Simple Morning Time Notebook 2024-2025
Are you looking for a way to simplify your homeschool? Try the 2024-2025 Simple Morning Time Notebook! Practicing daily Morning Time with our kids has been the solution for teaching multiple ages while also covering all the subjects that inspire us.
Morning Time is the part of our day where we gather to learn the subjects that are best learned in a group setting. Morning Time is for everyone of every age in the family. It is a time to observe truth, goodness, and beauty together. It is our inspiration for the day. This is the notebook our family will be using this year. I hope you will join us!
Video: Simple Morning Time Notebook 2024-2025
How often do you do Morning Time?
On average, we do Morning Time 3-4 times per week, depending on what else we have on the schedule.
How long does Morning Time Take?
We spend anywhere from 15 minutes to 45 minutes doing Morning Time. I have written several posts on the blog about this topic if you search for “Morning Time.”
Daily Subjects/ Regular Subjects
Some subjects we do daily; others we loop on a schedule. I am not providing a detailed schedule for this because I know from experience that each homeschool day, especially if you have multiple children, is subject to many variables. I personally find more freedom in holding my schedule very loosely. When it’s a good morning, we do more. Other times, when the day starts off on the wrong foot, we do the very basics.
Studies we do daily:
- Bible Reading/ Christian Biography
- Scripture Memory
- Other Memory Work
- Hymn Study
- Current Events
Studies we do regularly or on a loop schedule:
- Poetry
- Picture Study
- Composer Study
- Folk Songs
- Grammar
- Nature Study
- Shakespeare
- Proverb-A-Day
- Map Work
- Spelling Patterns
- Nature Study
Here are other Morning Time posts you may enjoy reading. These will further describe how we typically do Morning Time
Simple Morning Time Notebook Volume I
How to Simplify Your Homeschool with Morning Time
Teaching Bible in Morning Time
Simple Ideas for Memory Work in Morning Time
3 Christian Resources for Current Events in Morning Time
Simple Ideas for Poetry in Morning Time
11 Excellent Christian Biography Resources for Your Homeschool
Inspired by Ambleside Online
From the very beginning of our homeschool journey, I have loved Ambleside Online. It is a beautiful, rich curriculum. As our family grew over the years (we now have 10 children), it became more difficult to continue doing AO, but I did not want my kids to miss out on the abundance that AO provides. Because of this, we adapt Ambleside Online to meet the needs of our family. Our yearly choices are what I like to call the “ultra lite” version. We still enjoy the feast , but only as much as we can handle. We usually do only 1-2 poets, artists, or composers per year, for example, rather than three.
This notebook is one of the ways we make AO work for our large family. Having said that, I have purposely kept many selections blank for you to fill in. I did this intentionally to respect AO’s privacy policy. It is also for people who love the Charlotte Mason and Classical education models, but but use curricula other than AO.
Because I find it more motivating to write down the title of a song/print after we have studied it (and less pressure to try to do every suggestion), I have kept many lines blank for your child to fill in. Additionally, it helps make the study to become more personal to kids when they have to hand write the titles of songs or art pieces.
Daily Subjects
Bible Reading/ Christian Biography
We read from a storybook Bible every morning. One morning a week we substitute the Bible reading with a Christian Biography.
Scripture Memory
We memorize Scripture by simply reading the verse once or twice out loud together each day. You may find it helpful to do a current verse and a review verse.
Other Memory Work
This year we are learning the Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Day 1. This particular question and answer is especially applicable to me in these uncertain times and I wanted our kids to learn it this year. We are also learning the Bill of Rights. I focus less on memorizing and more on reading it once a day and letting the memorization happen naturally.
Hymn Study
Having a hymnal in hand is very useful for learning hymns. We do hymn study at night as part of our bedtime routine, but many people like doing it as part of Morning Time. For the months of November, December, and March, we use our hymnals to review Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter songs.
Current Events
Our family enjoys World Watch every morning together. This is a 10 minute news broadcast from a Christian perspective. I highly recommend a membership! Cancel Netflix and subscribe to World Watch. It is absolutely worth it!
Regular Subjects (Loop Schedule)
This section of the Simple Morning Time Notebook we implement on a loop schedule. I am not rigid on how I do this. After we finish our Daily Subjects, we usually pick one or two Regular Subjects.
Poetry
When I pick the poets we are doing for the year, I try to choose one that is suitableie for younger kids and one for older. This year I have chosen Robert Louis Stevenson and Alfred Lord Tennyson as the poets we will study. We study one poem at a time, reading it once a day until it becomes very familiar. Often, kids will memorize the poem from hearing it so often.
Picture Study
I have kept the artist choices and prints blank for your child to fill in . You can find Picture Study suggestions for the current year on Ambleside Online or pick your own. In the past, I have both had a picture in hand to study AND studied the picture from a computer. Both options work well. You can also purchase art prints from Simply Charlotte Mason. (simplycharlottemason.com)
Composer Study
Choose two composers you will study this year. I have found it very helpful to create a playlist from these on your phone. Have kids hand-write the songs in the blanks as you listen to them.
Folk Songs
Choose the folk songs you will learn each month and have your children write them in as you complete them. You may want to create a playlist for these as well.
Shakespeare
This year we are reading the Shakespeare plays As You Like It and Cymbeline. Because Shakespeare has such deep plots and several characters, I like to expose our kids to Shakespeare through a progression of readings. First I read it from “Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare“ by Edith Nesbit. Secondly, I read the same play from “Tales from Shakespeare” by Charles and Mary Lamb which fills in more of the details. For high school kids, listening to Arkangel audio versions of the plays is a wonderful extension.
Spelling Patterns and Rules
I use copywork as the main method for teaching Spelling. Writing lists of words out of context does not seem to be an effective way to learn to spell, in my opinion. In addition to copywork, however, I like to review spelling patterns and rules to help kids see why words are spelled the way they are. Read one Spelling Rule during Morning Time and have your kids try to come up with their own examples.
Proverb-A-Day (5 minutes)
When you read through the book of Proverbs, each chapter is full of so many treasures, it can be hard to walk away with one solid application. I wanted to find a way to sort out individual proverbs by topic and soak in them a little. and this is what inspired the Proverb-a-Day page. Read one proverb in Morning Time (there are enough for you to do about one a week.) Ask your kids what they think it means. This should take only about 5 minutes.
Grammar
Learning the parts of speech and being able to diagram a sentence has come under criticism of late, but I believe that understanding the patterns of our speech helps kids communicate well in both oral and written form. Choose a sentence from one of your favorite current read-alouds. Write it on a whiteboard. Using the grammar charts provided, label each part of speech.
Map Work
We are learning about the countries and physical properties of North America. Kids will label the countries of North America, the states and capitals of the United States., and prominent physical features.
Nature Study
Although I typically assign our kids to do their Nature Study Notebook as part of their checklist, many children enjoy sketching during Morning Time. Pull out some field guides or have them collect specimens to copy during Morning Time.
Get your 2024-2025 Simple Morning Time Notebook!
If you would like your own copy of the 2024-2025 Simple Morning Time Notebook that we will use this year, you can purchase a digital download for $8.00 by clicking on the button below.
I would love for you to join us in our Morning Time this year!
