Morning Basket – Let's Discuss!

We have a morning “time” which is much the same as a basket. A friend of mine shared a blog she found about it and while we had been doing it for years we never had name for it. It definitely brought new meaning to our whole school day! Some of the things we do are scripture memorization, singing a hymn or sometimes a folk song, the Pledge of Allegiance, devotion, artist study or composer study/listening, and often we have some great discussions about things or problems the kids may be dealing with. This I used to think was wasted time but over the last year I have come to see that this is learning too. We do our literature reading at lunch when I am done eating and they are not.

While I love the Morning Basket posts, especially at W&M, I find that our family needs three baskets at this point.  One for each of the two we have left to homeschool, and one for me.  The one for me contains those things that the rest of you are calling “Morning Baskets,” “Lunch Boxes,” etc.  This is directly related to our son’s needs.  He needs much more time for the serious studies during the day than his youngest sister.  They are 14 and 8, so they are world’s apart in the amount of time needed for individual studies.

So, what to do?  I gathered the things that would normally be done in one sitting into my basket and plan to pull it out at intervals during the day to allow for changing up the use of their brains.  We’ll start off with out Scripture Memory work and Bible study, switch to morning study routine, then use the basket again at lunch and a bit in the afternoon.  The thing I like about the basket is that it is portable, organized, and easy to put away (DH likes to have our resources under control instead of sprawled all over the house.)

The kids both have their individual study resources in their own baskets in order of use.  While I’d love to tell you that our son can get things done in any order he chooses, that’s NOT the case.  So, we’ve discussed and devised a plan that he has agreed to follow until he demonstrates completion in each subject area this year.  He actually said he thinks the way we have written out his plan (with brain use changes) will keep him more motivated and focussed.  He wanted to push through things faster last year, doing the things he liked best first.  But, this meant some things were piling up at week’s end that he had avoided, meaning drudgery and frustration.

The rotating CM “extras” are usually only scheduled once a week.  But, because of the curriculum we are using this year, we even have some that whose focus will be a large block of time once a month.  I like this idea much better for my own convenience and tastes.  I don’t like art supplies all over the place for days on end, nor do I want science experiments and projects strewn around for extended periods of time.  Planning for these things to have a start and end at specific times gives me so much more peace.  This way, I won’t avoid them and the kids will get to enjoy them as special projects with devoted focussed attention from me. 

Thanks for starting this thread, Tristan.  I think it’s an important tool that can be used in a number of ways throughout homeschooling years…..I’m secretly planning to have a basket for grandchildren some day, too.