A Charlotte Mason Morning Basket

When I first began homeschooling, I came up with the idea to place the books we used on a daily basis into a basket. This could be toted around to wherever we were doing our lessons. For the past school year I didn't use the basket, but simply organized the homeschooling bookcase by subject, getting out what books we needed and putting them back on the shelf as we went along.

For the upcoming school year, I'm bringing the basket back! There has been a lot written among Charlotte Mason and other home educators about Morning Time. This is a daily practice of gathering one's children together for shared lessons. When I was a Montessori classroom teacher, with children ages three to six, we had Circle Time to start the morning cycle with the entire class before individual lessons and independent work time began. Same basic idea.

Morning Time occurs at the beginning of the day's homeschooling lessons. It takes on a different flavor in each family. Read alouds with narrations are prominent features. The fine arts--an often-neglected area of study--are given a front row seat. So Morning Time is when picture studies, composer studies, and poetry are explored. Bible reading, devotions, and nature journals are other common elements. It can basically be whatever you want it to be; the idea is to begin the morning with family bonding and restful learning. 

Oftentimes the materials used during Morning Time will be kept altogether in a basket for easy access and portability. Having the Morning Basket will assure that the subjects usually considered as "electives" in the schools but which are key elements in a CM education do not fall by the wayside.

If you go back a couple of posts, you will find my loop schedule for the Fall Term. I added a Morning Basket to the Daily Core. In the Morning Basket category I have listed poetry, music, & art appreciation; dance; and handicrafts. We have been doing picture studies regularly, but music appreciation and handicrafts were spotty. While dance is not a "key" CM subject, Charlotte does include it as important in her writings. My daughter has at times taken ballet classes, and as I am a dance instructor, I have taught her myself. This is a practice to which I want to return. 

I'm planning to extend our Morning Basket to include all of the items in the Daily Core. In addition to the fine arts and handicrafts already listed, the following will go in the basket: literature (King David and His Songs), the Book of Gratitude reader, Spanish materials, and Hamilton's Essentials of Arithmetic. Foreign languages should be worked on daily, and this was decidedly not happening in my homeschool.

To clarify, the specific Morning Basket items, unless they are a part of your own Daily Core, are not all done daily. So for example, you are not trying to work in poetry, music, and art appreciation all in one day. You might read poetry on Monday; listen to classical music on Tuesday; do a picture study on Wednesday; have a drawing lesson on Thursday; and introduce a handicraft on Friday. 

Handicrafts are typically an afternoon pursuit, part of the child's free time after formal lessons finish by 1:00. But I want to put this in the Morning Basket and then encourage Beezy to take it up on her own in the afternoons or evenings and on weekends. 

I'll post pictures of my own Morning Basket when I have all of the items gathered for the Fall Term. Since some of it is going to come from the library, I don't have everything currently on hand. 

Be creative about coming up with your own Morning Time activities. If you are using a traditional Catholic curriculum provider, such as Seton Home Study School or Catholic Heritage Curricula, consider adding a Morning Basket in order to bring classic literature and the fine arts into your schedule. This is one easy way to begin a transition to a more Charlotte Mason style approach!

Tea Time & More on Loop Scheduling

After reflecting upon my new loop schedule for our Charlotte Mason curriculum, I decided to take "Tea Time" out of the Humanities loop and put it into its own category. (See previous post on loop schedules.) There were of couple of reasons for this. First, I realized that I had left out one of our books, The Care & Keeping of You, which we are using to cover health, a subject required by the state of Ohio. I don't want to have more than 5 items in a particular loop. My loops are all full!

The other reason is that I don't want to feel any pressure to work Tea Time in on a regular basis. I started thinking, anxiously, about how I would have to make sure we had some tasty baked goods to eat, and that I would need to ensure getting those subjects on that list accomplished. The last thing I want to associate with Tea Time is stress! Truth be told, we already have plenty in our current fall term. I recently came across this sage advice from Nancy Kelly: Keep cutting back until there is peace in your home. This was such a timely godsend! I realized that I could not fit poetry and Spanish into the current term, and that I should put those noble subjects off until winter.

Yet with Tea Time, I can perhaps include a little of those things that are well worth doing but that would overload our regular schedule, saving them for when I have time or when the mood strikes! It can be an occasional treat. Tea Time is a popular practice among CM home educators. It's a warm and leisurely event, imbued with culture. You can break out your fine China, have tea (or cocoa or whatever suits your fancy), arrange a pretty bouquet, and relax with your children. In addition to Spanish and poetry, I have music, correspondence, baking, and handicrafts on the list. You could read a delightful classic novel to your kids just for the pleasure of it, listen to an audio book, pray the Rosary together, write letters to Grandma, or work on your knitting. The possibilities are endless. The key is to enjoy spending time together doing something fun and enriching, but without the academic strings attached.

Tea time could be held at the traditional 4:00 p.m. of the English, or you could make it a special brunch with French toast or pancakes and call it "morning time". Some mothers like to have a "morning basket" in which to keep activities for such occasions. Some do Tea Time daily, making it the core of their homeschooling. Others have it once a week or only occasionally. You don't have to provide gourmet offerings, either. A simple plate of sliced apples, peanut butter, cheese, and crackers would do the trick. Do you have Tea Time in your home? How do you like to celebrate it? And that's exactly the perfect word for it--celebration. A celebration of family, of life, of learning, and of rest. Treat yourself and your children to Tea Time now and again, and discover its simply abundant treasures.