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Morning Basket – Let's Discuss!
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Thanks, Tristan for the mention of varying the parts of the brain being used. This could very well be the thing that works for us, and changes up our routine to become a true morning basket!
Does anyone else have a situation with children who look at morning basket or even the CM extras generally speaking (Picture study, Composer study, memory box, hymn study, poetry study) as “getting in the way” of their focus on the more challenging subjects in the day? My eldest son, on some days, gets a little bitter that he’s being taken away from his other work. The rest of us might be in the middle of a truly engaging discussion on a literature piece, a scripture verse, character stufff, picture or comper study, and Mr. Diligent will pipe up halfway through the discussion announcing that he really must “get to work” (LOL). Meaning his “real” work of Math, Grammar, Spelling, etc. It’s an interesting situation because I know that he does truly enjoy the CM extras… No question, though, that he would eliminate those subject altogether if it meant he could have more time on his math and language arts stuff.
Sorry if this is a bit different, or a topic for a different thread, but I figured it goes along with morning basket and how much people extend morning basket before they begin the other subjects. Do you stick to a limited time for morning basket? One hour, or 30 minutes, or less? Does the time you spend on morning basket vary a little each day of the week?
I think it goes very well Angelina. Is that particular child a ‘check off the list’ guy? (It is not that uncommon!) Is he wanting to get started on his work because he wants to get it done and over with so he has the rest of his day to himself? I know for my oldest (8th grade) she has more work by a measurable amount than even the next youngest child (4th grade). While all the rest of the children are extremely close in age and therefore workload (7 kids age 9 and under) Makayla has quite a gap and she does notice that if she doesn’t get solid work time in during the morning she’s left doing work into the afternoon well past when her siblings have finished.
That means sometimes she does push to move on into independent work. She has things she wants to just get through, and things she wants to get TO because she enjoys them, and things she wants to have plenty of time for when official work is done for the day (art, writing, reading more).
For us the time has varied, generally around an hour. This year it will flow into our main family work so it will go longer, but my oldest will be able to check off her list a big chunk of work when we’re done. She’s still going to have more work than her siblings, it’s just a fact.
Jen at Wildflowers and Marbles has shared a new post about their Morning Basket in case anyone wanted to read it.
My children are very young so we are still in the simple “Early Years”, but we keep our Morning Basket time very short (10-15 minutes). It is our morning devotion time as a family instead of an academic time. As we go into the art, music, history, etc. studies in the future, I will probably keep these items separate from the Morning Basket.
We do it every day (incl. Sat. And Sun.), bring it on vacation with us, and even do it when we have guests staying with us. The Morning Basket has become a loved daily staple in our house. Part of me hopes that it will continue even after the kids have grown and left the nest. When they come home with their families they will still anticipate a yummy breakfast and a little Daily Bread from the Morning Basket. 🙂
Thanks so much, Tristan! Yes, he is a “check off the list” kind of guy, you certainly guessed right on that one. I will aim for switching up the senses, as you mentioned earlier, and I am going to keep an eye on the timing of our new morning basket routine just to get the right balance. I really don’t want to throw off his diligence and work ethic on the tough subjects (which he always does better on when he starts first thing…) I wonder if some families with several older kids and several younger kids end up doing a shorter morning basket with the older kids, then excuse them to begin the most challenging of their independent work, and continue morning basket with the littles. ?
Thanks again for the lovely ideas!
Well, this seems to be a topic on many families minds right now. Sarah at Amongst Lovely Things just posted today about their Morning Time plans for the year. She also had an earlier post here.
@Angelina – I think that is an intriguing idea, dismissing older children before younger. It almost sounds like doing a morning basket followed by circle time, in essence. I imagine it could work.
My favorite audio lecture from the Circe Institute is The Long Haul: On Morning Time by Cindy Rollins: http://www.circeinstitute.org/audio.
Thank you for all the information on morning baskets! I can’t wait to have time to dig into this post and its comments!! I love the morning basket idea and just got one from Peterboro baskets from recommendation of Wilflowers and Marbles!
I love the idea of morning basket (like everyone else) but I am wondeirng how this works our for littles?
Last year, right after breakfast we moved into the family room for Bible, scripture memory, hymn sing, history read (would liek to add poem, ect) but these subjects do not involve my littles 3 and 5 year olds. Somewhere else on these amazing threads, moms with lots of little ones suggested starting the school day with the little kids. Last year, I felt that they so got the short end of the stick, if any, of my attention for school.
So, my question is, with morning absket, how do you keep the littles engaged? Or if they are not a part of it, what do they do? Maybe do littles before morning basket starts? Dismiss half way through?
Thank-you!
janell- I just finished listening to the audio lecture you suggested – what a gem! highly reccommend to all
AbbyNellie, I hadn’t seen the specific recommendation for the basket but I had been admiring the ones in her pictures! Can you tell me the style she recommends (low in front). Is it Bedside Storage?
Shannon,
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that I called Peterboro and they directed me to this one: http://www.peterborobasket.com/peterboro-bread-storage-basket-with-solid-hinged-lid/
They are able to make that one without the lid. I think that would be close to the basket she uses.
kellywright – My little ones are a part of our devotional (morning time) with the older ones and will be part of our morning basket this year as well. They ‘littles’ are the 3 younger boys age 3, 2, 1 and there are the 5 ‘bigs’ ages 13, 9, 8, 6, 5. Here is how I handle it:
1. Include them. If we’re reading aloud from scripture they get a turn to repeat after someone. When we’re talking about what we read I ask them what they liked in the story, or who was their favorite, or who got in trouble in the story. If we’re practicing scripture memory they try reciting. During our hymns they sing too. We’ll also sing children’s hymns that are simpler just for them, and fun action songs. I’ll let them be choirister and conduct the music too.
2. Give them quiet ways to stay with us. This may be handing them crayons and paper when I read aloud, encouraging them to bring a small toy to the couch with them, or even pulling out playdoh or dry erase markers and lap boards. My little ones begin participating in things like read aloud time when they are born and we begin encouraging them to stay and to be quiet (not silent! just decently quiet so everyone can hear). So this morning time really is an extension of the practice they’ve had during read alouds.
3. I usually try to connect with the little ones before morning devotional too! We are up at 7am and devotional is usually 9am. That give me 2 hours to do breakfast (with little helpers), to oversee chores (and have little helpers try chores with me), to play with a toy or read a board book together, to listen to their dreams or stories while helping them dress for the day, to snuggle.
Does that help or just raise more questions?
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