Our Morning Time Routine (a closer look) and a peek inside our Morning Basket!

Our Morning Time Routine (a closer look) and a peek inside our Morning Basket!

I LOVE Morning Time. We spend time in the Word, gently ease into our day, enjoy each other’s company and focus on our priorities.

Whenever I think about a Charlotte Mason education, one scripture passage often comes to my mind-

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good—not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.” (Matthew 11:28-30) (AMP)

The Message version says it this way: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

“unforced rhythms of grace” — that’s how our mornings feel when we follow biblical principles and Charlotte Mason’s ways.

So what happens during Morning Time???

After everyone rolls out of bed, we make breakfast.

Most of the time, I read our bible selections for the day during breakfast.

We go over our memory verse for the week.

After breakfast, if we are not already there, we gather in the living room or the homeschool room for the remainder of our reading. Lately, we’ve all enjoyed the living room couches more for this time, so I keep our morning basket in there.

Wherever we are, we read from our books, narrate, stop and look at maps, and look things up online as needed. Each child also has a sketchpad where they can draw during reading if they become too fidgety.

Currently, this is what is in our Morning Basket:

• The Child’s Story Bible & a Regular Bible
• The Aesop Fables
• Handbook of Nature Study
• Zoology 2-Swimming Creatures
• The Blue Fairy Book
• Paddle to the Sea
• James Herriot’s Treasury for Children
• Book of a Thousand Poems
• Little House on the Praire
• Mother West Wind’s Neighbors
• A Child’s Garden of Verses
• Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
• Phonics Pathways
• ABC Flashcards
• A folder containing information on our artists and composers for that term
• Copywork & Doodle Notebooks
• Crayons, Pencils

We read selections from various books throughout the week depending on our schedule. When we finish a book, it gets swapped out for others. I follow most suggestions from Ambleside Online, but I give myself some flexibility to read from other books as well if I feel it’s necessary. My older students also have “meatier” literature for their individual reading time.

Once our reading is finished we begin math, phonics, and copywork lessons. This is a time frame with me rotating and working individually with each child as necessary. One may be doing their math lessons while I do flash cards and reading lessons with another. I also do Lil Miss’s preschool time during this part of our day.

From waking up to lunch time, in total, it is about 3-4 hours.

Conclusion of Morning Time…

By the time we are finished, it is time for me to start making lunch. While I am doing lunch, the kids start on their chores and the littles play outside if they can for about a half hour.

And that’s how our mornings look! We resume lessons, media learning and hands-on work after lunch. It’s pretty simple and laid-back.

What does your morning time look like?