Sailboats and Problem Solving Skills with MGT

I don't know if it was a full moon, or if my kids were just exhausted from Tiny B's Feeding Tube-Free Celebration the day before, but it was *ridiculous* on Sunday evening in my home, so I found myself breaking out my Mother Goose Time materials at a time when I'm normally relaxing or planning for the week ahead. Tiny B has been begging to make a sailboat ever since she saw me unpack the lessons for the month, so I figured this would be the perfect activity to stop the pure crazy taking place! 

*You will notice that Stong B is absent for the first part of the activity. He was busy doing three year-old things (crying in his room because he wanted peanut butter on a spoon and I gave it to him on a fork and apparently this was completely unacceptable and enough to make a three year-old ponder the meaning of life, for an HOUR I kid you not). Anyway. Moving on. 

Tiny B decorated her boat and we discussed how to make sails. We also watched some short YouTube clips on boats sailing. I don't know that she had enough prior knowledge on sailing to truly understand how it works, and I think I was able to show her.

I then decided to combine two of the day's activities because they naturally fit well together. I had her go outside and find nature items that would make a good boat. She found some old leaves and twigs.

She finished up her own boat while I got the tub of water ready in the kitchen. Yes, in the kitchen. I regretted that before I even started. The May Gray here has made it pretty chilly. 

She did need help with taping the sails and figuring out how to place them on a straw. 

She took her sailboat and her nature materials for a boat and tried sailing all of them. She quickly learned that the sailboat floated initially, until it fell over in the water and her Little People fell over too. This made her sad but it led to a perfect discussion on what a boat needs to sail and how too much weight (including water weight) can cause a boat to sink. 

Her idea was to get her blow dryer to dry it. (Please note that it is battery powered and I knew there were no batteries in it anyways). We talked about how if there were a way to dry it that it might work again. I allowed her to pretend blow dry the boat for just long enough for her to see that it wasn't going to work. 

Oh, and those little legs in the picture mean that Strong B took a break from his campaign for a spoon of peanut butter in order to help Tiny B with ideas. (Also note: I would have just given him a spoon but hubby was insistent that we stick to our guns on this one because little man can't always have his way). 

Strong B was interested in the big stick that Tiny B had brought in to use as a boat. 

Tiny B decided the boat was non-functioning so she tried to float her dead leaves and discovered it did work. We followed the teacher guide suggestion and tried to come up with ways in which to move the "boats." On her own, she decided she could push the water and "make waves."

She also tried to blow the water and "make wind."

I offered up the wheel-thingy to try to move the water (it didn't work). We dumped the little boat manipulative in the water to discover if they floated. Then the sailboat went back in and some more dead leaves and even some cars. It was mayhem! But I suppose that that's the perfect end to a preschool activity that involves boats and water and the kitchen floor. And a three year-old with a hankering for a peanut butter spoon.

*I receive Mother Goose Time curriculum in exchange for my honest sharing of experiences, resulting from our personal use. All opinions/thoughts are my own and are in no way influenced by others.

Busy B's and Bees!

What a busy month May is! I've just ordered all of the teachers/therapists/aides end of the year gifts for these amazing women who work with and love my children. There are about 14 of them! I'm busily putting that together as well as organizing Tiny B's Tube Free Celebration for this coming Saturday. These things along with a bunch of other out of ordinary happenings have kept us busy as bees! Last night I couldn't sleep because my mind wouldn't stop racing with all of the things that I need to get done. I'm looking forward to next year where a few things that will really make a difference will be different and hopefully make for a calmer me. Strong B will be home with me so this means that I won't be dropping him off and picking him up 4-6 times a week, and I'm really praying that Tiny B can get her occupational therapy during her writing lessons in school. The extra therapies are what really exhaust me. I already know that I'll need to take her to additional speech, but I'm just praying that we can stop the constant in and out of the car, which will make for a much better homeschool teacher in me. But until mid-June, we'll continue to go one-hundred miles an hour.

A homeschool mama told me last summer that I would have so many social activities for the kids that it would be hard to fit school in. Boy, was she right!

I spent time planning out the beautiful Boats and Floats theme for Mother Goose Time (MGT) this month, and the kids are chomping at the bit to do all of the watery fun things. I decided to do one last day to finish up a few lessons that we didn't get to this month. 

This lesson goes all of the way back to Day 2 of bees and their food. (I started the month with the end of the month's lessons on butterflies because we were raising our own beauties). I'm attending a homeschool conference next month and one of the classes is on grandparents and homeschooling. At last year's conference one beautiful speaker described how she homeschooled her children throughout their childhood and her husband's mother or grandmother (or maybe her elderly grandmother?) lived with them and contributed a great deal to their upbringing. That really resonated with me. My mom and stepdad live very close and I love when she comes over and teaches them. She took a Waldorf art class about are and children last week and learned so many things. Today she did Mother Goose Time with the kids. What fun she is having! 

The first activity involved the kids being busy bees and transporting their pollen to their hive in their second stomach, which is for storage. I did want to use ice cube trays as their hive, as the teacher guide recommended, but I couldn't find any. That would have been fun. They still managed to squeeze their droppers and transport their pollen (water) for a surprisingly long time! I could probably have kicked back and read a magazine if I would have known how long they would want to explore with the droppers!

Strong B was really engaged with this activity. Tiny B got excellent fine motor practice as she squeezed the dropper over and over again. She kept looking at her brother's cup to see if he was filling it faster than her. She was not having that! I'm discovering just how competitive she is. I'm thinking God blessed her with this characteristic and she has used it for strength ever since she was born in her tiny one pound and eleven ounce body. 

After about 10-15 minutes of squeezing the droppers, we watched a few YouTube films on bees, and then we moved on to the "Fill the Honeycomb" game. First we counted the numbers out loud to sixteen (I want Tiny B to have mastery over this over the next month or so and definitely before kindergarten). Then we took the "pollen" (the see-through circle counters) and made a "window" over each number to set up the game. Again, perfect fine mother skill practice using the pincer grasp to place those counters. 

Here you can see grandma reading the MGT Teacher Guide. 

They took turns rolling a dice and then taking that number of pollen and placing it in the hive. We worked together like worker bees to fill our hive. 

April's curriculum gave us six beautiful weeks of lessons and now we are ready to move onto Boats and Floats. I've already chosen the lessons that I want to do and I'm hoping that we can somehow be done by the beginning of June in order to start A to Zoo Animals. We are ready and have our zoo passes and plans in place! 

*I receive Mother Goose Time curriculum in exchange for my honest sharing of experiences, resulting from our personal use. All opinions/thoughts are my own and are in no way influenced by others.

Mother's Day Kit in MGT and Thoughts on Mothering

As May passes, I'm starting to think about our plans for the summer and next year. Last year at this time I was planning for kindergarten for Tiny B at the charter homeschool (and knowing that she was NOT ready--if she had not been so premature she wouldn't be in kindergarten the upcoming year) and I was up to my ears in anxiety over the fact that she wasn't eating orally at all and her migraines were being made worse by the constant tube feeds with the formula. I was planning on my son not being able to attend any sort of preschool. Three months later, Tiny B was off her feeding tube and starting her wean, I was able to convince the charter homeschool that she needed to enter transitional kinder instead of kindergarten, and my son was able to attend two mornings of preschool a week! God really turned things around in a total display of miracles and love for us. 

This year, I am not unsettled about anything regarding the kiddos and I'm looking forward to next year, where Tiny B will enter kindergarten and attend the charter homeschool two days a week. Strong B will be home with me every day and won't attend a preschool. He'll be doing Mother Goose Time with me and Tiny B, and I couldn't be more excited or confident. I feel so blessed that God has provided this opportunity for me to blog for MGT and receive the curriculum, and I am so confident that Strong B will be provided ample opportunities to learn the preschool objectives, as well as learning the love of knowledge and education. 

I've learned that a gigantic part of being a mom is making minute by minute choices for your children and doing your best in these choices. Some choices might seem "different" to others, such as weaning Tiny B off of her feeding tube with a team of doctors a world away in Austria and over the Internet. But I felt that tug in my heart to do it, and I think that all moms have that tug. I also feel that tug to stop doing certain things that I'm doing, such as sending Strong B to this amazing preschool (that I love!) two mornings a week. We are a one car family and our scheduling needs to change next year, and God has placed this sense of calm within my heart, that I am doing what He wants me to do. Every day I find ways in which I think I'm failing as a mom, but I think that it's the current culture that is causing many of us to feel this way. I think that we just need to continue listening to those tugs (often times the Holy Spirit) and our kids will be okay. 

I'm counting the days until I attend a homeschool conference next month, where I will attend lots of classes and rest in my very own hotel room where I will plan and daydream about next year, and probably eat way too many cookies. Last year my time at this convention was amazing, and it was almost as amazing to spend the time alone in my room, without having to meet little people's needs. I never understood just how hard being a mom was. I taught for ten years, having hundreds and hundreds of parent-teacher conferences, while having absolutely no idea what the moms across the table from me were feeling. If I were to go back to it, I'd be different, for sure. 

My mom is a mom who has loved me unconditionally my entire life, even when I was a big jerk to her. She still has such empathy for me and what we have gone through over the last six years. So when Mother Goose Time included an art project in their Mother's Day kit that came with the month's curriculum, I knew that the project was meant for my mom, and not for me. 

The owl was pre-cut, but I had the kids do everything else themselves. I love how Stong B's is so different. He wanted it to look different. Isn't that funny, that even a 3 year-old wants to be original? Tiny B was not happy that her brother didn't want to put the parts in the correct position, but hopefully we were able to show her the fun of originality. 

My mom adored the art and insisted that I laminate it. The kids handed it to her as they walked through her door and surprised her. I was watching through the window and I will never forgot the look of sheer joy in her face as she saw them. 

Please excuse my blurry pictures. I still haven't gotten a new phone (pure laziness!) and it is full, meaning that I have to take pics with my husband's phone and text it to myself. One of the many things that I'd love to change about myself in this phase of life is that I get lazy...I don't get everything done that I should. Maybe this mama will start to get better at this as Tiny B's needs become less. Being a mom is oh so tiring, but also beautiful. 

A Glimpse into One MGT Lesson

The school year is almost over and we've accomplished more than I thought possible. Tiny B taught herself how to eat and both kiddos just bloomed academically and socially. 

Tiny B has four weeks more for her stoma (feeding tube hole in her tummy) to close before she'll require surgery. It's more complicated than we had thought, but this girl has been through big surgeries and is so brave...She'll be okay if it has to happen. Of course we are praying that it will simply close on its own! It's the final chapter of The Tube and we are ready to close that book for good. 

 I thought it would be good for me to detail one lesson instead of going over many in one blog post, like I usually do. For each day, Mother Goose Time (MGT) gives four different activities and they basically tell you exactly what to do. You can change it if you'd like, or simplify or make it more challenging. In fact, they often give you ideas as to how to do this!

I followed this lesson exactly as it's written, and this is what I typically do. I love the natural way that MGT lays out their lessons. 

Our lesson was about butterflies and weather. I retrieved my weather pieces that come with the Circle Time tools and I cut apart the storytelling set given to me in the day's bag. I also set crayons and paper in front of my kiddos. 

I began by asking them their favorite type of weather. Tiny B said that she likes rain and Strong B said he likes sun. 

I then had them draw their favorite weather. Strong B drew crocodiles. When I tried to redirect him, he wasn't having that, so I just let him continue with his crocodiles. He's three and can't sit for long periods of time, so I really want to just encourage him to love learning right now. That is my goal. 

Tiny B drew her rain and trees. She is a very willing student. In her IEP meeting this week, her specialists went on and on about how hard she tries and how she is always paying attention during speech and occupations therapy and the one half day that she attends transitional kindergarten. 

I had the kids each pull a weather piece from a pile and describe what would happen to a butterfly in that type of weather. Strong B drew the snow piece and said that the snow would bury the butterfly. I was really impressed with this! Tiny B drew the rain piece and said that the butterfly would get wet. We talked more about the possible scenarios.

They took turns telling a story about a butterfly in different weather. Tiny B loves storytelling and perhaps hearing the sound of her own voice...and her story was long, didn't make much sense, and was absolutely adorable. She was just so excited with the story pieces and didn't want to give them up to her brother. The "assess" portion of the lesson made me ask myself if there was a beginning, middle, and an end to the story, and the answer was that there was a beginning and a middle but not much of an end. It just went and went and went...This is common with 5 year-olds and we will definitely be working on this. 

I love any type of assessment, whether formative (quizzes, anecdotal notes, questions to ask yourself such as what MGT asked) or summative (end of the year tests, final tests, state tests) because it really guides teachers/parents in what they need to teach next. This simple suggestion from MGT will truly help to guide our future storytelling sessions!

Strong B told a very short story about a butterfly, weather, and a fart. I love 3 year-old boys for reasons such as this. Never a dull moment! I wish that I could show you his smiling face as he told his story! Unfortunately I'm not doing front face pictures in my blog, but just imagine him grinning ear to ear! His story also lacked an ending. 

This is his fart face. 

After the fart story, Strong B had had enough and I had Tiny B draw a scene from her story and describe that scene in a sentence, and I wrote that sentence down for her. 

Look how beautiful the storytelling pieces are. I adore this part of the MGT curriculum. Storytelling is a place where Tiny B really shines. 

I intended to stop the day's lessons there and not do the craft, but they both insisted on doing it. So we did the Migrating Butterflies craft. Tiny B recognized "migrating" yesterday which shows that it really stuck with her. We discussed symmetry (a very hard mathematical concept!) and fingerpainted one side of the butterfly and folded it over so that the exact image would be symmetrical on the other side. 

I think this look sums up how Strong B feels when doing MGT lessons...PURE JOY!!!!

The Art Of Learning: Dance n' Beats

The amazing news that I wrote about in my last blog post, is that Tiny B just had a beautiful development in her metamorphosis...The doctor approved the removal of her feeding tube and we removed it that same night. 

When we had her tube placed at nine months old because she had stopped eating due to severe reflux, I had asked the doctor if she thought we would be able to remove it at a year of age. That makes me laugh now (and cry a little too!) because the reality is that we wouldn't be able to remove it for another five years. In between there was diagnoses of cyclical vomiting syndrome and migraines and then there was tube dependency (which I will write about at a later time) but God has allowed us to break free from the tube finally. There are still struggles and needs from being a micropreemie, but we will continue to grow and be thankful to God every single day. 

We released our butterflies and much to my surprise, that was the best part of raising the caterpillars! To see them feel the wind, see the sun, and find their wings for the first time was truly an experience that everyone should have! And it's not expensive! Look up butterfly kits online and you'll be surprised at the prices. 

Teaching is an art, and so is learning... Every month I order Dance n' Beats from Mother Goose Time. I do this for so many reasons...It's just a lovely program. It comes with a book of lesson plans as a DVD that has songs and dances. Your child basically follows the movement on the screen. The names of the movements are written on the screen which you can call out or just let the children see it for themselves. 

I also order it because it counts as part of Tiny B's PE hours (she is enrolled in a public charter homeschool) and it allows her to really focus on her gross motor skills. She spent years in physical therapy and I removed her from it when I felt that she could get the same amount of instruction from activities which are more fun for her, such as tumbling and Dance n' Beats! 

Strong B is three and a half, and he doesn't do the DVD's as often as Tiny B, but he enjoys them and has got quite a few dance moves from it that he likes to show off! Gosh, if he was ever fully clothed I'd actually have pictures of him to share here...I guess that's the life of a three year-old/homeschooler!

The songs are the same as the monthly theme CD's that come with the Mother Goose Time main monthly curriculum. Therefore, they really get to know the songs well and can even begin to perform the moves when the DVD isn't on!

The brain and body are connected, and it's sometimes a challenge for Tiny B's former micropreemie body to get the directions from her brain. The repetitive nature of the movements and songs in this program really help her to cement those skills and ultimately gain confidence in her brain and body. 

I said earlier that learning is an art. The kids really need to actively participate in the lesson in order for the objective to truly sink in...Tiny B likes to put her tutu on for the dances and even lines her babies up. Now that's active participation and truly turning her own learning into an art. 

I love watching my own butterfly children actively participate in their own learning and really make the lessons their own. 

Mother Goose Time Workbooks

We are in the car on our way to the appointment we've eagerly awaited/dreaded for nine months...Today we will hear whether or not Tiny B is approved for feeding tube removal. I have a small amount of fear, but I have a greater amount of faith that God has got this and that our prayers will be answered. I'm not afraid to speak my mind and to advocate and I have other doctors behind me in this. 

Tiny B is going to tell the doctor herself that she is ready for tube removal. We've practiced her speech and she is ready. She is also having a kidney ultrasound, and because my brain is full of thoughts about both appointments today, I forgot that she had a huge speech evaluation today for her Triennial IEP. 

When it rains, it pours, and we've also got some other things happening, one of which is that I have a painful kidney stone. I don't understand God's timing but I'm so thankful that I was able to hear God at a women's church retreat I attended this weekend, in spite of the pain. So grateful.

I wanted to share a little about the Experience More Math and More Literacy workbooks from Mother Goose Time. These are an addition to the main curriculum and definitely necessary for Tiny B in transitional kindergarten. These books are taking the place of the workbooks given to me by her public charter homeschool program. I order them every month and I love that the theme from the month's curriculum is also the theme of the workbooks. This month is Bees and Butterflies. 

Experience More Literacy contains all sorts of language arts activities. I love the variety. I especially love the reading activities like this one. 

She really enjoyed reading the new words as they were formed as I moved the letters through the slots. Anything that gives her self-confidence, I cling to. We kept this out and she made sure to show daddy later. 

I wanted to include one example of writing. This page is too advanced at this time for her, so we do what we can, which is the single letters, and simply read the sentences at the bottom. We also talk about the sounds and which words they're in. 

Later in the day we pulled out the curriculum which we were working on for the day, which was butterflies. We were so happy to see that it was almost the same as the workbook activity but with an extension of finding the letter that forms the word in order to turn the caterpillar into a butterfly. So adorable, and she was able to reinforce the skills she had just learned. 

The Experience More Math workbook also has the same theme as the monthly curriculum. 

These pages contained patterning and matching the shapes. 

You can find skills books anywhere, but I love that these go along with the monthly theme. Kids tend do do a lot better when they are interested in the subject matter. I remember being able to do a million lessons with sarcophagi--different writing lessons, nonfiction reading and storytelling...all because the 6th graders were soooo interested in sarcophagi! Who wouldn't be?! 

At the end of each workbook there is a small review of the skills where you can assess your student. 

I've come back to finish this blog post after Tiny B's appointments, and I have amazing news. I'll have to wait until next time to share it!

Metamorphosis

As I watch our many caterpillars make their chrystalises in our family room, I can't help but think of Tiny B's life and how she started out as a tiny baby in my womb, whom doctors thought wouldn't make it. I remember sitting on the hospital bed five and a half weeks before her birth and telling a doctor that I knew she wasn't going to make it, and that doctor telling me to not lose hope...She was the only doctor who had any words of encouragement during that time. 

She was born a tiny 1 pound 11 ounce baby, who slowly grew, yet continued to struggle with sitting up, rolling over, and eating. She got her feeding tube at 9 months-old when she stopped eating and she didn't walk until she was 2.5 years old. 

Slowly she started scooting around the room on her butt and then pulling herself to stand with a lot of practice, and finally she walked (after some doctors said she might not) and she slowly started to be able to skip, and at 5 years-old she finally fed herself enough to not be supported by her feeding tube. 

I'm absolutely intrigued by our caterpillars and I have literally spent hours this weekend watching them circle their container, hang in a J position, and finally form their chrysalis. The majority did it at the same time but there were a few who were very behind and haven't made it to chrysalis form yet, but we're watching and waiting.  

They all do it in their own time and when they're ready, just like my little girl. Tiny B has formed her chrysalis and she's emerging, with her little wings. We are focusing more on experiences and interest-based learning rather than it being all about writing her letters and making sure she knows sight words. I pray that I've met the right balance for her in transitional kindergarten. In the coming months I am going to move more towards these concrete skills because she does start kinder in the fall (homeschooling with me still, but she'll also attend her public charter school two days a week) and that's going to be a definite shift, but I'm still going to follow her lead and place more priority on experiences (such as seeing the musical "Lion King" last night and entering a plank challenge today!

Yep, she was in a plank challenge today and held her plank for one minute and thirty-five seconds and would have gone longer if the other kids didn't start coming out of it. It amazed me. Behind us is the man who did the world record plank today at around five hours and thirty five minutes! 

She is turning into a beautiful butterfly right before my eyes. A tiny but beautiful butterfly. 

On the day that we learned what a chrysalis was, we did the "Wrapped in a Chrysalis" activity from Mother Goose Time. 

Strong B and Tiny B acted out the stages of the lifecycle of a butterfly, from egg on a leaf to beautiful butterfly. This activity engaged them for a long time. I don't have pictures of Strong B because he was running around like a crazy child. He loved wrapping himself in his Lightening McQueen blanket chrysalis and emerging as a butterfly living on buckets of sugar. 

We also did a patterning activity that day and read a bilingual book. My dad's first language is Spanish, and therefore Tiny B has taken quite the interest in it. 

We had to go to Tiny B's twice yearly orthopedist appointment. I brought our Mother Goose Time activities for the day's lesson, which was on butterflies. I love the portability of the program! I just brought glue, scissors, crayons, and the bag of activities, and we were set to go--I mean wait--in the room until the doctor could come in! We completed the Lifecycle Plate activity in its entirety before the doc came in. 

These appointments are so hard on me. But they are all a part of her making her metamorphosis. 

In our caterpillar homes at this point, we had two chrysalises, two hanging caterpillars, and one caterpillar still doing laps on the bottom of the cup. In a few weeks they will emerge with a new life. I love being able to show my children the wonder of God's creation, and I'm going go come up with an activity for them to see just how similar they are to these little caterpillars.