Homeschool Better Together

One of the struggles we hear about often here at the Your Morning Basket podcast is how do you do Morning Time with boys -- especially resistant boys. To answer that question we brought in an expert. Kathy Weitz has five boys all of whom are in their teens or older. She knows what it is like to do Shakespeare, poetry, and literature with a passel of males and come out on the other side able to tel...

Morning Time planning. I bet there is a good chance you either love it or hate it. Or even if you love it, you might also be one of those people at a season in life -- newborn, toddlers, new to Morning Time, BUSY -- that still doesn't want to spend much time actually doing it. You know, though, it is important. In this special episode Dawn, Jessica, and I chat about Morning Time planning -- w...

We wrap this season of Your Morning Basket up with an interview with Cindy Rollins. Cindy has experienced the joy of Morning Time with all of her now grown children. In this interview, we talk a little bit about Morning Time, a little bit about Mere Motherhood, and a little bit about real family life. Cindy is no stranger to the messiness of homeschooling, and she shares some of what she has learn...

It is a question English Moms and Math Moms both dread, "What about the arts?" How am I going to help my child appreciate and love beautiful art, music, and dance? Why should I even bother? Why is this so important when the crowd is clamoring STEM? Prof. Carol Reynolds is here to answer your questions and more. She is passionate about art, music and how it defines a culture. We are reminded that o...

Your loving your Morning Time with your kids. You have gathered a feast for their minds with living books, poetry, scripture, and Shakespeare, but something is missing. Where are all the deep meaningful conversations you had hoped to have with your children about the big ideas of life? In this episode, Brandy Vencel joins us to talk about the marriage between facts and ideas, how to draw out big i...

In this episode of Your Morning Basket we talk with Dr. Kevin Vost about the virtue of studiousness and the value of memorization. In this fascinating conversation, we are introduced to memory methods taught by church fathers that can help us today. In the fast paced, information overloaded world we live in today we sometimes loose sight of the value of holding information in our own heads. Dr. Vo...

As a child Christin Ditchfield devoured the Chronicles of Narnia over and over again. As an adult she found that she kept returning to the truth's found in Lewis' work for guidance. As a result she created the Family Guide to Narnia , a book that highlights the Biblical parallels in the works, to help families see the connections between Narnia and Scripture. Today she is on the podcast to chat wi...

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is on my Homeschool Field Trip Bucket List. Yours too? I want to share the wonder and awe I felt as I looked at the larger than life paintings for the first time. But how? I am no where near the Met. I know little to nothing about art, except that I do like to look at it. Is this enough? How do I start a picture study with my children? What are we looking for? How ca...

Shakespeare. Whatever feelings you have about the Bard, we can all agree that he was the most influential English writer in history. But why should I bother with Shakespearean language for my littles in Morning Time? Won't there be plenty of time for that when they are older? More importantly how would I introduce such a daunting mass of literature? What if I don't know much Shakespeare...

Classical music is part of the true, good, and beautiful feast I want to spread before my children. Unfortunately, most days I am at a loss as to how to enjoy it myself. Is there more to classical music than a bunch of strings making, what sounds like to me, just noise? How do I choose which pieces and composers to introduce? What if we don’t like a piece? Why should I even bother when my child en...

We're starting off a new season of Your Morning Basket with an episode all about planning and preparing for Morning Time. Pam and her good friend Dawn Garrett, who is the coordinator for the Your Morning Basket online community, discuss everything from the first ingredient of a solid Morning Time plan to how to pull ourselves out of those Morning Time slumps. Whether you are brand new to Morn...

We know there must be more to math than just slogging through page after page of multiplication facts, but what? Last time I checked, wondering at geometrical patterns in God's creation was not in the scope and sequence of my math curriculum, but it's something I long for my kids to have opportunities to do. When can I fit in a math read-aloud or few rounds of one of the logic games coll...

Tricia Hodges is a homeschooling mother of five and the co-creator of the art curriculum You Are an Artist .  Tricia is all about a stress-free approach to sparking a love for art in our children, and she joins us on this episode of the podcast to talk about weaving some easy art projects into Morning Time. Tricia's go-to medium for simple, forgiving projects is chalk pastel, and she offers a...

"To be or not to be." "The course of true love never did run smooth." "All the world's a stage." The language, characters, and stories of William Shakespeare have far-reaching influence for us today in our books, our pop culture, and even our everyday conversations. But despite all this Shakespeare all around us, many of us are still left scratching our heads and wondering how in the world to begi...

Celeste Cruz is a homeschooling mother of eight who started to implement Morning Time in her home with a stack of picture books at the breakfast table back when her oldest two children were just 5 years old. Now with several years of Morning Time under her belt, Celeste is practiced in art of juggling fussy babies, noisy toddlers, and preschoolers with fluctuating attention spans. She joins us on...

Anne White is a mother of three, a long-time member of the Ambleside Online Advisory Board, and the author of numerous resources on the Greek-born Roman historian Plutarch. She joins us on this episode of the podcast to help us figure out how we might approach reading Plutarch with our kids during Morning Time. Who was Plutarch? What did he write about? Why did Charlotte Mason consider him worthy...

Sarah Mackenzie is a mother of six, the author of Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler's Guide to Unshakable Peace , and the host of the Read-Aloud Revival. She joins us on the podcast to discuss Morning Time as a key tool that can help us order our children's affections, turn our attention to things of utmost importance, and ground ourselves in state of rest, avoiding that place of frenzy...

Cindy West is a homeschooling mother of three and the author of the NaturExplorer series. She joins us on this episode of the podcast to share her contagious enthusiasm for nature study. She discusses the importance of this sometimes-neglected subject--how nature study helps us develop keen observation skills, teaches us important truths about our Creator, and gives us opportunities to make connec...

In this interview, Sonya Shafer of Simply Charlotte Mason demystifies the practice of narration, or reading living books and then having children "tell back" in their own words what they remember. She shows how narration is not so much a method of quizzing our children, but rather a powerful tool for promoting attention, comprehension, and retention as the children make the books their own. This c...

Pam and her good friend Mystie Winckler of Simply Convivial wrap up this season of the podcast with an entire episode devoted to answering listener questions.  They share inspiration, practical tips, how-to’s, and amusing anecdotes from their combined 12 years of practicing the discipline of Morning Time in their homes. Whether you’re a seasoned Morning Time veteran or a newbie wondering how...

Nicholas Ireland, a father of three, teaches humanities to middle schoolers at a classical school in Alabama. On this episode of the podcast, he tackles the subject of poetry. Why is poetry important? What poems should I start with? What makes good poetry good? What if I don’t understand poetry? What questions should I ask my kids when we talk about the poems we read? Nicholas answers all these qu...

Mary Prather is a music educator turned homeschool mom and the creator of the music appreciation curriculum SQUILT.  On this episode of the podcast, she shares simple and effective ideas for adding beauty to Morning Time through music. Mary has fantastic recommendations for composers and pieces, and she speaks from experience about no-fuss, practical ways to teach music appreciation and enjoy...

Jennifer Mackintosh has been practicing Morning Time in her home since her oldest, now a homeschool graduate was a 4th grader. At her blog Wildflowers & Marbles, she has written extensively about how she creates her Morning Time plan and about how she develops thoughtful book lists for read-alouds. She joins us on this episode of the podcast to tell us a little more about choosing those great...

Angela Boord has eight (soon to be nine!) children, so she knows all about making life work in a large family. She joins us today on the podcast to talk about creating and sustaining a Morning Time routine that is meaningful and worthwhile for everyone, from teens to toddlers. Angela shares some great advice for keeping little hands busy, accommodating teens and their packed schedules, and tacklin...

If you've been following along with the last couple of interviews here at Your Morning Basket, you know that Pam has been walking us through the "3Rs" that make up a rich Morning Time: recitation, reading aloud, and ritual. Now it's time to tackle the third R, ritual. So often I find myself wanting to slow down and give my children time in our day to think, explore, and reflect...