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Creating a SIMPLE Homeschool Morning Basket

Starting our homeschool day with  truth, beauty, and goodness is one of my personal goals for this school year. 

I desire to give my children fine arts, Bible, and memory work review during our time together each morning at the breakfast table. 

I created a SIMPLE morning basket for my children -- now 5th and 9th grades. And, to tell you the truth -- the basket is for ME, too. I long to be a more centered, God-focused homeschool mom this year. 

Starting the day with a SIMPLE homeschool morning basket full of goodies!

Picture Study, Music Appreciation, Bible Study, and Memory Work are the focus. I've chosen ONE excellent resource for each area. 

Picture Study

We will be using this book to learn about 13 paintings. 

I love that the book guides me through everything we need to know... because I am not an art expert. We will cover 1 painting each week -- and maybe research other paintings by the same artist during that week, too. 

The book, 13 Artists Children Should Know, may also be used in the second semester of our year.

(I know if you are in Classical Conversations you are wondering why I'm not coordinating the artist study in the Foundations Guide to our morning basket... the short answer is that I want BOTH of my children to take part in this, and I feel a general art appreciation approach is best this year. There may be some artist overlap, and there may not... I'm trusting God in those details!)

Music Appreciation

SQUILT Music Appreciation Volumes 1 & 2 (Baroque & Classical Eras) 

We will learn about pieces of music from 1600-1850 this year, using my SQUILT curriculum. 

Each lesson takes approximately 20-30 minutes and can be extended as little or as much as you want. The curriculum is SCRIPTED, but also allows for flexibility. 

Again, this is not DIRECTLY correlated to CC Cycle 1, but there are lessons about Bach, Handel & Mozart! 

And, my favorite  bluetooth speaker will stay in our morning basket so I can easily play music from my computer or phone a bit louder.  

Devotions

The Once-A-Day devotion book is simple and well done. 

I love the way it offers a scripture reading and thought provoking question. This is perfect for my student who is moving from the Dialectic to Rhetorical stage! 

Memory Work

I created a CC Cycle 1 memory work flip chart (thank you user melodystroud on CC Connected!).

(You can see more about that in Planning & Organization for CC Cycle 1. )

We will go over all areas of the memory work at the breakfast table each day. My son has expressed an interest in becoming a Memory Master this year, so I'm hoping this will help him greatly. 

Morning Time Schedule

I always hesitate to post a SCHEDULE of how things will go, because you and I both know that schedules must always be open to CHANGE.

This is roughly how morning  time will look with a 10 (Foudations & Essentials Student) and 14 year old (Challenge I student) this year:

8:30 a.m. - Breakfast at the kitchen table

  • Devotion
  • Memory Work Review
  • Music Appreciation OR Art Appreciation (we will alternate days)

9:00 or 9:15 a.m. -- Assigned School Work Begins

 

I'm hoping this SIMPLE approach to fine arts, devotions, & memory work will set the tone for and enhance our homeschool days. 

Do you have a morning time in your homeschool?  I'd love to hear about it!

 

 

Incorporating Fine Arts in CC Cycle 1

The older my children become, the more thankful I become for the time we have spent learning about music and art. 

Fostering a love of art and music not only creates more well-rounded children, it also creates children with an appreciation of TRUTH, BEAUTY, and GOODNESS. 

One of the biggest advantages of homeschooling is that children have the luxury of studying art and music in ABUNDANCE!  

This year we will be very INTENTIONAL about incorporating fine arts. A SIMPLE plan of attack - one that will work in the schedules of my elementary and high schooler - is in order.

Incorporating Fine Arts in CC Cycle 1

Fine Arts FIRST THING!

Mornings are the perfect time for fine arts. 

This year we will intersperse art & music, making sure to incorporate a little of each every single day. 

LESS IS MORE - and by incorporating a little bit of art and music into the first hour of our day, I hope to make a lasting impression. 

Breakfast is the time in our homeschool when we are all together (and this year dad will be with us since he works from home now -- hooray!) and I can easily incorporate fine arts. 

During this time together at the table we always have a devotion, watch CNN Student News, and then will move on to art or music study. 

Hopefully, we can compact these things into 45 minutes. 

While I'm not always a stickler for "the schedule" - morning is a time when the kids get up (usually by 7:30), and we are all together at the breakfast table by 8 a.m.  This is the best way for our family to get everything accomplished in a day. 

Art Appreciation

We have several artists on our schedule this year. (They are recommended in our CC Foundations guide.)  

While we may not study the artist on the exact week, I have just come up with a rough schedule of artists we can study during the first 12 weeks. 

  • Ghiberti
  • Angelico
  • Durer
  • Michelangelo
  • El Greco

My plan is to read a brief biography (which I will locate online) about each of these artists, and then find representative works online as we go.  

We will be using Discovering Great Artists as our guide. 

I have also found this GREAT little deck of art appreciation cards for Go Fish.  I imagine we will be using them quite a bit! 


I also LOVE the suggestions made in this post about using art books to foster art appreciation.  I am a firm believer in strewing books around the home to help us learn about a particular subject. 

In the past I have tried creating a strict "schedule", but I have found that it inhibited my children's sense of exploration. If I simply start by saying "Let's see what we can find out about Angelico", I find that we do research together and make interesting discoveries. 

Too much rigid planning can stifle creativity! 


Music Appreciation

This year we will be focusing on a variety of composers, from Bach to Mozart.

In our Foundations guide Bach, Handel, and Mozart are covered. We will learn about other composers from their respective musical eras (the Baroque & Classical Eras). 

{ In case you hadn't gathered, this area is my favorite - and my area of expertise because I was an elementary music teacher. }

And, of course I will be using the curriculum I've written - SQUILT! 

This year, as part of Cycle 1, we will be working our way through SQUILT Volume 1 & 2 (Baroque and Classical Eras).  

http://www.squiltmusic.com

 

What I LOVE about SQUILT is that it is 100% open-and-go -- each lesson teaches my kids about a great musical work and teaches them how to SPEAK and WRITE about a piece of music. 

We can simply sit at the breakfast table with the iPad or laptop and conduct a SQUILT lesson from there.   It's so simple -- I designed it for ALL parents - especially those with NO MUSICAL BACKGROUND!   

AND, because the SQUILT site is freshly redesigned, I'm offering a 25% discount on any SQUILT volume or bundle -- this week only!   

That's the SIMPLE plan of attack for fine arts this year in our homeschool. 

There are no elaborate schedules or online booklists, just a plan that we can follow - while allowing for interest and creativity to lead the way.

What is YOUR plan of attack for studying fine arts?  

Incorporating Fine Arts in CC Cycle 1