September 22, 2012

Homeschool Morning Board

The Morning Board is the first event of the day after breakfast in our homeschool and it is a big hit with both my kindergartner and preschooler. They love the routine and interactivity. As a parent and home educator I love how effectively it transitions the children between playing and settling down for learning.

Here is what I have set up right now.


The first thing you can see is that everything, and I mean everything, is laminated. If you have a homeschool, I urge you...invest in a laminator.  I snagged the Purple Cow laminator they sell at Costco for $19.99, which includes a generous supply of plastic sheets in three different sizes. It's a glorious machine. After I bought it I literally spent days laminating everything I could get my paws on. 

Suddenly, everything I have is reusable! It's a miracle.

After I laminated all the pages I taped them on to a white poster board I found at Target for around 99 cents.


The first thing we do each day is say our Morning Offering. This is a really simple but sweet prayer for children that I pieced together using various sources around the internet and in print.

Then we move on to the Virtue of the Day (printable found here). While I like the virtue cards, the definitions are too complicated for my little ones so I am working on making my own.

Following that we go over the Shape of the Day (download available here) and Telling Time. About half the time I'll set the clock and the kids will need to tell me what it is, then help write it. On other occasions I'll have them arrange the clock hands according to a time I tell them. 


Here we come to our Temperature Chart (printable available here) and Weather Graph. This is exciting because the kids get to break out the wet-erase Vis-A-Vis pens (they're much nicer on laminate plastic compared to  the dry-erase markers) and fill in the correct information for the day all on their own. :)


The Today Song is usually sung after our opening prayer, but we'll pretend it's next since that's how I took the pictures. ;) I got this fun idea from Delightful Learning. The tune is to the song Frère Jacques.

Lastly we work with our Money Chart. I applied velcro to several coins that I keep separately so that the kids can stick them to the velcro strips on the page. 


From here we'll look at a wooden Melissa & Doug calendar we have so that we can go over the month and date.

Next time I'll share photos of what the rest of our homeschool space looks like!


Free Printables

  • Morning Offering - b&w
  • Telling Time - b&w (I printed the clock face on neon orange printer paper; you will need a brad or button and a hole punch to assemble the clock hands to the clock face)
  • Weather Graph - color | color #2
  • Money Chart - b&w | color


9 comments:

  1. This is adorable. I'm with you on the laminating machine. I got a super good deal on one through Amazon and kind of go crazy with mine too. :P

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  2. I love how organized it all is. Great ideas!

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  3. I loveeee this. I love your blog Erika. Do you mind if I copy some of your ideas for my new homeschooling room? Tony and I have been discussing homeschooling Sophia. He has OK'd me to teach her through pre-K but is uncomfortable on anything past then unless he can see her learn well from me during pre-k. Do you have advice on talking to your spouse and encouraging them in homeschooling?

    Kaidance is a bit of a different story because I have to get approval from Brian to homeschool her and he will NOT even consider it. :(

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    1. Oh please do, Megan! It's so fun looking at all the ideas that are out there, then tailoring it to meet your children's needs and your goals for them. :)

      That's great that Tony is open to you homeschooling Sophia through PreK! Does he like to read, or will he read something if it's important to you? If so, I'd definitely recommend finding a good book (at the library?) that gives intelligent support for homeschooling. There are a lot of good books out there - if you search Amazon you will see the books that have the highest ratings then perhaps you can cross check them with your local library to see if any are in stock.

      What may also help is simply spend time with people who homeschool! Do you have any homeschool groups in your city? A lot of times if a spouse sees other parents doing it and sees that their children are well-adjusted, they naturally become open to the idea.

      Most dads that I've heard of eventually warm up if they OK a "trial year" and then see that the child in fact is thriving. I will be praying that is the case for Tony!

      Re: Brian...I'm now curious why the courts say he has to give approval? Does it work the other way around -- does he have to get your approval to send her to public (or private) school? Is there any way you could get that agreement changed? I wonder if the Home School Legal Defense Association has resources for these types of situations...

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  4. Found you through Pinterest. Following you now. I love connecting with other Catholic homeschooling families. Come visit us at www.tendingourlordsgarden.blogspot.com!

    Mary

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  5. I love this! I'm going to share with my friends on Facebook! Thanks for sharing!! :)

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  6. This is fantastic! Thank you!

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  7. I like the simplicity of the board; it is not convoluted with many shapes, etc. Also the explanation of how you use it was helpful and I don't have to keep googling examples of a learning board to figure out it's function. It can reflect my family's values, is the concept that yours affirms.

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