Are you familiar with the morning basket?
It is an awesome concept.. for morning people. I am not a morning person. Technically, I think God meant me to be a coffee drinker. Let me clarify further; a coffee drinker as in one of those people that always have a coffee cup in their hand. The only problem is, I really do not like coffee. I can drink it disguised as a mocha, but I’m only just tolerating it. I’ll drink copious qualities of hot tea during fall/winter/spring and I drink iced tea by the gallons year round, but there is so far not enough caffeine in a few cups of hot tea to turn me into a morning person.
Getting myself motivated bright and early in the morning to actually pull off a morning basket is probably not going to happen during this lifetime. I am old enough to know myself and my limitations. However, I really, really want to do a “morning basket” with my son. Here’s were I have been for a very long time, not capable of pulling off a morning basket, but unable to figure out where to fit it into the rest of our day.
Lately, I have also been listening to Pam Barnhill’s Morning Basket podcast. I would highly recommend listening to her podcast series from the very beginning. She and her awesome guests really get you thinking. If morning baskets are new to you or something you have wanted to incorporate into your homeschool day, her podcast is the place to start.
Between kicking myself for being a early morning slacker, having morning basket guilt and a conversation I had with my husband the other evening; I had an epiphany!! Do “morning basket” in the evening when the whole family can participate.
One of Barnhill’s guests spoke about how morning basket can create a family culture. Well, when it’s Mom and a lovely bunch of children, that sounds like the most beautiful thing ever. God graced us with a son; one child. It just did not seem fair to be creating this “family culture” between my son and I only. Our family is so small that if we do not include my husband in creating that “family culture” we are not being fair to our little family.
It occurred to me that including my husband in our “morning basket” would give us a chance to have everyone’s insights, shared experience, shared knowledge, and shared faith. And when we read make emotional connections with a book, it is not going to be just between my son and I. It also really does make education something everyone participates in everyday. Win-Win-Win!
So last evening was our inaugural evening “morning basket”. (Seriously, I will come up with a better name for it!!). For an hour and a half, we read, we prayed, we listened, we saw, and we learned TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!
I mean to encourage you with this post, really! If you do not already do a “morning basket”, can not figure out where to put it into your day or whatever your hang-up is, keep trying to work it in. There is great value in sharing your education with the whole family, to the best of your ability.
As we continue to do our “evening, morning basket”, I’ll let you know how we as doing. In the meantime, God Bless and Keep Learning!
UPDATE: I drafted this post sometime ago (September), and I am happy to report that “morning basket” in the evening with our whole family, is going awesomely! It has turned into such a connection point for the whole family. Now for a better name…read-aloud basket, evening basket, learning basket…I’d take suggestions.
