Adding more elements to our Routine
In my last post, I wrote about how our family worship time eventually became our first homeschool routine and Morning Time. Later on, as I did more thinking and research, I added additional elements to the structure and it started to look like this:
I added these elements over a few weeks and gradually increased the amount of time they had to sit down with me. We cosy up on a sofa and go through all the books and resources over a period of usually 45 minutes. Sometimes they fidget so I mix up the order and try and give them a change of pace to keep them attentive. For e.g. if the Bible chapter was too long for that day and they seem to be restless, I may switch to singing hymns next for a change of pace. Some of these books take only 5 minutes to read for e.g. the Poetry book (we read a poem a day) and cathecism is quick too as we usually memorise one question a day unless I take a bit of time to review all the questions we have done so far. The point is that I mix it up based on the content and length of what we are reading, how tired or fidgety they are or if I’m feeling a bit tired. The important thing is to have a consistent routine.
A short brief about the books I’ve listed in the table above:
Get Wisdom! 23 Lessons for Children about living for Jesus by Ruth Younts: For some time now, I have been thinking about introducing Christian character/wisdom training to my children in the form of lessons from the Book of Proverbs. This book has been a great start, it has been suitable even for my four-year-old and we (including mummy) has learnt much from it so far.
A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson: Honestly, I don’t know much about poetry and appreciating it for that matter. I’m counting on my husband to help me out in this area as writing poetry is one of his many skills and talents! However, I have also been reading about the importance of reading poetry and how valuable it is for young children. This book has been recommended for young children as an introduction to poetry. We read a poem a day and I can see them appreciating the cadence of the beautiful poems listed in this book.
Nature Study Books: I happened to find “The Usborne Outdoor Book: Inspiring ideas for discovering and exploring outdoors” on my kid’s bookshelf some time back. Not sure how it got there! We decided to read a page or two a day and I have been astonished to see how excited my kids get when they are reading and learning about nature. They love to memorise facts about the world around them and they have enjoyed doing some of the activities mentioned in the book. Nature Study is definitely a subject I would want to delve into further with my children in our homeschool journey.
Painting pinecones we collected from the nature reserve.
Sending a raft down a small stream and using a stick and stone to measure the depth of the river.
Playing Tic-Tac-Toe with materials we found outdoors.
