Yesterday we started our new school year! I decided to ease us into our new routine over several weeks so we wouldn't feel overwhelmed and more likely to throw in the towel.
This week is part one of our day: the Morning Basket. Our Morning Basket is a combination of a Waldorf Circle Time and also inspired by this post at Wildflowers and Marbles. I really like this idea and think it will probably become a habit we continue throughout our childrearing and homeschooling years.
We have our morning basket time right after breakfast before starting on chores and other activities. This way, if we have appointments, playgroup, or another commitment we will still have covered what (at this point) is the most crucial part of our homeschool.
This week is part one of our day: the Morning Basket. Our Morning Basket is a combination of a Waldorf Circle Time and also inspired by this post at Wildflowers and Marbles. I really like this idea and think it will probably become a habit we continue throughout our childrearing and homeschooling years.
We have our morning basket time right after breakfast before starting on chores and other activities. This way, if we have appointments, playgroup, or another commitment we will still have covered what (at this point) is the most crucial part of our homeschool.
Here are the parts to our morning basket right now:
- Light a Candle: We didn't do this yesterday since we were outside!
- Morning Offering/Prayer to Your Guardian Angel: Our goal is to memorize these. We're working on the Guardian Angel Prayer first.
- Calendar/Weather: We use this calendar from Learning Resources. This is already part of our morning. M. loves to check the weather each day and find the appropriate picture. He often changes it throughout the day as our weather evolves!
- Joyful Heart Character Study: We are starting with Obedience. Yesterday we talked about Noah since the boys are so familiar with the story, then sang a song, and started a memory verse. I know he won't learn it through drills, but I expect it to become my mantra as we work on this habit and I know he'll pick it up quickly.
- Seasonal/Liturgical/Character Book: This week we're rereading The Sunflower Parable. Our giant sunflowers have had a bumper year!
- Fingerplay/Movement Game: To go along with our habit of obedience, we're playing Simon Says.
- Devotion/Bible Story: We're using My Big Book of 5-Minute Devotions and/or a story from Tomie dePaola's Book of Bible Stories or the New Catholic Picture Bible.
- Hymn: This week it's Jesus Loves Me which will be easy for M. to memorize.
- Blow Out Candle
From there, our morning will continue with our daily housework (Monday is upstairs bathrooms and bedrooms), some free play then the rest of our activities! I'll post more on those when we start next week.
I like the idea of lighting a candle during the morning basket time. I've never heard of a morning basket. Sounds like a nice homeschooling tradition. P.S. I always enjoy reading your posts! :)
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