Morning Time, or Morning Basket, as others call it because they usually gather all their materials for the activity in a basket, is not exactly a Charlotte Mason (CM) concept but is a common practice in homeschooling where a family gathers to tackle subjects they can do altogether.
It is pretty much like a plenary session before (older) children breakout to do their individual school work.
As it is not a CM principle, it is not a requirement for CM homeschoolers, nor for homeschooling in general. You can make do without it.
I think (though I’m not sure if) it is Cindy Rollins who “invented” Morning Time.
Which I think is an ingenious idea. And which is why we’ve adapted it into our homeschool… it works for us. It is how I accomplish subjects like Recitation, Poetry, Music, etc.
We do Morning Time every school day, five (5) days in a week, right after breakfast, even before I wash the dishes we used for breakfast.
Our Morning Time routine
- Mental Math. I used to do this during breakfast but eventually moved it for Morning Time. We take about 5 to 10 minutes for mental Math.
- Recitation. My child recites a memorized poem or Bible verse.
- Memory Work. I read the piece we currently need to memorize. Once it is memorized, I start a new one.
- Supplemetal books. Any book I want my kids to read but need not be narrated I read during our Morning Time.
- Poetry. We always read a poem twice, no narration.
- Song. We sing Hymns, Folk Songs, etc. Check out my Music post here.
Recitation and Memory Work
All children have it in them to recite; it is an imprisoned gift waiting to be delivered…
Volume 1, page 223
Charlotte Mason wanted children to be “taught the fine art of beautiful and perfect speaking” and so hopes that parents “will train their children in the art of recitation.”
She actually believed it is a duty of “every educated man and woman to be able to speak effectively in public; and, in learning to recite you learn to speak.”
That is the rationale for Recitation and Memorization in a CM education.
I do remember being required to memorize and recite a poem in front of the class when I was in grade school, though not very frequently. Are these still a thing in schools these days?
…it is well to store a child’s memory with a good deal of poetry
Volume 1, page 224
Here’s how we went about doing Recitation and Memorization:
I started by reading a Bible passage (a Psalm) daily, until my dear daughter (DD) got tired of hearing it over and over. Joke! 🤣
But seriously, I read it every day, until my DD memorized it and can recite it completely without mistakes.
Once she memorizes a piece, I start to read a new one to memorize.
We alternate between Bible verses and poems, alternating as well between Filipino and English.
Once my DD memorizes a piece, it goes to a list (or, actually, a compilation of memorized pieces, because I print a hard copy of what we memorize and literally compile them in a binder).
I then ask my DD to recite a piece from the list (or compilation) every day.
This gives her the opportunity to repeatedly recite all the past pieces she has memorized and, therefore, not forget them.
Once she has recited everything in the list/compilation, we go through it again, in a loop.