Morning Time: An Adventure Homeschooler’s Best Friend

Morning Time: have you heard of it? And no, I don’t mean the time of day. “Morning time”, also called circle time or morning basket, is a part of your homeschool day when your family gathers together to learn and share. And technically, it doesn’t have to be done in the morning. But that’s just what works best for us.

There are plenty of ways to do morning time, and a TON of learning you can cover in it. In fact, for some families this is the bulk of their homeschool. So what is it exactly?

What is Morning Time?

Morning time is when we all sit and learn together. It’s an opportunity to cover some subjects with all of your children, and to connect with one another. It’s the more enriching part of your day, when you might cover subjects like famous artists, composers, folk songs, and poetry, but it can also be history, geography, vocabulary, grammar, math or even just reading a good book together. (And don’t under estimate picture books. Even with big kids, they’re a real winner!). For a fantastic list of activities to include in your tool box, head over to Read Aloud Revival to see the list that Sarah MacKenzie put together.

Morning time is also a great opportunity to incorporate games into your learning. Because yes, games can also be educational and there is even an entire method of homeschool built around it (it’s called gameschooling).

Why Morning Time?

So why is morning time such a great tool for those who look to adventure for their education? Because this is the time we get to FOLLOW UP on the amazing things we find! Were the trees changing colour? Research why. Did you find scat? Look it up and learn how to identify different types in your area. Found an animal den? Learn all you can about that animal. This is also a great time for talking about safety and stewardship in the outdoors. Morning time can include practicing setting up a tent (then you can spend the night in it). It can be a time to record findings in a nature journal and learn more about those things and add extra notes. It can be used to research new hikes and places to explore, schedule it onto the calendar, and plan for it, including a packing list, budget, and mapping out the journey.

In our home we’ve dabbled in a bit of all of these things, depending on what we’re most interested in at the time. But the thing we always begin our day with is the Bible. We always come prayerfully before God as we dive into the study of his word. Sometimes this is also accompanied by a hymn that we learn, or worship music to set the mood. We also like to share prayer requests and spend time in prayer for one another. Then we move into whatever subjects we’re into at the moment. 

What Does Morning Time Look Like?

Now you might be trying to envision this, and seeing my children all sitting quietly and happily around the table listening to the words that poetically drip from my mouth. If thats what you’re picturing… erase it. Afterall, I do have five BOYS and two of them are rather wild and loud.

Figuring out how to make morning work for us has been a journey – one that we’re still on. But I have found a number ways to make it flow more smoothly and to encourage the younger children to hang in there with us for while, and to be reasonably (sometimes) quiet. For one, I’ve used a “morning time tool box”. This was literally an adorable giant wood tool box filled with all sorts of quiet activities. There were puzzle books, colouring, scissors and glue sticks, paint by sticker books, play dough, regular sticker books, water colour paints, calligraphy pens, lots of sketch pads, etc. The kids could also grab puzzles or any other quiet things they were currently working on. At other times we’ve taken our studies outside so they could move their bodies through the yard, bounce on a ball or trampoline, or just hang upside down on the furniture.

But my personal favourite (and theirs, too) is a tea party! This one is a total hit. Typically I will try and bake something special and serve up a couple different types of tea in cute teapots. Since downsizing, we rely more on tea bags, but it’s not really the tea or treat that matters so much. It’s also perfectly acceptable to serve up cups of juice and a plate of cookies. The point is that they get a special treat that keeps them happy while you read aloud to them. (Just be sure to have napkins ready to go for the inevitable spill so that interruptions are minimal.) 

So, my fellow adventure loving home educator, if morning time isn’t already a part of your homeschool, I highly encourage you to give it a try. There are endless possibilities, and just the fact that your whole family is together makes it a complete gem.

For further ideas and inspiration for your morning time, I would highly encourage you to give a listen to Pam Barnhill’s “Your Morning Basket” podcast. She is a treasure trove of information and was my go-to mama for getting our morning time rolling.

Have you tried Morning Time in your homeschool?