I am going to be completely honest at say one of the biggest perks to homeschooling is that I can sleep in. My kids have finally gotten to the age where they can get their own breakfast and entertain themselves in the morning for an hour or so.
However, sleeping in beyond what was necessary was seriously hurting my homeschool mojo. Everything was moving along at snail’s pace and the enjoyment was lacking. I was losing motivation fast.
So I called myself out and set up a better schedule for our homeschool mornings.
What Does a Homeschool Morning Routine Look Like?
Every morning I now have the set time of 8 am that I expect everyone, myself included to be at the table ready to go. That means we are dressed, the house has been tidied up from the morning tornado and breakfast dishes are all put away.
When I have this expectation of everyone, then we all seem to tow the line a bit more. I am yet to have anyone late to the table. I didn’t realise just how eager they were to do school and it was my miserable attitude that was rubbing off on them. I heard a saying once that said “If you act enthusiastic, you will be enthusiastic” I chant that out to my kids now when they are rolling their eyes at me.
Once we are seated at the table we start with a family prayer. This right here is vital to the success of our day. There have been times when I have felt rushed and just skipped it and it just doesn’t go well.
We then move on to family scripture study. My husband and I have decided to treat this as a school subject rather than reading from a book of scripture. Little children become easily bored at restless as the language of scripture is often difficult for them to comprehend in large chunks.
This year we are studying the New Testament. My husband and I take turns teaching a lesson each morning a month at a time. It works really well.
If you aren’t religious you may want to consider using this time to add in something that helps to ground you and provide a focus for your day. Yoga or meditation are both good for this as well as working on mindset activities. This could also be a good time to sit together and write in a gratitude journal.
Next comes our morning basket. This is one of our favourite parts of the day. It contains our read-aloud book, growth mindset activities and a book of funny poems. I really like to keep this simple and fun. If you are new to morning baskets and have no idea what I am talking about you need to head over here to this post. It goes into depth about what they are and how to create one of your own. Our favourite addition to our morning baskets is our Big Life Journal work. I love doing these at the start of the day because it really puts the kids in a great frame of mind for learning. We have had to overcome a lot of perfectionism and anxiety with our daughter and these were a total game-changer not just for her but they really blessed all our kid’s attitudes and mindsets. If you haven’t looked into their resources before I highly recommend doing so now. You can see their vast range of printables here but also look a the journals.
Following our morning basket, we head into our first core subjects for the day.
How to Prepare for a Homeschool Day
Some people like to get up an hour or so before their kids so that they can prepare. My children get up before 6 am. I am not that dedicated! If you have the option of getting up before your kids and not becoming a walking sleep-deprived zombie I think that is an excellent idea!
Personally, I get up at 6:30 am and head out the door for a walk, alone. The alone part is vital. I need that time to think, and mentally prepare myself for the day ahead.
One of the hardest parts of homeschooling is the constant need to be always “on”. There is very little time for you to switch off during the day. It can become incredibly taxing on even the strongest mama.
Taking 30 mins for yourself in the mornings can help ward off homeschool burnout. There are lots of ways to do this that you can read about here but this is definitely the best way for me.
Once I get home I will have a quick look over our schedule for the day and make sure I have everything ready to go. I do a lot of my organising on the weekend so that each weekday I don’t need to worry about printing, cutting or searching for science supplies. Everything is taken care of and I just need to grab the pre-organised bag.
Breakfast, shower and then show up at the table with the rest of the family at 8 am!
How to Make a Homeschool Morning Routine
The first place to start is deciding on when you want to start each day. I chose 8 am because I wanted the bulk of our work done in the morning when my husband is home to help. My children work best early in the morning plus they are ridiculously early risers. When we start school they have usually been awake for at least 2 hours. The start time of 8 am allows me to finish all their core subjects by 1 pm, including a break during the morning and again for lunch. The rest of the day is then free for them to work on their projects. Project work is a big thing in our house and you should definitely look into it if you aren’t doing it already. I wrote a post earlier this year that really explains the benefits and gives you some great ideas based on different ages.
Once you have decided on your start time begin to work around that expectation. Explain to your children what needs to be done before they sit down at the table to start the day. It makes take a week or two before everyone is on board and cooperating but they will get there.
Decide on a way to officially start the day. For our family, it is with a prayer. You may want to recite a pledge or family motto. This really sets the mood for the day. I really find that this really puts everyone in the right mindset that “the school day has started” and it’s time to concentrate and not wander off to watch TV or get a bowl of cereal….
Create a morning basket. Morning baskets are a great way to ease into the school day. They usually include some short, fun but educational activities to do together. The best part of our morning basket is our read aloud. We will often use our read aloud again to end off our day too.
How to Stick to a Morning Routine
Okay so now you have your routine all organised and it looks beautiful on paper but how on earth are you going to stick to it. It all sounds good in theory but can you really make it work in real life?
The key to sticking to a routine is to put it in a place where everyone can see it. Put it in multiple places. I have ours next to the whiteboard in our school area/dining table. I also have it placed on the laundry door next to the kids’ chore roster, this is so they will see it every morning when they check of their morning work. It is also in my diary and on my bathroom door. There is no excuse for me to not know what I should be doing.
I have set up a timer that goes off at 7:45 am to tell me that it’s almost time to start. I yell this out to the kids as well so they can finish up whatever they are doing.
The most effective way to stick to a routine is to first write it down and secondly display it for all to see.
The Benefits of Having a Morning Routine
There have been so many benefits that I found that come with having a routine. Children love consistency and this has proved itself over and over again with my own children. I have more time in the day and feel a lot less overwhelmed.
When my kids have a consistent routine and expectations in the morning they behave better. They know what to expect each day and will do that. Before we had a consistent routine it was a free for all each morning. There was chaos, fighting, and oh so much mess! Now that they know they need to be ready by 8 am they are spending that time in the morning getting prepared which leaves less time for annoying their siblings and fighting over who gets to pick the next YouTube video. This rolls over to the rest of the day. If the morning goes well I can almost guarantee the rest of the day will go smoothly also.
A morning routine has increased my productivity. I feel I have more time simply because I am not wasting time scrolling through my phone or doing tasks that could really be done later in the day when I can devote the appropriate amount of time to them.
The 30 mins I spend in the morning alone has done wonders for my mental health. I feel more in control and motivated. I treasure those times because I can really decompress and work through things in my mind instead of having them bug me all day long. My mind is clearer and I am able to give my all to my children for the hours that they need to be on the ball 100 per cent.
I can definitely recommend creating your own morning routine for your homeschool if you haven’t already. I promise you it will change your homeschool for the better. Even if it is just making sure you take some time for yourself before you start the business of the day. If you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of everyone else’s needs adequately either.
