How to Use a Morning Basket to Simplify Your Homeschool

Wondering how to use a morning basket in your homeschool? Not sure what to include or what the benefits might be? This post covers the how, why, and what of homeschool morning baskets.

I know the last thing you want to hear is that you should add one more thing into your homeschool routine. However, I promise you that this addition will not be that of time or stress. In fact, adding a morning basket will make your mornings something to look forward to every day. It is especially helpful for moms teaching multiple ages and levels. A morning basket helps combine subjects for all ages so you can use your time more efficiently.

Let’s look at how to use a morning basket to simplify your homeschool!

What is a Morning Basket?

Waking up with children looking forward to school can make any homeschool mom smile. The morning basket can help bring those smiles all around. It gives mornings a special relaxed feel that eases into the rest of your day. Don’t let that slow morning feel fool you — by the time you’re done you will have accomplished much more than it seems.

The morning basket takes on different forms in different homes. However, it does provide a predictable routine that is easy to maintain, and even for your children to work on independently if you need to make phone calls, get some housework done, or aren’t feeling well. It is simply a basket you fill with books, poetry, and activities to begin your morning.

Why Use a Morning Basket?

I’m an admitted night owl and slow to start in the morning. Two of my daughters share that trait, while the third is an early bird. We’ve found that the morning basket is a good compromise for all of us. The youngest can jump out of bed, ready to go, knowing what to expect. She can start to gather her crayons and drawing supplies for morning basket Bible time and creative time, while the other two and I can ease into the read-aloud time. Even though we’re relaxed, delight-directed homeschoolers and often follow rabbit trails, this routine helps us get off to an orderly start to our days. It creates a nice atmosphere of community for us and fosters those family relationships that we hold so dear.

Although the morning basket definitely simplifies your homeschooling efforts, the number one reason we love the morning basket in our homeschool is that sense of togetherness we share by starting our days together in quiet pursuit of purposeful learning.

We think things through together, talk together, and share our ideas with each other as we learn. I include myself in that learning process, even though I’m the teacher, because I still enjoy learning right alongside my daughters. There are always new thoughts and new books to discover in life. Truth and beauty are our highest goals that we strive for together. It’s a blessing to share this time with my daughters.

{You can read more about how to start your homeschool day on the right foot in this post.}

How to Use a Morning Basket

We now know that the morning basket is basically a basket filled with books and activities. Again, the morning basket will look different in different homes. Many families add in hymns and Bible studies, like we do. You can fill the basket with items that can be enjoyed by all your children such as nature study, art study, poetry, geography, character studies, composer studies, picture books applying to whatever you are studying, and activity books. I also add in the book we’re reading aloud, and sometimes copywork.

The basket makes it easy to bring out on the deck or porch on nice days or move from the kitchen table to the couch in the living room. The purpose is to spend time together much like a circle time. So it’s not for math or books used for just one child. You can use this as a special way to begin your school day by learning together, regardless of age differences.

What’s in Our Morning Basket?

Just to give you an idea of things to include in your morning basket, I’ll describe ours. I’m homeschooling three girls {ages 8, 10, and 15} and this is what’s in our morning basket right now:

Write through the Bible — this includes Bible study, handwriting, vocabulary, and dictation. It’s available in manuscript and cursive so it works for a wide range of ages.

U.S.A. State-by-State Geography Notebook — this includes notebooking and coloring pages for each state with information about the capital, the state bird, state flower, and more.

NaturExplorers Unit Studies — there are several studies (trees, animals, birds, seasons, and more) in this series that can be used for a wide range of ages.

The One Year Mother-Daughter Devo by Dannah Gresh — we read devotions from this book together and talk about Biblical life application.

SQUILT — composer studies with Super Quiet Uninterrupted Listening Time.

Lapbooks — the girls can often work on lapbooks together in spite of their age differences. We tend to study historical topics with these as we read aloud living history books, or topics of special interest to all three girls, such as horses or other favorite animals or geographical locations.

Audio books and stories — we listen to Adventures in Odyssey, Jonathan Park, Your Story Hour, and the Brinkman Adventures to name a few. Librivox has some good choices for free audio books.

I do rotate resources frequently, depending on our progress and what our interests might be at the moment. This is also when I include themed books and studies for the season or holidays. We don’t do everything every day, but this gives us choices. Morning time lasts about an hour to two when we’re really involved in a book or project we all like. Don’t be afraid to try different things to see how they work for you and your kids.

Do you use a morning basket in your homeschool? Let me know about it in the comments!

Don’t miss these homeschool morning basket posts:

100+ Things to Include in a Morning Basket

How to Fill a Thanksgiving Morning Basket

What to Include in your Christmas Homeschool Morning Basket

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Sara

Author/Speaker/Consultant at Heart and Soul Homeschooling

Sara is a homeschool mom to 3 creative girls. She holds a degree in Social Work specializing in early childhood development, which led to her interest in individualized educational options like homeschooling. She believes that learning should be a lifelong adventure, not just a checklist to get through. She is a writer, avid reader, introvert (INFJ), and dreamer of dreams.