Everyday Educator - Morning Time: Developing Our Family Rhythms
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:03.280 | - Welcome friends to this episode
00:00:05.600 | of the "Everyday Educator" podcast.
00:00:08.400 | I'm your host, Lisa Bailey,
00:00:10.220 | and I'm excited to spend some time with you today
00:00:13.500 | as we encourage one another, learn together,
00:00:17.200 | and ponder the delights and challenges
00:00:20.160 | that make homeschooling the adventure of a lifetime.
00:00:23.640 | Whether you're just considering
00:00:26.040 | this homeschooling possibility,
00:00:28.280 | or deep into the daily delight of family learning,
00:00:32.520 | I believe you'll enjoy thinking along with us.
00:00:36.480 | But don't forget, although this online community is awesome,
00:00:40.920 | you'll find even closer support in a local CC community.
00:00:45.920 | So go to classicalconversations.com
00:00:50.840 | and find a community near you today.
00:00:55.520 | Well, listeners, I'm super excited about this week's podcast.
00:01:00.520 | We're gonna be talking about morning time,
00:01:04.160 | what in the world that is,
00:01:05.880 | and how useful that is for our families
00:01:09.320 | as we all work to develop our family rhythms,
00:01:14.320 | how we make it through the day,
00:01:17.920 | how we travel along this homeschool journey,
00:01:20.760 | and how we build closer relationships.
00:01:24.200 | Learning together, I will tell you,
00:01:27.160 | as I look in the rear view mirror now,
00:01:29.200 | my girls are grown, and I have two sweet grandchildren
00:01:33.520 | that I'm looking forward to dabbling
00:01:35.440 | in their home educations.
00:01:37.520 | But as I look back, the biggest blessing of my life
00:01:42.520 | has been learning to know and love my children
00:01:48.440 | and introduce them to my Lord.
00:01:51.400 | And so I am excited about talking to you guys
00:01:56.400 | and my dear friend, Amy Jones, about morning time
00:02:00.200 | and how it helps us do all that stuff,
00:02:03.040 | love one another better, love the Lord better,
00:02:05.440 | love learning better.
00:02:06.640 | So Amy, thank you for joining me today.
00:02:09.520 | - Oh, thank you.
00:02:10.360 | This is always a delightful time to just reflect,
00:02:14.360 | like you just said, on those memories
00:02:17.360 | and try to encapsulate just what has been
00:02:22.080 | sort of the heartbeat, right,
00:02:23.840 | of what our time with our family,
00:02:26.600 | what I think I am usually now even more grateful
00:02:31.600 | for those, just those, even those boring days,
00:02:37.480 | you know, I'm so thankful.
00:02:40.200 | I'm just, I can't imagine having not homeschooled my children
00:02:45.520 | and just have that much intimate time with them.
00:02:48.080 | So yes, I agree with you.
00:02:50.080 | Thank you, Lisa.
00:02:50.920 | It's just a great time to reminisce a bit.
00:02:53.840 | So thank you.
00:02:54.680 | - It is.
00:02:55.600 | And the truth is sometimes there are days
00:02:58.640 | when you are in the middle of things that are not pretty
00:03:02.080 | or not restful or not fun.
00:03:06.240 | And you just think there has got to be something better.
00:03:10.840 | But I promise you moms and dads, as you look back,
00:03:15.240 | there probably won't be anything better.
00:03:17.920 | The worst day that you ever have investing in your family
00:03:22.920 | is going to be a sweet memory when you look back on it.
00:03:26.480 | Let's get started though.
00:03:28.840 | Amy, you are a mom who homeschooled
00:03:31.760 | and you are a grandmom who loves joining in
00:03:34.960 | on your grandkids' homeschool journey.
00:03:37.480 | So I know you've got lots of tips for our listeners.
00:03:40.200 | I really want to plumb your brain.
00:03:43.120 | I want to ask you this question.
00:03:44.960 | If you were starting over now,
00:03:48.280 | given all that you know, what might you do differently?
00:03:53.280 | - Well, we have a limited time, don't we, Lisa?
00:03:59.400 | - Yes, I know.
00:04:00.920 | You have to pick and choose.
00:04:02.880 | - I have to pick.
00:04:04.120 | I think I would be better at practicing a few habits
00:04:12.280 | that would have helped me remember the goodness of God
00:04:17.280 | and remind me that my children are human beings.
00:04:23.960 | They're real people.
00:04:25.240 | They have real personalities and likes, dislikes.
00:04:29.800 | Some of them are not mine.
00:04:31.360 | They're not just little replicas of me or my husband.
00:04:36.080 | And I think I would have been more quicker to recognize
00:04:42.080 | just some of those delightful foibles, maybe.
00:04:46.800 | - Yes, yes.
00:04:48.320 | - And not let it produce anxiety
00:04:51.040 | if they weren't getting something right away.
00:04:54.160 | So I think I remember just going to the Lord and saying,
00:04:58.960 | what am I supposed to do?
00:05:01.040 | I don't know what to do because they're,
00:05:03.480 | especially when your children are in multiple grades
00:05:05.960 | and they're all doing something different
00:05:09.720 | and you're trying to keep up and remember,
00:05:12.040 | oh, I didn't do spelling last year.
00:05:13.880 | Maybe I should be.
00:05:15.000 | (both laughing)
00:05:17.680 | He brought me to that wonderful,
00:05:22.800 | simple set of verses in First Thessalonians.
00:05:26.000 | And I know you know it.
00:05:27.480 | And it's in five and he goes,
00:05:29.560 | "Well, what is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you?"
00:05:34.480 | And it's three things.
00:05:35.760 | It's rejoice always, pray without ceasing
00:05:40.760 | and give thanks in all circumstances.
00:05:44.880 | And I think I would have started practicing those verses
00:05:49.320 | in real time earlier.
00:05:52.760 | I would have recognized,
00:05:54.400 | I think when we're giving thanks to the Lord,
00:05:57.440 | we begin to recognize and pick up
00:05:59.920 | on how he's actually working in our home, our life,
00:06:04.280 | our marriage, our children's lives.
00:06:06.680 | We get to start recognizing,
00:06:08.760 | oh, thank you, Lord, for that.
00:06:11.040 | Thank you for this.
00:06:12.160 | And I recognize that you are actively working in our lives
00:06:17.160 | and hearts and minds in ways that I cannot do.
00:06:21.640 | So I think giving thanks opens our hands to his ways.
00:06:26.640 | And we can even be thankful for things
00:06:31.360 | that we're still on the fence about.
00:06:34.880 | - Or things that we don't understand
00:06:36.760 | or that we would not choose.
00:06:38.760 | - I think it helps us just to be mindful of his presence
00:06:43.200 | that's constantly with us.
00:06:44.840 | And then rejoicing,
00:06:47.360 | there's so many pieces of scripture that says rejoice.
00:06:50.320 | And it's just irregardless of circumstances,
00:06:54.000 | what's going on in the world
00:06:55.480 | or what's going on in our family,
00:06:57.480 | that he gives us the freedom.
00:07:01.160 | I think he gives us the pleasure of just rejoicing.
00:07:04.960 | And I think part of that is such a gift for us
00:07:08.000 | that it means we don't have to worry or stress
00:07:10.960 | about things that are out of our control,
00:07:13.200 | that we can rest in God and rejoice in his goodness,
00:07:16.640 | his kindness.
00:07:17.880 | And it helps us recognize parts of himself that I forget,
00:07:22.880 | especially during the day.
00:07:25.080 | Sometimes I forget his goodness, his kindness.
00:07:27.800 | And then of course,
00:07:30.240 | that just leads directly into pray without ceasing.
00:07:33.760 | Because if you're thinking and rejoicing
00:07:35.600 | while you're in prayer,
00:07:37.320 | and I do think a lot of times,
00:07:40.320 | I think I could have allayed a lot of my anxiety
00:07:43.760 | and put it into prayer.
00:07:45.320 | Instead of the work of anxiety,
00:07:48.120 | I could have moved that to the work of prayer.
00:07:50.640 | And I think I would have,
00:07:53.680 | I mean, over time, the Lord was gracious.
00:07:57.320 | He taught me that over time.
00:08:00.640 | I think I wish I could have pushed the reset button
00:08:03.920 | a few times and thought,
00:08:05.280 | you know, this is really what God's word says.
00:08:08.040 | It's the will for me.
00:08:10.120 | This is the truth.
00:08:11.880 | And I need to follow the truth
00:08:14.720 | instead of the truth that's in my head,
00:08:16.720 | which is don't rejoice unless something great's happening.
00:08:20.920 | You know, don't pray unless something traumatic is going on
00:08:23.840 | and deserves prayer.
00:08:25.760 | And for heaven's sake, you can't be thankful for this,
00:08:28.880 | you know, and when you can't explain, you know.
00:08:32.120 | So that is not, and that's not the mom
00:08:35.400 | I wanted my children to be around.
00:08:37.440 | - Right, that is so true.
00:08:40.320 | - Yep, yep.
00:08:41.160 | So I think that would have been,
00:08:43.280 | I would have hit those three points.
00:08:44.720 | It's not a long list.
00:08:46.800 | - Isn't that funny?
00:08:48.680 | It's not a long list,
00:08:50.160 | but it is an all-encompassing list
00:08:53.840 | because it covers everything.
00:08:56.160 | It covers our worry about little Johnny's not getting this
00:08:59.720 | or little Susie is way too much of this.
00:09:02.400 | I have failed here.
00:09:04.840 | I have left this out.
00:09:06.440 | I am running ahead.
00:09:08.200 | I just love it.
00:09:09.200 | I feel like what you're saying that you wish you had known
00:09:13.360 | if you could start over,
00:09:15.160 | you would tell yourself to calm down
00:09:17.520 | and realize that God is in control.
00:09:21.440 | We need to rest in the Lord, not stress so much
00:09:25.920 | because our anxiety is what either drives us to worry
00:09:30.480 | and constant work,
00:09:33.240 | or our anxiety can drive us to prayer.
00:09:37.240 | And that is actually the better way.
00:09:39.640 | I love that.
00:09:40.480 | I know, Amy.
00:09:41.760 | So often I look back and think,
00:09:45.440 | wow, I would be a much better homeschool mom now.
00:09:49.400 | - Oh yeah.
00:09:50.240 | - But homeschooling is, I have become convinced
00:09:54.440 | homeschooling is a refining, not for our children.
00:09:59.200 | It is a refining of us as parent leaders
00:10:02.920 | and what our children get along the way is a bonus.
00:10:07.920 | It's a benefit.
00:10:09.120 | I do like that.
00:10:10.560 | I love the first Thessalonians five references.
00:10:14.280 | So you guys remember,
00:10:16.120 | if you don't remember anything else,
00:10:17.640 | remember that Amy has shown us a better way
00:10:20.680 | to rejoice, to pray, and to give thanks.
00:10:24.400 | I want you to look back, Amy.
00:10:27.080 | When your kids were little,
00:10:29.600 | how did you start your homeschool day?
00:10:33.200 | - We were pretty routine,
00:10:38.400 | boringly routine in our homeschool day
00:10:41.640 | because I have four children
00:10:44.840 | and they're about two to three years apart.
00:10:47.480 | So there was someone always little or up at night
00:10:52.120 | or pregnant, whatever it was going on.
00:10:55.360 | So what I felt like was really helpful for me
00:10:59.200 | is that we had to have a particular start time of the day
00:11:03.880 | and a particular ending time of the day
00:11:07.000 | because we needed to know we were finished.
00:11:11.080 | - Yes, right.
00:11:12.680 | - It didn't bleed into the evening.
00:11:14.840 | We weren't getting up at nine
00:11:17.560 | and I'm behind the eight ball the whole day.
00:11:19.600 | - Yes, yes.
00:11:20.880 | - I felt like it was really helpful
00:11:22.960 | that we got up at a pretty reasonable time in the morning
00:11:27.560 | and we had some routine things that we did.
00:11:30.000 | We had breakfast, we had chores,
00:11:32.600 | and then at 8.30, we have a little place in our home,
00:11:36.920 | this little living room area.
00:11:38.840 | That's where we would meet
00:11:42.200 | for our morning devotions
00:11:44.960 | and just our morning gathering.
00:11:47.000 | We did that every morning
00:11:49.640 | and it was a great way mentally for us to go,
00:11:53.880 | "Okay, 8.30 is coming."
00:11:55.320 | And if you had not had your breakfast,
00:11:57.440 | I was really, really sorry about that,
00:11:59.600 | but we're going to get up early.
00:12:01.760 | - I guess tomorrow we'll get up earlier.
00:12:04.240 | - Yes, yes.
00:12:05.120 | And if you didn't finish your chores,
00:12:06.840 | which were not, unless you ask my children,
00:12:10.280 | which they felt at that point enslaved.
00:12:11.960 | - Yes, you're just enslaved.
00:12:13.560 | You're enslaving your children.
00:12:15.000 | - Yes, but it was mainly 10 minutes
00:12:17.360 | of putting your bed together and picking up.
00:12:20.360 | It was very simple.
00:12:21.600 | But if you didn't get your chores done,
00:12:23.160 | you would just have an extra chore to do later.
00:12:25.560 | But really what was the best part
00:12:29.800 | was having a routine every morning.
00:12:33.600 | We are sitting.
00:12:35.200 | We're in our little sitting places in the living room
00:12:39.520 | and everyone has their Bibles are in there
00:12:42.360 | and we just, we're ready.
00:12:44.920 | We're ready for the day.
00:12:46.720 | So I did have, and that happened every morning
00:12:51.720 | that I was, yeah, pretty much every morning.
00:12:54.080 | And then in the evening, we usually had time
00:12:56.640 | when my husband was home and we prayed together
00:13:00.120 | and we read together.
00:13:01.240 | And that was just, it was just a rhythm.
00:13:03.880 | It was like a big parenthesis.
00:13:05.320 | Here's the beginning of the day.
00:13:06.600 | Here's the ending of the day.
00:13:07.720 | And that was, it was very helpful for me mentally
00:13:11.600 | to know, okay, I've got to be there too.
00:13:14.560 | And just kind of jumpstarted the day.
00:13:16.680 | And if I didn't feel ready, we started.
00:13:20.120 | We started, yes.
00:13:21.160 | So we did that every day.
00:13:22.760 | Yeah.
00:13:23.600 | - Now, I really think that young children
00:13:27.560 | thrive on a routine.
00:13:29.440 | I think that they like the familiarity
00:13:32.880 | and the predictability.
00:13:34.600 | I have, I started life as a kindergarten teacher
00:13:38.040 | and as a children's librarian.
00:13:40.440 | And even when I was in high school and college,
00:13:42.520 | I worked with little kids in Bible school
00:13:44.600 | and in summer programs.
00:13:46.040 | And it really, it was clear to me
00:13:51.000 | from working with them so intimately
00:13:53.760 | that they feel safe when they know what to expect.
00:13:58.760 | And transitions, which are traditionally really difficult
00:14:03.480 | for small children, are easier to manage
00:14:06.920 | when they know what to expect.
00:14:09.480 | And people act better when they're not surprised by things.
00:14:14.200 | And so I like, we liked routine of that nature too.
00:14:19.200 | And the routine for little children,
00:14:23.160 | it gets them to accept responsibility
00:14:27.920 | for their actions earlier.
00:14:30.320 | You know, if everybody, if you can look around
00:14:32.560 | as a four-year-old and see
00:14:34.560 | that your older siblings are doing their chores,
00:14:37.360 | then you know what your chore is.
00:14:39.720 | And so you begin to take responsibility for that
00:14:43.000 | and for finding your little Bible
00:14:45.200 | and for getting your lovey to sit with you
00:14:47.960 | on the couch for morning time.
00:14:50.200 | And you begin to understand how to take charge
00:14:55.200 | of the small pieces of your life that you can manage.
00:14:59.760 | And I liked that.
00:15:02.440 | - So what about when your children,
00:15:04.440 | or when some of your children got older,
00:15:06.640 | did you still start the day together?
00:15:09.840 | - Oh yeah, we actually went through their high school years.
00:15:14.480 | Yeah, it was, we were always,
00:15:19.480 | except for like CC day,
00:15:21.720 | when we had to get out the door at 7.30.
00:15:23.960 | We always started the morning at morning time.
00:15:29.080 | We didn't call it morning time.
00:15:30.080 | We just said divination rules.
00:15:31.640 | - Right, us too.
00:15:33.120 | - So we would just gather and, you know,
00:15:35.920 | 15 minutes or 20 minutes.
00:15:38.040 | And it was, I felt like, honestly,
00:15:41.080 | the older years were more important in some ways
00:15:45.680 | because we were so scattered.
00:15:48.080 | You know, people were doing their soccer team practice.
00:15:51.520 | They had, some of my children had work.
00:15:54.080 | Some of my children had, you know,
00:15:56.280 | other activities that they kind of, you know,
00:15:58.800 | or they needed the car or they needed this.
00:16:00.960 | And so our morning time became really important
00:16:05.600 | because we would just gather around the word of God.
00:16:08.480 | We'd read a passage.
00:16:10.280 | And about that point,
00:16:11.600 | they were able to completely talk about things.
00:16:14.600 | You know, they weren't like, you know,
00:16:17.360 | hitting each other, blowing on each other.
00:16:21.240 | - Yes, yes.
00:16:23.080 | Ways to encourage one another in teenage ways.
00:16:26.560 | - Yes, yes.
00:16:27.640 | I mean, sometimes they, you know,
00:16:29.040 | flumped in and they were tired and grumpy
00:16:31.440 | and, or didn't really want to be there.
00:16:34.160 | Or maybe they had something on their mind
00:16:35.720 | that weren't really eager to share, which is fine.
00:16:39.920 | But sometimes just being together and just praying
00:16:44.440 | and just having, I think sometimes as moms,
00:16:47.320 | that we pray over our children blessings and thanksgiving.
00:16:50.400 | I think it was really important for them to hear.
00:16:53.320 | I was thankful for them.
00:16:55.080 | You know, how much I love them, how much God loves them.
00:16:57.800 | I think just repeating back some just truths
00:17:02.040 | about who God is and who they were.
00:17:04.640 | And then just having a time,
00:17:07.520 | but sometimes we'd sing a hymn
00:17:09.240 | and then prayer and read scripture.
00:17:12.080 | And then I would usually, for the older guys,
00:17:15.200 | I would say, what's your goal for the day?
00:17:17.480 | What do you, what's kind of, what's on your plate?
00:17:20.080 | What have you got going on?
00:17:21.480 | And how can I help you with that?
00:17:23.160 | And usually they'd have, is my soccer uniform clean?
00:17:27.440 | Or, you know, I need the keys to the car
00:17:29.880 | or someone says coming over for study hall
00:17:31.840 | or I'm stuck in math.
00:17:33.440 | I don't know what to do.
00:17:35.200 | So those kind of like a little business meeting
00:17:38.880 | at the end of that time just helped us
00:17:41.000 | kind of all reframe what we're going to do.
00:17:43.640 | And then everyone kind of set off to their work
00:17:48.160 | by that time because they're older
00:17:49.880 | and they could manage it.
00:17:51.600 | And I would be just more of the support,
00:17:54.320 | you know, helping them out.
00:17:56.360 | So, yeah, it was, and we did that even in the evenings.
00:17:59.520 | Whit read to the boys until they went off to college.
00:18:01.920 | He was always, yeah, it's just, it's just,
00:18:05.320 | we just, we found, I think I found it lovely.
00:18:09.480 | - Oh, I love what you said
00:18:11.280 | that it was the parentheses around your day.
00:18:14.920 | You began together and you ended together.
00:18:17.760 | It's like a beautiful bookend of the life journey
00:18:21.120 | that you lived out together in your home.
00:18:24.160 | - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, yes.
00:18:26.080 | - So good.
00:18:26.920 | I know that now, I mean, I have heard this a lot
00:18:32.280 | in the last few years.
00:18:33.760 | You know, Amy, you said,
00:18:35.720 | "Oh, we didn't call it morning time."
00:18:37.120 | I never heard of morning time 20 years ago
00:18:40.480 | when I started homeschooling.
00:18:42.160 | My girls were, you know, 10 and seven 20 years ago.
00:18:45.040 | So we didn't call it morning time.
00:18:48.720 | I didn't know what morning time was.
00:18:50.400 | I know that now I hear it all over.
00:18:54.720 | A lot is made of morning time
00:18:57.200 | and sometimes morning basket time.
00:19:00.920 | What is that?
00:19:02.520 | And do you have to use a basket?
00:19:05.080 | (both laughing)
00:19:07.800 | - Yeah, you know, Cindy Rollins wrote "Mere Motherhood,"
00:19:12.560 | you know, about that time, about 10 or 15.
00:19:14.920 | And she's a lovely person.
00:19:16.200 | She lives in Chattanooga here near us.
00:19:18.640 | And just the most down-to-earth,
00:19:23.080 | ordinary, lovely, lovely mom that you would ever meet.
00:19:27.240 | And she kind of coined, you know, the idea of morning time.
00:19:32.240 | And I think the vision, it's changed over time,
00:19:36.640 | but I think it's just what we're talking about.
00:19:39.160 | It's a time that you gathered with your family together.
00:19:43.360 | First thing in the morning, usually.
00:19:45.760 | In a routine way, it was regular every morning.
00:19:50.200 | And you usually read something.
00:19:52.080 | You had a devotional, like you read the scriptures
00:19:54.520 | and you prayed and you may have sang a hymn.
00:19:57.320 | And then, so there's a reading part
00:19:59.600 | and it could even morph into reading something else,
00:20:03.160 | but always the emphasis on putting the Lord
00:20:06.120 | at the center of the morning of the day.
00:20:08.920 | And then there's usually some aspect of recitation,
00:20:13.720 | either something memorized like a poem or a verse,
00:20:18.200 | or like we worked on memorizing the doxology,
00:20:21.600 | the glory of the Lord's, you know, prayer,
00:20:25.360 | Apostles' Creed, you know, those were things
00:20:27.080 | that we worked on memorizing verses.
00:20:29.600 | We didn't usually recite poetry or anything
00:20:33.440 | during that time.
00:20:34.280 | It was usually just our devotional time.
00:20:36.200 | So it was usually just something that a devote,
00:20:39.640 | some centering on the Lord,
00:20:41.880 | something that your scripture reading and your prayer,
00:20:45.480 | and then it's routine.
00:20:48.080 | And then there's usually an aspect
00:20:51.240 | of narration, speaking, repeating back
00:20:55.360 | what you just heard or memory work.
00:20:57.600 | So it's very basic.
00:21:00.200 | Now it takes all sorts of flavors and loveliness
00:21:03.440 | into the poems, but that's sort of the bare bones of it.
00:21:08.360 | And I think it's, no, you don't have to have a basket.
00:21:11.520 | - Sometimes people, I was just like,
00:21:14.400 | no, what is this basket deal?
00:21:16.360 | And so we'll talk about in a minute
00:21:18.720 | what might be in your basket or on your shelf
00:21:22.160 | or, you know, somewhere that you pull out.
00:21:24.360 | How long, you said that you guys took,
00:21:28.720 | what did you say, 20 or 30 minutes?
00:21:30.920 | Is that how basket morning time usually is?
00:21:34.760 | - It really varies.
00:21:36.480 | I really love, I was looking at the Scribblers resource
00:21:41.360 | and there is a part in there about how you tell a story.
00:21:44.880 | And one of the things is you're recognized
00:21:48.200 | when people are kind of done.
00:21:49.880 | (laughing)
00:21:50.720 | - Yes, yes.
00:21:51.560 | - You know, the time really varies
00:21:56.200 | because you have a variety of little guys.
00:22:00.520 | If you have like, we had a three-year-old, five-year-old,
00:22:05.000 | seven-year-old, nine-year-old, they're different.
00:22:08.400 | And I have three sons,
00:22:09.880 | so they don't sit for long periods of time.
00:22:12.280 | So we would do our devotional and finish
00:22:17.160 | in about 15 to 20 minutes.
00:22:19.240 | Sometimes like we had drama on Wonderful Wednesday,
00:22:23.720 | which is basically, we just got scarves
00:22:26.200 | and we tied them all over ourselves
00:22:27.840 | and added something.
00:22:29.400 | And then we had, which was insane,
00:22:31.880 | a music instrument day on Friday,
00:22:33.880 | which I don't know why I did that
00:22:35.120 | because they argued over the same tiny little survey.
00:22:37.720 | - Oh, 'cause everybody wants like the time block.
00:22:40.120 | Yeah.
00:22:40.960 | - Everybody wants.
00:22:41.800 | So, but that was kind of,
00:22:43.720 | that may have taken a little longer,
00:22:45.280 | but I tried not to belabor.
00:22:48.520 | And it just, you want to keep it really fresh
00:22:52.160 | and interesting.
00:22:53.320 | So we did sing.
00:22:54.560 | We always sang a hymn and a contemporary song.
00:22:56.480 | So we, by the time that was over,
00:22:58.480 | it's like 15, 20 minutes.
00:22:59.800 | And then we would sort of,
00:23:01.960 | we would take a break, like a little 10 or 15 minutes,
00:23:06.160 | just so I could re-kind of-
00:23:09.040 | - Yes, reset.
00:23:09.880 | - Re-open my mind and everyone was always hungry.
00:23:13.800 | Again, I don't know how that happens.
00:23:15.840 | - Yeah.
00:23:16.680 | They become grazing animals at home, yeah.
00:23:20.040 | - Oh yes, every two hours.
00:23:21.560 | They never got out of that since infancy.
00:23:23.360 | And so then we would get together
00:23:27.480 | and this time we'd just sit on the couch
00:23:29.280 | and lay on the pillows and the, you know,
00:23:32.160 | big pillows and the kids would get their little light.
00:23:34.480 | You said they're lovey.
00:23:35.520 | I was our youngest, I would say they're a little lovey.
00:23:37.560 | And then we would read together.
00:23:40.160 | We would read.
00:23:41.080 | We always had some, a chapter book we were reading
00:23:43.400 | or a piece of history that we were doing together or,
00:23:46.200 | and then that would be more what I would say,
00:23:50.280 | the educational aspect where it would be like,
00:23:52.800 | we're gonna look at this poem
00:23:53.960 | or we're gonna look at this story
00:23:55.440 | or we're gonna talk about this.
00:23:56.720 | So that's when, again, that only was like 15 minutes.
00:24:00.800 | That was not long periods of time.
00:24:05.240 | It was just to get, whet your appetite.
00:24:06.920 | That's the way I think of it.
00:24:07.920 | Gather, whet your appetite, get ready for the day.
00:24:10.560 | So that's kind of how we did it.
00:24:11.400 | - That's good.
00:24:12.440 | And where did y'all,
00:24:13.280 | you said you guys would be around the couch
00:24:16.080 | or in the family room on pillows.
00:24:18.280 | - Or if we wanted to do something,
00:24:20.720 | sometimes we would do something with like drawing
00:24:24.280 | or something or folding.
00:24:25.560 | I had, you know, my sons never loved coloring.
00:24:29.560 | (laughing)
00:24:30.400 | So I can't speak to that.
00:24:32.120 | But if we did sit around the table,
00:24:34.080 | we either did like Legos,
00:24:35.880 | like someone would be doing some cool Lego building
00:24:37.960 | and talking about that.
00:24:38.800 | Or if we were reading,
00:24:40.800 | sometimes giving them something to do.
00:24:42.520 | Like something to fidget with or, you know,
00:24:45.560 | and at the table light,
00:24:46.480 | they could be drawing if they wanted to.
00:24:48.760 | I used, they had a bunch of tracing paper
00:24:51.120 | because again, my sons weren't big on drawing
00:24:54.840 | or that I had particular children that were devastated.
00:24:58.440 | It didn't turn out just exactly like it was.
00:25:01.440 | - Yes, it was in their mind.
00:25:03.720 | They couldn't make it like it was in their mind.
00:25:05.520 | And so let's not do it.
00:25:06.640 | - So we just did tracing so they could trace the picture.
00:25:10.160 | So it varied, but normally that was a little more relaxed.
00:25:14.080 | Like that was like, okay, let's just kind of gather.
00:25:18.160 | We're all reading about China.
00:25:19.840 | So let's talk about China.
00:25:21.000 | Let's read a story about China.
00:25:22.920 | And then we would move more into the kind of
00:25:25.720 | what I would say the formal part of the day
00:25:27.600 | where we're actually like, I'm working.
00:25:29.920 | I'm usually working with each child
00:25:32.080 | or two children together.
00:25:34.240 | - Yeah, I love that.
00:25:35.280 | It's like a slow entry.
00:25:37.200 | So you add your devotion time
00:25:40.240 | and people are quiet and contemplative,
00:25:43.440 | but then you start maybe singing
00:25:46.240 | or doing narration of the story you read
00:25:48.800 | or some memory work.
00:25:50.040 | And then it becomes, let's read a little bit together,
00:25:54.200 | maybe a history or a biography
00:25:56.080 | and maybe you're doing something while you listen.
00:25:58.480 | And then the pump is primed and we can do math
00:26:03.280 | or we can do our handwriting
00:26:06.840 | or we can work on our vocabulary words.
00:26:10.440 | Yeah, that's really, that's really good.
00:26:12.800 | I like that.
00:26:14.360 | I want to encourage,
00:26:15.600 | I can remember doing what I now know was morning time
00:26:20.480 | with my girls.
00:26:21.840 | Sometimes we would take blankets
00:26:23.680 | in the good time of year.
00:26:25.440 | It's not too hot, not too cold,
00:26:27.960 | not too humid and not too buggy.
00:26:30.280 | We would take quilts or blankets out
00:26:32.920 | under the trees in the yard and we would read
00:26:36.680 | and we sometimes we would close our eyes
00:26:38.320 | and we would listen.
00:26:39.800 | It was just a sweet time of starting the day together.
00:26:43.600 | So it doesn't have to be regimented as to place.
00:26:48.600 | I think that what you said is really important.
00:26:51.240 | The habit of gathering together,
00:26:54.000 | the routine of starting the day,
00:26:57.360 | all together doing these things
00:27:00.880 | gives you the freedom to do it wherever you want to.
00:27:06.040 | That's really cool.
00:27:07.320 | So let's go back
00:27:09.040 | because I suspect that lots of our listeners
00:27:12.640 | are now captivated with this whole idea
00:27:14.640 | of the easy start to the day.
00:27:17.240 | But what are some things that family,
00:27:20.480 | I want to be real practical,
00:27:22.960 | something people with very young children
00:27:26.520 | might try during this time
00:27:29.920 | and then the ancillary to that is
00:27:32.360 | how do you get your children interested
00:27:34.920 | in doing what you have chosen?
00:27:37.760 | Yeah, oh goodness, yes, yes.
00:27:39.520 | That's always the issue.
00:27:41.440 | Well, with very young children,
00:27:43.200 | we were much more brief, right?
00:27:47.920 | We did more like finger plays
00:27:50.400 | and hopping up and down and singing silly songs
00:27:53.520 | and being a lot more animated in that time
00:27:57.120 | or being cuddly and cozy.
00:27:59.320 | You're really kind of reading the room, so to speak,
00:28:03.600 | with who people are.
00:28:05.040 | And it's important that
00:28:07.480 | if someone's just feeling out of sorts,
00:28:09.960 | we don't need to impose upon them,
00:28:13.400 | like, well, you've got to be happy about this.
00:28:15.680 | They can just sit quiet.
00:28:18.320 | They were, they could be grumpy.
00:28:20.760 | They just had to sit quietly
00:28:22.200 | and they couldn't hit their brother or sister.
00:28:24.600 | Right, right.
00:28:25.440 | That was part of the rule.
00:28:27.240 | You had to be there.
00:28:28.480 | But I think for as your youngers,
00:28:32.400 | I do think it's nice,
00:28:33.640 | like if you have flannel graphs or little puppets
00:28:37.120 | or something that engages them
00:28:38.800 | and the stories, the Bible stories,
00:28:40.720 | there's so many great Bible stories
00:28:42.560 | that are just in a storybook form
00:28:45.120 | that tell the real story and have illustrations,
00:28:49.560 | but kind of are a gentle way of getting kids,
00:28:53.680 | children understanding the parts of the story,
00:28:58.280 | but not diving deep into the story.
00:29:00.920 | So, and they can pray beautifully.
00:29:04.880 | You know, our children would pray.
00:29:06.600 | Like, could you pray for the person on your right?
00:29:08.720 | Or could you pray, you know, or sing?
00:29:11.720 | So little kids, and then you, for your other time,
00:29:15.760 | like I think the reading time,
00:29:17.360 | just a stack of, you know, good picture books
00:29:21.200 | or a variety of books that you have
00:29:24.680 | that you sort of gather
00:29:27.480 | and you could put it in a basket if you'd like,
00:29:29.840 | or just put it in a stack beside, you know,
00:29:32.800 | gather them together what you're reading together
00:29:36.680 | to keep the little ones occupied
00:29:38.360 | or do some hands on thing.
00:29:39.760 | I love the, I love finger plays.
00:29:42.240 | I think those are really sweet.
00:29:43.920 | And I think it's really sweet to be like,
00:29:46.320 | do a little circle time, you know,
00:29:48.240 | who's wearing a red shirt today.
00:29:49.840 | If you can sing that song and everyone lights up like,
00:29:52.280 | oh, I'm wearing a red shirt.
00:29:53.760 | - Yes, yes.
00:29:55.840 | - So just doing some of the,
00:29:57.440 | even those little we sing songs,
00:29:59.200 | introducing little folk songs and little nursery rhymes.
00:30:03.480 | Those are all the times that you do that.
00:30:05.400 | That to me is like the sweet part of childhood.
00:30:09.120 | You get to kind of embellish that a bit.
00:30:11.160 | So yeah.
00:30:12.000 | - Oh, that is so, that's really good.
00:30:15.160 | And I like your emphasis on
00:30:18.600 | bringing concrete
00:30:23.000 | tools into the story time
00:30:27.600 | because children, with older kids,
00:30:30.840 | you could talk about, sit and just read the story
00:30:33.560 | and just talk about what it means.
00:30:35.640 | But little kids need to have something to touch and see.
00:30:39.000 | So they might need a puppet of that character
00:30:42.000 | to envision that character in the beginning.
00:30:45.000 | And then eventually they'll be able to fill in the details
00:30:47.720 | with their imagination and moving their body.
00:30:51.600 | Actually with little kids helps them listen.
00:30:54.320 | It doesn't deter their listening.
00:30:56.880 | It helps their listening.
00:30:57.960 | So I like those hands-on activities,
00:31:00.800 | the things that they can do to involve all of their senses
00:31:05.680 | are really important for our little kids.
00:31:08.920 | The things that they hear and smell and see and do.
00:31:12.920 | - Yes, exactly.
00:31:14.960 | You can have, and you can incorporate.
00:31:17.160 | That's the things that you think, I don't have time for it.
00:31:20.160 | Those are great things to incorporate in your morning time.
00:31:23.200 | Like if you think, oh,
00:31:24.560 | we don't have time to play with Play-Doh during the day.
00:31:26.560 | Well, grab some Play-Doh and just say,
00:31:28.480 | let's sit at the table and what do you make?
00:31:30.520 | And they, I can't tell you the number of times,
00:31:32.720 | they love the drama time.
00:31:34.240 | I mean, literally I had to close doors.
00:31:36.400 | - Oh my goodness, my girls too.
00:31:38.160 | - It's just so funny.
00:31:39.320 | They're like, can we act it out again?
00:31:40.920 | I'm like, okay, you know.
00:31:42.560 | And they just love that movement and integration
00:31:47.080 | that they naturally do.
00:31:48.720 | It doesn't, it just comes with the package of having a,
00:31:53.720 | you know, five to eight year old, you know,
00:31:55.640 | they just know to do that.
00:31:57.480 | So yeah, it's really fun.
00:31:59.240 | Try to delight in it.
00:32:00.440 | I think that's where I, it seems like,
00:32:03.920 | oh, this is just play.
00:32:05.440 | I've heard people say that,
00:32:06.920 | but no, that's the work of a child.
00:32:09.240 | - Yeah, that's exactly it.
00:32:11.800 | Anything that engages all their senses
00:32:15.120 | is engaging their mind.
00:32:17.480 | And here's the thing,
00:32:19.360 | the thing that you think is gonna be engaging to them
00:32:23.120 | might not at all.
00:32:24.520 | I know my grandson who just turned two in June
00:32:29.440 | was over here this weekend and we were outside.
00:32:33.360 | It was hot.
00:32:34.200 | He always loves to be outside.
00:32:35.520 | So I had taken the bullet and I was out in the heat
00:32:38.920 | and we were walking around and he was picking up this
00:32:42.440 | and picking up that.
00:32:43.520 | And we were walking down the driveway
00:32:45.800 | and I said, buddy, it's so hot.
00:32:47.640 | And he looked at me 'cause he was standing under a tree.
00:32:51.280 | And he looked at me and I could tell he was thinking,
00:32:53.680 | Lolly, it's not hot.
00:32:54.960 | And so I said, oh, Gideon, look at this.
00:32:57.760 | And so I stood in the middle of the driveway
00:32:59.240 | and I held out my arms and I said, I am in the sun.
00:33:03.720 | The sun is touching me and I'm hot.
00:33:07.600 | And then I ran over to where he was and I said,
00:33:09.800 | now I'm in the shade.
00:33:12.840 | The sun is not touching me and I am cooler.
00:33:17.840 | And he looked at me, kind of funny.
00:33:19.800 | And so I went on back out and walked and he said,
00:33:22.320 | Lolly, talk about it again.
00:33:25.880 | - Ah, I see.
00:33:26.720 | - And I thought, okay, 'cause he looked.
00:33:28.880 | And so, I mean, he asked for this.
00:33:31.240 | So I did the same thing.
00:33:32.920 | Now I'm in the sun, the sun is touching me.
00:33:35.320 | So I went through it and he said, talk about sun again.
00:33:39.680 | And then he said, talk about shade again,
00:33:42.440 | like three or four times.
00:33:44.160 | And I thought, okay.
00:33:46.200 | And so I had to go back in and tell my daughter,
00:33:48.080 | okay, we've got a new concept now.
00:33:50.000 | Sun and shade, 'cause I knew a lot of times
00:33:54.120 | she will call me after he's been with me and she'll say,
00:33:57.000 | okay, did you talk about flap like a bird?
00:33:59.520 | 'Cause I never said that to him.
00:34:01.040 | And I don't know where this is coming from.
00:34:03.200 | And so I will say, okay, now you might have to talk
00:34:05.640 | about windmills or you might have to talk about shade.
00:34:10.360 | And so just realize that with your little children,
00:34:13.840 | the things that you see as a throwaway comment
00:34:17.880 | are the things that they are gonna grab a hold of
00:34:21.320 | and might become a thing.
00:34:22.600 | So don't have, I think a tip for me from Morning Time
00:34:27.080 | is don't have such a structured plan
00:34:31.360 | that you can't go off script happily at the drop of a hat
00:34:36.360 | because you never know where your child
00:34:39.480 | is going to learn something today.
00:34:42.640 | - And that's, and really,
00:34:44.440 | if you need to put it in your schedule,
00:34:46.680 | you can say, that's what this is about.
00:34:49.200 | - Yes, chasing curiosity.
00:34:52.240 | - Yes, check it off your list.
00:34:54.160 | I explored, we prayed, and we checked.
00:34:57.240 | If that makes you happy that you accomplished,
00:35:00.160 | if that makes you feel like you've accomplished, then do it.
00:35:02.440 | But I do think that having a time that's set aside
00:35:06.600 | that is sort of unstructured.
00:35:08.560 | It is structured in that it's routine
00:35:10.600 | and we're always gonna pray
00:35:11.680 | and we're gonna study the scripture.
00:35:13.400 | But if someone comes up with something
00:35:15.480 | that they're just so excited about,
00:35:17.640 | that's also a time that you celebrate with them.
00:35:20.360 | Like, you know, can you show us like,
00:35:23.200 | oh, look, you won a little jewel at Iwana.
00:35:26.120 | Let's look at that, let's celebrate this.
00:35:28.640 | Or someone's fascinated,
00:35:30.080 | I had someone that was absolutely fascinated
00:35:32.000 | by Venus fly traps.
00:35:33.840 | So we just took some time and chatted
00:35:37.880 | and like you said, explored it.
00:35:39.960 | And you just showed Gideon both the idea of shade and sun.
00:35:44.680 | Wow, that's a big concept.
00:35:49.280 | And that's super neat that you got to do that
00:35:51.880 | and he watched you and that's what they'll typically do.
00:35:54.200 | Do it again, say it again, do it again, do it again.
00:35:57.120 | - I know, again, again, again, again.
00:36:01.360 | - Yeah, it's nice.
00:36:02.200 | - So what if I'm a young mom at home
00:36:05.400 | and I'm fascinated with this whole idea,
00:36:08.120 | but I've just started and my oldest child is just four.
00:36:12.680 | And so I don't have a craft closet yet
00:36:16.320 | and I don't have a lot of picture books yet.
00:36:21.320 | Where do I get ideas?
00:36:23.760 | Where do I get resources if I wanna try this
00:36:26.480 | but I don't know where to start?
00:36:28.560 | - Ooh, that's good.
00:36:29.400 | Well, of course your local library has resources
00:36:32.000 | and I would say if you're NCC Connected,
00:36:35.520 | they have tons of book lists in the Foundations channel.
00:36:40.640 | They just do such lovely gatherings of good books,
00:36:44.600 | but you can find some good,
00:36:45.880 | like what are some good Caldecott book awards,
00:36:49.840 | especially the early ones.
00:36:51.480 | And every library has those.
00:36:53.560 | So I would just say, go to the library
00:36:56.320 | and just start gathering a variety of books
00:36:59.680 | and visit parts of the library that you never go to,
00:37:04.400 | like maybe the picture section, geography section,
00:37:07.480 | just grab a smattering and start there.
00:37:10.160 | And then everyone has a Bible.
00:37:11.800 | You probably have some hymns or songs
00:37:16.120 | that you sing at your church.
00:37:17.400 | Well, then just start incorporating a few things
00:37:19.920 | here and there and get a feel
00:37:22.240 | for how you wanna shape that morning time.
00:37:27.240 | And then in the Scribbler's Guide,
00:37:29.160 | as well as in the Copper Lodge series,
00:37:33.440 | the Ancient World Echoes,
00:37:35.560 | there are lists and lists of poems that are so fun to read.
00:37:39.000 | Like if you are thinking,
00:37:40.280 | I don't know anything about poetry,
00:37:41.960 | there are so many resources that CC has that you can read.
00:37:46.680 | In fact, in the World Echoes and in Uncle Paul's,
00:37:49.280 | which I love Uncle Paul's,
00:37:50.480 | they're just little 20 minutes readings
00:37:53.800 | that usually none of your kids have done,
00:37:56.000 | even if they're 18.
00:37:57.480 | You know, they may not have read all the Aesop's Fables
00:38:00.200 | and those are cool.
00:38:01.400 | You can act those out, you can narrate those back
00:38:03.800 | and they're funny.
00:38:05.120 | - And they're short.
00:38:06.320 | - Yeah, they're super short.
00:38:08.080 | And they tell a good lesson.
00:38:10.000 | If you have a particular lesson
00:38:12.760 | you want to be emphasizing in your family,
00:38:15.160 | you can find an Aesop's Fable.
00:38:16.920 | You know, so, and that's just so,
00:38:20.000 | those are just, let your imagination sort of go
00:38:24.160 | and try to keep it, remind yourself,
00:38:27.440 | it does not have to look perfect.
00:38:31.480 | It is, and this is my little soapbox.
00:38:36.160 | When you go on Instagram or you go on websites,
00:38:40.640 | if you go Morning Time,
00:38:42.280 | normally you're gonna get a beautiful,
00:38:45.160 | a lovely picture of your family.
00:38:47.440 | And they are usually completely dressed
00:38:50.520 | and sometimes matching beautiful clothes.
00:38:52.880 | And they have their hairs all done.
00:38:55.000 | - And they're washed and all the pets are groomed.
00:38:57.440 | - Yes, there's always fresh flowers and candles
00:39:00.480 | and there's usually teacups.
00:39:02.280 | And I just, I look at that and I think,
00:39:05.120 | wow, we never, zero times in our,
00:39:09.520 | and I was thinking the other night,
00:39:11.280 | how many times did the day go right?
00:39:13.320 | Maybe five.
00:39:14.160 | I did it 22 years. - Right, right.
00:39:15.800 | - But maybe five times.
00:39:17.720 | - And never when anybody else was looking.
00:39:19.960 | - Oh, never, never, never.
00:39:21.960 | Yeah, I couldn't, you would have never guessed.
00:39:24.760 | And I, you know, and that's the point.
00:39:26.640 | We didn't have any kind of picture.
00:39:28.360 | I never even thought to take a picture,
00:39:29.840 | but because I was so hairy.
00:39:32.640 | But I would just want to remind moms
00:39:36.000 | that sometimes we have this idea of what our morning
00:39:41.000 | or our day or our homeschool should look like.
00:39:45.080 | And it's almost like this dream that we think
00:39:49.920 | or what we've been shown.
00:39:51.600 | This is the way it should be.
00:39:53.800 | And I would just encourage families
00:39:56.640 | that is not the typical way it should be.
00:40:00.720 | Your family is the gift from God and your family,
00:40:04.680 | maybe they, you know, you wear pajamas to morning time.
00:40:08.640 | Maybe you eat breakfast after.
00:40:10.920 | Maybe you eat breakfast during.
00:40:12.720 | You know, maybe it's sloppy.
00:40:14.480 | Maybe people, normally in our morning time,
00:40:17.320 | I kept a spanking spoon in the cushion.
00:40:21.200 | Because we had some kind of discipline issue,
00:40:26.040 | our character issue, believe it or not,
00:40:28.240 | that would come up during our time together.
00:40:30.800 | It's at some point, not that I spanked people every day,
00:40:33.760 | that didn't happen.
00:40:35.000 | But just the idea that we are in community.
00:40:37.720 | That's what community is.
00:40:39.320 | And so when we are in community,
00:40:43.040 | if things don't go well, like you think,
00:40:46.720 | you have not failed.
00:40:48.400 | You have just tripped over the gift of community.
00:40:53.400 | That's just what you, you've just discovered
00:40:57.120 | what community is all about.
00:40:59.160 | So I just wanna encourage families
00:41:02.440 | that when they're thinking about this,
00:41:05.440 | it's not necessarily gonna match.
00:41:09.920 | Now, I think it's wonderful if you can do that,
00:41:11.680 | but I want to also, that can become a discouragement
00:41:15.080 | or kind of this idea
00:41:16.840 | that this is the way it should be every day.
00:41:19.440 | - Yeah, and you're not getting a benefit
00:41:22.160 | if it doesn't look like that.
00:41:24.240 | That is absolutely not the truth.
00:41:27.920 | That is not the truth.
00:41:29.160 | I feel like we grew as a family,
00:41:33.920 | probably more through the mistakes that we made together
00:41:38.120 | than we ever did in those picture perfect moments.
00:41:41.760 | And we remember the hard lessons
00:41:44.600 | that the Lord taught each of us
00:41:46.320 | and as a family taught us through the hard things
00:41:50.040 | and the things we did wrong the first or second
00:41:52.560 | or third time before God refined it.
00:41:55.760 | And so I also love the whole idea.
00:42:00.520 | You mentioned scribblers,
00:42:01.960 | the scribblers resource a couple of times.
00:42:04.400 | And one of the easiest ways for young families
00:42:08.360 | to design their homeschool journey
00:42:11.640 | is with those scribblers verbs.
00:42:13.560 | And they can begin in that morning time together.
00:42:16.960 | If every day you pray together, play together,
00:42:22.080 | read together, explore together and serve together,
00:42:27.080 | it has been a good day.
00:42:28.880 | And you have done the work that God has set for you to do.
00:42:32.920 | That's the easiest way to start,
00:42:34.840 | but it is the way of greatest impact
00:42:38.600 | for our little families.
00:42:40.000 | And I love Amy, one thing that you have said to me before,
00:42:44.480 | I really want our listeners to hear,
00:42:46.760 | morning time does not begin in the morning.
00:42:52.040 | When does the morning time begin?
00:42:54.520 | That's right, it begins the night before.
00:42:57.720 | And let me explain why.
00:42:59.920 | First of all, your children function best
00:43:03.080 | when they have rest and sleep.
00:43:05.600 | And even as you're closing out the day,
00:43:10.360 | checking in with them,
00:43:12.320 | that they're not worried or struggling.
00:43:15.760 | Sometimes those quiet evenings
00:43:18.320 | are when you can settle people a bit
00:43:21.360 | and you get a handle on where they are.
00:43:23.360 | My sons all played soccer.
00:43:25.720 | They were exhausted after games,
00:43:28.040 | so they needed to hydrate,
00:43:29.800 | they needed to shower,
00:43:30.760 | and they needed to get to bed.
00:43:31.840 | And we did not have electronics in our home,
00:43:35.400 | anywhere but our living room kind of thing.
00:43:39.040 | And so they rested.
00:43:42.720 | So getting your children in a place
00:43:44.960 | where they can really sleep and rest,
00:43:47.000 | they just need that.
00:43:48.320 | And then for me,
00:43:50.160 | I remember a good story of when I was in junior high
00:43:52.840 | and I had to run this time,
00:43:54.800 | like you had to run a quarter mile
00:43:55.960 | is the amount of time you have, whatever.
00:43:58.000 | And I remember my coach was very empathetic
00:44:01.520 | because I was just a skinny little short girl.
00:44:03.520 | And he said, "Okay, look,
00:44:05.960 | don't look at the finish line.
00:44:07.720 | Look past the finish line
00:44:09.280 | and run past the finish line
00:44:10.800 | because you tend to slow down
00:44:12.800 | as you get to the finish line."
00:44:14.120 | - Oh, good.
00:44:15.400 | - Yeah, wasn't that good?
00:44:16.280 | And so I passed, so yay.
00:44:18.160 | But I think about in our day,
00:44:20.320 | like we come to the finish line at the end of our day.
00:44:22.840 | The kids are in bed.
00:44:23.840 | We're like, "Whew, it's been..."
00:44:25.680 | Take 15, run a little past that finish line.
00:44:29.120 | 15 minutes of just saying,
00:44:31.840 | "Okay, where are the social study books?"
00:44:36.840 | And put out the cereal bowls
00:44:39.360 | or put a big cup with a teabag there for you.
00:44:42.240 | Like, "Oh, I have my tea.
00:44:44.760 | I'll be ready when I get up."
00:44:47.000 | Give yourself some time to prep for the next day.
00:44:51.720 | Put things where you think they need to go.
00:44:54.360 | If the homeschool room's in a little disarray,
00:44:56.680 | don't spend hours.
00:44:57.960 | Just stack them back up.
00:44:59.800 | Pick up some straight paper.
00:45:01.640 | Make sure the pencils are out.
00:45:03.360 | To me, the hardest days
00:45:05.640 | were when I was playing catch-up all day long.
00:45:07.240 | Like, "Oh, I don't know where this is."
00:45:08.480 | - Absolutely.
00:45:09.880 | - And so keep it simple.
00:45:12.200 | Keep it simple.
00:45:13.040 | You're not making gourmet meal the next day.
00:45:16.360 | Just have things arranged where you can start.
00:45:19.920 | And I always started my day,
00:45:21.240 | and I had to get sleep, too.
00:45:23.080 | So I was staying up too late and that sort of thing.
00:45:26.640 | And resting and then getting up.
00:45:31.720 | I always tried to get up somewhat before they did
00:45:34.960 | because it was not fun
00:45:37.480 | when they were beside my bed going, "Mommy!"
00:45:41.320 | - Why? Why?
00:45:46.000 | - I feel like I'm behind the eight ball.
00:45:47.960 | As soon as that happens,
00:45:49.320 | it's like all bets are off for the day.
00:45:51.560 | - Yep, yep.
00:45:52.400 | So, yeah, night before,
00:45:53.880 | just give yourself, I would say, 15 minutes.
00:45:56.800 | Don't spend hours, of course.
00:45:59.280 | Get ready for the day and get to bed
00:46:01.560 | and get the children in bed and settle.
00:46:04.160 | They don't have to be sleeping.
00:46:06.560 | Resting.
00:46:07.400 | Just resting.
00:46:08.240 | - But knowing that the day is done
00:46:10.160 | and we're just coming down.
00:46:11.720 | We have crested the hill
00:46:14.040 | and we're almost at the bottom now.
00:46:15.800 | - Yes, yes, yes.
00:46:17.800 | - That's great.
00:46:18.640 | That's great.
00:46:19.480 | These are such beautiful ideas.
00:46:22.080 | And I can already see and I feel our listeners
00:46:25.440 | seeing how all of this contributes
00:46:28.200 | to a great start to the day.
00:46:31.120 | But I also want you to tell me
00:46:33.200 | how you feel that morning time
00:46:36.560 | really helps families develop a family learning rhythm.
00:46:43.360 | - Yes, I think that it develops a rhythm
00:46:47.920 | because it already establishes a rhythm.
00:46:52.320 | Like we have something important that we're about to do.
00:46:57.080 | We are preparing for that.
00:46:58.840 | And we're sitting before the Lord
00:47:00.920 | and we're anticipating His work in our life.
00:47:03.560 | And then we're gonna move through the day
00:47:07.400 | because that set start and that set ending,
00:47:11.120 | that rhythm that we've established,
00:47:13.920 | you're not reinventing the wheel every day.
00:47:18.280 | That you go from morning time,
00:47:20.840 | we're gonna read together.
00:47:22.000 | Now, what do you do next?
00:47:24.320 | Usually we did math in the morning.
00:47:26.440 | And then if people had their own spelling or that,
00:47:31.440 | we had a rhythm to the day that grew
00:47:36.320 | as they took on their own educational responsibilities.
00:47:40.160 | When they started in the upper challenges,
00:47:43.160 | I did not have to follow them around.
00:47:45.800 | They had already had this idea of this is when I work
00:47:50.800 | and this is when I stopped working.
00:47:53.040 | And this is what I do in these meantime.
00:47:55.960 | This is how I order my day.
00:47:58.560 | I structure what projects are more important,
00:48:01.680 | what's due, what do I have every day I do.
00:48:05.320 | I think that as you've established that habit
00:48:08.840 | of structuring the day and the ebb and flow,
00:48:13.840 | they have practiced that under your tutelage.
00:48:20.640 | And then over time, they take it on themselves.
00:48:23.840 | And I see that provides, like you said, security and rest.
00:48:28.840 | And they can also rest at the end of the day.
00:48:34.000 | I am going to be content with what God
00:48:37.840 | has brought into my life today,
00:48:40.240 | because I've worked heartily as unto Him,
00:48:43.040 | and I've offered back to Him the fruit of my labor.
00:48:46.920 | Sometimes it's two talents, sometimes it's maybe 10,
00:48:50.240 | but He doesn't say that matters.
00:48:52.240 | He says, "Well done, well done, good and faithful."
00:48:55.480 | So I think helping them feel like the satisfaction
00:48:59.320 | of their work is part of what this offers too,
00:49:03.800 | because you can look at the day and go,
00:49:05.200 | "Oh, look, I completed a day."
00:49:08.440 | And that doesn't mean I completed
00:49:10.120 | the assignments perfectly or I did it.
00:49:12.720 | It just means that I walked through the day faithfully
00:49:15.280 | and I did good work.
00:49:16.840 | There's a lot of satisfaction in that.
00:49:18.920 | And that only builds more as they take it on themselves.
00:49:23.320 | So I think it's a real gift that you can offer to your kids.
00:49:26.080 | I actually think it's your gift to your children.
00:49:29.880 | - This has been really good.
00:49:31.400 | This helps, I think, us see that this morning time
00:49:35.640 | is a simple yet beautiful way to start the day.
00:49:39.880 | And so morning time is just a simple little thing,
00:49:42.800 | but morning time is also a bigger deal
00:49:46.960 | as we look at it as a time that sets the tone
00:49:51.600 | for our family's learning journey together.
00:49:55.680 | So morning time starts us off well,
00:49:57.680 | but it allows us to continue along our journey
00:50:02.200 | with contentment and satisfaction
00:50:05.440 | and a lot of how-to's manage ourselves as we get older.
00:50:10.240 | So thank you, Amy, so much for this.
00:50:13.360 | Listeners, I hope you have been as blessed as I have been.
00:50:16.800 | And I hope that your fall starts off in a beautiful,
00:50:21.680 | calm, exciting, and enriching way.
00:50:25.040 | And hey, I wanna mention this to you.
00:50:28.200 | If you have an outstanding morning time one day
00:50:32.640 | that you want to tell somebody else about,
00:50:35.080 | as an encouragement,
00:50:36.800 | we've got a way for you guys to share
00:50:39.240 | good morning time memories or other stories
00:50:43.200 | and accomplishments and events
00:50:45.400 | that you would be willing to share
00:50:47.440 | as a blessing to another family.
00:50:50.560 | This is called Honorable Mention, Celebrating Together.
00:50:55.560 | And we're collecting your stories.
00:50:58.480 | So you can provide to us as much information as possible
00:51:02.840 | to completely tell the story of your homeschool happening.
00:51:07.480 | You share your story at classicalconversations.com/celebrate-together.
00:51:17.640 | Okay, classicalconversations.com/celebrate-together.
00:51:22.640 | And celebrate-together is all one word.
00:51:29.640 | Okay, we are collecting these stories
00:51:32.360 | to share the excitement of homeschooling.
00:51:35.600 | And we would love to know what you are doing
00:51:38.040 | with your family at home.
00:51:39.880 | So you guys keep enjoying your mornings
00:51:43.960 | and afternoons and evenings together.
00:51:46.320 | And Amy and I will keep praying for you
00:51:48.480 | and we'll look forward to seeing you next time.
00:51:50.920 | Thank you, Amy.
00:51:52.160 | - Oh, thank you, Lisa.
00:51:53.480 | It was fun.
00:51:54.680 | - Bye guys.
00:51:56.000 | (upbeat music)
00:51:58.600 | you
00:52:00.660 | you