Morning baskets are one of those things you hear about frequently in the homeschooling community. It’s one of the very first things we implemented before my oldest even started homeschooling. It’s more of a habit then a curriculum or subject. A morning basket, simply put, starts your day off together. It’s not really about the basket itself but what’s in it, so what in our morning basket:
I keep our morning baskets to family read-alouds, character training, bible reading, poetry and sometimes we add in art. Here are our five items in our morning basket:
- Bible– With our bible reading we read a passage of our choice (usually NT, Proverbs is also a great book to read with kids), we memorize their scriptures for the week and their memory passages from their tutorial. Lots of discussion happens afterwards and in the inbetween of this time.
- Journal– We have used different journals depending on age, we use more question based journaling in the older year like these. In the younger years it’s usually a blank notebook where they can color anything they want, like this. Journaling also works to keep their hands busy while I’m reading aloud. In the preschool-kinder years I have them trace scripture and coloring pages I’ve found online like this one or simply use books like these, I will write in pencil and they can trace over it in marker or crayon.
- Character Cards– We use September co. character cards, these are very simple and easy to follow. We also read Our 24 Family Ways by Sally Clarkson.
- Manners– We are currently using A Kids Guide to Manners and follow along one chapter at a time. We have also used, Connoisseur Kids & in the younger years A Child’s Book of Manners.
- Catechism– We use Phylicia Masonheimer Kids Theology book and just review one question at a time for a week. We also use songs (when possible to find) for better memory keeping. Other books we use would be our The Ology book and The Apostle Creed.
- Read Aloud Books– This changes frequently, usually we grab books from the library or will read a chapter from a longer book we are currently reading. At this time we are reading through Little Pilgrim’s Progress, once done with that book we will move on to The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (This will be our first time reading it so we will see how it goes).
- Hymns– We usually follow the Simply Charlotte Mason list of hymns or pick one of our own. We read about how it came to be and sing it/listen to it at least one time a day.
- Prayer– We usually start and end our morning basket in prayer. Praying over our day, our school time and lifting up friends and family that need prayer.
We don’t do every little thing every single day, but I do try to hit each subject once a day pulling from different resources everyday, this works for us and it keeps it new.
We love our morning times and even on days when we are out of the door early we still do many of these in the car. Even if you public school morning times are a great way of connecting before the rush of the day. You can easily listen to scripture as everyone is getting ready, catechism and scriptures can both be reviewed on your way to school and hymns can be sung as you go anywhere. Here is a great post about why morning baskets are important, link.
I attached a quick checklist so that you can create your own morning basket, start out super simple, bible reading is always number 1 and then add things as you go. Morning baskets should not be a source of stress, so start small and grow as you go along and if you feel led.
