Simple Ideas for Your Daily Homeschool Schedule

At Meet Jeanine, August is homeschool month. It's the month I finalize and complete my homeschool planning for the next school year. So I blog more lightly during the month, and sometimes take the whole month off.

This year, I've got at least one blog post planned for each week, and I thought I'd start us off with some tips for other homeschool moms who might also be finishing up your lesson plans for the year. Here are two homeschool tips that could make starting your day a whole lot easier...

Create a Homeschool Morning Routine

The best way to begin crafting the perfect morning time routine is to use the natural rhythms of your family lifestyle. 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.
-HomeschoolMasteryAcademy.com

Instead of just planning the year's topics and creating the lesson plans, consider planning a homeschool morning routine and a rhythm that will guide your homeschool day.

You already may be choosing certain days for certain topics, but the morning routine goes a step further to set intentions for each morning that make the morning go more smoothly. And if your homeschool mornings go more smoothly, your whole day is likelt to be better.

Here are some reflection questions or journal prompts that may help you get started with envisioning your homeschool routine...

(1) What are the challenges your family faces each morning?

(2) How can you create a routine that solves them or lessens them?

(3) How do you want to feel during your homeschool mornings?

(4) What can you include in your morning routine to help you and your children feel that way?

(5) How would you like for your mornings together to begin?

(6) How would you like to begin the homeschool process?

(7) Is there anything you are doing now that you'd like to do differently?

Jot down any ideas that are coming to mind, and then, read on for a specific idea for beginning your homeschool mornings.

Use a Homeschool Morning Basket

A morning book basket is a basket or bag with books we’re reading at the time. Before we do anything in our school day we spend time reading these books or listening to them on audio. -Smart Mom at Home

With this homeschool idea, you start the day slowly and gradually, instead of rushing into activity. We start with a cup of tea and now, will be adding the morning basket idea.

Kids thrive with boundaries and routines; a morning basket is a reassuring habit that signals a transition to the start of the homeschool day.   Morning basket is also a gentle way to start the day. If you have children who aren’t morning people, not much concentration is required to listen to a story that mom is reading. In fact, for some kids, this is the perfect way to slowly ease into daily lessons. -BookShark.com

What kind of books should you include in your morning basket?

For the morning basket, you are adding to the books you use already as part of your homeschool curriculum. You might choose poetry books, biographies, art books or other kinds.

You can read chapter books to your kids, or if they are older, each one can choose a book to read silently.

You also can use this morning time in other ways, as well. Here are some ideas...

(1) Have a morning quiet time with your children and add your Bible or an inspirational book to the basket.

(2) Write in your journal while your children color or draw and keep it all in the basket ready to be grabbed and used each day.

(3) Tell your children what you'll be focusing on during your homeschool day that day.

(4) Sing songs or read poetry to each other.

(5) Have a cup of tea outside on the porch.

However you choose to use it, having the morning basket as a daily part of your homeschool morning routine gives everyone a chance to wake up fully and transition gently into the homeschool day.

Hope this helps your family's homeschool journey!

Love, Jeanine