What's in Our Morning Basket - Summer 2016

This weekend I refreshed our daily Morning Basket for the summer months; new memory work, poetry, songs, art and stories have been collected, printed and are ready to go.  An important aspect of a Charlotte Mason education is offering an abundant "feast" of living ideas.  Our Morning Basket is one way I provide my children a feast to nourish their minds, hearts and souls. 

An important note: we do not do all of these elements every day. At the bare minimum we do the invocation, prayer, scripture and doxology.  We rotate many elements and review old memory work/songs depending on the time we have on that particular day or the kids attention/mood etc.  Even though I like to have each part planned and ready in our basket, we are very laid back and sometimes do more and sometimes do less. It is important to me that this is delightful and not a chore. Read more about our Morning Basket habit HERE.

Morning Basket: Summer Season

1. Invocation- Light a candle, say together: "The Lord is my light and my salvation".

2. Calendar/Nature Study- Review plans for the day, look outside and record weather and nature observations. Identify common local birds with Sibley's Birding flashcards.

3. Bible- Read a story from "The Children's Bible in 365 Stories" and a Psalm or Proverb from Scripture.

4. Prayer- Discuss and list what each person is thankful for and record prayer requests/answers to prayer in our prayer journal. Pray together. 

5. Memory Work- 

   Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ("There is a time for everything...")

   Motto/habit training: "There is a time for everything" (discuss the idea that both our actions and the timing of our actions is important to God)

    Poetry- "Ducks Ditty" By Kenneth Graeme

6. Music- 
   
   Hymn: "Fairest Lord Jesus"

   Folksongs: "The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night", "The Crabfish"

7. Picture Study/Art History: Henri Matisse

"Open Window, Collioure" 1905

"Harmony in Red" 1908

"The Snail" 1953

8. Poetry and Read Alouds- Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, Selections from Book 2, "Story Time" from the My Book House collection. 

9. Benediction- Hold hands and sing the Doxology (then hugs and "I love you's" all around.)

Summer Read Alouds:

The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White

Mother West Wind's Children by Thornton Burgess

These days

 

These days, I'm ...

- enjoying the sunshine, earth and open air as much as possible

- looking forward to my last week of art class and working on end of the year grades and evaluations

- collecting delightful books and resources for Levi's kindergarten year

- rather exhausted from my energetic night owls AND early risers

- reading "Little Men" by Louisa May Alcott and inspired by Jo's teaching and the atmosphere of "Plumfield"

- dreaming about starting a Charlotte Mason homeschool co-op

- looking forward to having more time to paint this summer and hoping to get through at least 3 paintings 

- working on our summer bucket list and summer reading list

- paying down our debt, Dave Ramsey style..

- ... learning how to be extremely frugal in the process

- enjoying my kids, their funny conversations, their mischievious antics, their love for each other.

- counting down the days until August which will include a 10th wedding anniversary extravaganza complete with a houseboat and tree cabin AND our annual family camping trip

- thankful for many, many things