Breakfast in our home is synonymous with Morning Time. At 8:30am, we begin our day with hymns, God’s Word, bread and coffee (only for me!)
What is Morning Time
Morning Time in our home consists of at least 2 or 3 of either of the following:
- Bible reading
- Bible verse memorization
- Singing of hymns
- Reading a devotional
- Short discussion on Character
On a very good day, when everything feels perfect (haha,) we get to do all those things! But those days are very rare. 😉
To give you a picture of how this looks like, here’s a visualization:
I go down to the kitchen and prepare our breakfast. I place them on the table and lay our books open. When the kids come in after spending around half an hour outside playing, they will settle in and start eating. I also want to start eating so instead of reading aloud, I ask Alexa (our Echo Dot) to play our Hymns playlist. The kids will happily sing along (yes, even Dylan!)
Then, I’ll ask Luke to read aloud the Psalm he is currently memorizing. Or I’ll ask him to recite one that he’s already memorized. By then, I would’ve already finished a part (or all) of my breakfast, so I’ll start reading our devotional aloud.
After discussing the story or devotional entry and if we still have time (that is, if Dylan isn’t fussy and if we’re not rushing for an online class,) I’ll read a portion of our chosen book on Character and engage Luke in a discussion.
Our Morning Time “Menu”
I saw homechooling moms online use these menu booklets for morning time and I thought it was a brilliant idea. So I recently created one for Luke and it’s been wonderful! Every morning, Luke knows to pick this up from our crate and he enjoys flipping and reading through them.
This is what’s inside our Morning Time Menu:
- Hymn: Lyrics of our chosen hymns for the month
- Verses or Proverbs: Verses for memorization.
- Psalm: A copy of our chosen Psalm of the month, for memorization.
There are Morning Time Menus that I saw online that incorporate poetry, art and other nice things and they are good ideas too. But I decided to make Morning Time purely a faith-based activity so only faith-related content go here. We do art and poetry on a separate time. (See related post: Snack & Poetry)
You can also check out our current Hymns playlist on Spotify here. (Note: This playlist is constantly updated!)
Bible & Devotional Recommendations
Here are some of our current favorite materials for Bible reading and devotional. For reference, as of the time of this writing, my eldest is 5 (turning 6 soon.)
- The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones
- The Beginner’s Gospel Story Bible by Jared Kennedy
- The Ology by Marty Machowski (My review here!)
- ABC Bible Verses by Susan Hunt
- Big Truths for Little Kids by Susan Hunt and Richie Hunt
- Cassie and Caleb: God’s Wonderful Design by Susan Hunt and Richie Hunt
For a more thorough review on some of these books, you can check this out: “8 Favorite Devotionals for Young Kids”
Character Recommendations
I am very happy with the following resources so I’m highly recommending them:
- Laying Down the Rails for Children from Simply Charlotte Mason (My review here!)
- Everyday Graces by Karen Santorum
- A Children’s Book of Virtues by William J. Bennet
On my wishlist is William J. Bennet’s “Book of Virtues” Next time! 😉
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Hope this encourages you in case you’re thinking about incorporating Morning Time in your own routine with the kids. I promise, it’s worth it!
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RELATED POSTS:
- Kindergarten Curriculum Picks for Luke (2020-2021)
- Book Lists for Kids (link to all our book list articles)
- Curriculum Reviews (link to all our reviews)
- How We Homeschool: 5 Years Old (Level K)