Morning Basket: A homeschooling ritual worth trying

What is a Morning Basket in homeschooling?

The concept of a Morning Basket originates from the Charlotte Mason method but can easily adapt to any homeschooling style. This family gathering time allows you to cover topics that might otherwise be overlooked, review previous lessons, have meaningful discussions, work on memorization, read together, and explore themes that matter to your family. All resources are kept in a basket or container, making it easy to access and move around as needed. The goal is to enjoy a relaxed, enriching time together, touching on a variety of subjects in short bursts.

What can you include in a Morning Basket?

Purists will say: BOOKS! No doubt, books hold a special place in any Morning Basket. However, as I prefer to keep things flexible, I include a bit more than just books. Here’s what our Morning Basket looked like when it was working particularly well:

• A Growth Mindset activity, often with a YouTube video followed by a long discussion (we used this Growth Mindset Journal).
• A read-aloud session followed by a dictation exercise from the text (believe it or not, my kids actually wanted these dictations!). We’d correct the dictation and I’d use the opportunity to go over grammar points, like homophones and verb tenses.
• An art activity, such as drawing or artwork appreciation, where we would explore different artists and their creations.

For even more ideas, I recommend this article from The Canadian Homeschooler: The Canadian Homeschooler.

Reading aloud in the Morning Basket

Morning Basket time is perfect for family read-alouds. You can read historical books, nature studies, or just fun stories. Sometimes we read chapter books or even picture books related to the topics we’re studying. This time is also great for activities that you want to include but can’t easily fit into the day, like reading Shakespeare, poetry, or studying artists and composers.

In some families, the Morning Basket focuses more on the older kids, while younger ones are present but might not actively participate. They absorb what they can and will be reintroduced to these topics over time. You can also include activities specifically for the little ones, like picture books or nursery rhymes, or even let older children create a Morning Basket just for the younger kids!

Building family culture with the Morning Basket

Morning Basket time is a valuable opportunity to strengthen your family culture and to focus together on themes and topics that are foundational to your family values.

Using Kiwipolis to organize your Morning Basket

In Kiwipolis, anything you add to your plan is labeled as an event, while each quest in the village contains specific activities. This distinction helps clarify your daily schedule. Morning Basket time is intended as a family event, bringing everyone together – it’s neither individualized nor independent but rather a shared, engaging moment.

Every Sunday, I like to take a bit of time to prepare for the week, gathering everything we’ll need for our Morning Basket: the books we’ll read, dictation materials, artworks, videos, and Growth Mindset activities. In Kiwipolis, this planning process integrates seamlessly, letting you adapt as you need. Here’s how you can organize your Morning Basket with Kiwipolis:

1. Plan a Morning Basket event: Depending on how often you change the content (weekly, monthly, or seasonally), create an event in Kiwipolis titled “Morning Basket.” If you’re changing it weekly, name each event with specific topics (for instance, “MB: Aesop’s Fables (homophones: their/there), Amelia Earhart, Monet”). For content that stays the same for several weeks, use a simple title (“Morning Basket”) and add notes as you progress through the material.

2. Log specific details: For each Morning Basket session, you can add comments or observations within the event, such as photos of dictation exercises or notes from discussions. This way, you can track topics covered and skills practiced.

3. Add complementary activities in the quests: To reinforce Morning Basket themes, add specific activities in the “Village” section of Kiwipolis. For instance, you might include a spelling exercise on homophones or a quiz on Monet. This allows your kids to review these concepts through fun, quest-based activities.

Conclusion:

Integrating the Morning Basket into your homeschool schedule with Kiwipolis creates a flexible yet structured family learning time. This daily or weekly ritual becomes a cornerstone of your homeschool, encouraging shared learning and meaningful conversations. Tailored to your family’s needs, it offers a balance between adaptability and organization, helping you nurture your family culture and explore foundational topics together.