Table Time Learning - while we have Breakfast!!!

Each morning as we eat our breakfast together I start our learning with some basics to get us started.
We have had this 'table time' learning for years, although I admit there are times where we lose our rhythm and don't do it in it's entirety.

I do find that I love this time and it has evolved over time too to suit what we are doing and the children who are participating.

I would like to share what we are doing each 'table time' at the moment.
The pile of books above are our standard read alouds for learning virtues, The 24 Family Ways, Australian Nature, The Saint of the Day, a short reading from one of our Saint books  and the daily prayer from the Missal.

We read from the 24 family ways first - memorising the verse and bible verses.
Then we read from the Saint of the Day form one of our varied books.
Next up is a virtue from God's Wisdom for Little Boys and God's Wisdom for Little Girls and writing the chosen virtue up along with the 24 Family Way so we can work on those virtues through out the day.
Then we read from one of our short stories about the life of a Saint.

The  Nature Study we do is a little each day from Amy Mack's  A Bush Calendar.

I read a little each day from the monthly readings and we look up the mentioned native flowers, trees and bird life in our Nature Field Guides.

After this we move on to praying for our day together and using as our final prayer the prayer from our Missal for the day.

After this we go through our various additional extras.
I ask each of the younger children to say aloud the  name of the day and they take turns to change it on our Daily Wheel as well as the Seasonal and Monthly wheel.

We also have a little card that tells the name of the day  on our wooden stand. Our Liturgical colour is changed as needed for the season we are in and our little elementals are displayed here too.

Then we read aloud the Poem from the  Elsa Beskow - Around the Year that I have written out and changed the name of the month to suit our Southern Hemisphere seasons.

 Next up is the poem I have selected from the monthly plans I had prepared earlier in the year and we read it aloud again with the children.

 We then move on to this little part of naming the numerical date, the month, the season of the year.

 As we try to cover not only the seasonal aspect of our lives but also the Liturgical side too.
We have a new picture to remind us of the Liturgical month we are in.

Our Art Appreciation is briefly covered here as well.
I ask the children to look at the art I selected earlier in the year as well and to study it so they can relate back to me what they observe and on Friday they draw the painting as best they can.
I try to have a new painting each week, but it doesn't always work out that way.

Again I have a little seasonal display for us to see through out our day.

A seasonal picture and mini items that reflect the season we are currently in.

 And sometimes because I love these little displays I add another one to our home.

 Each season I turn the pages of our various Gerda Muller books that have beautiful scenes that show children enjoying the season that the book is about.

 Last of all we  have the Tasha Tudor Around the Year book that we progress through seasonally.

After all of this we recite the times tables, and skip counting aloud together and any other sight words or counting that we need to cover.

During this, well towards the start of it, we are eating our breakfast.
I manage bites as we go through this process J

I am so very thankful we can have this time together each day to start us off on the right foot in our learning journey and I know that the children learn from it when we are consistent.

Blessings to you and your homes,