Why Morning Circle Time Is Our Touchstone During Homeschool Chaos

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 You are reading Why Morning Circle Time Is Our Touchstone During Homeschool Chaos, posted by Heather Mac, originally posted at Joyful Socks Mom blog.

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The alarm goes off. I wrestle myself from bed and give my hubby a quick kiss for his final send off. I joyfully do my morning coffee, tea, bible reading, creative journal and quiet prayer time. 

This is good.

This is very good.

I am totally, almost feeling like a positively-charged-homeschooling "Beth Moore"-type superhero.

Then ...

•My youngest forgot a 4-H responsibility that needs done for meeting tonight, quickly sucking 45 minutes from life.

•The teen girl acts like she has never seen an algebraic equation in her life, although you personally witnessed her finish flawlessly just the day before. 

•Yesterday's laundry remains lying unfolded on the couch, a momentary taunting of my general lack of perfection. 

•The boy fidgets, and drags his feet all.afternoon.in.every.stinking.subject.

•My bible study group shows up, and since I have forgotten, they have witnessed all the above in full-on-mommy-self-destruct mode. 

Are you feeling me? Do you grasp the disappointment, despair and failed expectations?

Well, if you are a homeschool parent and you're still breathing ... Then I'm going to venture out and assume that you are in touch with these emotions. How can I possibly ward off these type of homeschooling disaster days???

You can't.

Sorry. Life happens. 

And because you home educate, life explodes right in the midst of your well-intention-ed plans.

Do not despair.

There is a touchstone to be had. 

There is still a consistent source for wrapping your children's heart-strings around family learning.  In fact, mommy's heart-string's need re-fastening every now and again too.

Morning Circle Time.

Now, let me speak clearly.

Morning Circle Time is NOT your homeschool salvation. It will not keep your day from unraveling, like I described above.  Life will still explode.  

Morning Circle Time is more of a touchstone, a pause in our day, before it truly starts.

That morning dose of clarity.

Positive outlook.

Possibility. 

Things may, or may not unravel from that point on. Homeschooling is not a perfect process ... Not in my house, at least.  The time spent in Morning Circle Time is not an insurance policy.  Morning Circle Time is more like priming the pump!

Why do I set aside Morning Circle Time after all these years?

•Spending energy on projecting all the positive possibilities our day can hold is a worthwhile task.

•Setting the thermostat at a "temperature" that promotes spiritual & heart connections, is far better use of our time then heading straight for the to-do list. 

•Consistent daily, gentle reminders of the bar of excellence we have set for our family vision are necessary to stay the course.  Our Morning Circle Time assures that we are like-minded in this endeavor.

Now that you know that just may be Morning Circle Time is a worthwhile endeavor ...

What exactly is Morning Circle Time? 

Exactly what the title denotes. A short morning gathering of our family, in order to participate in a few activities that will help us grow and start our day vision-minded, focused and positive. 

What does our Morning Circle Time look like?

•Daily, 25-30 minutes gathering, scheduled before any official academics. Our morning raising of our family's standard!

•We light a candle. A special candle, used ONLY for Circle Time. We open with a seasonal verse or song that we have chosen together. We then complete our scripture memory box.

•Now we do some activities. They are a little different each day, but here is a "basic schedule" we go by.  Each day has a different focus, or theme:

Monday - Nature, Hymns

Tuesday - Poetry, Handicrafts/Sketching + Kid Mentoring Minute

Wednesday - Creative Journal, Nature

Thursday - Geography, Gratitude Journals + Kid Mentoring Minute 

Friday - Games, Art, Folk Songs

•Finally we close with scripture.

Simple. Focused. Gentle learning.

The possibilities for creative and fun family-centered learning are almost limitless.  The activities that we do are well-versed and engaging, so this short little time adds much variety to our home education.  Let's not forget the simple joy of starting out our day with that sweet tone of gentle learning.

The kids enjoy the consistency.  I enjoy my ever-so-slight touchstone of sanity. Don't worry ... I won't let it go to my head.

I will bring you some more great activities and ideas for Morning Circle Time coming up soon.

Those smiles in the morning are worth every last little amount of effort.

What activity in your morning schedule helps your homeschool stay on target???

Joyfully Learning with You, 

The Joyful Socks Mom 

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Heather's Highly Recommended Helps: 

• North Star Geography - This is the way we globe trot!  Creating a real love for geography in each of my children.
• Homeschool Mom Winter Summer - No other homeschooling event is quite like this refreshing, encouraging, vision-restoring weekend for homeschool moms!  See you at Summit!