We have been doing Morning Time around these parts for a couple of months now, and I have to say that it has become my absolute favorite part of the school day. We have had some things that we do first thing in the morning all year long, so unofficially a kind of morning time has really been happening since the fall. Then we added in the idea of reading aloud during that time and a full-blown Morning Time was born.

What Morning Time looks like at our house:

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  • Prayer – This is part of the rhythm of prayer I have been working on. We have settled into the daily Invitatory Psalm and a Morning Offering. After the contemplation talk from the convention last week I would love to start lighting a candle here. Note to self to remember to add that.
  • Hands – The kids know the day is about to start when I tell them to “find something to do with your hands.” Activities include: puzzles, pattern blocks, play doh, a drawing lesson from me (they then embellish), impromptu art, stickers. They do this during the rest of Morning Time.
  • Poetry – After prayer, the first thing we do is recite our poems from Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization. It used to be just us reciting them, but I picked up the CD last week at the convention, and I started the week off playing the Andrew Pudewa recitations while we recited along. It was slowing us down, so on Thursday I decided to go without (was going to do some days with and some days without). Olivia immediately asked for “that man” back, so Pudewa it is. The good news is I can crochet during poetry if Mr. P is doing the the leading of the recitations.
  • Memory – This is where we review our memory work from Classical Conversations. If we are going to be in the van during the day I sometimes skip this part and just review in the van.
  • Virtues – We review our We Choose Virtues card and verse and sing our virtue song (more about virtue songs later — I have some exciting news to share when I am able). We love these little cards and the resulting discussion.
  • Faith – We spent much of our faith time with sacrament prep this year. That is winding down, but we are still reading from Jesus Our Life  and discussing a few times a week. We need to get back to our Loyola Kids Book of Saints as well, now that the bulk of sacrament prep is behind us. (Another note to self there.)
  • Flash Cards – We have been working on some math flash cards during this time.
  • Reading – After all else is done I read aloud. Sometimes I read things for science or geography; sometimes I read the latest library books; sometimes it is a favorite picture book; and this week it has been stories for our new (and absolutely fabulous) My Book House series of books. Everyone (Thomas included) has been enthralled by every story we have read so far. I read as long as I have everyone’s attention and no one (read: the three-year-old) is melting down.
Morning Time takes anywhere between one to two hours to complete and there have been quite a few days where it is the only school we get done for the day. Because it is so rich and varied, I am okay with that, on the occasion it happens.

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If you think this sounds good and are looking at some further research, here are some of my favorite Morning Time resources:

Cindy’s Morning Time Posts
Morning Basket from Wildflower and Marbles
Circle Time with binder organization from Simply Convivial

What about you? Do you have a morning time or routine at your house?

Be sure to visit Trivium Tuesdays for more Classical Homeschool inspiration.

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