Planning Your Homeschool Morning Time

I first heard of the term “Morning Time” on a podcast by Pam Barnhill. It was the term that a veteran homeschool mom Cindy Rollins coined to describe the special gathering she had with her children each day in her homeschool. The idea spread, and some later called this special time "Symposium," while others referred to it as the "Morning Meeting" or "Circle Time."

What Morning Time Is

What it ultimately is, however, is the opportunity to share the true, the good, and the beautiful with your children. It’s a designated time each day for intention and discussion, reading and sharing.

Morning Time is where I get to put in all of the activities that I believe to be so important in the discipleship and nurturing of our children. It allows me to plug in the best from Charlotte Mason’s ideas, the classical model of education, and other songs and activities that I’ve learned about over the years. It unites us as a family and creates a common thread in our family culture and studies.

What Morning Time Looks Like

Our Morning Time has shifted and changed throughout the years, but it usually is centered on the following: Bible, hymns, memory work, poetry, music/composer study, picture/artist study, and literature. For us, it often begins with a hymn, followed by a Bible devotional or reading, recitation activities, discussion, a poem, and a read aloud or two.

Throughout the years, we have also been intentional about including picture study and artist and composer studies. We have also enjoyed reading poetry by specific authors, such as A.A. Milne and Robert Louis Stevenson over an extended period of time.

How to Plan for Morning Time

In order to prepare, I take a few minutes each month to look over my planning sheet. I select the categories that I hope to cover in that month and cross off any I will skip that month.

<--This Morning Time planning sheet is available for FREE in Member Freebies! Sign up or login to download.

I then look through my Bucket Planner, which includes "Master Lists"with all the hymns, poetry, books, and other ideas that I have recorded along the way. (A Preschool/Kindergarten Bucket Planner is available in my shop. Grades 1-12 are coming soon!) I also look through our curriculum to see if any of the books or titles will be a good fit for all of the children, and then consider any special holidays or events in the upcoming month in order to integrate seasonal books and activities.

I then select 1-2 titles or books for each of the chosen categories and record them on my planning sheet. This is an example of our Morning Time selections from spring last year.

These are the books we are working through right now.

If you prefer pre-made plans, a couple to look into are The Homeschool Garden and The Morning Basket.

How to Prepare for Morning Time

After recording my selections on my planning sheet, I list a sequence of the activities on my Planning Sheet. I try to mix it up between reading and recitation and singing so that the children are not doing any one thing for more than 10 or 15 minutes. I then prepare any necessary copies or activities. I like to put the hymns and memory work in these plastic menu folders, but a regular folder with brads would work just as well.

After putting everything together, I put all of the items in a basket or on a shelf near the area where we gather. This used to be at our breakfast table, so I used to have a basket on our corner bookcase. Now that we are meeting in the living room, I keep everything on an end table. I also put sticky flags in each book, so that we can keep track of our progress, even when reading multiple titles at once.

Another thing I like to include on a nearby bookcase is our “fidget” basket. This is a basket full of items that the children can work on or use during our read aloud time. Some children find it easier to focus when their hands are busy, so I provide this as an option. Our basket has quiet activities like thinking putty, magnetic games, and “Water Wow!” booklets. This has been especially helpful for my little one. You can find more ideas here.

How to Implement Morning Time

Once all of the planning and preparation is done, the most important thing left to do is to schedule a set time or rhythm for Morning Time. For us, this is right after breakfast. We then follow it up with outdoor play before coming back in for independent studies.

Keeping a consistent rhythm helps us to focus on the things that are most important to our family. They also ground us in the good, the true, and the beautiful. Ultimately, Morning Time allows us an easy and simple way to build something so very special, year after year.

Do you include Morning Time in your homeschool?