I go back and forth between wanting to post here every day and not feeling like I have anything to say or post about. I do like having this blog as a record of our days, though, so I’ll try and make more of an effort.
I have been meaning to post more about how our Kindergarten of Good Shepherd is going. For the most part, very well. We certainly don’t get to everything on the plan but I knew that would probably be the case. I prefer to over-plan and then let go of some of it. But what may be my favorite part of what we are doing is our Morning Time.
The first poem we memorized together is:
Little drops of water
Little grains of sand
Make the mighty ocean
And the beauteous land
Little deeds of kindness,
Little words of love,
Make our earth an Eden,
Like the heaven above
And the little moments,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages.
Of eternity.
Mrs. J. A. Carney (1845)
I think about this poem a lot when it comes to our Morning Time. In fact, I got the idea for this being the first poem to memorize from the Morning Time guru herself, Cindy Rollins. It says something very true about what we do for Morning Time. Just a little bit, every morning, adds up to a lifetime of good literature, prayer, Scripture reading, Scripture memorization, hymns, Psalms, and the lives of saints. Nothing we do is very complicated. There is no grand plan. I keep myself from complicating it at all, even when I want to. Partially this is because of my children’s short attention spans. Partially this is because grand plans don’t ever last very long, and I want this to be for the long haul. And partially it is because I believe the Church can speak for herself through the Scriptures, hymns, and prayers, and I don’t need to insert myself into it.
Our mornings start with a read-aloud from our current chapter book. It eases us into the day. I have my coffee and the kids are still in PJs. It means I don’t have to start the day by getting sleepy kids to immediately stand in front of the icon corner and pay attention, and I don’t have to do anything more strenuous than sit on the couch, drink my coffee, wake up a little, and read out loud.
When we are done, I tell them it’s time for prayers. We light the candles and sometimes the incense and say morning prayers. They morning prayers in our prayer book are rather long, so I don’t do all of them, but sometimes try to add back in a few parts to see how they do. They are memorizing the prayers as we do this, and I can stop in many parts and let James take over. I am usually very surprised at how many parts he does have memorized. He started by just being in charge of the Lord’s Prayer, but then I noticed that if I stopped just about anywhere, including the Creed, he’d just keep going. s
When we were learning this hymn, James wrote down the first line and asked to put this in our memory box.
We sing It is Truly Meet and then whatever hymn we are singing that week. I try to choose one new hymn each week, mostly according to a feast that week. We don’t memorize them in the same way we memorize Scripture, since they are tied to time. We just sing it once or twice a day for the week, then put it in the appropriate month in our memory box for when it comes around next year.
Then I read the saint or feast of the day from the Horologian, and sometimes also sing the hymn for the day.
Then we sit and read a section of Scripture. It is short, not a whole chapter, but a complete event or teaching. We are going through Luke. I like the idea of reading according to the lectionary, but again, I’m keeping it as simple as possible. Just read the next section. Sometimes we discuss it a little so I can make sure they understand what we read.
Then we get out our memory box again and go over our Scriptures. We use this Scripture memory system, so there are usually a few to review. We just read the current verse twice and the review verses once. At some point I start saying the verse with them and stop. When they can easily finish it themselves, it goes into review and we choose a new Scripture for the Daily tab. They are pretty quick memorizers. I think they did all of Psalm 23 in a week. They are definitely faster than me.
Then they blow out their candles and we go make breakfast!
I love that our prayer corner is just as much theirs as it is for the grownups. They have (mostly) learned to be careful and respectful of this space. It is their job to make sure the flower on the table (“Mary’s flower”) stays fresh, so when it wilts they go outside and choose another one. And sometimes I see that they have left another little gift of their own, like this tiny violet they left for the Good Shepherd.
We have large collection of icons that are not hung in the icon corner, and we switch them out on the little stand when their feast comes around.
As for Sophia, she usually sleeps through all this. When she doesn’t, she is often right here 🙂
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