Curriculum for mixed ages

[Country Kids]

Help!

I have never had this problem because I didn't have quiet this mixed age before but now I do and not sure what to do.

In our STARS program we have to offer a curriculum that is researched based. No prob, used Mother Goose and all was fine. Now this year, all my older kids have left and I have a 1.10 month old, 2 year old, 3.4 year old, and a 3.7 month old.

Only 2 are here 5 days a week and its the 3.4 month old and 1.10 month old. The two year old is here three days a week, and the 3.7 is here 2 days.

I would have to throw alot of MGT away because of not having kids here every day and I would also have to use the regular MGT and the Toddler MGT.

Any ideas of what I can use for this age range? The parents want preschool for the kids (not intense for little ones but some).

[Country Kids]

Anyone?

[Annalee]

Anyone?

Our stars allow us to make our own curriculum...I show my calendar I develop each month...I actually use bits and pieces from several curriculums....our stars like free expression mostly with limited processed art....We are allowed to have structured activities but NO forced participation....kind of a catch 22 if you ask me! ::

[butterfly]

Why not use the MGT for just the older ones. The younger ones can still learn by listening to you teach the oldest ones. You could order materials for just them, or keep the other materials to do the curriculum again when they are a bit older... I rotate MGT in about every 3 to 4 years. I just keep all the materials and reuse what I can and supplement with my own materials as needed. (I don't reorder the curriculum, I reuse what I already own)

I always ordered materials for the oldest age group and adapted it to fit the youngest ones. I never ordered multiple curriculums for the multiple ages.

[AmyKidsCo]

Do you have to use a purchased curriculum?

Gee Whiz is research based and developed specifically for family child care with mixed ages: infant/toddlers, preschool, older preschool, and school age.

Since it's developed for family child care a lot of the materials they suggest can be found around your house. For instance, they'll call for a bed sheet instead of a parachute.

They do 2-week themes and if you register with them (it's free) you can get a free 10 day sample. like this

[melilley]

Our stars program gives us a wide variety of curricula to choose from.
My kids are 3 and under so I do theme based curriculum. I like it because we have a weekly them, but I can do things based on the children's interest and I can adjust activities according to age. I do have a circle time where we do calendar with the day, date, and month and the kids love to help put up the day or date. We also sing, do finger plays, count, read, etc... I don't force participation, but most of the time the kids come and sit/stand in the circle/reading area anyways. In fact, my 10 mo old dcg always crawls over to us and claps and "participates". Even if they don't participate, I know they pick up on things even when I don't think they aren't listening because I have seen them off in a different area singing or trying to count or whatever. We also learn while we are playing. So I don't do all curriculum from a book because I believe they learn other ways, but enough to satisfy the stars program.