Anchoring inspiration is here to help you! When your homeschooling with littles anchoring your day can make all the difference in the world! Homeschool Anchors have been a way for us to both simplify and to get excited about each type of homeschool day that we have. We have a few different ways that we start our homeschool days. Pam Barnhill’s Morning Basket and My Little Poppies have been my anchoring inspirations. You will be amazed at how anchoring is able to shift homeschool mornings from an, “Oh man it’s a school day,” to a “Yes! Let’s do it,” kind of of day. This was my experience for both myself and my kiddos. When choosing your anchors, think about what you need to start the day and what your kids need. Below, are three anchoring inspirations for you, straight from my family’s homeschool experience!
One of our favorite anchors – The Family Focus Moment
Our unit study days are so fun! Homeschooling with Littles using unit studies is the way to go! These days are fun-filled with books, videos, and tons of play-based learning! They are topic specific but, all of the kids are taught together, and there’s a lot of different things packed into them. We start these days with our family focus moment. This anchoring inspiration comes from a podcast. Many of my ideas come from podcasts! Some of my favorites are listed below! A unique thing about our unit study days it that we are so connected in learning all together. This is why the family focus moment is the perfect way to start this type of day.
We go around the room and each person says 3 things:
- One thing they are grateful for
- One thing they like, respect, or appreciate about someone else in the family
- One thing they like themself
Even grown-ups, get involved and set a positive example for this anchor. Whether they are involved in the homeschool day or not, if they’re home, they’re doing it! The kids love taking turns leading the group in this activity. They try to come up with different things to respond with each time. Sometimes, the kids get stuck and can’t think of anything good about themselves – which just blows my mind because they are each so amazing! When this happens the others lift them up and help them out! It is a super positive way to start the day and lends to the connection that we feel while doing our unit studies.
Another Inspiring Anchor, Our Morning Basket
On days that are more text book and workbook heavy for us we start with our morning basket in a very open and fun way. This anchoring inspiration comes from Pam Barnhill. She is truly one inspired homeschool mama! The morning basket for us has gone from figurative, to literal and has been filled with many different things!
Our current morning basket has The Land of Stories, Who Was Albert Einstein, How to Draw Animals, Mind Benders, a few different Mad Libs, My First Sudoku, and a folder full of silly poetry. Additionally, there are choices! The best part of using our morning basket is that each child gets to choose how they want to start their day. Usually my 5 year old wants to draw or color, my 7 year old and 9 year old go straight for the Mad Libs. Then everyone wants to do Mind Benders with Granny. She introduced them to us. So, it has become a special thing to do with her.
Anchoring Inspiration – Reading Aloud to Your Kids
The Land of Stories and the Who Was books are Anchors all in themselves! When you’re homeschooling with littles you have to know how much is too much. We use books like these to read aloud on days that are more play-based. All of the games we play and books we read are chosen with intention. They have to be fun, teach us something about something and be engaging to all 3 of the kids. Sometimes, on these mornings my 5 year old also colors or draws while I read.
This anchoring inspiration comes from Cait Curley and My Little Poppies. The My Little Poppies Reading Aloud Course is fantastic. She calls what she did with her kiddos, “Coffee and Books.” I’m a tea drinker, but I typically get the kids their breakfast, I have my tea in hand, and we all enjoy a story together as I read aloud. I either sit and snuggle up with them after everyone is done eating or I get really animated about it with movement and voices for the characters as I read. Either way has benefits!
“Reading aloud is the most important part of your homeschool day.”
Cait Curley, My Little poppies
Reading aloud to your kids even when they are teenagers helps to inspire their imagination and their creative selves, increase vocabulary and continue to encourage a love of books! No one is ever too old to be read to! Even if we don’t anchor in it to start our day, reading aloud is part of every homeschool day! I read to the kids, my husband reads to the kids, my MIL reads to the kids and the kids read to us. It’s just beautiful, and is an essential building block for fostering the development of life long learners.
Anchoring through Music and Movement
Music and movement can be a great way to start a day of homeschooling with littles! We have used the many videos available on You Tube. Some of my favorite You Tube channels are listed below. Whether it’s freeze dance, silly songs, yoga, the floor is lava, or Patriotic songs; music and movement brings in the fun! You can find pretty much anything on the internet, for free these days. Plan it out, know what you are going to use so you don’t waste time searching and scrolling. Sometimes these activities and songs are educational, sometimes they are just for fun! The best ones are both!
“Adults move because their will directs them, but not so with the small child. The small child is urged by nature. ”
Maria Montessori
The 1946 London Lectures, p. 128
Some of our favorites on You Tube for homeschooling with littles have been:
Check out other inspiring ideas with more of my homeschool posts!
