kristinannie Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I have just started doing circle time this semester for school. I have little kids and am thinking that we can keep doing this as a family (with modifications of course). It has been a great change for us. We do it first thing in the morning and even the baby sits down in the circle (for a couple of minutes anyway). We do calendar, memorization (prayers and Bible verses, but I am also adding poetry soon), some devotional reading and usually a picture book from the library. This has really been a wonderful start to our day and really is the highlight of the day. I was wondering if anyone else does this and what you do during your circle time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Here are some old threads with a circle time tag, but this is a pet subject now so I love new ones. :D The first one on the list is a thread I started in September. I'm :bigear: for new ideas. This has been one of the best things for our homeschool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swainsonshawk Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 We change it up every day. We do: poetry memorization every day, Manners on Monday, Poetry on Tuesday, Skip counting on Wednesday, Grammar songs on Thursday (don't school on Fridays). Also this is when we cover the topic of the day for the kids: Science experiments on Mondays, History reading/projects on Tuesdays, Math/Other projects on Thursdays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 My kids love circle time as well. Here is our order: Calendar Time (put date on calendar, write out date, make the date) We Choose Virtues card for the month Read from devotional book Sing a hymn/praise song American Artist or American Folk Song for the week (we alternate weeks between artist or song). Read poem from a children's poetry book (Shel Silverstein, A Child's Garden of Verses, etc.) On Mondays we review all of the virtues cards we've learned so far and on Fridays we review all of the artists and folk songs we've learned. I'm listening for more ideas as well. :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 Here are some old threads with a circle time tag, but this is a pet subject now so I love new ones. :D The first one on the list is a thread I started in September. I'm :bigear: for new ideas. This has been one of the best things for our homeschool. Me too! I decided to do this starting this semester because I felt like something was lacking in our homeschool. We have done it for 2 days now and it is so wonderful! I only wish I had started it sooner!!!! Who would have thought it would be such a game changer? Off to look at the other posts...thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I have just started doing circle time this semester for school. I have little kids and am thinking that we can keep doing this as a family (with modifications of course). It has been a great change for us. We do it first thing in the morning and even the baby sits down in the circle (for a couple of minutes anyway). We do calendar, memorization (prayers and Bible verses, but I am also adding poetry soon), some devotional reading and usually a picture book from the library. This has really been a wonderful start to our day and really is the highlight of the day. I was wondering if anyone else does this and what you do during your circle time. We have that calendar! Love it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Not sure if this helps at all but I am starting some preschool activities with my little guy next week and will be using several Pam Schiller resources. I have found that my kids respond very well to the school type very hands-on based activities so I am starting to add in more resources like that now. Wish I had known to do more of that with Adrian too! Anyway, these two resources have lots of ideas for circle time: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Daily-Curriculum-Childhood-Revised/dp/0876593589/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325584702&sr=8-2 http://www.amazon.com/Count-Math-Activities-Small-Lively/dp/0876591888/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325584778&sr=8-1 The second resource has circle time stories introducing the math concepts, before going into an all hands-on, activity based, conceptual approach to math. The first, works with themes (colors, shapes, opposites, animals, etc.) and has opening and closing circle time for each and every daily lesson. I have purchased them but they are pricey so check your library and see if they are useful at giving you at least some ideas. My library carries tons of the Pam Schiller books and I am in Canada :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarreymere Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 We also look at the newspaper and go over some current events (I do pick and choose what we go over). In fact, we start with the paper. The date and the weather are right there. I think it is important to get the kids in the habit of looking at a newspaper and knowing a little about what is going on. We have had some interesting discussions this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Way back in the day, during my (extremely brief, extremely misguided) fling with Enki Education, I tried circle time with my kids. I think it was the Enki way of doing it that ruined it with my kids, but they always hated it, cried, and refused to participate. Now I start our days by reading a short story, and the kids love that. Enki ... *shudder* ... freaky weird. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted January 3, 2012 Author Share Posted January 3, 2012 Way back in the day, during my (extremely brief, extremely misguided) fling with Enki Education, I tried circle time with my kids. I think it was the Enki way of doing it that ruined it with my kids, but they always hated it, cried, and refused to participate. Now I start our days by reading a short story, and the kids love that. Enki ... *shudder* ... freaky weird. Tara You have me intrigued. What is the Enki way of doing Circle Time so I can avoid it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 What is the Enki way of doing Circle Time so I can avoid it? Basically, the kids were supposed to do these singing/dancing/hand-movement things that were supposed to ... I don't even remember anymore. They were supposed to integrate the child's physical and emotional parts or something? I don't know. It all seems like cr@p looking back on it now. Very expensive cr@p at that. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Enki is Waldorf inspired so the approach and reasoning behind it will follow the philosophy. The Montessori approach also has circle time, as do many of the approaches followed in the school system today. Each will use circle time in its own way and not all philosophies will work for everyone :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Each will use circle time in its own way and not all philosophies will work for everyone :). Well ... yeah ... I know that. :) Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjcmehl Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) We chose to call this time "Morning Basket," instead of Circle Time. We use a lot of the ideas from previous posts on here. Here is what we do daily: Pledge Bible/devotion Singing (Biblical or folk song, historic, etc…) Calendar Weather/Seasonal Poetry Memory work Picture/Composer Study (alternate weekly) Here is what we do on a weekly basis: Week's Alphabet, Number, Theme intro. (for 3 yr. old) (Mon.) Menu planning (each child picks one meal a week) (Mon.) Chore review/shared thoughts (Mon.) Exercise yoga (Tues.) Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding by Bernard Nebel, Ph.D. (BFSU) (Wed.) Journal (Thurs.) This takes us about 1 hour. (Of coarse, when the 3 yr. old wants to be done, he is done.) Storytime takes place at a different time. Edited January 4, 2012 by jjcmehl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amie Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 This has long been my favorite inspiration for using a "Morning Basket" (kind of like "circle time") and it includes the whole family (all ages). Sorry if you've already seen it in one of the other threads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I've attached pics of our circle time board. The middle panel has calendar (the extra pieces are kept in cellophane bags that I've attached to the back with velcro), skip counting sheets and a 100 chart. Then one side panel includes a page with the days of the month rhyme and a place to write the date (2 ways), an inside\outside temperature chart, and a 'what's the weather' section. The other side panel has a pouch for coin counting, a clock and then 4 pouches for flashcards (state, planet, animals of the world and landmarks of the world) we also have presidents and flags of the world that we will use eventually too. Ds5 also picks out 2 books from our Suess collection to read. This all takes about 20-30 minutes and then we move onto our regular work (phonics and math). edited: oops, I should have rotated those side pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 This has long been my favorite inspiration for using a "Morning Basket" (kind of like "circle time") and it includes the whole family (all ages). Sorry if you've already seen it in one of the other threads. I love this blog. Thanks for reminding me about it! I do plan to turn this into more of a morning basket or teatime as the kids get older! Today we didn't start with circle time because I went to morning mass and then had to go to the store since we were out of everything. My husband started school and didn't feel comfortable doing circle time. When I got home, we just kept going, but nothing seemed to flow and the kids weren't being very attentive. I stopped and we went and did circle time and everything was great from then on. I truly don't know what is so special about it, but I can't imagine homeschooling without it now! I only wish I had listened to people sooner who were raving about it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 This has long been my favorite inspiration for using a "Morning Basket" (kind of like "circle time") and it includes the whole family (all ages). Sorry if you've already seen it in one of the other threads. This looks interesting Amie :)! Thank you for the link. I had not seen the "Morning Basket" concept before. Something to look into... Perhaps I can use the idea somehow, in our homeschool also. Hmmm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhahabu Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I've attached pics of our circle time board. Wow, your circle time board is amazing! Thanks for sharing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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