I LOVE Circle Time!!!

I have been visiting a wonderful site called Preschoolers and Peace!!! Just the very name of the place rings true to my heart!!! I know I have said this many times before, and probably will for the rest of my life, but I DO NOT buy into the fact that having preschoolers in the house is a burden!!! I do believe that those who seek peace and enjoyment from this lovely stage and season of life will find it!!! When I happened on this site a few years ago I noticed the phrase circle time. "cute" I though. This would be something I could do at the beginning of school with the kids, to make it "more like school". Especially for the little ones. We tried this and it did not seem to stick to our schedule. Do we ditched it. Then a few months ago I noticed Kendra had written an Ebook on circle time!!!! YYAYYYYY!!!!!! Finally I could learn more about this. I was so wrong about circle time!!!! Since reading this little ebook, circle time has taken on a whole life of its own. Our whole morning is circle time!!! Basically what we have done is take all the activities and school things that we can all do together and we do it in circle time. This will allow us a more familial atmosphere in our homeschool. Then as I lay the little ones down I do Trinity's reading lesson with her in her bed. Such an answer to prayer! She always wants me to read her a book before she has a nap. Now I get two things accomplished at once.
While I do this with her, the older boys are down doing their independent studies (math, spelling, English, etc.). When I come down I help them with what they are stuck on. I like the boys to start their independent studies on their own, because I like to have them gain the skill of independently carrying out a task.
Our current circle time schedule is as such:
Open with praise- Just a few songs
1. Bible time
2. Prayer journals- we are starting to make prayer journals. Each day we pray for a different topic. (Monday- family, Tuesday- Country, etc)
3. Character
4. Vocabulary lesson
5. Art appreciation
6. Science.Social Studies...depending on the day
7. Creative Writing
8. Free time for older boys(with a planned daily activity (Monday-stencils, Tuesday-Play dough, etc
While they do this I do a bit of Preschool with the littles.
9. Read aloud

This will last us until lunchtime.

The benefits of circle time:

-Doing it all together
-Able to keep an eye on everyone
-Little ones learn self control
- Flow becomes easier when we are all working together on something
-I feel more productive

Harder aspects of circle time:

-Little ones need their activities switched every 10-15 minutes



I am sure there could be more harder issues on any given day, but for us, the good far out weighs the harder stuff!!! If you are looking for a way to get more done, while still keeping up with smaller children, this is a wonderful way to do so. And the beauty of it is that you can make your circle time to fit the needs of your family!!!...I just love circle time!!!!!!