Morning time is hands-down my favorite time in our family rhythm. It isn’t always 100% (no one, no family ever is) but we try to come together for our morning collective 4-5 days a week. It is, in my humble opinion, the best way to start our homeschool day and overall, just connect and build relationships together as a family. It is also one of the simplest ways I’ve found to include subjects like poetry and hymns, art and composer study, and a couple picture book read alouds into our day.
Morning time changes from season to season, and I think that’s one of the greatest blessings a homeschool mama could ask for. It’s never the same from start to finish, but with intentionality, and hope, morning time can be a time of beauty, truth, and virtue. All the things I pray to cultivate in our family culture here at Our Cooper Nest.
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WHERE TO START
Ready for the big secret? Just go for it. Start with one thing at a time and give it 4-6 weeks to cultivate that habit of coming together, and spending time in whatever it is you include in your morning collective. For us, it was Bible devotions first and foremost. Yes, even with little ones, this can be done!
BUILD YOUR IDEAL MORNING COLLECTIVE
Once you feel that your family is ready for another subject, say composer study, ease it in slowly by introducing it for only a short while on top of the already established morning rhythm. You can always increase the time you spend on anything, as well as reduce the time spent when needed. The goal is to build upon each one until you’ve accomplished your family morning collective. Some families will spend their entire morning in their morning time subjects, others will use only 10-20 minutes. There are no rules to the time or the subjects that are at hand, but the main purpose of morning time is to build connection and relationship as a family, learning, inspiring and growing together.
MORNING TIME HAS NO SET TIME IN THE DAY
Did I mention that ‘morning time’ doesn’t always have to take place in the morning? I know some families where morning time is actually their way of connecting in the evening time. This might work especially well with a family of older children in high school. Even non-homeschooling families can make this work. Simply follow the steps from above, choose whatever time of day works best for you and your household, and begin.
A MORNING COLLECTIVE EXAMPLE
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Morning time has definitely been simplified since we started homeschooling. Down to the foundational things for my family, here is an example of our morning collective:
BIBLE
We begin with reading our Bibles together. We are following Ambleside Online Year 1 Bible reading schedule and currently going through the Old Testament, touching on major events from Genesis. I will also alternate the readings some mornings with our Jesus StoryBook Bible which engages my 3 year old, but my 6 year old also really enjoys!
POETRY
We are also following the Ambleside Online Year 1 poetry schedule which is reading a poem a day from A Child’s Garden of Verses. We are also enjoying memorizing a poem from this book and by the end of our first term, our hope is to be able to say the entire passage by memory! We currently learn one to two new lines a day and say it together.
HYMN
Also following along with the AO hymn schedule, we are loving being able to learn a new hymn each month! I simply print out the hymn and stick it into our morning menu (a restaurant menu) to be able to follow along with the lyrics as we learn. We find the hymn on YouTube and play it once each day. My 6 year old loves to sing, but even my 3 year old will join in!
SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION
Every term (every 12 weeks) we will have a new piece of scripture we will memorize and write on our hearts. This has been so special to me as I learn to memorize the specific scriptures with my daughter. Currently we are memorizing Psalm 19. We will hopefully have three bigger scripture pieces memorized at the end of our three terms. I simply picked the scriptures myself and then printed them off to have in our morning menu for learning the lyrics!
CATECHISM
I love The New City Catechism book for Kids! It has “52 questions and answers for our minds and hearts.” We ask one biblical question a week, learn it, repeat it and review as we want to. The great thing about this little book is that there is actually an app you can download for free where it has the same questions, and a little song to go along with the questions and answers. It’s been a fun way to teach Truth in our home that engages the little ones. These questions kind of remind me of ‘Awanas’ mottos and weekly dance lyrics my daughter used to learn at church!
PICTURE BOOK READ ALOUDS
I try to stick with 1-2 picture books in the morning but sometimes we get lost in the pages and then we end up 5 books in. Anyone else relate?! Picture books have grown to be one of the ways I shower my children with love, connection and attention. It’s simple but so so good for developing habits of attention, observation skills and overall just a rich love of reading.
Our morning collective happens first thing before any formal lessons happen. Usually after or during breakfast, we begin our day in these subjects and it takes us less than 30 minutes. Morning time has brought so much joy and many fond memories I cherish and pray my children do as well. I hope you found this article useful and pray your ‘morning time’ is a blessing to you and your family.
