About a year ago, I stumbled over the concept of incorporating something called “Morning Time” into your homeschool day. At the time, it sounded like such a good thing- promises to ease your transition from Breakfast into school, a chance to bring all the children to the table, and an opportunity to touch on all those subjects that seemed to go by the wayside in that mad rush to get your day to some sort of finished place before breaking for lunch. Despite researching, and listening to podcasts, and giving it a whole-hearted go, it never really clicked for us and eventually it just got lost. When I was looking into improvements for THIS school year, I decided to start with very low expectations and to make some big changes.
The biggest change that I’ve made is that after about 6 years of using the same curriculum, I decided that we needed something different, and I started looking to make that happen. I started with what my goals for our homeschool were, what I wanted to see in the lives of my children in general, and then I found a curriculum that was in alignment with those things. Instead of buying a boxed package, I allowed myself to pick the things that worked for us where we are at in our daily lives, and what keeps us all sane while having a 5, 8 and 10 year old learning at the same time around the table. (I could talk forever about curriculum choices, so if you are interested in that, leave a note and let me know, if you have any specific curriculum questions, I’m happy to try to answer those as well!). With this shift, I noticed that I had a few things that I wanted to be sure that we didn’t miss, things that we could easily work through together as a family, and that naturally created a peaceful transition into our learning time. It also gave me an excuse to pick up a new decorative basket from the store, but shhhh, I don’t think that would be a big selling point to my husband ;)
There are no hard or fast rules about starting a Morning Basket for yourself, but the number one thing to remember is: Keep it Simple and Keep it Aligned with your goals. Our Morning Basket includes some temporary items, a few staples, and some items that I gather from the library on a weekly basis. My goal with our basket is that it provides a connecting point for all of my kids, and that there is something in the basket that makes each person happy (I’ve been lucky that so far, all of the items I’ve included have been things that all the kids enjoy!).
So, for this week, I gathered in my basket: Indescribable, by Loui Giglio. This is our daily devotional and it’s something that all the kids can get something from. I love the way that this book ties a Bible lesson with science. It really helps to set the tone for the day, and even on days where I’ve had a reluctant learner, after a few sentences in this one, I usually have a fully engaged crew. In addition to this devotional, I’ve added the new More Than Words books from MasterBooks. Since we just started this, I’m helping the kids work through them in the morning (it doesn’t take more than 15 minutes to get through a lesson), but the goal is that they will eventually be able to work through these independently, while I can savor my coffee before it gets cold for the second time, and work through my own devotional (Modeling for them really is the best form of teaching!). These workbooks give them a weekly verse to memorize, incorporate picture and poem studies, and are just all around lovely.
The Wizard of Oz is our current read aloud. (Sometimes we rotate through different books, reading a chapter out of one or both at a time, but this week we are just reading through the one). This is a great time to work in a classic that you’ve been wanting to have your kids read, to bring in a book that goes along with something you are studying (I am thinking we might work through The Egypt Game next since we are currently studying Egypt). I’m also going to be reading through books we choose to do a Brave Learner study on during this time (we did the Study on Wonder over the summer, and it was a huge hit, so I’m looking forward to having more of those literary connections with them). I find the key is to not always have to make it a “school” moment. Sometimes, you just want to read a book because you want to read it. The Wizard of Oz has been that for us, and it has opened the door for some truly organic and wonderful conversations. Even my 5 year old will talk about what we read in it during dinner! (And for the record, he doesn’t always sit still for story time, but he does every single day when we read this!)
Sidenote: I keep my basket stocked with some simple art supplies- colored pencils, gel pencils, and drawing paper. Some children focus better and can listen better when their hands are engaged in an activity. My 8 year old will use this time to color, the 5 year old might work through a re-usable sticker book (or a dry erase book), and the 10 year old will typically just listen, or work on some copywork. Be flexible and do what works for your family. At some point, I might put in some finger knitting supplies, or change it up a bit, but I’m happy to keep doing what works for as long as it works. I’ve tucked in the Draw, Write, Now books that correlate to our current History lessons for this time as well. I love the simple step by step help to learn drawing skills and I never pass up a chance for them to practice their handwriting (especially when they don’t realize what they are doing!)
In past years, I’ve wanted to add in a Music Study and Art Study, but working through another textbook, or even just getting some random books at the library didn’t really seem to get the job done. This year, I just got some easy resources, and included them in the Morning Basket. For Music, we are reading through the Story of the Orchestra, and then taking our time to learn about the different composers as we get to them. We are currently studying Vivaldi and I can share with you how we are doing that, incorporpating some living picture books and music. For these subjects: Art, Music, Inventions, I just loop them, meaning that I start with Art the first day, we read 2 pages in The Children’s Book of Art, the next day we move to the next subject and we read the next 2 pages in that book, and so on and so on.
Some of our favorite books for this week! All of these are fantastic picture books, you can’t go wrong with any of them.
Story time is one of my favorite elements in the basket. Before we shift gears and move into our core subjects (History, Science and Language Arts), I incorporate some fun with a picture book or two. I try to find something that is seasonally appropriate, so this week we are reading some fun fall stories, possibly a book I picked up just for fun at the library, and if possible, a story that connects with our current History lesson. I just added the Egyptology book for this and I might even make this be one of our Connections Lessons on a Thursday. I enjoy the extra time to really dig into a subject we are studying, especially if there is a way to add in some more project and hands on learning to it.
I wrap it all up with my current school planner (I’ve got all my school things in an Erin Condren on the go Folio, and I use a Quarterly Petite Planner to keep up with our daily tasks) Let me know if you are interested in hearing me talk more about my planning! I can go on and on and no about it. I also have a Homeschool Mom Journal that I am hoping I get to use more often while my older 2 are working in their new workbooks.
So that’s our Morning Basket in, well, a basket! Have you ever considered using a Morning Basket? What type of help would you like to get started?