100+ Things to Put in a Morning Basket - Heart and Soul Homeschooling (2024)

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If you’re new to homeschool morning baskets or you’re just looking for some inspiration, here are 100+ things to put in a morning basket.

Our morning baskets have become one of our favorite things about homeschooling. The time we spend together learning and talking and reading is a real treat for this introverted homeschool family. We can dive deeper into the things we really care about and linger over our thoughts.

Confession: I’m not a morning person.

Another confession: Our morning baskets don’t always happen first thing in the morning, though that’s usually the way we do it. We do have occasional afternoon, evening, or even bedtime baskets.

One more confession: It’s okay to call it a morning basket or morning time anyway. Or afternoon time. Or together time. Or whatever works for your family!

Our morning basket has become the heart of our homeschool. We tend to cover these things in our learning together time:

Art
Music (this includes composers and hymns)
Bible
Geography
History
Read-Alouds
Educational Games
Journaling
Nature Study
Copywork/Memory Work/Poetry
Notebooking/Lapbooking
Critical Thinking Skills

In spite of the age differences (my daughters are 9, 11, and 16), we’ve found ways to study these things together and it has enriched us as a family.

Note: We don’t cover every single thing every single day. We’re very relaxed around here and enjoy delight-directed learning, so we tend to follow rabbit trails.

I also want to credit two of my favorite homeschooling mentors, Pam Barnhill and Sarah Mackenzie for helping me to develop this idea of morning time in our homeschool. I had tried to implement these ideas just by instinct with my girls when I found these two ladies who really guided me to visualize what I wanted from morning time in our homeschool. They gave me the confidence to put it into practice! I’ve had the pleasure of talking with Pam Barnhill and she is so smart and so generous with her knowledge. If you don’t have it yet, you need her book Better Together. I also recommend Sarah’s book Teaching from Rest. Both made me feel so much less alone in this homeschool journey and confirmed to me that I was on the right track.

There are already over 100 things listed here, but the list will continue to grow as we find new treasures to add! Be sure to bookmark, save this post on Pinterest, or share on Facebook so you can remember to come back to it again.

Art

The Art Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained by DK

Chalk Pastels series of lessons — these are great for any age or skill level with lots of different topics to choose. My girls love these! Space, American Landmarks, Seasons, and more!

The Drawing Book for Kids: 365 Daily Things to Draw, Step by Step

We keep our Crayola Inspiration Art Case, sketch books, chalk pastels, and paints (watercolor and gauche) handy for morning time.

How to Draw: Horses

Music

SQUILT — composer studies with Super Quiet Uninterrupted Listening Time. Even if you’re not familiar with classical music or famous composers, this study makes it easy.

The Classical Music Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained by DK

Maestro Classics series of CDs — great classical music to listen to with great stories to go with it.

Story of the Orchestra: Listen While you Learn about the Instruments, the Music, and the Composers (book comes with CD)

A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers from Bright Ideas Press

Timeless Hymns for All Ages is a lovely study of six favorite hymns:

What a Friend We Have in Jesus
The Old Rugged Cross
It is Well with My Soul
Take My Life and Let It Be
Amazing Grace
Blessed Assurance

You can cover music, Bible, copywork, memory work, and history all with this one study!

Bible

The One Year Mother-Daughter Devo by Dannah Gresh — we read devotions from this book together and talk about Biblical life application.

Adventure Bible (NIV): Polar Exploration Edition

The Bible Explorer’s Guide: 1000 Amazing Facts and Photos

Indescribable: 100 Devotions for Kids about God and Science by Louie Giglio

Bible Infographics for Kids: Giants, Ninja Skills, a Talking Donkey, and What’s the Deal with the Tabernacle?

Case for Christ for Kids by Lee Strobel

Geography

U.S.A. State-by-State Geography Notebook— this includes notebooking and coloring pages for each state with information about the capital, the state bird, state flower, and more.

Flags of the U.S. States flash cards

History

History through the Ages timeline project

Read-Alouds

Audio books and stories — we listen to Adventures in Odyssey, Jonathan Park, Your Story Hour, and the Brinkman Adventures to name a few. Librivox has some good choices for free audio books.

HarperCollins Treasury of Picture Book Classics: A Child’s First Collection

Make Way for McCloskey: A Robert McCloskey Treasury

The Narnia Chronicles by C.S. Lewis

The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Christy by Catherine Marshall

A Man Called Peter by Catherine Marshall

The Story Girl series by L.M. Montgomery

The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories by William J. Bennett

Betsy Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace

The Little Women series by Louisa May Alcott

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Bank

All-of-a-Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor

Leah’s Pony by Elizabeth Friedrich

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Obviously, I could go on and on with wonderful read-alouds to include, but these are a few of our favorites. You can find more of our favorite books in these posts:

10 Chapter Books Chosen by a 10 Year Old

101 Books Every Girl Should Read

Our Favorite Caldecott Honor Books

Classic Books for Girls

List of classics by grade level with free printable pdf guide

I also recommend the Read-Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie for more ideas.

The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease is a highly recommended classic guide, as well.

Educational Games

Bird Bingo

Ocean Bingo

Wildlife Bingo

Copywork/Memory Work/Poetry

Poetry for Kids: William Shakespeare

Poetry for Kids: Emily Dickinson— 35 poems, divided into sections by season, grade 3 and up

Poetry for Kids: Robert Frost— includes 35 poems chosen for ages 8-14

Poems to Learn by Heart by Caroline Kennedy — beautiful watercolor paintings are paired with poems that children will appreciate and memorize. Poems for any occasion!

Poetry for Kids: Walt Whitman

Poetry for Kids: Carl Sandburg — you might guess by now that I enjoy this series of Poetry for Kids. They include definitions of key words, a bit about each poet’s life, and provide a gentle introduction to classic poetry.

The 20th Century Children’s Poetry Treasury

Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young

Fruit of the Spirit copywork and memorization printables

Journals

Reflective Journal for Homeschool Moms

My Kid’s Prayer Journal: 100 Days of Prayer and Praise

Read-Aloud Family Journal

Mom’s Quiet Time Journal

My Purposeful Plans Goal Tracking Journal

My Nature Journal

Everyday Gratitude: A Thankfulness Journal

Nature Study

NaturExplorers Unit Studies — there are several studies (trees, animals, birds, seasons, and more) in this series that can be used for a wide range of ages.

Sibley Backyard Birding Flashcards: 100 Common Birds of Eastern and Western North America

Notebooking/Lapbooking

Lapbooks — the girls can often work on lapbooks together in spite of their age differences. We tend to study historical topics with these as we read aloud living history books, or topics of special interest to all three girls, such as horses or other favorite animals or geographical locations.

Critical Thinking Skills

Mini Mysteries: 34 Tricky Tales to Untangle

A Year of Mini Mysteries: 29 Tricky Tales to Untangle

One Minute Mysteries: 65 Short Mysteries You Solve with Scienceby Eric Yoder

One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve with Scienceby Eric Yoder

One Minute Mysteries: 65 Short Mysteries You Solve with Math by Eric Yoder

I do rotate resources frequently, depending on our progress and what our interests might be at the moment. This is also when I include themed books and studies for the season or holidays.

I hope these 100+ things to put in a morning basket have inspired you to try this in your homeschool!

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Sara

Author/Speaker/Consultant at Heart and Soul Homeschooling

Sara is a homeschool mom to 3 creative girls. She holds a degree in Social Work specializing in early childhood development, which led to her interest in individualized educational options like homeschooling. She believes that learning should be a lifelong adventure, not just a checklist to get through. She is a writer, avid reader, introvert (INFJ), and dreamer of dreams.