a spring circle time — mama eats plants

As this devastating virus continues to progress, it’s clear that any of us taking care of children have, more or less, become homeschoolers. Our family already has been semi-homeschooling- we do a program through our school district that combines a small homeschooling community with in person classes a few times a week- for almost 2 years now. I thought it might be helpful to share a little of what we do, in particular our morning “circle time” that starts off and sets the tone for our school day. It helps to transition my children from breakfast and morning to being in “school”- I find that children thrive when there is repetition, routine and clearly denoted shifts throughout the day. Especially during the discord and chaos of this time, children (and adults, too!) crave the familiarity of rhythm, predictability, knowing that x follows y. Creating a safe, reliable space at home is more important than ever to soothe, connect, grieve.

After breakfast + morning chores + a little time outside (in backyard) to get the wiggles out, I lay out a quilt on the ground in the living room. You can light a candle too if you like. Have everyone sit in a circle on the blanket and do songs, poems, stories- anything you like. I’m sharing what we are currently using, but of course switch things up however you need them to be. Over the course of the season, you can add and drop songs as you like to keep things fresh.

i. Good morning, dear earth: We always open with this song, no matter the season. There are variations and different hand gestures you can do, I encourage you to work out what feels best for you. Here is a good video if you’d like one.

Good morning, dear earth
Good morning, dear sun
Good morning, dear rocks
And the flowers, every one
Good morning, dear bees
And the birds in the trees
Good morning to you,
And good morning to me.

ii. Spring is coming: Here is a video showing an example tune.

Spring is coming, spring is coming,
Birdies build your nests… (make bird beaks with thumb and rest of fingers; open and close)
Weave together straw and feather, (wiggle fingers on both hands, entangling them to weave together a cupped “nest”)
doing each your best.
Spring is coming, spring is coming,
flowers are waking too… (hands on ground, tapping fingertips as “seeds”)
Pansies, lilies, daffodillies, all are coming through. (wiggle fingertips up from ground to air to make seeds “grow”)
Spring is coming, spring is coming,
All around is fair… (extend arm to gesture all around)
Shimmer, quiver, on the river (make a wave motion with hand)
Joy is everywhere.

iii. Daffodilly: A sweet little verse about a daffodil and her colors.

Daffodilly came to town
With her yellow bonnet
And her green gown.

iii. Piper, play your happy music: My kids like to hold hands and skip together in a circle while they sing this one, once clockwise, then again counterclockwise. Or, one person can be the piper and the others follow, skipping through the house.

Piper, piper, play your happy music
Singing, singing, we will follow on
Dancing through the daytime
Lead us to the Maytime
Ding-dong, Spring-song,
Winter’s past and gone.

iv. Five Little Seeds: This one we do with little pebbles/stones…You can use any manipulative you like or have on hand. Expand out to ten if you like, progress to the bird taking 2 away at a time, etc. A great one to pre-introduce the concept of subtraction.

Five little seeds on Mother Earth lay, (lay out your 5 “seeds” on the ground)
Till a bird fluttered by one day… (make a little bird with two hands, flying down to seeds)
Hungry he was, so he took one away (take a “seed” away)
How many seeds were left would you say?

v. March Wind: It’s not march anymore, but spring is still windy…so I still am using this one.

The wind is pushing against the trees (arms above head, “waving” in the wind)
He’ll take off your hat, (brush hand across head)
Without asking “please” (shake index finger for “no”)
He’ll rattle the windows (pretend to grasp on to window with fists and shake)
And puff at a cloud (puff with breath into air)
Then scoot down the chimney (wave motion with hand “down the chimney”)
And laugh aloud. (hold belly, laugh ha ha ha- my kids always giggle after this part)

vi. After we are done with our songs/verses, we read poems. The kids memorize a poem to recite by heart every month. This month, Vincent is practicing this one.

The Caterpillar
by Christina G. Rossetti

Brown and furry,
Caterpillar in a hurry.
Take your walk
To the shady leaf or stalk
May no toad spy you;
May the little birds pass by you
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.

After any recitation, we each read a poem we’ve selected to read aloud and share with each other. Right now we’re especially enjoying reading from Emily Dickinson Favorite Poems and A.A. Milne’s When We Were Very Young. But we rotate through poets and poetry books to keep things fresh. A Child’s Book of Poems, with delightful pictures by Gyo Fujikawa, is an especially good one.

Sometimes we will read a book or I will tell a story after this, sometimes not. Sometimes the kids want to tell their own story. Making + using story stones is especially wonderful for younger children. Sometimes we listen to a piece of music, to just listen to, or to dance.

Some favorites right now: English Country Garden // Spring, Spring, Spring // The Happy Farmer (we are studying Schumann right now) // You’ll Sing a Song, and lots others by incredible Ella Jenkins .

vii. Finally, we close with, Merry We Have Met.

Merry we have met, (come together and clasp hands)
And merry we have been.
Merry we must part, (release hands and turn around in a full circle)
And merry meet again. (clasp hands again)
Goodbye, goodbye! (shake hands, one then the other)
It’s time to go outside! (…do math…etc, whatever you will do straight after.)

Then we transition into our studies for the day, math, morning snack/garden break, history, lunch, siesta, afternoon rotations (subjects we don’t do every single day), art, and done with school for the day where they have free time to do whatever and just play/be. I can post some school ideas/links/books etc that we are using for subjects, too, in a part II if it would be helpful, let me know. Finally, I want to encourage you that whatever your homeschooling looks like right now, you are doing fine, you don’t have to be and do everything, kids are wonderfully resilient and we are all learning as we go here. It will be fine, and we will get through this. Keep breathing x