2023/2024 Morning Basket Plans (with a high schooler, middle schooler, elementary age, and kindergartener)

Morning Baskets are such a beautiful addition to our homeschool days. Even if our Morning Basket looks different each year, it's always been an anchor to our homeschool. Some years our Morning Basket is fuller and heavier, and other years it's very light. It changes to fit our needs for that year, and that's one of the beautiful things about it.

If you ask my children what their favorite part of Morning Basket it, they'll probably all answer with the book they're allowed to read aloud to us each morning. This year, Silas read missionary stories while Titus read history stories each day. It's become important to them to have a part in our Morning Basket, so I'm making sure to include them in it this year, too.

(I don't have Thursdays listed below because those are our Co-op days. We will be leaving the house early and I know I will be too tired to do it when we get home.)

Here are our loose plans for this year:

Bible (10 minutes)

We always start with the Bible. As Christians, the Bible is the most important book to our family. If my kids know nothing else but the Bible, I know they'll have all the truth they need. 

What does our Bible Time look like? I simply read from the Bible to them! I use the New Living Translation because not only is it very understandable in modern English, it's a very close translation to the original transcripts. No translation is perfect, but this one is my absolute favorite. 

We will be reading straight through from Genesis this year. Our history focus this year is ancient history, and history begins with the Creation of the world. I will read a chapter or two each day and we will discuss it together. We should get through several books of the Old Testament.

Memorization (5-7 minutes)

We memorize scripture and poetry every year; some years are heavier on scripture and some on poetry. This year we will be memorizing "chunks" of scripture. You'll notice I chose a passage from each of the four gospels.

Matthew 6:5-15

Mark 14:22-26

Luke 4:1-13

John 1:1-18 

If we memorize those four passages, then I will choose some more. The plan is to memorize two passages before Christmas break, and two passages before summer break.

Read Aloud (10 minutes)

I plan to read a chapter from a book each morning to them. I want these books to be books that are classics we have missed and other books that the kids will want to hear more of each day. I chose three books and when we finish these, I'll choose a few more.

A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry (sound a bit morbid, but it's about two sisters, one of which is dying)

To Build a Fire by Jack London (this will appeal to my outdoorsy kids)

The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett (a classic that I have never read aloud to the kids)

Loop Reading (5-7 minutes)

Last year the boys mainly read books aloud that had short stories or short chapters, and I'm trying to keep that in mind as I chose the books for them to begin reading. Last year, they each read every day, but I think we're going to loop it this year. This is my plan for the week:

MONDAY: Favorite Poems, Old and New - Mercie loves to read poetry, and this book has over 700 poems! I'll have her read some each Monday and we will discuss them together. I may even have her read some on her own to find poems that she thinks we will love.

TUESDAY: Hero Tales - We have several volumes of this, and I think Titus would love to read these aloud to us. These are about missionaries. My parents are also missionaries to Nicaragua, so it's important for me that my children are exposed to real-life mission stories.

WEDNESDAY: The Story of Inventions - I think I'll have Silas read this book to us, a few sections at a time each Wednesday. 

FRIDAY: The Genius of Ancient Man: Evolutionist's Nightmare  - This will be my day to read, and I'm going to begin with this book. It will fit in with our ancient history focus for the year. It will also give us lots of good discussion jump-off points!

Enrichment Loop (5 minutes)

I'd like to add a few things to our basket that won't take but a few minutes each day. I'm going to loop them with Friday being a review day for them all.

MONDAY: Art Cards (3-5 minutes a day) - There are 32 cards in this set from different periods/styles of art. The front side has the artwork and the backside has some information. I'll read the information and we will study the artwork each day for a minute.

TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY: Tree Flashcards (3-5 minutes a day) - I'd like my kids to be very familiar with the trees we have around us as well as trees around the world. There are 125 cards in this set, so I'd like to do two cards a week. This will give us 31 weeks, so we will do the other half next year.

WEDNESDAY: Manner of the Week (3-5 minutes) - We will review one manner each week and put it into practice! Manners are something that don't seem to be important to many people these days, but I'd like to remind my children how important they are.

FRIDAY: Review Day! We will review the art cards, tree flashcards, and manner cards for a few minutes. 

Kindergarten Loop (5 minutes)

I want to add some things for Zeke to have as his own each morning, so I'm going to loop a few subjects for him as well. The bigger kids can sit in with him so he will know that his stuff is just as important! (And I'll probably do his loop first.)

MONDAY: Character Development Cards: These 19 cards from Abeka will reinforce good behavior for Zeke. I'll review these throughout the week.

TUESDAY: Science Living Books: I have tons of books of our shelves for science! Let's Read and Find Out are my favorite, and I have quite a few of those as well as some National Geographic easy readers. I'll pick one book each week to read and let Zeke draw in his Narration Notebook about that topic.

WEDNESDAY: My Big Book of Five Minute Devotions: There are over 40 stories in this book, so we will go through one a week. The devotions are based off of animals and are really cute! I'll also have Zeke do some Narration work in his notebook.

FRIDAY: Picture Books: I also have tons of picture books on our shelves, so I will choose one each week to read. We will also do a craft from the picture book as part of my Picture Books and Art series that I began last year.

That's It!

I'm aiming for our Morning Basket to take around 30-45 minutes each morning. Then we will all be off to complete our schoolwork. We will be doing history together, and I will probably just start our day after Morning Basket with history. I'll read the selections, then they'll work in their Narration Notebooks (narrations, mapping, drawing).

What's in your Morning Basket?