A lot of people in the homeschool world call it Morning Time, but for us it’s usually during the baby’s naptime or even her bedtime.
It’s where we snuggle up on the couch and read, pray, sing, color, learn, and chat. It's my favorite part of school and truthfully it doesn't feel like school at all. I'm even having to stop myself from using quotations around school. 🤪
If you are new to this concept, let me break down what we do simply.
Every day (I'll list some of my favorite options for these at the end):
Bible
Prayer
Memory Verse
Catechism
Hymn
Read Aloud
CC Memory Work
Loop
What's a loop you ask?
Loops were a totally new concept to me, but they make SO much sense. The idea here is that you don't really have time to cover every topic every day, nor does it always work to do history on Monday, poetry on Tuesday, artists on Wednesday, etc. For instance, what happened to us last year was that we kept missing Tuesdays. Weird day to miss, but hey that was us. Well, that was the day I had slotted for geography map practice. Guess who never practiced geography? Us. So, this is the same concept of rotating through the subjects, but not on a scheduled day. You just always do the next one on the list. Cool, huh?
Our loop consists of history, science, and literature. I've then broken down ideas of what I want to cover under each of those. For instance...
History- biography, timeline event, or church history/hero, Story of the World or other history told in story form like Our Island Story
Science- reference books on planets or biology, Magic School Bus series, Burgess nature stories
Literature- Shakespeare for children, poetry, Herriot's treasury, Aesop's fables
I put all the books in a box in our living room. The box helps me narrow down my list to something more practical and manageable. And then, we get to what we get to. :)
Tips that help the kiddos:
Have coloring books or handwriting practice available. You can even have blocks nearby. Our rules are that they must be quiet and they must stay in the room. We generally start off snuggling on the couch and then they move to coloring, like you see here. This is a Crusades coloring book while I read about the Crusades in Story of the World. We also found beautiful devotional printables from Tiny Truths that I bound in a book for them. I read the story first and they color while I read the next item on our list.
Together Time lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the day and how tired I get of reading. 😂
Note on audiobooks:
We have lately been listening to and audiobook of our read aloud while driving. It's been a nice way to keep everyone calm and to shorten our sit down time at home. However, I make sure to only use one audiobook option per day. The goal here is connection and relationship, not simply stuffing our brains full with info and stories.
Together Time Books we use:
I will share links to purchase, but these are not affiliate links.
Bible- Biggest Story Storybook Bible
I love that this breaks down the different types of books of the Bible. The illustrations are bright and the prayers are simple and to the point. He addresses foundational theological concepts in a way that's simple for children, and even adults. We will use this over and over.
You can get it here: https://www.christianbook.com/the-biggest-story-bible-storybook/9781433557378/pd/557378?event=ESRCG
Catechism- Truth and Grace Memory Book 1
This is part of a 3-part series from Founders Ministries. It has memory verses, catechism, creeds, and hymns with goals for each age range starting at 2. If you have older kids, the next books in the series are for them and dig a little deeper. Each book uses a slightly different catechism too. We could technically use this for hymns and memory verses, but I had already received or purchased the next two options, so I'm using them. However, this covers everything but Bible for only $5.
Memory Verse- ABC Scripture Cards
A friend from our CC co-op gifted me these beautiful ABC memory verse cards and we are loving them because we display them around the house. You obviously don't need anything fancy for memory verses and like I said above, you can use the Truth + Grace Memory Book for important ones to start with.
You can get these here: https://www.p31bookstore.com/products/abc-scripture-cards
Hymn- Then Sings My Soul
I read about this book on another blog and I had to get it. On one page it has the hymn and the next shares the story of how it came to be, who wrote it, etc. It's beautiful. I got my copy on ThriftBooks!
I hope this has been helpful in regards to starting a Together Time for your family. Whether you homeschool or not, this is a sweet time to have family devotions, prayer, and discuss history, art, and literature.