Morning Routine: Homeschool Mom of Four Young Kids

There are so many days when I wish I was more structured and organized. I wish my household ran like a lovely, well-oiled machine. I wish I got up before my children every single day and greeted them with a warm smile and genuine excitement when they awoke. Maybe there are moms out there who do all these things, but I fall short of these expectations every single day. So, please hear my heart as I share what our morning routine looks like. It’s messy. It doesn’t look as pretty in real life as it does on a computer screen.

But, it is very true that any household, and especially a household with tons of little kids, runs better when there is structure and clear expectations. I’ve also found that when my kids are eating (read: strapped into high chairs), I have a captive audience and can often engage them in thoughtful conversations more than any other time of the day. So, I try to take advantage of that! 

Early Mornings

I do try to get up before my kids. For me, it’s really hard to start the day with such a bang as having four little ones asking for food when I’m still wiping the sleep out of my eyes. It’s disorienting and always makes me regret the extra sleep. Now, when I have a little baby who likes to party during the night, it’s not always possible for me to get up before the kids. And that’s okay, we adjust. But for the most part, I try to get up at 6:30am, On Tuesdays and Thursdays I start a load of laundry first thing (and Sunday is also a laundry day).

My ideal day always starts with Jesus time. This is my stability and my anchor for the rest of the day. During the school year, I usually spend time writing in my prayer journal and working on my Bible Study Fellowship study. During the summer, I usually journal and then meditate on a Psalm and read whatever else the Lord leads me to.  I’d love for this time to last a full hour, but that happens about once a year, hah. Most days, thirty minutes is about what I get. 

In the past six months or so, I’ve started being a lot more diligent about exercising. This has been a long journey, but I’m finally to a point where I actually look forward to this time. I’ve played around with how to fit this into my daily routine. Right now, working best to exercise around 7:20-8am. Especially since the weather is allowing me to work out on the porch (give me a lil’ honk if you happen to drive by and spy me doing burpees in the wee hours of the morning, hah!)

The Magic Clock

If I have a few minutes before the kids get up at 8, I try to unload the dishwasher. The day always goes better if that chore gets done first thing! The kiddos start coming out at 8 am on the dot. How, you say? This magic clock is our best friend! It turns green when the children are allowed to come out of their rooms. So if they wake up before the clock is green, they can play quietly until time to get up (they can, of course, come out to potty!). This clock has been a game changer for us and I can’t recommend it enough! We also use it for naps/rest time. 

The kids play around while I get breakfast started. We normally eat somewhere between 8:20-9:00 depending on how many interruptions I have and what we’re having for breakfast.

During breakfast, we do our “morning time” routine. If you read many homeschool blogs, you’ll find this term used a lot (or “morning basket”). It’s basically just a time set aside, as a family, to focus on the important, beautiful things in life that can easily get thrown to the side when the hustle and bustle of school gets underway. Think poetry, art study, music study, Scripture memory, etc. Now for us, we do a very basic version of morning time–I haven’t really added art or music and only do poetry occasionally. But my vision for the future definitely includes more subjects. This past school  year, our morning time included:

Prayer

I try to make this time as specific as possible. This year, I bound all of our Christmas cards into a little bundle and we pray for one family each day. It’s been a really sweet way to pray specifically for people we might not otherwise think to pray for. 

Scripture Memory

A couple of years ago, a friend shared with me her approach to memorizing Scripture with her kids. It’s so simple–but it works. All we do is read the same passage every single day. Profound, huh? I don’t even emphasize the fact that we’re trying to memorize it. I just read it aloud every single morning and after a few weeks, I start asking them to say it to me. It’s amazing how much their little brains soak up! We are currently working our way through John 15, one chunk (about 8 verses) at a time. 

Catechism

I did not grow up learning any catechisms. In fact, I was an adult before I even knew what the word meant. But basically, it’s just a series of questions and answers that form an overview of the Christian narrative. We use New City Catechism and love it so much. The app is free and includes a song for every question. It’s amazing how songs encourage memory! We do about one question/answer a week.

Storytime

If our curriculum has a specific book to read that week, we will read that. This summer we went through The Children’s Book of Heroes by William Bennett and the kids were captivated. 

Poetry

We don’t read poetry every day (sometimes we save that for Tuesday tea time), but when we do, I just read a few poems from one of these books: A Child’s Garden of Verses or A Child’s Book of Poems.

Calendar and Daily Plan

This is super simple…we just talk about the month, day, and year. I usually tell them what they can expect for the day and week and we count down to anything exciting coming up in the future.

Simplicity is your friend

That’s it! And trust me, it looks a lot fancier all laid out than it actually is. This routine takes between fifteen and forty minutes. Right now my kids are in second grade, first grade, and preschool. At these ages, short and sweet is the name of the game. Some days everyone is engaged and lovin’ it. Some days it’s allllllllll whining. But the important thing is we’re trying. And I trust that God is bearing and will bear fruit from seeds sown in faith. 

Does your family have any kind of morning routine?