Every family will have their own reasons for including Morning Time in their homeschool. And the reasons you want to do it will influence what you choose to include. Ultimately there is no bad reason!
Keep reading for my top 5 reasons to have a Morning Time in your homeschool.
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What is Morning Time in homeschool?
Morning TIme is a set-aside part of your day where you gather all your children to learn together. Formality, length of time, and amount of topics may all differ from another family’s choices. You also may call it something completely different or do it at a different time of day. Personalizing what works for your family is the best part.
Read: Morning Backet Made Easy: Group learning in your Homeschool
What are the names for Morning Time in homeschool?
A Morning Time in homeschool is commonly interchanged with names like Morning Basket, Morning Meeting, Circle Time, Reading Time, or a group learning time. Though each name may be chosen because of personal reasons or various outside influences, they all ultimately boil down to the same meaning. Bringing all your kids together to learn as a group.
5 Reasons to Have a Morning Time in Your Homeschool
I have found 5 reasons many will choose to include a Morning Time in their homeschools. I personally do it for many of these same reasons, if not all. The last one is my main reason for doing a Morning Time, which shapes so much of what we do together.
1. To add beauty
Many families choose to do Morning Time in their homeschool because they want to expose their children to all the beauty that life brings. The fine arts, religion, and the outdoors can easily be overlooked if we’re focusing only on math and writing.
Setting aside time for wonder and beauty is a big draw for many families to a set aside homeschool Morning TIme.
Beautiful topics you may want to include:
- Art appreciation
- Nature study
- Picture study
- Music appreciation
- Bible study
- Prayer
- Devotionals
- Hymn study
- Poetry
- Singing
2. To be together
Because Morning TIme is done together, it is a great way to take advantage of that with your kids. You may end up focusing a lot of homeschool time on indpendent studies and not get much time to be together. So using a Morning TIme in your homeschool can help bring the unity back to your family.
Reading stories together can help you bond with each other over the fun and stories you experience. Games and other fun things can do the same. Don’t they say “a family that laughs together stays together?”
It is also a wonderful opportunity to bring your older kids back in with you and your younger children. As kids turn to teens, they become more independent with their schoolwork and lives in general. You may not see them much. So including them in a Morning TIme during your day can help you all be together.
You may even choose to do your group learning over a meal or with a snack. Fellowship always seems to come with food.
Topics that might bring you together:
- Games
- Great stories
- Mad Libs
- Story starters
- Snacks/food
- Anything really!
3. To add enjoyment
It’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day of homeschooling that we can forget that school doesn’t have to all be drudgery. So using a Morning Time to bring back some enjoyment to your homeschool can lighten things up a lot!
Play games and read good books together. Do something everyone enjoys and you may see that sparkle come back to their eyes. You might even not even dread school anymore!
Enjoyable subjects to include:
- Games
- Mad Libs
- Story Starters
- Good books
- Songs
- Any other topic they enjoy!
4. To be practical
There are so many ideas and topics I find myself wanting to do with my kids but don’t always know how or when to make it happen. I have found that Morning Time is a great time to cover lot of those things I may not cover otherwise.
Not everything lends itself well to independent work. Maybe you want to expose your kids to new thoughts and ideas but assigning a book, project, or video they may not be super interested in is like pulling teeth. But if you all read, listen, or watch it together, you can get through so many things!
Maybe their interest in the subject isn’t great, maybe they don’t find it as important as you do, or perhaps their skills aren’t quite ready to read it on their own. These are all great reasons to have a Morning Time.
One way that helps to give your children a more broad exposure to literature is to read aloud the books the kids may not want or be able to read on their own. Listening to Shakespeare plays or classic literature is great for morning time!
Practical topics to cover:
- Art appreciation
- Music appreciation
- Manners/character
- Shakespeare
- Literature
- News
- Memory work
- Calendar
- Weather
- Bible/Devotions
- Prayer
5. To simplify
Morning TIme is a great way to simplify your homeschool. It seems we are pulled in so many directions, especially if we have several kids we are schooling. So bringing everyone together to cover a few topics as a group can not only simplify your curriculum, but also your homeschool schedule!
Read: 7 Schedule Hacks to Simplify Your Homeschool
Some subjects aren’t as easy to do together with kids at different levels. Math, for instance is more difficult.
But some subjects will easily lend themselves to group learning. Science, History, and Literature are often mostly done together in many homeschools. Because the same topics are generally covered at all levels, it’s easy to cover the basics together. Then if more work is needed for older kids on the subject, they can split off and complete that independently.
Simplify by including topics like this:
- Science
- History
- Art (picture study, artists, history)
- Music (composers, history, appreciation, theory)
- Manners, character
- Shakespeare
- Grammar
- News, current events
- Literature/novels
- Copywork
- Bible, devotionals
- Calendar
- Weather
Free Morning Time Worksheets
For some free worksheets to help you develop your own personalized Morning Time for your family, download our Group Learning Worksheets!
This free download is broken down into easy steps to help you think through all your options from time of day, to what to include! Download it now!
What is your reason for considering Morning Time?
Using a Morning Time as part of your homeschool can help you in many ways. It may bring beauty, togetherness, simplicity, enjoyment, practicality, simplicity, or something else to your homeschool. Your personal goals for including a Morning Time will influence what you use with your kids making that time even more special for your family!
What is your reason for considering a Morning Time in your homeschool? Let me know in the comments!
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