We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. ~Isaiah 64:8



Monday, September 3, 2012

Our Morning Session - the trial run month

As I mentioned in a previous post, we have begun doing a Cindy-inspired "Morning Session".  She gave a wonderful talk at CiRCE about how Morning Time, as she calls it, has impacted her homeschool.  If you are looking for suggestions on CiRCE talks to purchase, this is definitely one!  (Hers is called "The Long Haul" and is about 1/3 up from the bottom of the list. These are only $3 each for a download!)

Being one to always make huge complicated plans that are then too difficult to institute, I chose this time to start small and grow our Morning Session over the year.  It may not grow much beyond what we have currently scheduled, we'll see.

I expect, but don't force, everyone to join us. The girls are eager to listen and participate.  They bring something to do at the table (we do this part of school at our kitchen table).  The boys?  Not so much.  But they have obliged me.  I've even enticed them both to participate a little bit.  Since I am breaking them in to this, I let them look at their email while I read.  We read the "older" stuff first and then I release them to go get started on their other work (that is Cindy's suggestion).

So, we've begun and it has gone well...for the most part.  There have been a few days the boys slept in instead of getting up to join us.  They've balked a bit at having to join us (not seeing the 'point' in it).  The girls LOVE our Morning Session.

Most of the selections I've chosen are inspired by Ambleside Online  and Cindy's Morning Time blog, so I take no credit.  You can get wonderful ideas from both of those sources.

Here's a screen shot of our schedule.  We haven't completed a day with all of these accomplished, yet.  But we are getting to most of them each day.






























Wednesday is our CC day, so no Morning Session then.  After having done this for about 3 weeks, I'm ready to tweak a few things.  And I've yet to find the Ancient Hymns I want to start using.

Any one out there doing any type of Morning Time?  I'd love to hear about your experiences!

8 comments:

mamatigerj said...

Kerry,

Your plans look great; thank you for sharing them. I can relate to the "balking" boys!

We also do Morning Time, and I am currently working on a post, which I hope to get up on my blog today.

Blessings~

Kerry said...

Hey! Come back and leave a link in the comments when your post is up!

Kerry

mamatigerj said...

Here is the link:
http://olivegrove2.blogspot.com/2012/09/morning-time-autumn-2012.html

Blessings,
Juanita

Amy Plank said...

Kerry,

I love that you're blogging again. Sounds like you are off to a good start with your Morning Sessions.

Amy

Kerry said...

Thanks, Amy!

Cindy said...

I am also very happy to see regular posts and I always love to see the choices families make. I always want to add on to what I am doing but alas this year I have enough going.

Thank-you for the kind words. I truly want to encourage and as inadequate as my speaking skills are, I am happy that you got something out of the talk.

mamazee said...

Thanks for sharing this! I have older boys, too, and have been trimming down morning time, but it was encouraging to see your plan! We do Bible reading, catechism (Heidelberg right now), Future Men by Douglas Wilson, Bible memory, and prayer time.

I want to add back in poetry memorization and hymns... And we do art once a week, but the children would like it daily. We're doing "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain", and even the big boys don't complain!

Kerry said...

mamazee - you are so welcome and I hope you will go check out Cindy's blog - so many resources there. She's the Morning Time master! :)