigger kids painted them and made them all nice and fancy with glue and glitter.

We don't have any snow where I live, so we have to do a lot of pretending.

I don't buy many things for my under 3 crowd. when I do, they usually prefer to play with the boxes.

[Cat Herder]

Originally Posted by Blackcat31

I PM'ed you.

Thank you!!!!!

Originally Posted by daycare

You dont really need to buy things for the under 3 crowd. I create active games/activities on a seconds notice just following their lead.

I don't buy many things for my under 3 crowd. when I do, they usually prefer to play with the boxes.

I am very much like you in that respect. Having fun and following their intrinsic learning styles come pretty naturally for me... I never grew up.

The problem isn't so much fun stuff to do, it is the expectation that I send home at least 3 product crafts/projects/binders following a theme per week or we are not "doing anything". I am competing with HUGE chains, now...

If their kids bag is not full every Friday, they are perceived as not learning anything here even if they can quote Macbeth or do long division.... I'd say it is safe to say that whereever California parents are in terms of understanding child development, we are 10 years behind... I'd get pounded and flamed, but I'd still say it...

[TaylorTots]

I am not too much help here - I don't buy anything much. I choose a theme relative to the month/time of year/interest of the kids/etc and use pinterest and teacherspayteachers site for freebies - as a prior pre-k teacher I know what they need to learn before Kinder and just apply that to the theme. Nothing too exciting - but cheap and very effective. I have many parents who have enrolled with me as toddlers so they could have me instead of sending their child to preschool in a couple years. However, I have an extra hour a week to donate to planning curriculum - if you don't then I am not much help