Morning Basket Made Easy: Family-Style Homeschool Bible Curriculum
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If I believed everything I read and saw online, I would probably think we’re doing this whole homeschooling thing wrong.
We don’t un-school; in fact, I lean more towards traditional with a little mix of Charlotte Mason thrown in for good measure (except for the nature studies — not our thing).
We don’t have a garden, and there’s zero chance I would remember to “feed” a sourdough starter.
My kids use tech and play video games. Quite a bit.
My dining room kind of looks like a little classroom (white board, desks and all).
And we’ve never done a “morning basket”. . . until now.
Keep reading to learn why I’m adding in a morning basket now, what our morning basket is going to look like this fall, and enter a fun giveaway at the end of this post!
What is a Morning Basket? 🧺
Throughout all these years of homeschooling, I’ve heard about “morning baskets” (also called morning time, among other creative names) and never really felt like it was something we needed to implement.
I mean, when my oldest son was in Kindergarten, we had what I called a “morning time”, but it was really just his Kindergarten work that we did in the morning. I wouldn’t say it was an official “morning basket” by any industry standard 😂.
Now when I think of a morning basket, I think of it as a time when all the kids come together to learn about specific things. It doesn’t even have to be done in the morning, but it typically is, as it can be a great way to kick of your homeschool days in an engaging, well-rounded way.
It’s a popular concept in the homeschooling community, and it really is a great way to teach multiple kids of multiple ages at once, and teach concepts that aren’t necessarily grade or ability specific. So for example, a morning time might include Bible study, artist and composer studies, memory work, poetry, hymn studies, and read alouds.
You might even teach history or science as part of your morning time, really, anything all of your kids can learn together.
Why I’m Giving it a Try 🕰️
This year, I’m going to have a 7th grader, twin 6th graders, and a Kindergartner. For the past couple of years, my older kids have worked on independent work first thing in the morning while I did our homeschool preschool curriculum with my little guy.
But this year as I began building our curriculum plan and thinking about our daily schedule and routines, I realized that there were some things I wanted to include that didn’t really fit well with everything else.
And there were things that I really wanted to do with all of my kids, now that my littlest is older, learning more, and wants to be included in what his big brother and sisters are doing.
The morning time concept kept coming back to me and I realized that this would be the most efficient way to accomplish some of the things I wanted to incorporate into our homeschooling.
Not only that, but it would be a way to bring us all together and continue to build and foster a sense of community and togetherness that homeschooling allows us to do.
And the part of me that loves routine and ritual loves the idea of having a predictable way to begin and set a positive tone for the rest of our day.
Easy Homeschool Morning Baskets 📖
While I’ve decided on a few things from our curriculum that I want to include in our morning basket, I was really thankful to have the chance to partner with Master Books to not only share their morning basket resources with you, but to implement these rich books into our own morning time routine.
As a busy mom, I LOVE using pre-curated resources (remember, I’m a box-curriculum gal!) because it means someone else has vetted them and put together a schedule and everything, which makes it super easy to just grab, teach, and learn.
Master Books has a few great morning basket options, and they all include a pre-planned schedule and great resources to help your family grow in their faith.
I chose the Faith Grower Morning Basket because I am a huge believer in helping my kids build a Biblical Worldview, and that’s exactly what the books in this bundle aim to help parents do.
Faith Grower Morning Basket Contents
Here’s a peek at all of the books included in the Faith Grower Morning Basket from Master Books:
Coloring Books 🖍️
A is for Adam Coloring Book
D is for Dinosaur Coloring Book
N is for Noah Coloring Book
Don’t let the words “coloring book” fool you — these are much more than just simple coloring pages (which I originally thought they would be).
I knew my dinosaur-loving 5-year old would love the dinosaur book especially, but I didn’t expect each book to also be so engaging and full of Biblical truths.
(I also thought that each book would only focus on the single letter on the cover, but they actually each go through the entire alphabet, with a concept for each letter that relates to the narrative.)
The illustrations are really detailed, and the rhyming text is so much fun! These books are a great inclusion not only for your kids who need to keep their hands busy during morning time, but really for everyone in the family. They’re also pretty cheap, so if you want to pick up a couple extra for your kids it won’t break the bank.
True Stories About Jesus ✝️
Moses and the Bronze Serpent
Abraham and Isaac
David and Goliath
I love the beautiful illustrations in these three books as well. But my absolute favorite part is how each of these books point to Jesus through Old Testament history.
As someone who didn’t grow up seeing Jesus throughout the entire Bible, this is something I’m so thankful to have the opportunity to teach my kids.
Each book begins noting that it’s a true story, and tells where it can be found in the Bible. It then engages kids by giving them some things to look for as they read. A glossary in the back gives them helpful terms they need to know.
Even if these are “familiar” stories, I think that these books do such a good job relating them to the gospel and showing how they are pictures of Jesus. Kids will learn a lot from them!
Catechism 📕
Foundational Truths: A Modern Catechism
I actually have two of these books because I was so excited to buy it when it first came out! You only receive one in the morning basket, but it’s going to be really helpful to have an extra copy so my kids can share and use them at the same time.
Israel Wayne is someone who has inspired me so much as a homeschool mom, and I can’t recommend his books enough. Master Books publishes them all (and I think I have most of them!).
Anyway, he has put together a really valuable resource with this catechism. You may hear “catechism” and think that it’s only for certain religions, or you’ve never considered using one, OR you don’t even know what a catechism is.
In a nutshell, a catechism teaches important Biblical doctrine using a question and answer format. While there’s obviously no substitute for the Bible, catechisms are great tools to use to teach our kids theology and help them commit it to heart.
There are 52 weekly lessons in this catechism, each with a question and answer, supporting Scripture verses, important definitions, and life application. If you don’t currently use a catechism, this will be an invaluable resource for you!
Illustrated Bible Study 📙
Yet another book with beautiful illustrations — I just love this one! Selected Bible narratives are paraphrased (with Scripture often directly quoted) to show the unity of God’s redemptive plan throughout the Old and New Testament.
I appreciate how this book really was designed to use with kids of all ages; each page has a simple summary section you can read for younger learners to keep them engaged and help them understand what’s going on.
Apologetics 🤔
I am really excited to read this book with my kids as well! The pages are so engaging — I love the pictures included and just the overall look and design of this one.
Instincts are fascinating to me, and we don’t think a lot about them. I think that studying instincts this year with my kids will give us all a great foundation to support the fact that all of life could not exist in the way that it does without a Creator!
The Master Books Approach
As I mentioned above, I have never really fit into one “box” of homeschooling styles. I think that’s one of the reasons I am drawn to and love the Master Books approach to education!
Eclectic Style ✅
That being said, there actually is a “style” for those of us who don’t fit just one particular homeschooling style 😂. We call ourselves eclectic homeschoolers.
Master Books definitely has an eclectic approach to education, as they use a mix of styles, methods, and philosophies.
Using this approach, they are able to use the best methods and resources to create individualized learning experiences for homeschooling families. When you dig into their curriculum options, you’ll find touches of traditional, Charlotte Mason, and Montessori methods.
This is what we love as homeschoolers, right? Instruction tailored to our own kids’ interests and needs.
Biblical Homeschool Curriculum ✅
The Master Books mission statement is “Ink on Paper to Touch Eternity”, and I love this eternal perspective. That’s a big reason I’m homeschooling my kids: to help them learn about God and hopefully therefore live lives transformed by His Word.
I know that I can trust Master Books with the creation-based curriculum they are selling, that it will have a solid Biblical framework.
While not every single resource we use in our homeschool has Biblical worldview integration, it’s important for us to know (and teach our kids!) that the Bible is our source of truth, and it’s only through the lens of God’s Word that we can make sense of the world around us (even and especially math!).
As someone who really loves to learn and study apologetics, I truly appreciate how Biblical apologetics are thoughtfully incorporated into Master Books curriculum—it’s not just surface level.
Pre-Planned, Open-and-Go Materials ✅
You guys know that I am ALL ABOUT open-and-go curriculum! For busy families, this is a MUST.
With Master Books, they’ve made it so you can simply open your books and begin teaching. Even our morning basket came with a pre-planed schedule so I know exactly how to use the books each day in our homeschool.
Schedules are built on a 180-day school year, but are also flexible and adaptable to fit your needs.
How I Plan to Use Morning Basket Time This Year
Being a planner, I’ve already thought about how “ideally” our morning time will go for us (keeping in mind that “ideal” typically NEVER happens…but it’s worth shooting for, and helps me stay on track!).
I’d like for all of us to have our devotionals done before coming together for morning time, and my kids will be asked to have their chores completed, breakfast eaten, and be ready for the day. My personal goal will be to wake up early enough to get my workout in before we begin the day.
But once we come together, here’s the loose plan:
Hymn + Prayer 🎵
We’ll begin with a time of prayer and a hymn of the month. A friend introduced me to Happy Hymnody, and I’ll be using resources from their current Hymn guide once it’s released for the year.
I’m really looking forward to this! I purchased these portfolio folders that I’m actually going to give my kids to use as their own personal hymnal to store all of the music we’re learning.
Bible 🙏
For Bible time, I’m going to be using the Bible lesson portion from My Father’s World Creation to the Greeks, as this is the main curriculum we are using this year. I bought a journal for each of my older kids to use for reflection on our reading and copywork.
We’ll also work on our weekly memory verse at this time. My kindergartner can do this too; I bought him his own little journal to write in though while we do any kind of copywork or things that might be more than he can handle at the moment.
Catechism (+ Master Books Morning Basket) ✝️
Next I’ll be using the Master Books Faith Grower Morning Basket schedule for daily reading or catechism work.
As you can see, each day’s recommendation should not take a lot of time. There is one catechism question scheduled for each week, and we’ll use this for copywork (along with memorizing and practicing the questions and answers). The other days of the week there are short readings.
You can download any of the Master Books Morning Basket schedules for free on their website if you’d like to see any in their entirety.
My Father’s World Kindergarten ✏️
This is what I’m going to be using with my kindergartner this year, but there are pieces that I think will work well to do with even my big kids. I think it’s nice that even my older kids are somewhat involved in what their little brother is learning!
So during our morning time, each week we’ll watch a short video relating to that week’s kindergarten theme (these videos are included in the curriculum and produced by the Wild Brothers).
After this video, if there are any read-alouds scheduled, we’ll read that; otherwise I’ll incorporate some reading from a couple of Shakespeare books I have that I want to begin with the kids this year (this one and this one!).
Benefits of Using the Faith Grower Morning Basket
If you’d like to begin a morning time in your homeschool, the Faith Grower Morning Basket would be a great place to start.
And if you think that you really would like to begin using more resources that teach a Biblical worldview and from a Biblical worldview, go grab this product NOW.
- Morning baskets are an efficient way for families to learn together
- You can easily incorporate subjects and activities not typically included in your regular homeschool schedule
- They give you a structured way to start the day
- Resources like the Faith Builder Morning Basket books will help knit your kid’s hearts to the heart of God
- Pre-planned schedules make it so easy to open-and-go
Master Books Makes Morning Baskets Simple
You don’t HAVE to do a morning basket, but I hope you see that there are so many benefits.
Head over to check out all of the morning baskets Master Books has to offer, along with all of their other affordable Christian curriculum.
I’d love to hear from you in the comments ✍️: what’s in your morning basket right now? Let me know!
🌟Win🌟 a FREE Morning Basket from Master Books!
The Master Books Morning Baskets are a great way to start your day with Biblical homeschool curriculum. And they’re offering a chance to win one!
One winner will receive their choice of either a Master Books’ Elementary Morning Basket or High School Morning Basket. Enter below — good luck!
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