Mom’s Meeting

It’s safe to say that Mom’s Meeting is my favorite part of our homeschooling day.

We have it every morning about 10:30. The breakfast dishes are done; my bed is made; I am back from exercising. The kids have (theoretically) done their morning routine, daily responsibility, personal scripture study and any other school work they wanted to get a jump on. The kids have worked independently all morning and are ready for some mom time.

We gather in the living room on the couch.

We have an opening song and an opening prayer. This is considered our family prayer in the morning. Who says it has to be first thing?

We go over the days calendar and expectations.

I share what went well the day before from our “What Went Well” journal. If I haven’t had a chance to write an entry, the kids pitch in on what they felt went well, and I record it right then. They are always proud of something they have done. We try to focus on the good in our homeschool days.

Next I share “Mom’s Message”. I share something that I have learned from my reading and study. The theory behind this is to teach my kids information, but also to model for them life long learning and searching and discovery. If they see that I still read magazines and books and blog posts and that I am continually learning, they are more likely to continue this pattern as adults.

Here are a few ideas of what we’ve talked about during Mom’s Messages:

I’ve been reading “Quiet” by Susan Cain and I learned that science has proven that there is no such thing as multi-tasking — our brains just flit back and forth between the two tasks. The book stated that when “multi-tasking” you are more likely to take longer and to make more mistakes. I shared this information with the kids, and this scientific research cleared up a debate we were having in our school day. Elle wanted to watch a TV show as she tried to put away her clothes or get ready for dance or even do her math. She now understands why I say no.

I read my kids the section on physical fitness from a talk on Spiritual Confidence. We discussed the importance of personal exercise and taking care of our bodies. They are much more understanding about me going to yoga now that they understand why I want to go.

We’ve gone over the 7 Habits of Happy Kids — one day per trait. I caught Croft emptying the laundry garbage can and gave her a surprised look. She responded, “What? I’m being proactive!” This made me feel like maybe they do listen during mom’s message.

We’ve been discussing media in our home a lot lately and just yesterday I read this passage to them from my personal study:

“We can also teach our children to use their time wisely. On occasion … we will need to put our foot lovingly but firmly down to restrict our children’s time with television and other electronic devices that in many cases are monopolizing their lives. Instead we may need to redirect their time into more productive gospel-oriented efforts. There may be some initial resistance, some complaining … we need to have the vision and the will to stick with it. One day our children will understand and appreciate what we have done. If we do not do this, who will?”

After Mom’s Message, we move on to memorizing The Family: A Proclamation to the World. We are 3/4 of the way finished. I’ve written two previous posts on memorizing that explain the why and the how.

3 days a week I do a U.S. History lesson which is usually a video from study.com. The videos are short and very informational. We review what we learned the day before; we watch the next video which always has a lesson summary at the end, and then the kids have to tell me back something that they learned from the video. Sometimes we stray from the videos and do projects or field trips, but those don’t happen during Mom’s Meeting.

Lastly, we end with beloved read aloud.

This year we have read several amazing books from different genres.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Aesop’s Fables

Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Maniac McGee by Jerry Spinelli

We have predicted, questioned, connected and inferred. And we have laughed, cried, hugged, and even squealed.

There is nothing better than a family read aloud.

When I am finished reading, Mom’s Meeting is over. The kids head off to continue to work on their independent school work. I stick around the living room answering different questions about grammar and math or I check their spelling and copy work. And I start to make lunch as well.

I appreciate Mom’s Meeting because it gives the kids time to practice sitting still, listening to a teacher, asking questions, interacting with a group, taking turns, etc. Things that some people worry homeschoolers don’t get enough of.

But I really love Mom’s Meeting because it gives us time to bring in the Spirit, time to connect, time to memorize, time to learn together on a common subject and time to bond over a good book.

Like I said, Mom’s Meeting is my favorite part of the day.