Starting Morning Time tomorrow, scared

[musicianmom]

A year from now, I'll wish I had started now. Saw that quote on FB and it fits. Tomorrow, my uncooperative grumpy little darlings are getting Morning Time whether they like it or not. And I will stay pleasant, even if I have to dig into the Xanax stash before I begin. Wish me luck!

[Chelli]

I won't lie. It took us about a month to get our Morning Meeting down into a workable, enjoyable routine.

It has been sooooo worth it though. Now it just doesn't feel right if we start without it.
You can do this!

[musicianmom]

We survived. I forgot to have a poem ready. But I read from Just-So Stories, then we had Bible time and recitation from Memoria Press. Took about 30 min.

[FloridaLisa]

We survived. I forgot to have a poem ready. But I read from Just-So Stories, then we had Bible time and recitation from Memoria Press. Took about 30 min.

 

:hurray:

 

We love our morning time together. I like having everyone come together and we get extra cuddles on the couch and extra relaxation in the lazy boy chairs as we do our Bible time and memory work.  Is your poetry source open and go? That's what I need in the morning. Here's a picture of my youngest two as I came into the room for our morning time. 

 

P.S. This is huge! I should have cropped and edited. But you can see, they like morning time.

 

 

[musicianmom]

Yes, it's a book of A Child's Garden of Verses, I just forgot to find it before we got started.

[IsabelC]

Good luck!

We will be starting it soon too.

I'm planning to use old fashioned bribery by giving them hot cocoa to drink during our circle time.

Also I'm going to follow somebody's advice (I forget who said this, but thanks) to not demand any output from the kids at first. So we'll begin with purely me reading aloud (which they already like) and then, once I have them lulled into a false sense of security, spring the memory work on them [evil laugh].

[Susan in TN]

If it makes you feel any better, I had been homeschooling for 6 years (my oldest was in 5th grade) before we did any sort of "time". I didn't even read books to my kids outside of their actual lessons. Eventually, I found that "after lunch time" worked better for us. We do a little poetry (the Andrew Pudewa thing, though we don't follow his routine and I substitute a few of the poems), Bible memory and/or shorter catechism, and read-alouds. Last year, since it was my oldest's final year of high school, we sang instead of doing poetry (he likes to sing).

[musicianmom]

Well, today was interesting. First there was a kerfuffle because there are 3 children and only 2 places by me. Then ds started rolling around and poking at his sister with his feet. Then dd6 decided it was the perfect time to try on one of my bras. I feel like my kids are going for a post-doc in Toddlerology.

 

But- we made it through and accomplished everything on my list.

[lots of little ducklings]

Well, today was interesting. First there was a kerfuffle because there are 3 children and only 2 places by me. Then ds started rolling around and poking at his sister with his feet. Then dd6 decided it was the perfect time to try on one of my bras. I feel like my kids are going for a post-doc in Toddlerology.

 

But- we made it through and accomplished everything on my list.

 

Sounds a lot like our first morning time this fall! Bravo on jumping in. :hurray:

 

I'd just encourage you to stick with it.  Make it fun.  Use music or dance or something else appealing to pull everyone together. And set boundaries at the beginning and remind them often. (We have "sit-on-your-own-seat-by-yourself" policy because 4 children climbing on me while I'm simultaneously nursing and reading poetry doesn't exactly put me in a good frame of mind.)

 

And reward yourself and the kids for a job well done.  Chocolate works here.  :-)

 

ETA: we have anywhere chairs found cheap on craigslist that are used as seats during MT… everyone on one couch would result in a dismal failure here.  But carpet squares or bean bag chairs or pillows would work just as well if you feel you need to take a divide-and-conquer strategy.  

[NotAVampireLvr]

We just introduced this a couple weeks ago. LOVE IT.  As someone else said, don't be a slave to the schedule. We quickly discovered that our morning time was best right after lunch before we head into "quiet time".

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

I let my kids draw or play quietly with blocks or something similiar as I read. They pay attention so much better and are so much less annoying to each other if they have something to keep their hands busy. I try to have coloring pages for some things since my kids love coloring. I also try to vary what we do. First I read the Bible lesson and they listen and narrate (I do this while they eat breakfast). Then we recite our memory verses. By this point they're usually done eating so we move to the piano and I play while we all sing a few songs. Then they move to living room floor with blocks or paper and crayons while I do our literature read aloud. Next we do some math drill. Then on to our loop that may require listening while I read aloud again or something hands on like art. Basically I just try to vary things so that they're not just sitting and listening to me read for long periods of time. Doing that helps to keep their minds engaged.

[musicianmom]

I would lose them if I let them move from place to place. If I gave them crayons, either they would start fighting over them or someone would cry because they messed up their picture. I have to limit the opportunities for mayhem.

 

We made it through day 3. By the time it was over, they had all taken their clothes off for some crazy reason. Somewhere along the way they started balking and I had to threaten to remove all screen privileges for the day.* I see progress. For the first time ever, they are all listening to me read a chapter book. The memory work is going really well, too.

 

 

*Pretty much the main reason I let my kids have screen time is so I have something to hold over their heads, lol.