Look at Our Awesome Morning Time Basket Selections

Ever since we started incorporating morning time into our homeschool days, all of us have been happier. I love our beautiful and peaceful morning time routine. I especially enjoy it during these warm summer months. Some days, we carry our morning time basket outside and start our studies in the yard.

This lovely transition to our homeschool days was inspired by the Better Together Guide by Pam Barnhill. This was the best homeschool investment I’ve ever made. My children used to resist beginning our homeschool time. They would procrastinate and whine. Now, as soon as I start singing our Morning Time song, the girls coming running and gather around me.

It’s been a while since I shared the contents of our Morning Time basket, so today I would like to invite you to come have a peek at what we’re enjoying during the month of July.

The Contents of Our Morning Time Basket (July)

Bible

I love the daily devotions in the Jesus Calling Children’s Devotional but we also study the Bible stories in the The Jesus Storybook Bible.

Social Studies

We’re studying The Story of the World (Volume II). We also have the audio CDs to this book. I will sometimes play a chapter from the CD while I prepare another activity for the girls (such as an art or cooking activity).

I have an old book about Alberta that I’m reading on a daily basis. We’re also looking through our most recent edition of Kayak magazine. Kayak is a fabulous Canadian history magazine for kids. My girls love it!

Every month, we read the biography of a famous person in history. This month we’ll be reading the biography of Walt Disney.

One of my favourite items in our Morning Time Basket is the fabulous World Scrunch Map! We simply unfold the map to use and then squish it back into its bag when we’re done!

Language Arts

This month’s classic read aloud book is House on Pooh Corner. We also enjoy a reading from A Child’s Own Book of Verse (Book One). The poems in this book are simple and fun.

Science

Our science during Morning Time often includes books as well. Since we’re studying plants right now, we are reading the Eyewitness book, Plant and filling out pages in our Plant Study Notebooking Journal.

Music

Another beautiful part of our Morning Time routine is when we sing hymns and worship songs. Right now we’re enjoying singing along with the CD, Hymns That Are Important To Us by Joey & Rory.

One of the treasures in my Morning Time routine is SQUILT (Super Quiet Uninterrupted Listening Time). The SQUILT curriculum helps us study classical pieces of music. We enjoy the linked videos, activities, and notebooking pages. Even my youngest daughter gets in on SQUILT! We are still working on composers and music from the Baroque Era.

Art

One of the last activities we do from our Morning Time Basket is art. I have artist journals for the girls, as well as watercolours, a package of oil pastels, and chalk pastels.

This month we’ll be working on the FREE online kid’s art projects from Carla Sonheim’s website. I love her tutorials and the girls enjoy it too!

So that’s the contents from this month’s Morning Time Basket. I love seeing how this basket of learning expands and evolves.

Reflect:

What books and materials are you reading and exploring with your children? Please take a few moments to comment below and then share this post with your homeschool communities!

Jennifer Bly

Author of My Kitchen, My Classroom: An Introduction to Homeschool and creator of The Deliberate Mom. Jennifer writes about parenting, homeschooling, her faith, and life with her husband and two girls. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Applied Human Service Administration Degree with a specialization in Early Learning in Child Care.