Morning Time Book for Homeschool Planning
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I’ve tried plenty of Morning Time curriculum, books, and activities, and even though I appreciate many of them, this one takes the cake! Morning Time: A Liturgy of Love by Cindy Rollins is my most favorite thing that I currently use in my morning time with my tween and teens.
I think I’m a little late to the Cindy Rollins following - but I am SO glad that I finally found her! Whenever I’m at a homeschooler’s home, I love to check out their bookcases. While looking at my friend’s bookcase, she pulled out Morning Time and said she revisits this favorite book annually for planning their year. I confessed I had never heard of Cindy Rollins nor her Mere Motherhood book. She insisted I get it; so I did! So the finding credit goes to her. With the growing number of homeschooling books that are out there, it’s hard to weed through all the options. But this one is a favorite, and I forward the recommendation to you. Here’s why.
Judge A Book By Its Cover
I know you aren’t supposed to, but you can judge this book by its cover. I cannot get over how much I love it. The lavender flowers, the mason jar, the softness and brightness of the background, and the cursive titles. I get such satisfaction just rubbing my hands all over the front and back covers to soothe myself with its velvety texture. All that to say, the cover definitely represents the goodness inside.
Inside Advice
Inside the book Rollins gives some of my favorite advice regarding memorization and poetry reading. For memorization, she suggests regularly circling back to previously memorized passages. I was like, “Why didn’t I think of that?!” Such a simple thing, but so helpful. So, I regularly print off the previously assigned memorization material and put them on 4x6 cards. My teens cycle through the note cards as part of their daily 8 minute memorization time. I’m impressed at all the things my kids now know. For just this school year, they memorized the following:
All 66 books of the Bible
The Twelve Tribes of Israel
The Twelve Apostles
Two Psalm chapters in entirety
Nicene Creed
Apostles Creed
Genesis 1:1-5
Sermon on the Mount
Eventually we will be adding hymns, poetry, Shakespeare, American history documents and speeches, and more. But for now, with the cycling back to the memorization oldies, my kids don’t forget this wealth of words that enrich their soul. It’s such a gift.
For poetry, Rollins shared some tidbits that make its reading delightful. She recommends we read poetry daily and in doing so we can grow our ear for it. This book taught me that poetry is more important than I had realized. Rollins writes, “Poetry is the highest form of language. It requires a level of thinking that cannot easily be taught. It must be caught.” I love that poetry is something to be caught not taught. She says our children will eventually start to make connections that will open up the world to them. She makes suggestions of how to handle poetry, and we customize it to fit our family. We read one poem daily in our morning time two-three times through and discuss it for a few minutes. It’s fun to imagine the poetry authors and their context for when and why they wrote it too.
There’s more guidance, routines, and practical advice in the book, but you’ll have to buy it to learn about that.
The Anthology
My favorite thing about the book is the anthology. Rollins curated lists, excerpts, passages, and important information which provide truly enriching content that brings joy to our hearts. The anthology collection is superior to any I’ve encountered in other morning time type curriculum. This book sits on our kitchen table or counter 24/7 for easy access. It is handy and helpful by providing what I need, saving so much time in researching and planning!
In the past six months, I have set up a rotating schedule where each of my children gets to pick what they memorize that week. They enjoy looking through the book to find what they want to have their siblings memorize with them. Once they choose, we write the date next to the passage to keep track of all that they’ve memorized. We mark the date for the poetry readings as well. This anthology is becoming a kind of historical document for our family and will definitely be a book I keep for my grandchildren.
Morning Time is Glorious
In her book, Rollins quotes Susan Schaeffer Macaulay describing morning time as a “gloriously satisfying hour together”. What a wonderful way to define this time of connection and beauty. In our home, we don’t typically spend an hour anymore, but it is still glorious and it is still connection through beauty. I highly recommend Rollins’ book for an easy and helpful reference to redefining the Morning Time to a glorious time with your kiddos.
For more from Cindy Rollins, check out her excellent podcast here, or her other books linked below.
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