Morning Time: Winter 2012

Wintertime is a great time for collecting our little grains of sand. Life slows down just a bit, and so Morning Time can be more consistent.  It continues to be one of the most gratifying parts of our day, a time that enriches us, one that is well worth the minutes that are sown in exchange for the bounty that is reaped.


Morning Time currently looks something like this...

BIBLE READING
We continue to read through the passages listed in the Daily Bible Reading Plan for Children, found ~here~ , which features Bible stories and truths that every child should know.  Bekah is enjoying this walk through the Bible, and sometimes presses me to read a longer passage, or the next passage...which, of course, I usually do.  Why would I say no to more Bible reading?

BIBLE MEMORY

We will learn more verses in Romans 8.  Our goal is to memorize the entire chapter this year.  We have memorized the first six verses, and we memorized the last five verses last year, but there's a quite a chunk in the middle, so I'm not sure that we'll reach our goal (this year). 

SING A HYMN

We are learning “"Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus”, by Louisa Stead, a lovely hymn for year's beginning.

POETRY RECITATION

Bekah: “The Country Mouse and the Garden Mouse” by Christina Rosetti 

Mom: “Who Shall Deliver Me?” by Christina Rosetti  (Yes.  Again.  The ~ahem~ older brain has difficulty with memorization, but I love this poem and its message, and so I am determined to keep on with it, in lieu of choosing another poem to partly memorize.)

POETRY EXPOSURE

We're taking a somewhat different tack this term, and instead of concentrating on the works of a single poet, we are reading poems with an animal theme.  We are using the book Poetry For Young People: Animal Poems as a springboard, but may also choose some from Favorite Poems Old and New. 

LISTEN TO A PIECE OF CLASSICAL MUSIC

We are continuing to listen to the music of Johannes Sebastian Bach.  Although we typically study three composers each year, this year we may only get to two.  The fact that we often missed Morning Time over the holidays, combined with the fact that there is so much music by Bach, and also combined with the fact that Bekah is serious about music, causes me to think that we will benefit by another term with Bach.  

ART APPRECIATION

We are studying the works of the popular American artist/illustrator Norman Rockwell.  Rockwell was not one of the artists I had selected to cover this year. But we began our December with Norman (we had picked up an advent calendar at an after Christmas sale at Barnes and Noble last January), and then I came across some other resources in ~this post~.  Kati brought out of her thimble collection one with Rockwell's painting of Tiny Tim, and we were reading A Christmas Carol as a family read aloud.  So...Norman Rockwell it is!  We are especially enjoying Norman Rockwell: Storyteller With a Brush, a delightful read. 

 Norman Rockwell's Tiny Tim, 1934

(image from allposters.com)

 Would you like to hear about our Morning Time reality?  Join me tomorrow for Confessions Regarding Morning Time. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For more reading about "Morning Time":

An introduction to our own "Morning Time"
What Is Morning Time? by Cindy Rollins
Cindy's Inspiration for Morning Time
Kathy's "Morning Stack"