This post is all about how we use The Peaceful Press in our Morning Basket.
Ever see a drool worthy curriculum shared on Instagram only to wonder how would you even fit that in? We had such a great time using The Precious People from The Peaceful Press that I had to figure out a way to continue on with their Medieval History curriculum.
The secret? Stick it in your morning basket.
We are just about 12 weeks into The Kind Kingdom, and I’ve used it solely in our Morning Time. So far, it has worked out smoothly, with minor modifications. What I’ve learned is by just making small adjustments (based on your family’s needs) to a great curriculum can make a big difference in your time together.
Things We Add to Morning Basket
1. Bible Reading and Hymns
The Kind Kingdom schedule includes 1 chapter from a book in the Bible, and a hymn for Monday through Thursday. We like to start each day with Bible reading anyways, so this fits in nicely.
We learn and sing the hymn as many days as we can, which is on average, 2 days a week. I would like to prioritize this more because the unity and humility singing a hymn brings is truly priceless.
2. Literature Read Aloud
One of the big reasons we chose this curriculum was because it would take us through the Chronicles of Narnia. If you can, I highly suggest this full color version – my kids absolutely love it! The stories are so engaging that I’m so glad we chose this route. This is another things we do 4, sometimes 5 times a week. Just a chapter each day.
3. Language Arts
The Language Arts grid in The Peaceful Press is as simple as it gets. The bundle includes copy work – printing for Kindergarten curriculum, elementary level printing, and cursive. I print these out and bind them for my K-5 students.
The copywork is about 3 times a week, and takes 5-10 minutes, depending if there is a picture to draw too. My kids really enjoy doing this while I am reading aloud. One one day a week, you read a fairy tale from Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
4. History
History and Science share a row in the planning grid, and we choose to only use the readings from Our Island Story. This includes brief history readings of important events and people in Medieval History. I feel like this gives us some great background on the time period, but still short enough to hold little ones’ attention.
5. Practical Skills & Art
This last section on the planning grid is an area I am very selective with. If you look carefully, you can sense a pattern in the schedule in this section. Monday is picture study, Tuesday is nature study/craft, Wednesday is craft/explore, and Thursday is recipe day.
With my ages of children, we are doing the Monday and Thursday activities. The art study is always short and sweet.
My kids really enjoy working in the kitchen as part of school. Such a great time of connection! Also, The Peaceful Press does a great job aligning the recipes with something we read about. Sometimes, I will look for alternative, but similar recipe online, if the included recipe contains more sugar or dairy than I would like.
Things We Leave Out of Morning Basket
1. Science
While they look great, we don’t use the science portion of this curriculum. It includes suggestions for living books, researching deeper into topics, and nature journaling. Some of the books are ones we have read before, and we have a lot of nature books and nature study that we do outside of morning time.
2. Phonics, Spelling, and Grammar
Since our go-to curriculum for writing is set, we omit this section. It is hard to meet the needs of the different levels of elementary ages. So, we use a level specific writing curriculum, which helps them grow in their phonics, spelling, and grammar skills.
How The Kind Kingdom Works Well
The Kind Kingdom, and I believe all of The Peaceful Press curriculum, is set up for a 4-day week. This works out great for a Morning Basket! It is light enough where we can add in a missionary study or scripture memory. Or we can also enjoy a light morning together well spent.
As I write this, my children are 7, 10, and 13 years old. I like this curriculum for morning time because it is not too heavy, but brings us together in the historical time period we are focusing on this next school year. We are diving deeper into history by adding a curriculum that will offer additional living books for independent reading of varying levels. You can see that in our family curriculum picks post.
This curriculum is highly adaptable for your family. Use what you want, and omit what does not serve you well. Whatever amount you use, the curriculum is so well done, that it encourages a love of learning regardless.
This post was all about how we use The Peaceful Press in our morning basket.
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