Is your homeschool schedule for this year already on the back burner? That’s May for you in the life of a homeschool mom! Truth: I’ve already started planning for the next school year. And I know I’m not alone! Most homeschool families I know are ready for a fresh start by this time of year.
When I begin to plan my next year, I think back to what DID NOT work the previous year. So… think about your homeschool self last fall:
September is great – a fresh start. All the pencils are sharp, and the snowy pages of new notebooks promise they will hold all the amazing creativity you see in your children.
By October, you’d gotten into your groove, the kids are on task and finishing their work. You watch the yellow school buses rattle by and you congratulate yourself because you have nailed this homeschool thing!
November and the holidays hit… and it all starts to unravel. The pencils are dull. Notebooks are torn and grubby–or lost altogether. And the kids are deflated and dragging down the stairs for breakfast. School again?
Suddenly, you question your curriculum choices. Or maybe even your entire choice to homeschool.
I promise, you aren’t the only one thinking this by winter. This homeschool thing is harder than people think!
This is exactly where I was in 2019 when I felt my homeschool days slipping by in a scrambled haze of “trying to keep up.” We were going through the motions and I needed to get our homeschool rhythm back before our homeschool year imploded.
- I’d tried checklists (they work for awhile)
- I’d tried looping (works, but didn’t solve my scramble for materials problem)
- I’d tried tight schedules then loose ones (I needed a happy medium!)
It all changed when I heard about the “morning menu” concept. By the end of December, I had created my own a morning menu to fit our study topics. I was finally excited again to call the kids to the couch in the mornings.
My favorite part is that in using a morning menu, my kids got quality reading and conversation every morning, AND my life was finally feeling like it had a rhythm that made sense to me. I was being consistent without feeling last-minute. FINALLY! Best. News. Ever!
Improve your homeschool schedule with a morning menu
Making the effort to offer your children quality materials every morning, all year long, at a steady pace allows you to go deep instead of gloss over the surface. The morning menu concept has been around for at least 4-5 years now, and it is no surprise that parents and their children continue to love this method. Many kids thrive in an environment that has structure presented in a manageable and enjoyable way–the morning menu makes this not only possible, but also fun for teachers and students alike.
6 Reasons Why Morning Menus Work for our Homeschool Schedule
After four years of using my Classical Morning Menus, I’ve discovered 6 reasons WHY morning menus work for our homeschool schedule:
CONSISTENCY
We can maintain a consistent rhythm / habit of study because the materials are always there, ready to go. Charlotte Mason says “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.” It’s easy to stay disciplined with a tool that helps you be consistent.
SIMPLICITY
The menu is a self-contained bundle of materials that I use all month long. Limiting the quantity of information allows us to maintain consistency as well as not feel overwhelmed.
FOCUSED
Because we study the same content for four weeks, we can go deep and have extended conversations over time. It creates an atmosphere that invites depth of learning. Every ocean has a shore, that is true, but I would rather teach a few things simply, but deeply, so my kids retain these memories longer.
LOW / NO PREP
A morning menu is a “decide once” type of curriculum. Once I print out the menu, all I need to do is switch out the pages monthly. I do not spend my year frustrated and frazzled over “what comes next.” It’s really open and go!
CROSS-DISCIPLINARY
My Classical Morning Menus offer a selection of Scripture, Affirmations, Poetry, and Picture Study. This means you’re getting a cross-section of subjects and disciplines to explore each morning. I have often seen my children make connection from the poem to the picture, or from the scripture to the affirmations. Or, even from one month to the next. It truly is a beautiful thing! Once, we were in an art museum and we “knew” who the artist of a painting was even before we read the plaque, simply because we recognized his artistic style! Amazing!
CUSTOMIZABLE
There are four key components to the Classical Morning Menu: Affirmations, Scripture, Poetry, Picture Study. However, we do expand on these topics by adding a few things we also enjoy. I use an 8-page plastic menu sleeve, so I can include additional content like our Hymn of the Month or our TalkBox.Mom Spanish pages. You can customize your menu too by adding in a few other pieces that fit your curriculum plan.
Save the stress, and the expense
My Classical Morning Menus were created specifically to help you go from stressed to serene just like me.
You don’t have time to waste on endlessly searching the internet or library for the perfect addition to your morning time. You don’t have money to waste on scripted programs or curriculum with tons of bells and whistles you never use.
Instead, for less than $5/month, you can have a selection of materials designed to give you fresh resources every month, so you don’t have to scramble to fill your homeschool schedule.
Now, you might be asking yourself–Do I need other items to use a morning menu? And the answer is No, you CAN just read from the morning menu on your device (phone/kindle) if you want to save big. Or, if you have some money in your homeschool budget, you can purchase the plastic menu sleeve and print your menu out for a tangible resource. This method looks so beautiful and adds value to the visual + hands on learners out there.
If you have a little more wiggle room in the budget, I highly recommend sending the file to a print service business like Staples to get the highest quality color for the artwork (save money by ONLY having them print the art pages). It truly does make a difference.
And if you are one of the families that have used and loved these menus as much as I have–feel free to drop a comment. I love hearing from you!
