Morning Time in Homeschool: Benefits, Ideas, and Why It Matters for Your Family

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what homeschooling really looks like in our home.

Homeschooling has been less about doing “school” at home and more about forming our family culture of learning together- making memories, forming traditions, and creating rhythms that anchor our days.

One such rhythm is morning time.

Morning time homeschool books on a table

What is Morning time?

Early on in my homeschooling journey I came across the podcast your morning basket hosted by Pam Barnhill. This podcast was such a game changer for me because up until I heard about Morning Time I was trying and struggling to include all the good, true, and beautiful subjects into our school days.

Morning time, if you aren’t familiar, is a time set apart to learn as a family. It is a designated time to gather together and be inspired. A place to share thoughts, have rich conversations, and anchor the homeschool day.

In this post I am sharing some benefits I have seen to adding morning time to our homeschool.

What are the benefits of Morning Time?

Adding Poetry, Art, and Enrichment to Your Morning Time

At the time that I started implementing morning time my oldest was probably in 2nd grade and my 2nd born was a toddler. While I was only homeschooling one child, as I mentioned earlier, what drew me to begin morning time was that I wanted to have a space in our day to include things like reading poetry, studying an artist, memorizing scripture, amongst other things.

I also wanted to study things that excited me or subjects I wanted to learn more about. In this way morning time in our homeschool breathes life into me as well as into my children.

Easing the Transition to More Formal School Time

Another benefit to anchoring our days with morning time is that it is the easiest way to transition each of my children into more formal learning. This part doesn’t actually feel like school to them.

As they get older they are asked to participate more and more. My 2 year old loves having his turn at reciting memory work or answering a question(it’s not required he just enjoys participating).

Making Space to Share and Grow in Faith

The most important benefit to morning time has been that it is the time intentionally devoted to bible study, memory work, and rich discussions about faith and life.

Although I believe I have all day to share my faith with my children, morning time brings us all together to learn from each other and to grow in wisdom.

The rest of the day tends to get busy with me helping individual children with math and reading. Add to that chores that we all work on. I might have more one on one conversations throughout the day but morning time is our community time.