When I first saw morning menus popping up on Instagram, my first thought (like when I discovered Pinterest!) was: “THAT IS FOR ME!” And it was, and is. I immediately set about creating a morning menu to fit our family’s morning time routines. Since we do Classical Conversations as well, I wanted our morning menu to include materials that coordinated with this year’s cycle 2. So I created this homeschool morning menu printable, and it aligns nicely with our CC work. I’ll explain!
First, what is morning time and what are morning menus?
Morning time is simply a family gathering around a collection of books and materials to help set the tone and routine of your day. You don’t have to homeschool too long before you’ll hear the name Pam Barnill, because she’s like the Queen of Morning Time with her morning baskets and podcast of the same name. She says:
“Morning Time is very much like a big group hug at the beginning of our school day. It sets the tone and atmosphere for learning. It gives us something to contemplate and mentally gnaw on for the rest of the day. And most importantly, it puts us in a right relationship with each other and with God.” -Pam Barnhill, Homeschool Solutions with Pam Barnhill
Quite right! Morning baskets/morning times are as varied as their are families. I know some families who keep it to a light 20 minutes and others who will spend 60-90 minutes together in morning time. Mine runs about 30-40 minutes.
Materials vary widely but often include:
- Bible reading / devotional
- Singing / Hymns
- Poetry
- Art / Picture study
- Read-aloud
- Light academic work – like tracing, handwriting, reviewing math facts, etc.
I have LOVED the idea of putting the pages into a restaurant menu cover. You can purchase restaurant menu covers on Amazon. That link is for a single cover, 4 pages, 8 sides, which is what I use. You can also buy in bulk if you want each of your kids to have a copy, or want to share the cost with several other families. If you’re looking to keep costs down, just put these in page protectors in a notebook or report binder.
Morning menus and Classical Conversations
Of course, nothing I’m going to say is endorsed by or affiliated with the company Classical Conversations, but I have created our morning menu to reflect and enhance our CC Cycle 2 memory work and study. In our Bible reading we have pages for the Genesis passage. I also missed the old Foundation Guide’s choice of the Ephesians passage, mostly because I LOVE the Lisa McCann song for that. So this year, we will study Genesis in the fall semester along with our Astronomy science. Then we’ll study Ephesians in the spring along with our medieval studies. That’s just my plan.
How I use my homeschool morning menu
I’ve included Charlotte Mason’s affirmations (I am, I can, I ought, I will) along with a finishing phrase and supporting Bible verse I want our family to consider alongside each one. I plan to keep this page year-long, and evaluate the phrase and Bible verse choices for next year as my kids’ grow. I figure as we continue to work on character-building, our affirmations may shift slightly.
The other pages I swap out monthly to have fresh material for each season.
Each day, we begin with our morning menu and review most of the pages daily. Then we move on to the items in our morning basket.
What’s in my homeschool morning menu printable?
- Charlotte Mason style affirmations with finishing phrase and Bible verse
- Poetry – I selected poems that fit either: the seasons, CC science or history study, or written by authors of the CC time period we’re studying. In this December printable, I have include “To a Snowflake,” by English poet Francis Thompson. However, because of the number of advanced vocabulary words and somewhat heady concepts (although so so beautiful and worthy) I have also included “Picture-books in Winter” by Robert Louis Stevenson as lighter fare for parents with preschool children.
- Picture study/ Art – December’s printable includes The Hunters in the Snow by dutch Renaissance painter Pieter Brueghl the Elder. I also included some research details to aid enjoyment of this painting. And, kind of a departure, I included a third poem “The Hunter in the Snow” by William Carlos Williams simply because it was written about this actual painting. I couldn’t pass that up!
- Bible Passages – As mentioned before, both the Genesis 1:1-27 and the Ephesians 6 passages are included. I put these in a separate document since they contain the full year’s worth of Bible memory, not just December’s portion. And perhaps some families interested in the morning menu don’t use Classical Conversations curriculum. I have been sectioning these scripture passages into four parts; we use one part each month to learn Genesis in the fall and Ephesians in the spring (for 2019).
- How to use page – this contains some simple ideas about how we use these pages, as well as some sample picture study questions to get you started!
NOT included in my printable, but that we do use in our morning menu:
Happy Hymnody’s Hymn of the Month – I highly recommend her choices and YouTube Channel. You can get the free printable of the month’s hymn here.
TalkBox.Mom Spanish words and phrases – We’re enjoying learning Spanish together as a family, which I’ll talk about separately. Although we learn Spanish throughout the day, I often include some Spanish review in our morning time. So I’ve placed the phrase sheets into our menu. In December we are also adding a “Merry Christmas in Spanish” page to our Spanish, which I’ve included in a separate post.
I also tried to keep the graphics simple and low-color for those who are trying to conserve on their ink. You can print this in greyscale if you want to save on color even more!
Get your copy of my December homeschool morning menu printable!
A homeschool morning menu can bring a sense of rhythm to your days; our classical morning menu offers truth, beauty and goodness for homeschoolers! This December printable contains 5 pages of poetry, art, and useful tips for your morning time! It’s a menu for a moveable feast of learning!
Right now, I am offering this for free with sign up to my blog newsletter. I only send out emails when I have a new post up, or if I have special themed newsletters. So you will not be flooded with emails, I promise!
Grab your copy of this printable by signing up at the bottom of this post!
I hope you enjoy, and please share this on Pinterest and with your friends. Remember, this will only be available free for a limited time, so tell your homeschool friends to download it now!
I’d love these menu printables!
I would love your December Menu Printables!