How our large family with multiple ages of children does Morning Time all together at the beginning of our homeschool day. This post is updated to reflect our Morning Time choices.
For most of our homeschooling years, we have met together at the beginning of our homeschool day as a family. I wouldn’t have called it Morning Time because it really just consisted of Bible time and a read-aloud book.
And…I didn’t even know there was such a thing as Morning Time back then!
READ >> Making Morning Time Easy
Over the years, I heard about this Charlotte Mason thing called a Morning Time or a Morning Basket, but I could never seem to fit it in to my homeschool day. Even with my friend Tauna’s Loop Schedule Workshop, I still couldn’t find a way to have a Morning Time.
Then in 2017, my husband deployed overseas, and I decided to turn our homeschool day on its head and do what we now call a Jubilee Homeschool Year – a BIG BREAK from our normal way of homeschooling!
READ >> Jubilee Homeschooling – How to Take a Break from Traditional Homeschooling
Then, and only then, was I able to incorporate what I would call a full-blown Morning Time. I had to step outside my norm and create a NEW tradition! And yes, ever since that Jubilee Homeschool Year, we have continued with a Morning Time that usually includes Bible, History, Geography, Fine Arts, Music, and a Read-Aloud.
Now, if you are only interested in the How-To of Morning Time with Multiple Ages, then click on the post graphic below. It goes through step-by-step how to make a Morning Time work for a larger-than-average family.
This post is less how-to and more hands-on!
I will keep this post updated with our current Morning Time menagerie, so every year when you look at my Homeschool Curriculum Choices for the Large Family, you will be able to reference our current Morning Time selections as well! Or you can simply stop by here to see what we are doing in our Morning Time at any given moment! It will also be a great place for me to share in my weekly Large Family Homeschool Life posts!
The Order of Our Daily Homeschool Morning Time
Even when I didn’t know what a Morning Time was, we started out day with Bible Time. We still do that in some form or fashion.
Next, we move into our History lessons. This usually includes some sort of text or living book and any extra information I’d like to share. I often pull from Google images or YouTube for extra visual aids.
If there is Geography that makes sense to cover with the History lesson, we do it alongside History. We have maps that work with our History curriculum (more on that in a bit).
Likewise, if there is Fine Arts or Music that goes along with the time period or what we are studying, I will share that during Morning Time as well. (Again, more on that in a bit.)
Also in line with what we are studying in History or depending on the Holiday or season, I will bring in an art lesson, usually only 1-2 times a month and usually on a Thursday – our last day of homeschool for the week because we homeschool year round on a 4 day a week schedule.
READ >> Homeschooling Year Round
Finally, we round out our Morning Time with a Read Aloud. This is usually a book that either goes along with our History lessons (see the theme here?!) or it is one we have been really wanting to read!
So, the typical Morning Time order is as follows:
- Bible
- History
- Geography (1-2 times a week)
- Fine Arts/Music (1-2 times a week)
- Art (1-2 times a month)
- Read-Aloud
All of this takes about an hour to accomplish, and then I send them on their way to their independent school work – the lessons they do on their own without much assistance from me.
READ >> Independent Learning – Teaching Kids to Homeschool Themselves
Curriculum We are Currently Using in Our Daily Homeschool Morning Time
As I said earlier, I will keep this part of the post updated with our latest Morning Time choices. So, this will be an every changing and evolving space. Here are the resources we are currently using during our daily Morning Time.
Bible – Hurlbut’s Story of the Bible
History – Tapestry of Grace
This 4 year chronological cycle through history has been a favorite of ours for many years! You can learn more about how we use it HERE:
NOTE: We use Integrated Tapestry of Grace and MapAids (which will be added to ITOG in 2023).
As part of our TOG lessons, we read from various book suggestions (like Story of the World and History of US) and watch short related videos on YouTube. We are studying Modern History this year, so we are also making President Cards using the President pages from NotebookingPages (we have a Lifetime Membership).
Geography – Tapestry of Grace has its own Map program (MapAids). We do these maps together, adding bits and pieces as we read in the various history selections.
I use a small white board and marker/eraser set to write out the names for my kids so they can easily spell them. They are also encouraged to label any geographical locations they recognize from previous lessons as we go along. This reinforces our geography lessons – something I sorely lacked in public school. Currently, I only require my 11-17 year olds to do the maps. The 9 and under crew will eventually have their turn, so I let them decide if they are up for it that day.
Fine Arts/Music (1-2 times a week – We almost exclusively use Music in Our Homeschool for our Music and much of our Fine Arts. She has everything from State Songs to Folk Songs to Baroque to Shakespeare and MUCH more! It is a treasure trove, and I don’t know what I’d do without this membership! (By the way, the MIOH+ membership only opens a few times a year, but you can buy the programs individually if you like in the Store. You can also sign up for the FREE Music Class in THIS LINK and then you’ll get free lessons plus be on the list when the membership opens!)
As far as other ways we get Fine Arts in, I bring in various extra lessons throughout the year from Gentle + Classical Morning Virtues, Character of Thanksgiving/Christmas/Easter (at the holidays), and The Homeschool Garden.
NOTE: The only one of these that I have formally reviewed here on Raising Arrows is The Homeschool Garden. You can read that review by clicking on the graphic below:
Art (1-2 times a month) – The easiest way for me to incorporate art in Morning Time is by utilizing our You ARE An Artist Clubhouse Membership. There are chalk pastel and acrylic lessons (we mainly stick to chalk pastels), and the lessons cover so many topics from history to geography to nature to holidays! You can read my You ARE An Artist Clubhouse Review and take a look at these photos of recent projects!
Read-Aloud – Before I dive too deep into this, I feel I should explain what this is for those of you who aren’t familiar with the term. This is a book selection I read aloud to the children at the end of Morning Time no matter their age or grade.
We have always done read-alouds as a family. I was read to as a child and even as a college student when I was juggling a baby, a household, and English classes. My mom would read to me from my assigned books, sometimes for hours on end. I credit much of my communication skills and love of words and their etymology to this one simple act.
If read-aloud time frightens you or stresses you out in any way, I have a few resources here on the blog I hope will help you relax and enjoy the process!
READ >> How to Make Read Aloud Time More Peaceful
READ >> How to Choose Read Alouds All Ages Will Enjoy
OK, so on to our current selection…
We are reading The Phantom Tollbooth. It is very witty and quite enjoyable so far!
Alrighty! There you have it – our current Morning Time. We usually start Morning Time around 10 am, and on an average day, it takes us 1 – 1.5 hours to go through it all. Most of my kids would tell you that Morning Time is their favorite part of homeschooling. And yes, their mother would say the same thing!
Nicole Seefried says
I would love to hear more about how you use biblioplan this year. I will be using it for the first time this year and I actually credit it to your suggestion When I sent you an email!
We will be doing early modern j think it’s called? Whichever is the third cycle.
Amy says
You are going to croak…I went back to TOG! BUT…I still think Biblioplan is a great curriculum! I just missed how robust TOG was. That said, I still highly recommend Biblioplan. We were doing Modern History, the 4th cycle.
Kirsten says
I got so excited reading this post – we also use TOG and I’ve been trying to figure out how to all come together in the morning, this was really helpful. Do you usually do many of the hands on projects?? Or do you generally use other art classes instead…I have 6 kids ages 9 and under so really only my oldest is interested in the projects….We’ve also used Gentle + Classical preschool here and there (really only if my current Littles are interested in “doing school”) and I’ve thought about checking out the morning Virtues – I feel like the way you described your morning time is exactly what I hope ours will eventually look like! We’re still in the haze of adjusting to twin babies and starting a new school year so I’m trying to be patient.
Amy says
Hi Kirsten! I do not do a lot of the hands on projects. We use You ARE An Artist (she is also a TOG mama!) for our art. I prefer the membership so I can pick and choose. You can learn more about that here – https://raisingarrows.net/you-are-an-artist-clubhouse-review/
And Morning Virtues is really well done! I’m pretty sure you can download a free copy of Courage here – https://shopgentleclassical.com/products/morning-virtues-courage?aff=4
And for what it’s worth – this routine was a slow and steady progression that came together and now fits like a glove. You’ll get there!
Paige says
Thats awesome that you have such a routine for your family and homeschooling! I have always found homeschooling so fascinating! You have to be super organized to be able to do that! But it is awesome that you do! I think morning time is needed for everyone!