Odds are good, you’re working too hard and you aren’t enjoying it nearly enough.
Even if you’ve managed to shirk the bad advice to start your day with math, I bet you feel like you’re working your buns off everyday in your homeschool, and you still can’t seem to squeeze in all those things you really want for your kids’ education.
You know what I’m talking about: poetry, Shakespeare, math games. The beautiful stuff. The delightful stuff your kids will remember fondly ten years from now, even when they’ve forgotten all the pharaohs of Egypt or who was Emperor of France in 1804.
(For the record: Napoleon)
Susan told me this is what was happening in her homeschool:
“There are things I have always wanted to do, but I suppose, never gave myself permission to do because it was “extra”… according to checking off the list of curriculum,” she told me.
“Morning Time has changed all of that. I cannot express in words what it has done for our days, my heart, the atmosphere of our homeschool efforts. The three R’s are happening right before my eyes, Pam. All I had to do was make a plan with a few principles in mind, print a few things, and start.
I also had to put aside the presupposition that my kids would not respond to call and response Scripture or learning a poem together and such, but even my three-year-old is loving the ritual of what we do. If she says nothing during Morning Time, I will catch her singing our hymn to a doll later or mispronouncing the lines of our little poem in rhythm as she jumps down the hall. My heart is full…”
And you know… That’s what Morning Time is all about. That’s what’s it’s for.
To give you space and permission to light a candle, recite beautiful language, get to those most important things that tend to fall off your radar unless they have a fixed place in the schedule.
Susan even told me, “I have a feeling that even when ‘school’ is out of session for a couple months in the summer, we will continue Morning Time to some extent. It is so good for our souls, and I don’t want to just switch it off.”
Good for our souls.
We can get math facts and spelling exercises from a workbook, but things that are good for our souls aren’t learned like that. These things are experienced in a different way.
Want to know the best part? While we are focusing on these things that speak to our children’s souls and build relationships, the very same things are feeding their intellect as well.
Sheila shared a bit of her Morning Time with me.
“I realized that the littles could snuggle with me while I read them their scripture story and they drew a picture in their scripture journals and wrote a brief narration. That eased some of my ‘we’re wasting time — let’s get this going’ angst and allowed a gentler spirit to enter our mornings.
We move downstairs to finish our other Morning Time subjects around the school table – handicrafts, map drill, creative art. As we finish Morning Time, we have a snack and go right into our skill subjects. Morning Time nourishes us. It connects our family with shared culture, gives us noble ideas that stretch us in many ways, and prepares us to confront the darkness around us with light.
I felt the Spirit whispering that this is what my family needs… to slow down, to enjoy each other as people, to just be in the moment — not stressing so much about the next thing that has to be checked-off. “
Snuggles and noble ideas — a combination that makes the best education don’t you think?
- How to Transform Math Lessons without Changing your Curriculum with Denise Gaskins - April 26, 2024
- Homeschooling Boys with Durenda Wilson - April 12, 2024
- What About Lab Sciences? with Dr. Moon - March 29, 2024