How to Craft the Perfect Homeschool Morning Time Routine

Let’s chat about a homeschool morning routine. Homeschoolers know that what we do in the morning can shape the rest of our homeschool day.

By targeting specific topics or subjects in the morning, we can be more productive and sometimes accomplish more. Our children may even have a longer attention span. Many of us are more alert at the beginning of the day, so it makes perfect sense to make the most of our homeschool mornings if we can.

Incorporating a homeschool morning time routine can also help with homeschool consistency. Many of us struggle with staying consistent in our homeschools, and with a simple routine, we can ensure more consistency each day – which leads to more consistent weeks and months.

Let’s get strategic about homeschooling in the morning. Some families use morning time as a cozy warm-up to the actual day by reading or playing educational games. Others may be working on virtues or memorization; homeschool morning time routines run the gamut. Morning time can be flexible, peaceful, and packed with learning. What a great way to start your homeschool day, right?

You may be wondering how to create your own morning time routine.

But, the first thing you need to know about morning time is that there is no right or wrong way to do it!

At Homeschool Mastery Academy, we advocate for homeschool flexibility and customizing your homeschool to your unique lifestyle and family. So let’s start there.

Homeschooling is all about freedom, and you can customize a morning time to your family and your homeschool methods.

 

What does homeschool morning time look like?

You might find classical homeschoolers using morning time for memorization, or Charlotte Mason homeschoolers reading living books. Christian families may use morning time to start with the Bible and scripture memory work. These are just a few examples of how morning time can differ from family to family and method to method. The most critical factor for crafting the perfect homeschool morning time is making it your own.

What is generally consistent among most homeschool morning time routines is that you include the entire family.

Homeschool morning time is a good time to incorporate a few subjects or topics that your whole family can all connect on. That is precisely why reading books, bible time, crafts, nature study, art, music, and learning games can all be excellent morning time resources.

How do I start crafting my homeschool morning time?

The best way to begin crafting the perfect morning time routine is to use the natural rhythms of your family lifestyle. Too often, we try to emulate another homeschool family or favorite blogger’s morning time routine rather than mold their ideas into what will work best for your family.

Then we feel frustrated or disappointed that it didn’t look exactly like their picturesque Instagram snapshot of homeschool morning time.

We encourage you to mold morning time into the best version of it for your homeschool. So that might look like taking a few ideas and resources from various places and making a homeschool morning time routine that is uniquely yours.

Your family and lifestyle are unique, and your homeschool should reflect that.

Think about the right time for your homeschool morning routine.

If your family aren’t generally early risers, then deciding to start morning time at 7 am obviously will be difficult. Think about working around the natural flow of your home. Trying something entirely new or unnatural might only end up fizzling out after a while.

Choose a time that you can easily incorporate into your homeschool day. Mornings are a good fit for many families. However, afternoon time can work just as well. Don’t be discouraged if mornings don’t work into your family’s best option for homeschool morning time. Choose the timeframe that fits best within your lifestyle and can become a routine.

You can choose to facilitate a morning time routine daily, or maybe a few times a week. Again, customize your routine to what works best for your homeschool. Homeschool morning time is not a take it or leave it option. You have the freedom to make it whatever you want.

Customize your homeschool morning time routine.

Don’t be afraid to customize. You may purchase curriculum or morning time plans that you love, but maybe there are a few things about them that you don’t. That’s ok. Don’t be afraid to skip over the activities or topics that don’t feel like a good fit for your family.

Maybe you circle back around to them next year or skip it altogether. There are no rule books in homeschooling that say you have to follow a curriculum or lesson plans exactly.

How to choose what to use for your family homeschool morning time.

Take a bit of time selecting the right blend of elements for your homeschool morning time. You may want to select a few read alouds, the Bible, memorization work, learning games, crafts, art projects, and/or any subjects that you can do as a family.

You may need to make a few adjustments for combined subject work for different ages, but it is achievable. Studying various topics or themes as a family can not only be exciting, but easy to accommodate a range of ages. You can decide on a theme for the week or month and enjoy all types of activities as a family while you dive into the study of that particular theme.

Accommodating a range of ages in your homeschool morning time.

If you have a wide range of ages in your homeschool, use age-appropriate items for each student, for example, if you want to read a living book that may be too advanced for the younger children in your homeschool. You can still incorporate it into morning time. You might need to have activities for the younger children that you only pull out during this read-aloud time to keep them occupied. Choose things they can manipulate with their hands and still listen. Building toys, handicrafts, sensory bins, play dough, simple crafts, paper dolls, or anything that your children will enjoy to sit and quietly play as you or the older children read are just some ideas to help create a morning time routine with younger children.

Homeschool morning time with the entire family can happen, it just takes a bit of deliberate planning the right combination of timing and activities that will work for your family.

Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t work the first couple of times. Younger children will need a few times to acclimate to the new routine, and you may have to try a combination of things before you find the sweet spot.

Deciding where you will do morning time.

Choose a spot in your home that you can routinely use for consistency. Designating a particular space doesn’t mean that you can’t take morning time outside in the spring or fall. But by having a consistent location, it can help to create a routine within your homeschool. If you plan to do “desk work” plan with that in mind, or if you want more of a warm and cozy atmosphere, you may want to choose a comfy spot in the house.

Making this a time to look forward to also helps to get your children excited about your routine each day. Use pillows and blankets on the floor to enhance the comfort or include some snacks or treats to make it easier to listen quietly. If you plan for desk work, a plate of muffins or fun colored pens can add to the morning time excitement.

These are just a few ideas to exercise the freedoms we have as homeschoolers to make learning fun.

Organize your morning time supplies.

Create a basket, bin, or folder that you can easily keep all of your homeschool morning time resources organized. Depending on what supplies you will be using, you will want to have them all together for ease of access.

You may want to plan your morning time for each week, and add all the supplies you will need at once to make for a less stressful week of learning.

Don’t forget to rotate your morning time resources. One fast way for homeschool morning time to fizzle out is to forget to update your basket. Keeping your topics and resources fresh is a key element to making homeschool morning time a time to look forward to.

Rotate out activities for the younger children, so they stay engaged. Having fresh ideas on hand does not have to cost a lot of money; it just takes a bit of planning to make sure you always have something new and interesting to enjoy.

Homeschool Morning Time – The Easy Way

For some, purchasing your morning time curriculum or plans can take a weight off and save loads of precious time better spent elsewhere.

We all know that homeschool lesson planning, in general, can take some time. Whether you are pulling activity ideas from Pinterest, planning lessons from various textbooks, or just keeping up with each weeks lesson plan materials – it all takes time.

Each hour counts as a homeschool mom, especially as you are homeschooling multiple children and managing your home. That is exactly why resources that have an all in one homeschool morning time curriculum planned each month can be a lifesaver!

There are wonderful resources for homeschool family morning time available that include music and art appreciation, poetry, crafts, topical studies, living books, and more! Purchasing homeschool morning time plans can make you look like a morning time pro with minimal effort on your part.

If you have younger children but want to begin to cultivate routine time together – Start with books, handicrafts, poetry, wholesome recipes, and soak up intentional togetherness as you learn. There are relaxed plans for that also.

We want you to spend more time enjoying your homeschool, so we hope this will help you craft the right blend of educational resources to make the most of your mornings!

Tell us something unique about your homeschool morning time in the comments.