7 Tips for a More Consistent Homeschool Morning

Are you the type of homeschool mom who starts each day with the best intentions, only to find yourselves totally distracted and off-track by lunchtime? I completely get it! The key to creating a consistent homeschool morning is to be very picky about what you need to be consistent about. No need to try for homeschool perfection. Just get the essential things done! But if you’re a naturally unorganized, undisciplined, and easily distractible mama like me (who also happens to be a night owl), even that is a challenge.

Take heart! Over all these years of homeschooling I have found that there are 7 truly do-able, helpful habits that make for a successful and consistent homeschool morning. You can totally do this! 

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7 Tips for a More Consistent Homeschool Morning

One of the most common issues that homeschool moms find themselves worrying about is how to create consistent homeschool mornings. I’m sure you’ve done a little research online. I know I have!  Here are the usual solutions: 

• Set everything out the night before
• Go to bed early
• Get up before your kids
• Prep ahead for breakfast and snacks
• Set an alarm so you start at a decent time

Um, yeah… lol! I do none of that and I don’t think I ever have. Anything that relies too heavily on 1) me remembering things, 2) me going to bed early, or 3) clocks, just aren’t likely to work in our house. 

But there ARE several things that even this less-than-perfect homeschool mom has found super helpful in making our mornings easier. They’ve been well-worth the effort to establish as habits! 

Do Scripture Before Screens

Sometimes, Bible time does mean getting up before my kids. But usually I’m rolling out of bed right along with them, and in the past, my season of life wasn’t one that allowed for morning margins. Newborns, toddlers, and young children have their own thing going on. So my rule of thumb has been “Scripture before screens.” Before I look at my phone or computer screen, I get myself in God’s Word. (Pulling up your Bible on the YouVersion app before you get out of bed or while nursing a baby still counts. 😉)

For you AND your kids, make Scripture first a habit. This can take time, but it’s worth it. Over time your mind will wake up thinking upon prayer and Scripture rather than immediately distracted by the worries of the world. These days, I read something of Scripture on my phone first thing in the morning, and then head downstairs with the younger three kids. 

To to help THEM practice “Scripture first,” we do a short Bible Basket Time, which means they grab their Bibles or Bible storybooks and sit on the couch reading (or for younger kids, looking at pictures) for 10 minutes. When they’re done, they each come tell me what they read about. This is the beginnings of a personal devotion time that my olders now do on their own.

During that short time, I crack open my own Bible study to do. I choose something relatively short, like these Busy Mamas Bible Studies (they have print versions as well). I’m not always consistent with this but I love it when I am because it not only helps ME throughout the day, but it’s good for my children to see me with my Bible open in the morning.

Have a Simple Breakfast Plan

Our breakfasts are almost always pretty simple unless I get a bug in my ear to do a big meal. Come up with a simple rotation that you or your older kids can help make happen each morning.

Here’s ours. Try not to be blown away. Lol! Sometimes we rely too much on cold cereal, but they have a well-rounded diet overall, so I don’t worry about it too much. 

• Cold cereal
• Toast and scrambled eggs (I taught them how to do this in a cup in the microwave)
• Yogurt and granola with fruit
• Cold Cereal
• Oatmeal

Keep Supplies Visible & Within Reach

I am a person who will forget something exists if I don’t see it. (Sometimes I stop seeing it even when it IS in plain sight!) So I’ve learned that for our morning devotions and homeschool time, having things all tucked away in pretty bins and shelves is counter-productive. 

Instead, I keep everything in plain sight and generally in the same place each day. It may look like a hot mess of piled books and supplies (because it is) but it works for us! 

Specifically, I keep our memory work box, Bibles, current literature read-aloud, buckets of pencils and art supplies, and flash card on a small table near our dining room table, which is where we do most of our sit-down work. Under that table I have canvas bags with any supplies I need to have on-hand for the 1:1 lessons I have to do with my youngest kids. I don’t want to be hunting for those. 

Breakfast and Bible… Always

We do breakfast and Bible every. single. day. (I mean… usually.) That’s probably the one thing I’m most consistent about and that’s because it’s my biggest priority for our family. We do some kind of Bible reading and discussion and then try to do our group Scripture memory work together, then pray for the day to wrap it up. 

Most days, we use Bible Road Trip to read one or more chapters of the Bible together and discuss it, and sometime my older kids will have some other reading or notebooking related to it. But we have to be realistic: our best-laid plans don’t always happen, especially in a large family. 

The trick to being consistent is to have options for what you do for Bible reading, so that even on the craziest or most frazzled mornings, it gets covered. For example: 

• Most Days: Go through a Bible curriculum (we love Bible Road Trip, which I’ll share more about below.)
• Crazy Days: 
  • Read the Proverb for the day and discuss.
  • Listen to a passage from the gospels on the YouVersion app.
  • Read from a children’s Bible story book.
  • Share something from my personal devotions and discuss.
  • Choose a verse (perhaps the verse of the day from the YouVersion app) and read it, discuss it, and pray through it together. 
  • Read and discuss the chapter that one of your memory verses comes from.
  • Do Bible drills, where you call out a passage and everyone rushes to find and read it in their own Bible. (We try to do this once a week because the kids love it, and take turns reading it from youngest to oldest.)

Just make Scripture reading, discussion, and prayer happen every day. Whether it’s 10 minutes or an hour, if your goal is just getting in the Word every day with your kids in some way, you’re winning. It’s flexible and totally do-able no matter what the day brings! And what if you miss your Bible and breakfast? Well, you do Bible and lunch. 🙌

Anchored Chores 

After breakfast, have some basic chores that you all do together to get things transitioned from mealtime to school time. We have a chore rotation for after breakfast, after lunch, and after dinner. Here’s what our after breakfast chores look like right now. (I’m usually eating my own breakfast while they do this, since I was reading from Scripture while they ate.)

• Each child washes and puts away their dishes (olders help youngers)
• Clear and wipe the table
• Clean up blitz (tidying floors and front room)
• Fold and sort clothes from one laundry basket
• Fold and put away 10 sock pairs
• Load or unload dishwasher
• Tidy stairs and hallway

Morning Meeting

When the morning chores are done, my older kids come to me for a quick morning meeting. We look at anything on the calendar for the day, briefly discuss what they need to do for lessons, and note anything that didn’t get done last time. They go off to do work and check in with me as needed. 

Having this quick check-in at this time helps make sure everyone knows the day’s happenings and my expectations. It helps smooth out the whole day and cut down on derailments. For the younger kids, after morning meeting I start with them and do 1:1 work, youngest to oldest, often doubling up with other kids when I can to move through it faster. 

When the Day is Done

I’m a night owl, so I’m often going to bed late. But before I do I try to put the books somewhat back where they were, in those carefully-curated piles and shelves, so I can find them the next day. 🙂

Then before hitting the hay, I note on my phone what the breakfast, lunch, and dinner plan is for the next day and the top 3 things I want to accomplish. That way I can go to sleep without spinning my wheels. It makes for smoother mornings! 

❤️

That’s it! Depending on where you are on your journey, that all may sound simplistic to you or it may sound overwhelming. If you’re feeling like it’s a lot, I recommend you pick just one and start working on it as a habit! Once you find the tips that work best for YOU, your kids, and your family’s culture, you’ll be well on your way to a more consistent homeschool morning. 

{Get the Bible Road Trip Starter Pack}

I just LOVE Bible Road Trip and all the resources at Thinking Kids Press. They have been so valuable in our homeschool and we’ve used them for years!

If you’re just beginning with this resource, consider the Bible Road Trip Starter Pack! You pick the level you want based on your kids’ ages, and you get a printed version of Bible Road Trip™ Year One and a paperback copy of Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible. Some levels include a printed notebooking journal and/or a printed timeline journal.

What’s Included in the Bible Road Trip Starter Pack: