My Homeschool Morning Routine That Actually Works

Introduction

Mornings are so tough, they can totally make or break our entire day, especially when it comes to homeschool. Without a true transition, it feels like the homeschool day just never gets started and before you know it, the day is over, the kids are headed to bed and the school work never got done. I’ve found that having a simple homeschool morning routine can help transition us into homeschool just as simply as a school bus pickup time. In this post, you’ll find simple and practical steps to help you create a morning routine that works to help get you over that homeschool hump and into a learning groove.

Why Morning Routines Matter in Homeschool

I’ve found that a routine is so essential for our homeschool. It sets the tone for the entire day. If we skip our routine, we often miss or scramble through homeschool that day. Most importantly, it’s predictable for us and our children. Children find a sense of security in the predictability of routines.

It also helps us all by reducing our decision fatigue, we don’t have to make as many decisions when we follow the same rhythm every day. Let’s get real — we already make enough decisions day in and day out. This allows us to find peace in our routine and move naturally through our morning. It’s like the heartbeat of the house.

I think a routine is far superior to a schedule. Schedules are so finite, usually with times associated, and I often feel behind before I’ve even begun. Schedules make me feel rushed, stressed, and constantly late. The absolute beauty of a routine — it’s more flexible, can have adaptations to different types of days or days of the week, and it often doesn’t have to be so strictly adhered to with time as a factor. Routines are a feel good opportunity.

The 5 Components of a Successful Homeschool Morning

1. Consistent Wake-Up Window (Not Exact Time)

In our house, each of our kids has a wake-up light (we use Hatch alarm clocks). These allow us to determine a gentle wakeup window. We like something like this because it can gently transition the color and sound at a specific time, so on the days my kids are sound asleep, they don’t notice this change until they come out of the deep sleep or REM. I also love that you can set durations, it allows me to set a wake window so easily. This also helps my children that don’t yet understand time to know when they can expect to come out of their rooms in the morning. This has really helped my kids find their rhythms while allowing us all the consistency necessary to start our day strong.

Our morning routine looks something like this (we also use this for naps and bedtime):

• 7:00am – Light transitions to green (indicates they’re allowed to come out or call us) and sound transitions to gentle bird chirps
• 7:30am – Light and sound fade off

This gives my children a whole half hour to wake up naturally on their own without the frustration of an alarm clock beeping in their ear telling them that they need to wake up at exactly 7am.

Pro tip – try for a few days putting your wake up window earlier than your children’s and see if that helps you have a slower, calmer start to your day. I find this time really allows me to get going gently and care for myself before being bombarded with the endless energy that pours out of my kids starting from the moment they wake up.

2. Personal Care First

In our house on homeschool days, there are a few things we do before we even leave our rooms in the morning. This routine is meant to help our brain transition from sleep to ‘time to get to work’ mode. We start with making our beds, literally as soon as we get out of them. Everyone does this before they even get dressed, it’s part of their routine. This all helps signal to our bodies that it’s time to get going for the day and not time to get back in bed. For the kids, we use zipper bedding systems (like Beddy’s) so they are super easy to make, they just have to zip it up! Finding systems that work for you and your family can minimize the friction in your day helping you to have a more productive and happier day.

Once the beds are made, a quick tidy of the room is in the routine, that way if the kids played with any toys before it was time to get up, they get put away properly, leaving a fresh and clean room with a made bed to start a new day. Next, it’s time to get dressed and follow up with any personal hygiene on the list like going potty, washing hands, brushing hair, or brushing teeth. Even though we don’t always leave the house right away in the morning, it’s still important for everyone to get dressed. This is usually when everyone first emerges from their rooms. Once these things are done, it signals to our brains we are ready to get started for the day!

3. Breakfast Together

I’m not sure about anyone else, but I think breakfast is actually the hardest meal of the day, by far. If I don’t know what I’m making or giving someone it throws everything off. If it takes more than 5 minutes to make, it’s usually out. One of my favorite things to do is to prep breakfast in advance. Whether that’s making a batch of pancakes, waffles or muffins on the weekend and freezing them to use all week long or making overnight oats or a breakfast casserole the night before so all you have to do is bake it in the morning, any advanced preparation helps! Also, I know some people are ‘allergic’ to using their stove, but it really does only take a few minutes (seriously, less than 5) to cook up some sausage and eggs or something alike. The only down side is the dirty pan, but most of us probably have a dishwasher for that.

When we sit down to breakfast, we do best if we sit down together. The adults (or at least mama since dada is usually upstairs working) sitting down to breakfast signals to the kids that it’s time to stop whatever they’re doing and sit down to eat. Without this signal of us adults sitting down, the kids are much less likely to eat anything and then complain 30 minutes later that they’re hungry. While we’re sitting, I can use this opportunity of having everyone together to talk a little bit about what we’re going to be learning in our unit study this week/day. I try to make this a time to help transition their minds into a ‘wonder’ state, getting them interested about what we’re going to learn. If we’re not doing a unit study or I’m busy with something else for some reason, the kids like to listen to an audiobook (on their Yoto player) while they eat or I’ll put out a unit study related activity or worksheet for them to self start with.

4. Movement or Fresh Air

This is the most flexible part of our routine. On days when the kids are extra wiggly or if we’re having a slower start, 5-10 minutes of movement makes a huge difference before sitting down for homeschool. This could look like a lot of things — a morning walk through the garden in the nice weather, a freeze dance or fun movement or dance party song for the kids, or even a few yoga stretches or exercises. Anything that gets the blood circulating and even better, gets everyone exposed to sunlight and fresh air, can really help the transition and up the focus and energy. The key is keeping this short—5 to 10 minutes max otherwise, any longer and kids will want to keep playing outside or dancing instead of transitioning to learning time. Try this out, especially if you haven’t before, so if it seems to work with your family you can include it in your homeschool morning routine!

5. Calendar or Basket Time

We also used to include a morning basket or calendar time in our schedule. While a morning basket provides independent activity time, calendar time is a short together-time where we practice foundational concepts related to the calendar. These both worked really well when my daughter was 3 and 4, now that’s she’s older, we do a quick and easy ‘morning binder’ that includes the calendar and since she can do some school work by herself, there’s no longer a need for the morning basket to occupy her. I plan to start back to these this coming summer with my son.

If you aren’t familiar with a morning basket, it usually includes some self starting toys or activities that the kids can do on their own. It helps their inquisitive brains turn on first thing in the morning and gives mama some much needed time to get something done before sitting down for formal homeschool.

Calendar time usually includes days of the week, months of the year, the year, the weather, maybe the pledge of allegiance, and a review of our personal information including names, phone number, address, allergies, etc. In the past, (and soon again in the future) we used a wooden calendar system (like Melissa and Doug) to do this but you can definitely use any calendar as an aid. Now my daughter just has a dry erase page with the calendar info on it to do.

Both of these are great ways to also help transition further into homeschool learning and the kids know what to expect of this and after this. It’s best to keep this time short, if it becomes too long they can become disinterested or start to use the toys or activities as throwing devices or trash instead of learning tools!

Creating Your Own Routine

Creating your own homeschool morning routine doesn’t have to be scary or stressful. I suggest you start with a few things you already do every morning (make bed, brush teeth, eat breakfast), put them in an order that works for you and then try out adding one new/additional thing at a time until you see which pieces work. Try to give each change at least 2 weeks before deciding whether it works or not so everyone can get used to it. Grab the simple free morning routine checklist below to help you get started with your routine! Every family and every child is different (this is a good thing) so use these puzzle pieces and build what works for you. Also, if you can, I suggest you post this routine somewhere for the kids to check off (we use a Skylight Calendar). This allows them to keep track of what they’ve done, know what comes next, and feel involved and accomplished when they can check things off. Most importantly, never forget about your own needs as a parent. It’s like the airplane oxygen masks, put yours on before you put theirs on!

Conclusion

If ever you feel the routine isn’t working for you or you’re doing too much, strip it down to its basics and essentials (hygiene, health, and safety) and try again. As kids grow older the routine will always change. Don’t be afraid to embrace that change as a chance to create a new routine that works even better. Always remember a routine is just that, things you do routinely, not requirements. If it falls apart, jump back in at the next best hand hold and move forward from there. This is what works for our family, what works for yours? What are your favorite parts of your homeschool morning routine? Leave it in the comments down below!