Why Our Homeschool Morning Basket
is an Essential for This Homeschool Mom…
I am not a morning person. Period. Never have been, and I don’t see that changing anytime in the near future. The entire concept of this homeschool morning basket is to create simplistic mornings for the morning impaired mom, like myself!
This basket houses our morning activities in a quick, easily accessible manner. Before we started utilizing a morning basket, our mornings could get pretty hectic. Now, they are mostly simple and we are able to slowly ease into our day with little stress!
I have 3 children, my oldest is a night owl just like me. Child #2 and #3 however… Yeah, they actually enjoy morning time! Not sure where they get it from, but this can be an extremely difficult mix for me to get a handle on sometimes! It takes me a good chunk of time to fully wake up, consume a little coffee, and get my body to a somewhat functioning state.
That is exactly why we need a homeschool morning basket in our home. When 2 children are already wide awake and eager to get started, but Mom isn’t quite there yet… yeah, definitely need those morning basket activities to keep me sane!
Want more tips for an easier homeschool morning and a simple homeschool week? Check out 3 Homeschool Tips For a Smoother Week to get started!
What’s In Our
Homeschool Morning Basket…
First let me start off by saying, we don’t keep any curriculum in this basket at all! Many other wonderful things call this basket home though.
Flash Cards
This is such a great option for a morning basket, because there is no such thing as too much learning. Flash cards are perfect for freshening up old math facts or learning new skills.
We actually keep 2 types of flash cards in our basket. Curriculum based flash cards that go along with our language arts program, as well as math flash cards that can be studied anytime.
Need morning basket flash cards for your toddler or preschooler? Check out my favorite flash cards for littles! Wipe Clean First Words – Wipe Clean Alphabet – Wipe Clean Numbers – School Zone Pre-K 4 Pack
Looking for tips on how to organize your homeschool curriculum flash cards? Check out Zipper Pouch Flash Card Storage for some simple ideas! We also love to use Mini Zipper Pouches for regular flash card storage!
Workbooks
Yes! These are great for morning time. Keeping workbooks in our morning basket is essential for my youngest 2. Not only do they keep my preschooler busy, but my 11 year old has something to occupy his time as well.
I typically pick simple, yet engaging workbooks for our basket. I love the idea of my kids learning always, so I try to pick options that make them think and work a little.
Want to know more about the workbooks we use in our morning basket? Check out Workbooks for Preschool and Simple Summer Worksheet Packs & Workbook Resources to view all of our top titles!
Doodle Books
Doodle books are a definite must for our homeschool morning basket. They can be great for building up a child’s motor skills and working on those creative artistic abilities! Coloring books can also be a great addition to a morning basket. We don’t personally keep any in ours, but I also have a daughter that can’t be trusted alone with crayons. Ha ha, not even joking.
Looking for the perfect doodle book for your homeschool morning basket?
These options are super fun, you guys! Big Book of Doodling, Drawing, and Coloring – Drawing, Doodling, and Coloring
Light Reading/Studying Material
We actually don’t keep chapter books or read a-louds in our morning basket for one simple reason. My children are avid readers! They seriously wouldn’t put the book down to work on formal lessons if we started our day with chapter books!I typically put little brochures or informational type books in our morning basket instead.
Our local nature center gives out free nature magazines that tend to find their place in our morning basket from time to time as well. There are just so many fun options when it comes to this one, you guys! I’m constantly switching out different interactive learning books my kids can skim through. It simply helps keep their minds growing in a fun and exciting way!
Check out our current favorites! 100 Things About History – 100 Things about Science
Activity Books
Simple sticker books, puzzle books, crosswords, and maze books have all made their way into our morning basket this year! I like to mix up our selection from time to time, because it keeps things a little more interesting for the kids.
These don’t have to be super fancy, just engaging and fun!
I have so many fun recommendations for activity books, you guys!
My son loves his Amazing Activity Book & Paper Dragons, while my daughter prefers her Reusable Sticker Pad & Wedding Sticker Book.
A Personal Reader
While I mentioned above that I don’t keep chapter books in our morning basket, I do keep 1 individual reader for each child in our morning basket. For one child it might be more activity based, and for another it might be something they simply read for a few minutes every morning!
Right now my oldest is working through a simple apologetic devotional reader, while my middle child is intensely enjoying a dinosaur study book. Then, there is my youngest that is reading an ABC devotional about animals. She’s not quite an independent reader just yet, so we do this part together. They all thoroughly enjoy this part of our morning basket!
Other Great Morning Basket Additions
Core Subject Helps…
- Math Books We currently have the Times Tables Activity Book in our homeschool morning basket, however Usborne has a wide variety of these books and I have a feeling even more will be making it into our basket soon!
- Language Books
Anything to help your child get in some extra language arts practice is a win in my book! Right now we have Illustrated Grammer & Punctuation in our morning basket, which has been so wonderful for brushing up on old skills!
Looking for More Homeschool Morning Basket Resources?
Consider building your morning basket with some of our favorites!
- The Good and The Beautiful Library has many wonderful titles if you are looking for chapter books or read alouds for your homeschool morning basket!
- Master Books is a great option for devotionals, apologetic readers, and extra learning material!
- Usborne Books and More & Barnes and Noble are hands down our favorites for activity books!
- Christian Book has one of the largest varieties of curriculum, readers, and workbooks for homeschoolers!
Want even more organizing tips for a smooth morning? Check out our Family Bible Bin.
Creating Your Own
Homeschool Morning Basket…
Your perfect morning basket might not look exactly like mine does, and that’s totally okay! It’s all about finding what works best for your family.
You don’t have to spend a ton of money putting this together either! I found my basket on clearance at our local target a couple years ago and actually filled it with things we already had at home. Buying new can be fun, but it’s not always practical!
Get your kids involved and have a little fun with it!
Morning baskets can be such a great tool for the I’d rather be sleeping homeschool mom, like me!
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Thank you so much for this post. I really needed it right now. I have been trying to work up the motavation to put together a morning basket. I am not at all a morning person but BOTH of my boys are. They wake up raring to go, and I, who has trouble sleeping, have to drag myself to get going. This would be a great way to get them started right. Thank you for the ideas. My oldest, 11, started algebraic functions and square roots. I could easily make some square root flash cards and add in some simple color, and shape cards for my youngest, 3.
I am so glad you enjoyed it 🙂 It really works wonders around here, as I am totally not a morning person either!! I know others that use the morning basket in a more elaborate manner, adding in monthly themes and hands on crafts. I’ve thought about making mine more complex like those, but I never get that far – haha! I definitely prefer the simplistic approach and it really is a huge help since I also have some morning loving kiddos!
Wishing you luck as you get yours put together! Those flash cards sound like the perfect starting point 🙂
I like your approach! We will be homeschooling more formally in the fall, but are definitely not morning people.
Thank you! It works so well for us! I have never been a huge fan of mornings and definitely need my coffee time before I can even begin to think about lessons, ha ha!