I know that picture you have in your head.
Everyone’s up. The beds are made. The breakfast dishes are already rinsed and in the dishwasher. The children are excited to start their homeschool day and you just topped off your coffee. It’s Morning Time! The gleeful giggles warm your heart as you dive into a perfect homeschool day.
Uh-huh.
We don’t generally have days that start like that. Honestly, I’m not a morning person. At all. My darling boys are well aware that mommy can’t talk coherently until after a (large) cup of coffee. Thank you, Keurig, for always being there for me. I digress.
BUT . . . over time Miss Mason has endeared to me the quiet, restful, gentle art of learning. And while we still have kerfuffles some days, altogether morning time has centered and grounded our homeschool in ways that allow us to weave the foundation of our day well.
Here is a glimpse into our homeschool morning schedule.
UPDATE:
We are now using The Homeschool Garden Morning Time as our morning time base. We’d love for you to join us!
A Call to Morning Time Learning
To begin our morning basket homeschool time rituals, I light my favorite Mrs. Meyers Lavender Candles when I sit down to my coffee and Write the Word journal. That way, it smells cozy and calm by the time we are ready to begin morning time.
I give the boys notice to put away their games or drawing supplies or LEGOs and turn on our morning song for the term. We are using Mozart’s Sonata 17 in C currently and it’s such a peppy and fun call to start the day! When the song ends, they know to be at the table. They get to take turns ringing our crystal butterfly bell to call us to order. It belonged to my Mamaw, and using it makes me feel like she’s a part of our homeschool.
*You don’t need a long song, but I have a child who has to work up to transitions and the longer length helps him work up to the change in activities.*
This sweet, gentle call to attention took about two weeks to really solidify into the boys quieting down and recognizing that it meant we were now in learning time. It was worth the effort. They look forward to our homeschool morning time ritual.
Morning Time Scriptures and Hymns
We begin our morning time homeschool with an opening prayer. We use the opening prayer from our Memoria Press guide on Monday to keep it fresh, and we are working through various other prayers through this year. This year we are memorizing the Disturb Us, Lord prayer of Sir Francis Drake. The Prayers for Children book has several sweet short prayers to help your younger children cultivate their hearts with beautiful words so they can form their own prayers later.
We follow our prayers with either a hymn or a folksong. For our hymns, we use Then Sings My Soul. It has the history of the hymn and the sheet music. We only learn the first line if it is a multiple verse hymn. We recently learned the Doxology and hearing tiny hearts sing praises is absolutely the best way to begin the day! For folk songs, Ambleside Online has a great list compiled.
We loop our morning basket schedule for these. Our quarters are 9 weeks long. For each week we learn a new song. The same songs are done in Quarter 1 as in Quarter 3, and Quarter 2 as in Quarter 4. At the end of our year the boys have learned 18 new songs.
We utilize recitation and narration. Awana verses are often our recitation materials. We use poetry, other scripture passages, and quotes to work on reciting well. We practice good speaking posture, breathing correctly, and speaking clearly.
For our narration readings we use The Story Bible or short story/chapter books like The Burgess Animal Book (this one is also good for nature study) and Little Sir Galahad, a book from the Lamplighter collection of rare books. If you haven’t ever seen their books, I simply cannot recommend them highly enough. They are inspiring stories full of food for the moral imagination.
Music and Art Study for Morning Time
We do either music or art each day in our morning time. SQUILT is by far my favorite resource for actual music study. This is our second time through Bach because Mr. T and I both love him. The study is fun and simple.
We also incorporate whatever composer we are studying into our daily life throughout the week or weeks we study them. The music plays as background for meal time, or playtime, or even in the car. We sometimes draw what we are hearing or narrate how the music sounded and how it made us feel.
It doesn’t need to be complex! Good music is full of truth, beauty, and goodness. The mathematical beauty that Charlotte Mason loved so much is exemplified through music like no other medium. Allow your children to discover, to consider, and to determine what they like or don’t about the music.
Our current art project is a really fun video course on chalk pastel space art! Chalk Pastels are easy to use and clean up. It ties in nicely with our astronomy studies, too.
Artist study is another component of our homeschool morning work. We do a single artist and multiple pieces each week. We learn a short bio of the artist and cover a few pieces over the course of the week through visual study. Mr. T has a remarkable aptitude for art. We use using online images, post cards, Simply Charlotte Mason portfolios (these are beautiful but expensive so we only get 1-2 a year), and the Memoria Press art cards for the appropriate grades. Vincent’s Starry Night is also a lovely reference for art pieces and artist biographies.
History and Geography in Morning Time
These subjects sometimes trickle into our morning time schedule by way of literature or questions. History often ends up becoming a topic of conversation through an interesting tidbit of a book or a question about when something was written and why.
We are working on learning more rote geography this year so map tracing is included 1-2 days a week. I print out a map from WonderMaps, laminate it, and the boys either trace it on tracing paper with a sharpie or directly with a dry erase marker. We are working on continents and countries this year.
Poetry
Poetry is such a beautiful gift. Teaching children the art of wordsmithing through classic poems is a delight. A Child’s Book of poems and Animals, Animals are our first selections for this year. Later in the year we will tackle another Shakespeare piece, but I haven’t picked it yet so suggestions are welcome!
To close our morning time, we blow out our candle and then take a quick 5-10 minute leg stretching break before moving to the rest of our day. This entire process takes just under an hour and look at how much gets done!
If you are feeling lost or overwhelmed or would like a guide through morning time, we created The Homeschool Garden Club as a wonderful resource and if you don’t want to create your own morning time plans, we’ve got that covered, too!
Are you including morning time in your homeschool this year?
If you are looking for homeschool morning basket resources these are some of our favorites!
Kooky Crumbs – fun poetry for young children
Nature to Color
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice from Maestro Classics
Homeschool morning time is truly a blessing.
This is so helpful. Thanks very much for taking the time to outline how you do your morning time and the resources you draw from. Which ASANA curriculum would you recommend for recitation for younger ones?
I like how you have all your stuff together in (what looks like) a painted wine crate. I have a few that I used to use for CDs and have now been thinking of a good, new use for them and that might just be it because I don’t like using a basket!
Thank you! It’s actually a box I found on clearance at Michael’s but that’s a great idea to look for old crates. My boys are too hard on baskets so we stick to boxes, lol.
I’m not a morning person either! Your Homeschool Morning Time sounds lovely though. You have made it a wonderful, gentle start to the day. I love that you have your Mamaw’s bell too, what a wonderful tradition. Pinning this post. Thank you so much for sharing, and for being a part of the Hearth and Soul Link Party. Have a lovely weekend!
Thank you, April! It has taken us awhile to get settled into the routine, but it is a wonderful part of our day. Thanks for hosting such a fun link up!
I tend to read aloud while the boys eat breakfast. We read one “fun” book that is almost always a chapter book and then we often read either a science, geography, or history book to go with it. By then breakfast is done and they usually start right in on their own schoolwork or else they head off to get dressed and ready for the day. I find that slow start to our day helps tremendously.
Yes! A gentle start to the day seems to benefit all of us around here 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Does a good breakfast count? That gives us a great start.
My boys would say no, unless there’s also a second breakfast in there, lol. They are big eaters and are killing us already on the grocery bill! I know a lot of people really do well with a big morning meal, but I am not one of them. Whatever works for your family is the best way to go in my opinion 🙂
We enjoy listening to the bible on my phone while we eat breakfast and while i sip on my coffee. Would Love this basket! Thank you for all your encouragement!!!
Would Love this basket! One of her main focus is this year will be starting a morning basket:)
We are just starting this year – so far the kids have been enjoying Aesop’s Fables.
We are going to add a morning time to our days this year! I’m really looking forward to it! These resources have given me some ideas- thank you!
We actually usually start late morning/early afternoon… so does BPC (bullet proof coffee) count? LOL This year will be different and we do plan to start earlier but a good breakfast is our BEST day starter. Thanks for a lovely giveaway.
Great ideas, thanks!
I would love to use the Usborne Art Treasury in morning time.
We haven’t incorporated morning time yet…but I would love to, and like the idea of art cards!
Scripture Memory
My favorite MT resource so far has been Pam Barnhill’s Your Morning Basket podcast! That may be a cheater answer but it’s how I’ve found so many great resources, and helped equip me to start my own Morning Time. So thankful! These Memoria Press art cards look awesome, though!
Favorite resource would be music – whether hymns or classical that we are currently learning about.
We are just getting started with Morning Time on a regular basis this school year. I love the idea of lighting a candle and having that as a routine to prepare for the time together. I think our favorite item will end up being our memory work and whatever books we are reading aloud.
A morning basket changed our homeschool last year! We especially loved the artist portfolios from SCM
We’re just about to start homeschooling, and plan to play music, read stories, and learn prayers during our morning time. Thanks for the giveaway!
Good selection of books. I like the Hymnal a lot, i really like to sing Hymns with the family.
This is our first year doing Morning Basket, but the thing I’m most looking forward to is art study and hymn study. I’m using things from SCM for this.
I am new to homeschooling. (since January) I have never done a morning basket or a special morning thing. I am going to start implementing doing a special morning routine when we start back up next week.
What a wonderful selection of books
Hymns and my diffuser.
I listen to the bible on CD while making breakfast/drinking coffee!
Thanks for the post. I need to be diligent in my morning time and you make it sound more simple than I make it!
I love the story of the orchestra book and cd, it’s great for a short music study
The Bach SQUILT and CD!
This would be awesome! This will be our 3rd homeschool year. 8th grade and 4th grade. Really hoping to get into a good routine this year!
I love reading missionary stories or good biographies
The Bible and hymns are our favorite!
Thank you for a glimpse into your day! We’re starting a morning time routine this year and I appreciate the ideas!
Thanks for a chance to win.
i would LOVE this.
We’re going to start morning basket this year. I’m looking forward to reading poetry. The Kooky Crumbs kids poetry book looks fun! I also love the idea of using the Usborne art cards. Thanks for a chance to win!
I love to read our Bible stories and listen to Beethoven’s Wig to start our day.
Reading aloud and just enjoying good books together.
Coffee and 15 minutes of quiet time before getting a start on our day!
We like to start with music!
We’ve been reading “Where the Sidewalk Ends” during our morning time and my kids are loving it!
We have always called morning basket tabletime… and we alway love our current read aloud the best!
These are amazing morning basket items! I’ve been looking for some inspiration to help get our mornings off to a great start. I absolutely love that you have a musical cue to start the day, too! Thanks for sharing!
We will be using SQUILT’s Meet the Instruments this year. I have a large age span of children and love that our morning time lets us all learn together.
I actually found your page while looking for some morning time inpiration, as we currently do not have a morning time routine besides calendar time. I think my children and I would enjoy having that special time in the morning with some art or inspiring literature.
We love watching CNN10 – a 10 minute world news for students!
Thank you for the opportunity to win! We are newish to homeschool, so we began mornings with Bible.
Coffee? Seriously, though, we’ve been using the Our Daily Bread for Kids 365 Meaningful Moments with God and love it.
Coffee and a Bible are essential.
Coffee for me, hot cocoa for my son, and the sunrise. We are still new to homeschooling, this basket would be a wonderful resource. Thank you for the opportunity 🙂
Actually, we are reading through Everyday Graces by Karen Santorum currently and enjoying it!
The Bible ?
I think Usborne books often work great for morning time.
I really want to make this more of a habit for us! Do not know our favorite yet but excited to explore and find out!
Coffee is definitely my most important morning resource, but I love “Then sings my soul”. I have yet to establish a good morning routine so thank you for sharing. Those art cards look amazing also.
Coffee….yup just coffee in the morning.
Ooooh! I need this! 🙂
Everything a Child Should Know About God is my favorite!
The Jesus Storybook Bible!
My favorite morning time resource is the Bible.
I just picked up A Child’s Garden Of Verses and am enjoying sharing that with my 1&3 year old, that art card set looks awesome though!
A Child’s Garden of Verses
My favorite morning time resource right now is the Bible (with Veretas Bible cards). Those art cards look great!
Favorite resource is Bible, and then internet.
We don’t do a “morning time” just a calendar time but they have a very different feel I would love to add in some Morning time before we do our calendar.
The Bible comes first!
Our favorite morning ritual is journaling while our minds are still fresh
–before we get bogged down and encumbered by all the stuff the day can bring.
We don’t have a consistent morning time routine yet, but I’m looking to start and this would be a perfect way to begin!
We’ve never tried morning baskets but I would love to do so now!
We totally don’t have a morning routine/basket. Sigh. But such is our season of life with special needs and intervention therapies. My ideal dream is to have it, but maybe when the season changes.
the bible and prayers
devotional Bible
My favorite Morning Time resource is my Bible & coffee.
Right now, our morning time routine is reading the Scriptures using a chronological chart. We spend an hour each morning going around the table and all of our readers have a chance to read.
This giveaway gives me some great ideas, thanks!!
My favorite morning resource is simply my Bible and my journal.
The Famous Paintings art cards look like something my children would enjoy!
We don’t have a morning routine yet as we are new to homeschooling but I plan on doing a basket and I’m so excited to have found this post. I plan to reference it as I build my basket in the upcoming weeks.
I think my favorite morning time resource is the hymnal.
Yes. That’s always a great one!
I’ve been wanting to start a morning basket routine but wasn’t really sure what to do! This is perfect because it’s already put together! Thank you so much!!
You’re welcome! If you want a full program with lots of resources, definitely check out Pam’s resources mentioned above. The seasonal plans are delightful!
We are using a family Bible study from Generations of Grace. I didn’t expect to love it, but I do!
That’s wonderful! I will have to check them out. I’ve not heard of that one before.
my bible!..and my coffee..is that even a resource????
Yes! Coffee is always a resource. For me, I’m constantly trying to decide if the money for it should come out of the grocery or homeschool budget 😉
We started morning time last year and it made such a difference in our day. We’re still working out the kinks – we tend to get wrapped up in all the fun things we’ve doing and it’s hard to close out morning time and get on with the rest of our day! 🙂 Excited about some new resources.
It’s fun once you get into it! But yes, I have to watch the clock or we just keep going.
We don’t have a set ‘morning time’ routine, but usually we start our homeschool days with some bible or devotional readings. We have tried SQUILT before – I think it’s really great! I really like the idea of ringing a bell – or really just doing anything fun/special for the kids to register that it’s time to settle down and change focus.
Yes. Rituals are a beautiful way to teach and to create traditions. SQUILT is pretty awesome, isn’t it? 🙂
We love to read Children’s Bible Stories.
That is a wonderful way to start the day!
*gasp!* I love your candle and bell idea. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Even though my kids are older, I think we could use something like this to train ourselves to switch our brains fully over from “morning wandering” to “morning school time.” Thank you!
You’re welcome! Thank you for stopping by 🙂
We love A History of Us for our history reading.
Great basket! Love those art cards.
They are really fun 🙂
For now we just watched learning shows.
We love our Betty Luken bible through felt for morning time… though it doesn’t quite fit in our basket. Needs its own shelf!
That sounds really fun!
My favorite morning time resource is the Artist Portfolios by Simply Charlotte Mason. So many of the things in your post look interesting that I am bookmarking it to use as I plan for school to start in two weeks!
I’m glad you found helpful resources! We do love those portfolios 🙂
I enjoy reading the warrior Bible to my 7 year old son. I love the bonding time.
We are loving The Amazing Dr. Ransom’s Bestiary of Adorable Fallacies. It’s for older students, but even Jonathan is getting the hang of it. So we are throwing a little logic into our mornings.
I want that book for me, lol! Logic is fun, I bet they all enjoy it.