I was a kindergarten teacher in my former life, so you might say that Circle Time and I have a fairly tight relationship. So, I was excited to review Kendra Fletcher’s Circle Time: Plan the Best Part of Your Homeschool Day ebook! I have been a long time fan of her blog, Preschoolers and Peace, and have also tried implementing my own circle times off and on through the years. So, I was excited to see what we could add to our mornings after reading her ebook!
As a kindergarten teacher and when my children were younger, I did the traditional circle time activities:
- Days of the week song
- Recite months of year
- Games to learn colors
- Counting chants
- Scripture memory work
But now that my kids are a little older, you might be wondering how or why we would still do circle time?? Well, with Kendra’s ebook and this blog post, I hope that you will see the value in starting your homeschool days in this way. We have never actually called it circle time (though I did in my classroom years ago!) I generally refer to it as our morning routine.
We don’t sing the days of the week song anymore. That kinda makes me sad. But there are many other things we enjoy now that they are a little older.
Some of my favorite things that are a part of our morning routine:
- hymn study ~ singing them, learning about the songwriter
- poetry memorization
- Scripture memorization ~ we do a lot of this, whole chapters, we pick a few to recite each morning
- flashcard review
- multiplication times tables reviews ~ while doing jumping jacks or the like
- chapter book read alouds
- picture books that go along with our current “unit” or study
- reading a Bible story or devotion
- praying together, discussing prayer requests
I truly consider our morning routine (or circle time) the best part of our day. We get in a LOT of seemingly “little” items in a short amount of time, it’s great for review, and it brings us together first thing in the morning. Generally, even if we get nothing else done the rest of the day, we have had a great day if we have only accomplished our morning routine items.
In her ebook, Kendra discusses strategies for accomplishing the things that you would like to get done during this time. She helps you see the need for creating a circle time PLAN, which is something I need to do. In the past, I keep a pile by my seat in the school room and we just go through it. But, I admit, oftentimes we go a few days missing one or two things at the bottom of the pile and I don’t even realize it til much later! I think printing off a list (and maybe laminating it) would be helpful for me! Even though it changes frequently in our household, I could keep a general list to help remind me of my goals. Kendra does have a printable list you can use as well as a planning sheet!
Overall, this resource is a huge encouragement to keep doing what we’re doing by way of our morning routine. If you don’t have something similar in place, I would really encourage you to read this book and start your school mornings off in a more productive way! You’ll be surprised by how much you can accomplish in just a short, devoted amount of time!
This ebook sells for $4.99 and this might be the help you are looking for in getting your homeschool day started on the right foot! 🙂
If you’d like to read what other families are saying about the Circle Time ebook, head over to the TOS crew and read some other reviews!
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