Our Homeschool Morning Basket Routine as a Mom of Four
So, I started homeschooling in January 2025—pretty new at this whole thing, but I’m figuring it out as I go! A lot of homeschooling moms talk about something called a “morning basket,” and I just love the idea of kicking off our day with all the kids together for some learning time. This is where we really dive into the fun stuff like music, science, history, and our current read-aloud book. We don’t tackle every subject every morning; instead, we mix it up to keep things fresh.
Right now, it’s May, and we’ve got a garden and compost we’re caring for daily, alongside our regular schoolwork.
We usually start our day around 8 AM. Everyone gathers at the table for breakfast (or second breakfast, because why not?) while we watch World Watch News. It’s quick—about ten minutes—so it’s just enough to keep my kiddos engaged, even when some topics are a bit over their heads.
After the news, we jump into nature study. We’re using the Summer Nature Study from Schoolhouse Treehouse, and it’s awesome! The illustrations are beautiful, and I love printing them out on heavy cardstock to hang up for the week. This week, we’re learning about the sun, and today we made sun tea together. It was a hit!
Next, we dive into musical instruments with Easy Peasy. I really wanted my kids to have a good grasp of music since I grew up playing piano, guitar, and flute. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if they’d be into it, but they totally are! Each lesson only takes about five minutes, which is perfect.
We also squeeze in some history time. Right now, we’re going through The Story of the World: Ancient Times. We listened to the audiobook chapter yesterday, so today we worked on the map activities that go along with it.
To wrap it up, we enjoy our current read-aloud, which is Little House in the Big Woods. I like to play the audio version while flipping through the physical book. It seems that when we listen to the audio, the kids interrupt less and really focus.
After all our table work, we head outside to check on our garden and see what’s ripe for picking! This morning, we were able to grab a handful of blueberries and stir the compost. I’m super passionate about my compost! After seeing how fantastic it made my garden soil last year, I can’t imagine ever tossing my kitchen scraps in the trash again.
And that’s a wrap on our morning! After that, we move on to individual subjects, where I sit down with each child to tackle language arts, handwriting, and math. Meanwhile, the other kids usually play together in the playroom or outside. It’s a busy morning, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!