There’s something sacred about the start of a homeschool day—the hush before the hum, the gathering of hearts around the table, the candle lit, the teacup warm in your hand. For many families inspired by Charlotte Mason, this moment is known as Morning Time—a cherished anchor to the day, filled with beauty, truth, and goodness.
At The Peaceful Press, we believe Morning Time is more than a routine—it’s a rhythm that nurtures both mind and soul. That’s why each of our elementary-level resources includes a thoughtfully designed morning time plan, woven into your family’s day with intention and grace.
✨ What Is Charlotte Mason Morning Time?
Originally referred to as "The Morning Basket", Morning Time is a simple, daily practice of gathering your children to enjoy rich, shared learning experiences. Rooted in Charlotte Mason’s emphasis on atmosphere, habit, and living ideas, Morning Time often includes:
📖Scripture or devotional reading
⭐️Poetry recitation
🎵Hymns or folk songs
🎨Artist and composer study
📚Gentle narration and discussion
🖍️Handicrafts or journaling
🍁Nature study reflections
It’s not about checking boxes—it’s about cultivating wonder, beauty, and connection through reading inspiring stories together, narrating what we've read, and bonding over great books.
Morning Time Adaptable to Your Homeschool Season
In my 27 years of homeschooling our morning time took on many variations. Some years we focused on singing a hymn, reading a Bible passage, and reading from inspiring literature, while other years one of my children led us in contemporary worship songs on their guitar and we spend time quietly journaling and praying.
Morning time can easily be adapted to the needs of your family as well as your season of life.
Preschool Morning Time
A preschool morning time might include
- reviewing the calendar (free calendar here)
- reviewing the schedule for the day (chore and routine pack here)
- adding weather cards or checking in on weather on a morning time menu
- reciting the alphabet
- counting to 100
- singing together
- reading stories
- doing motor skills work
- playing with art materials
Grab our preschool morning menu here
Elementary Homeschool Morning Time
For elementary students, the Peaceful Press curriculum includes daily morning time plans with a loop schedule that you can adapt to your needs.
Monday- Look at art, copy art, geography or history read aloud, literature
Tuesday- History read aloud, literature, hands on project
Wednesday- Science read aloud, poetry, nature walk
Thursday- History or science read aloud, fables and fairy tales, literature
The Peaceful Press elementary curriculum also included daily Bible reading, hymn suggestions, Bible memory verses, and more! I sometimes added supplemental materials to our morning time such as character studies, health, foreign language, and math or grammer facts reviews.
Morning time encompassed most of the direct teacher instruction for our homeschool, aside from helping children get started on individual math and language lessons.
We spent anywhere from 1-2 hours on our elementary morning time and it was the best time of the day because we were learning together.
While I read aloud, my students copied in their Peaceful Press student sheets, drew maps, played quietly with clay, colored timeline cards, or took notes.
I also offered snacks such as sliced apples, toast and peanut butter, or tea and cocoa during morning time to help my students listen attentively.
🌿 More About How The Peaceful Press Supports Morning Time
Every elementary resource from The Peaceful Press—from The Playful Pioneers to The Kind Kingdom—includes a Morning Time plan. This means you don’t have to guess what to include or how to begin. It’s all there for you.
📖 Inside our elementary resources, you'll find:
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Weekly scripture memory and picture study
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A rich selection of poems, picture books, and literature
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Suggested hymns
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Gentle activities like nature journaling and copywork
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Opportunities for narration and habit formation
Each element flows naturally with the week's theme, grounding your child’s learning in a story-based, holistic experience.
🧺 Morning Time Menus: A Beautiful Companion
To make Morning Time even more beautiful and organized, we’ve created Morning Time Menus—collections based on our elementary resources that bring structure and joy to your table.
Whether new to homeschooling or a seasoned CM family, these menus give your children a way to follow along with the weekly art, scripture, and poetry. While you are reading aloud, or doing picture study, your students can have their own copies of the poetry, art, and Bible verses in their morning menu.
👉 Browse Our Morning Time Menus Here
We also have a special early years morning menu with letters, numbers, colors, and more!
👉 Browse Our Early Years Morning Time Menu
These menus pair perfectly with all Peaceful Press guides, and they’re designed to fit in a protective menu cover so you can reuse them daily.
In a fast-paced world, a homeschool Morning Time slows us down. It roots our families in truth and beauty. It forms memories of candlelight and shared songs, of a mama’s voice reading poetry, of a child’s laughter over a silly fable.
With The Peaceful Press, you don’t have to build this rhythm from scratch. We’ve done the curating for you, so you can focus on what matters most: connection, wonder, and the hearts in front of you.
Download a Free Sample
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How long does a homeschool morning time take?
A. It can vary, but in the Peaceful Press, your morning time routine will take less than 2 hours and might include picture study, science or history, literature, hymn, poetry, and Bible.
Q. What should I do with toddlers during morning time?
A. You can offer young children a snack while you read, let them balance on a balance board or ball, play quietly with puzzles or toys, or color in the kindergarten student sheets (included with every elementary Peaceful Press resource) or Early Years Morning Menu.