This is my favorite thing to do at the end of every month. I spend a great deal of time putting our Morning Basket together each month and it makes me so happy to imagine all of the fun and learning we are going to have with each item I choose to include for the girls.
With Valentine’s Day this month I have included a few little touches of Valentine’s fun but I didn’t want to go too overboard. I’ve noticed that when I fill our basket too much, Lilly Belle ends up not wanting to do half of it and our morning time ends a lot quicker. If I keep it short and sweet filled with fun and goodness – I can keep the girls at the table a lot longer.
We are making a slight change this month to our Morning Basket, and that is the timing of WHEN we will be doing it. Usually we do it first thing in the morning. I’m talking like 7:00am. Wake up, coffee made, get them breakfast and start diving in. Then I usually try to just sneak a shower in at some point during the day. It was an amazing way to start the day, but…I need to take time for myself to start the day. So, I am going to wake up, get my coffee and go jump in the shower and get ready while Matt gets the girls breakfast. I will have 45 minutes to myself to start the day and I think that will make a world of difference in how the rest of our day flows. At least for my mood. I am going to start doing my hair and makeup everyday (something I literally never do) and it’s going to feel great to feel great for the rest of the day.
Once I’m done getting ready, I will join the girls while they finish their breakfast and if they are already done, I will get them ready for Morning Basket. We are going to bring Morning Basket to the coffee table instead of the kitchen table. We will sit on the couch and snuggle together while I read to them and then after reading is over Lucy can be free to play and roam while I finish the remaining items in the basket with Lilly Belle.
After Morning Basket I will get the girls ready for the day and then we will head out for a morning outside outing. Another goal for the month is to take them to the park, Disney or for a walk everyday. I am terrible at getting outside when it isn’t for errands or something planned.
So…
Here is what we will be learning this month with our Morning Basket:
- How to write a letter
- Mastering numbers 1-20
- Creating story endings
- Bible
- Dolch Sight Words
- Famous Poetry and Poets
- Addition 1-10
- Reading
- Embroidery
We always start our Morning Basket with the same three things: Poetry, Fairytales and Bible. I change it up each month with new books for each of those subjects. Once we finish those three things I gage how the girls are doing to decide if we can do more or not. Lately, Lucy has been feisty with her teething and in January between family being her and the teething madness, we’ve only made it to those three all month long. It’s been driving me nuts. I’m excited for a fresh start and an exciting new basket for February!
Resources:
- Eeboo Stationary
- Lilly Belle is so excited about this! Every morning she will write a letter to a new family member. I know our family is going to love getting these in the mail, too. She is going to learn about how to write out the addresses properly on an envelope and how to write a friendly letter. She’s obsessed with writing, so I think this will be a hit.
- Child’s Introduction to Poetry
- This book is amazing. It is filled with famous poems by famous poets. It includes a CD, so the girls and I will also be listening to the poetry read aloud as well. It includes a ton of information about poetry and fun facts as well. We may breeze over some of it as our girls are 4 and 1. At this point I want them to hear the poetry but don’t necessarily need them to know about how to write poetry or in depth details about the history of each poem. I’m really excited about the poems that are included in this book though!
- Kindergarten Toolkit
- We use our Kindergarten Toolkit almost everyday. I love the flashcards. They are so clean and simple that they can be used in so-many-ways. This month we actually aren’t using the flashcards in our basket, but instead I have included the actual lesson book that includes a Number Recognition page for numbers 1-20. I have a box of candy hearts in our basket as well. I will call out a number on the page and Lilly Belle will have to cover that number with a candy heart.
- My Fabulous Fairy Tale Collection
- I saw this at Target a while back and kept wanting to grab it and never did and then I couldn’t find it. I found it on Amazon and was so excited! These fairy tales are the perfect length for preschool and early elementary age (and grown ups)! The illustrations are beautiful and I know the girls are going to love it!
- The Jesus Storybook Bible
- This is our favorite Children’s bible. We read through the whole thing during Morning Basket this fall, and took two months trying out a new bible and a devotional book, but I think the girls will be thrilled to have this one back! They both loved the stories and they are the perfect length for their ages. I’m excited to read through it again with them. I didn’t grow up going to church so I am learning right alongside them. Matt grew up going to Catholic school preschool through Senior year and always calls stuff out or helps me with questions Lilly Belle has (or that I have) while we are reading.
- Wooden Numbers & Addition Flashcards
- This is one of our new favorite additions to our homeschool. I purchased this wooden number set from Little Light of Homeschool. If you don’t follow her on Instagram yet – go follow her now. For real. Right now. Andrea is my favorite! She is real and creates such beautiful memories for her girls. Lilly Belle is in love with these numbers and obsessed is probably the right word for how she feels about the little baby mushrooms (that were hand painted). Goodness it’s amazing. I got a pack of addition flashcards from The Dollar Tree and I am going to have Lilly Belle use the wooden numbers and mushrooms to solve each equation.
- Dash Into Reading
- Lilly Belle is getting pretty good at reading. I am not pushing her at all. We are taking it very slow and going at her speed. Math comes so easily for her and right now I would say she is at a point where reading is starting to be something that can frustrate her when we do it for more than 5-10 minutes at a time. She is 4.5 now and can read around 10 sight words and is reading CVC words (cat, sit, mug, top, etc.). This month we are going to work on the “th” blend with our Dash Into Reading book, Matt the Ram. She loves these books and we are going to read through this one together every morning.
- Embroidery Floss, Embroidery Hoop and Needle
- We have been working on basic sewing skills and are going to be working more on cross stitch this month. I made her a sewing kit for Christmas which included an embroidery hoop, some fabric and needle that will be perfect for her to practice her stitches on while I am reading to her. Something to keep her hands busy and a skill that will last a lifetime.
- Sight Words Bingo
- Each morning we will be playing our Sight Words Bingo game from our Let’s Play School Sight Words Pack. I will say a sight word and lay that card down on the table. She will then repeat the word 3 times and then find it on her card. I have little unicorn mini erasers from Target’s Dollar Spot that we will be using as bingo markers.
So there you have it! This is all of our morning work. In the afternoon we work on our Let’s Play School and The Good and The Beautiful curriculum with only a few exceptions. On Monday’s we have our Learning Tray Day now which means we are doing school all-day-long. We play and do tons of themed crafts, activities and experiments! On Thursdays we do not do Morning Basket now that Lilly Belle is attending her homeschool school all day. I need to do a post on our new crazy schedule!
As always, if you have any questions at all, please message me on Instagram – I love helping other homeschool families!