In The Heart of a Seed...

In the heart of a seed, 

Buried deep, so deep,

A dear little plant

Lay fast asleep.

"Wake," said the sunshine,

"And creep to the light."

"Wake," said the voices

Of the raindrops bright.

The little plant heard;

And it rose to see

What the wonderful

Outside world might be.

-- Kate Brown

A seed is a small small thing. 

When my girls and I find ourselves in a burst of gardening glory, seeds end up strewn everywhere, falling from the cracks between fingers, out of the gathered bits in a pinch-too-big, from the crease of the tilted packet...

and in time, some blow away from the dry cracked hard-packed ground, some catch a spot within reach of the irrigation, and some end up in the soil we'd prepared and may just grow. And the magic happens. 

Without them falling to the ground, and finding some little spot- nothing will ever grow...so I learn that the big hurdle is to get out the seeds and get them in the ground. 

I can do that.

Hanging a print of fine art on the wall in the bathroom is a small thing.

It's not a labor intensive art appreciation lesson, that I don't feel prepared for so I'll procrastinate on doing, it's a SEED. A seed of beauty, perspective, emotion, opinion-formation, inspiration, story, history... 

It's and ENCOUNTER.

I can arrange that.

Repeating 4 lines of Shakespeare a few times a day(like meal times) is a small thing.

I may not even get it completely, nor grasp the full meaning in each brilliantly chosen word, but I can repeat it, maybe print, and perhaps hang it inside my kitchen cupboard. Seeds of understanding language, metaphor, the power of memorization, the rhythms of poetry are planted...in 4 lines.

I can manage that.

Singing (or making a joyful noise) to our Maker is a small enough thing. It doesn't take a lot of time or effort- its a visit to YOUTUBE, or selecting from a playlist, or looking in the hymnal~ but it plants a seed of truth, a seed of joy, a seed that forms priority, a seed that sets the heart right.

I can do that.

So can you!

Just a small seed of SOMETHING good, true & beautiful...plant one now.
Don't wait for the right time or the best plan...get to planting!

He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.

Morning Time: Where Have You Been All My Life?

Really though. Morning time has changed everything in our homeschool. It is a little piece of our day carved out for the beautiful. The things that weave our hearts together in a way I'm convinced nothing else can.
I first heard of "morning time" while reading Sarah Mackenzie's blog. I have to admit I read, re-read, and then read her post again. It took a little while to wrap my brain around how I would implement it but I knew it was a ritual I wanted to incorporate into our day somehow.

We began last Spring and I believe we are already reeping the benefits of these moments together. My Children are ages 12, 10, 7 and 5. We are part of a program called Classical Conversations where we meet with our community once a week. Because of their ages, and the work load of my Jr. Higher, morning time is treasured by each of us. It is our time to be and learn together before they scatter throughout the house to get their individual work done. If I could say one thing to a mom who isn't sure how to make morning time work? I would say, just start. I know your kids are 5 and under and won't sit still for more than 5 minutes. And I know you're tired and can't think of adding on one more thing.  Just pick ONE THING. Don't overwhelm yourself. Read a bible story or a short poem. Listen to a hymn and begin memorizing the lyrics. And then stop. Let them all go run around out side for a bit. Your morning time doesn't have to look like anyone else's. It has to work for your family. I found a way that works for us and it has changed the culture of our home.

Here is a run down of our morning time routine along with links to many great resources. Some I have used, some I plan on using in the future. The possibilities are endless!

We spend one hour in morning time from 8am to 9am. We begin with prayer and singing the doxology. I pull up youtube and we sing 2-3 worship songs. We love Seeds Family Worship because it's a great way to get more scripture memorized.  We follow that with a hymn and maybe a more contemporary worship song.

After worship we move to our bible study. We are currently working on a character study through Proverbs after which I will begin the children's catechism. We started that one last year but I wasn't consistent enough. Including it in morning time will change all of that.

Memory work comes next. There are an endless number of wonderful choices for memorization. Scripture is an obvious one of course. We have memorized the Nicene Creed and we just finished a poem titled "The Alamo". My oldest son chose that selection from Words Aptly Spoken. We are moving to Shakespeare next and I cannot wait!

When memory work is complete we move on to read aloud time.  Again the options here are too many to name. Of course we love The Chronicles of Narnia, historical biographies, and collections of stories that tie into the historical period we are studying.  I try to think about the interests of my kids when choosing literature but I also try to stretch them a bit. I'm sure they'll thank me for it later.

And of course during reading time it's important to keep those little hands busy. The morning basket always has quiet activities for them to choose from. Putty, legos, colored pencils, and paper are working well for us.

So there it is in a rather large nutshell. Remember, make it work for you and your kids. It's not about perfection. It's about the ritual, the routine. You won't regret setting aside a special time of day for your family to be immersed in beauty. I truly believe it will be one of their fondest memories.