Morning Time

I've mentioned that we don't have a lot of structured learning time for our preschool this year, but there is one thing I do structure, and that's our morning time. I learned about the concept of "morning time" from Pam Barnhill, and the basic idea of it is that it's a time you have dedicated each day to learning that the whole family does together. I'm only teaching one kid (although Sierra certainly likes to find ways to be part of it!), so I see it as my opportunity to add just a little structured learning time into our day so I do the things that are most important to me.

Our morning time is probably only ten minutes long at the most, which I think is good for this age. I only include things that Rhonda and I both enjoy, so that she's always excited to have morning time. I do usually try to do it in the mornings after breakfast, although we sometimes end up doing it at other times of day. For Rhonda, I think she just views it as a special time that we get to snuggle up and do something together, which we don't always get at other times.

This is what our morning time looks like right now:

1. Primary song. I'm just going through the Primary songbook and singing the ones I know in order, so that I never get bored singing the same one. I used to try to teach Rhonda a song, but she doesn't like to be required to sing, so now I just sing to her.

2. Prayer. I noticed that, like most little kids, she would often say the same things over and over again in prayers, so now before we pray we plan the prayer together. I ask her, "What do you want to say thank you for?" and "Who do you want to say please bless?" She does often say the same things and the same people, but I try to encourage her to think of different things and people sometimes. I give her the chance to say the prayer, and if she doesn't want to then I say what we planned together.

3. Poem. I read the day's poem aloud from A Poem for Every Day of the Year. It's not a kids' collection of poems, but I think it's great for kids to hear beautiful language in poetry even if they don't really understand it. (I think kids' poems can be great too, but I'm personally really enjoying this collection so it's a great daily ritual for me, too!)

4. One page from the Illustrated Stories from the Book of Mormon. I read her one page and then ask her to tell me one thing she remembers from the story. Sometimes she needs a lot of help remembering something, but I try to challenge her to think of just one thing (I don't think it's a problem of memory or attention, just the challenge of putting it into words). Then I'll usually go back and re-tell the part of the story again in my own words. I think she often doesn't understand the stories very well the first time so she likes the repetition.

5. A Spanish word from Spanish At Home. I read out one Spanish word and a phrase with the word in it. I'm not trying very hard to teach Spanish (I'm not willing to dedicate the time or money to that currently), but I'm trying to incorporate it into our day whenever I remember. (Which isn't very often, but at least I'm reading one word a day!) Sometimes Rhonda repeats the word, but I don't require her to.

If Sierra is cooperating, I try to have a half hour of reading time right after morning time. We've been reading Magic Tree House books lately and Rhonda is really into them! I started just reading one chapter a day, but she's been insisting we read several chapters at a time and today we actually ended up reading the entire book because she never wanted me to stop. It's exciting to start being able to read chapter books with her! What are your favorite chapter books for younger kids?

As you can imagine, it can occasionally be challenging to do morning time with a toddler running around. Usually I'll pull out a puzzle or our little keyboard--something that can occupy her for a few minutes of time. I also think consistency has really helped; the more we've done morning time with Sierra around, the better she's become at entertaining herself for a few minutes.

I've experimented with adding other things to our morning time, but this is what works for us right now. I plan to add more in September. It's important to me right now that Rhonda really enjoys our morning time and that we have an opportunity to ease into "school." I've learned that it works best for Rhonda if I don't require her to do very much. My only true requirements are that she listens, and that she's reverent during the prayer. Obviously, this will change as she gets older. She's definitely the sort of child who prefers to observe, and I want to give her space to do this and not make morning time stressful for her. It's a time that we both love and value in our day.