Homeschool Morning Basket: What is a morning basket? (2024)

Morning baskets are something that have been taking the homeschool world by storm. Everywhere you look there they are. So you might be wondering what is this morning basket thing and do I want to do one?

So what is a Morning Basket?

A Morning Basket is a time in the day when everyone in the family can come together and learn together about specific subjects. All ages can homeschool together doing activities like reading aloud, studying the arts, or even efficiently combining students for subjects like history and science.

Other names that you might hear it called are Morning Time, circle time, and some people even get a little fancy with their names. They call it things like symposium, or power hour.

It doesn’t matter what you call it, the practice is still the same. Everybody’s coming together, everybody’s learning together all at the same time.

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Do I really need a morning basket?

One of the first things that people want to know is do I really need a basket in order to do this?

And the answer to that is no. Of all of the things that go into this, the basket is really one of the least important parts of it.

One of the most helpful things about having a basket, though, is having one location to put all of your materials and all of your supplies.

You could do this in a plastic bin. You could do this by putting things on a shelf. You could do this by putting things in a tote bag.

So the basket is really not that important, but you do want to keep everything together because once you get a larger family together and even a smaller family like my three kids and you get started with your school day, you don’t want to have to break to run after books and resources.

It is convenient to have it all together in one location. Whether or not that’s a basket is totally up to you.

What is the point of a morning basket for your homeschool?

There are a number of reasons you might want to do this in your homeschool. The first one is the fact that it can be a really efficient use of your school time.

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Think back to the one-room schoolhouse model. This is a time when you can have kids who are fairly close in age and even some with a little bit of a spread come together to learn about particular topics.

Homeschool Morning Basket: What is a morning basket? (2)

We’ve done things in our Morning Time like learn grammar together, learn a foreign language together and even learn history and science together. There’s a good four years difference between the ages of my kids, but it’s a really efficient way for us to do this kind of learning.

The other thing you might do in a morning basket is you might put those things in there that you would really love to do in your homeschool, but you wonder where else to put them in your day — things like reading some Shakespeare or poetry or doing art or even doing composer study, music appreciation or artists study.

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Your Morning Basket Podcasts to Get You Started

What is Morning Time? A Conversation with Cindy Rollins
Teaching from Rest with Morning Time: A Conversation with Sarah Mackenzie
A Considered Booklist with Jennifer Macintosh
A Morning Time Mentor: A Conversation with Heather Tully
Big Family Morning Time with Angela Boord
Morning Time with Littles with Celeste Cruz

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So what subjects do you exactly do during morning basket?

You could really do anything you want to do. Anything that seems to fit group learning with your family. But we like to break it down into four different kinds of subjects — we call them the four Rs.

They are reading, ritual, recitation, and relationship.

Reading aloud in morning basket

So morning basket is a perfect time to do reading our read-aloud time with your family. You can choose to read whatever it is that you want to read. We’ve read historical things, we’ve read nature study things, we read things just because they’re fun to read.

We might have a chapter book going at any given time and sometimes we even read picture books related to whatever the subjects are that we happen to be studying at the moment.

[box] Listen: YMB #49 The Read Aloud Family: A Conversation with Sarah Mackenzie [/box]

Recitation in your morning basket

Recitation is simply memorizing things. Memory work is great for active memory, building up your brain cells and making connections with many kinds of materials.

You can also write these words on your heart, some of these beautiful words whether that’s Bible verses or poetry, and then you’ll never be alone if you need strength or encouragement.

[box] Listen: YMB #2 Furnishing the Mind: A Conversation on Recitation with Andrew Pudewa[/box]

We start with fun poems like “Ooey Gooey” about a little worm that gets caught on a railroad track or “The Yak,” which is a poem by Hilaire Belloc. He has a lot of great funny poems about animals. Starting with that kind of poetry and that kind of recitation is something that kids really enjoy.

Ritual in your morning basket

The next thing that we do in our Morning Time is ritual. We are a Christian family, so we really enjoy bringing in some of those ritual elements from our church into our home worship.

We light a candle during Morning Time. We take the time to pray for other people. Whatever elements are going on in your church, you could bring them into your Morning Time as well.

[box] Listen: YMB #4 Choosing What Is Best: A Conversation With Dr. Christopher Perrin[/box]

Relationship in your morning basket

Relationship is the final R and this one is perhaps my absolute favorite.

So often our school days can be disjointed and fragmented because kids are going off to work on different subjects by themselves, but by all sitting together and learning some portion of our schoolwork together, we have this shared family culture that we’re always going to be able to harken back to and draw from.

This creates some of the best memories that our kids are going to have from our homeschool.

[box] Listen: HS 142 Heather Woodie: Morning Time with Teens [/box]

FAQs about homeschool morning basket

How long should it be?

How much of my school day should I be giving over to this whole family learning? And the answer is going to vary from family to family.

If you have kids who are close together in age and you’re able to use this as a really efficient way to teach multiple ages together, this might actually be a large part of your school day. It might get stretched to an hour or an hour and a half.

But if you’re dealing with a wide variety of ages or even just have other circ*mstances going on like maybe a teen or even a toddler, then your Morning Time is probably going to be a lot shorter.

The younger your children are the shorter it’s going to be because their attention span is only going to be able to take so much.

What age do I gear my homeschool morning basket for?

With a large age range of kids, most moms tend to aim for the upper end of the age range.

Heather Tully has 10 kids from teenager all the way down to toddler, and she always gears her Morning Time towards the older kids and her family.

The younger kids are in the room, they’re playing sometimes quietly and sometimes not, but she’s not quite as worried about aiming everything towards them.

They’re going to pick up what they can from the Morning Time and they’re going to cycle back through and be exposed to those things again in the future. So she always gears the Morning Time towards the upper age range.

Even if you’re going to do that, there are a few things you can do to kind of bring the little kids into it. You could always have something in your basket for every age child. At some point during your Morning Time, you can kind of close it out and let your teens go and then draw the little kids’ close and read some picture books or something very specifically just for them like nursery rhymes.

But even if you don’t, they’re sitting there and they’re listening to the memory work, they’re listening to you read the other things, they’re paying attention to the beautiful art. Even if they’re kind of in and out, you are going to be amazed at how much they pick up and how much they learn.

How do I deal with toddlers during my morning basket?

Speaking of toddlers, there is nothing that can wreak havoc on a Morning Time like a two-year-old or a three-year-old and a lot of times moms wonder how am I even going to get this done when they’re loud and they’re crazy?

The best tip I have for this is enduring. You just have to outlast on it and it’s going to get better as they get older. But there are a couple of other things that you could do.

First of all, don’t expect it to be perfect to begin with. You’re going to have to teach this two-year-old or three-year-old that this is a time when we’re all learning together and my expectation for you is that you’re going to behave and be quiet.

It’s going to take a number of starts and stops to get them to understand that. It might take even a couple of months for them to kind of get on board and realize that this is the expectation. Until then, you’re just going to have to constantly be correcting them over and over again.

At first, that’s completely normal and the more they learn that this is how it’s going to be, the more they’re going to get on board with it.

The other thing you could do is have a special box of toys that only comes out during Morning Time and that’s their special time to get to play with these things they really want to play with as long as they do it quietly.

Other moms start Morning Time over breakfast or they do Morning Time during snack time. So strap a toddler into a toddler chair and having a bunch of Cheerio’s or little treats there in front of them that they can eat during Morning Time. This is one of the things that’s really going to help bring a little more peace.

As they get into the three and four-year-old age range, they can learn to sit there for a little while and then if you have safe places like a playroom or a fenced-in backyard where they can kind of wander in and out, they can do that too while you continue Morning Time with your older students.

It just takes a lot of practice and habit building to make this work.

If you have any other questions at all about Morning Time, I would love for you to leave them in the comments below, and I’ll be happy to answer them for you there.

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Pam

Pam is the author of The Your Morning Basket Guide and Plan Your Year: Homeschool Planning for Purpose and Peace. She also is the host of three popular podcasts -- The Homeschool Snapshots Podcast, Your Morning Basket, and The Homeschool Solutions Show. She lives in the Deep South with her husband and three kids, where she is the go-to lady for great curriculum recommendations or a just a pep talk on a rough day.

Insights, advice, suggestions, feedback and comments from experts

As an expert and enthusiast, I have personal experiences or beliefs, but I can provide information on the topic of morning baskets in homeschooling. Morning baskets have become popular in the homeschooling community as a way for families to come together and learn about specific subjects. It is a time when all family members can engage in activities such as reading aloud, studying the arts, or combining students for subjects like history and science.

Morning baskets are also known by other names such as Morning Time or circle time. Some families even use more creative names like symposium or power hour. The name doesn't matter as much as the practice itself, which is about everyone coming together and learning at the same time.

Now, let's dive into the concepts used in the article.

The Importance of a Morning Basket

The article mentions that while having a physical basket is not necessary, it can be helpful to have one central location to keep all the materials and supplies needed for the morning basket activities. This ensures that everything is easily accessible and saves time that would otherwise be spent searching for resources.

Benefits of a Morning Basket

The article highlights several benefits of incorporating a morning basket into your homeschool routine:

Efficient use of time: Morning baskets allow children of different ages to learn together efficiently. It follows the model of a one-room schoolhouse, where children with varying ages and abilities can come together to learn specific topics. For example, families can study grammar, foreign languages, history, and science together, despite the age differences between the children.
Incorporating desired activities: Morning baskets provide a dedicated time to engage in activities that might otherwise get overlooked in the daily homeschool schedule. This includes reading Shakespeare or poetry, doing art, composer study, music appreciation, or studying artists. By including these activities in the morning basket, they are more likely to be prioritized and completed.

Subjects Covered in a Morning Basket

The article suggests breaking down morning basket activities into four categories, often referred to as the "four Rs":

Reading: Morning baskets provide an excellent opportunity for family read-aloud time. Families can choose a variety of reading materials, including historical books, nature study books, chapter books, or even picture books related to the subjects being studied.
Recitation: Recitation involves memorizing and internalizing various materials, such as Bible verses or poetry. This helps build memory skills, strengthens brain connections, and provides a source of inspiration and encouragement.
Ritual: Morning baskets can incorporate ritual elements from a family's religious or spiritual practices. Lighting a candle, praying together, or incorporating other elements from the family's church can add a meaningful dimension to the morning basket routine.
Relationship: Morning baskets foster a sense of togetherness and shared learning experiences within the family. By engaging in certain subjects together, family members can build a common culture and create lasting memories.

Implementing Morning Baskets with Different Age Groups

The article acknowledges that morning baskets can be adapted to suit families with a wide range of age groups. While the focus may be geared towards the older children, there are ways to involve younger children as well. For example, families can include age-appropriate activities or read picture books specifically for the younger children during the morning basket time. Even if the younger children are not actively participating in every aspect, they can still benefit from the exposure to memory work, reading, and other activities.

Dealing with Toddlers during Morning Baskets

The article addresses the challenge of managing toddlers during morning basket time. It suggests several strategies, such as setting clear expectations, using special toys or activities reserved only for morning basket time, incorporating snack time or breakfast during the session, and gradually building the habit of sitting quietly during the morning basket routine. Over time, toddlers can learn to participate more actively or have supervised playtime nearby while the older children continue with the morning basket activities.

Overall, morning baskets offer homeschooling families a way to come together, learn together, and create a shared learning experience. It allows for efficient use of time, incorporates desired activities, and fosters a sense of togetherness and connection within the family.