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​Balancing Morning Time when juggling two languages takes a little finesse, but it can be done. Let me walk you through how we do it around here, and perhaps you'll get some ideas to use in your own home.

If you're new to the whole concept of Morning Time, you might like to read about what is it and how it transformed our homeschool before jumping into the specifics here.

But if you're ready for the details...Let's go!

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​Morning Time

​"Every day we ought to review our purpose, saying to ourselves, This day let me make a sound beginning.”

– Thomas à Kempis


What ​Morning Time Looks Like in our Bilingual Homeschool

Morning Time is ​perfect for creating rituals and rhythms that bring joy and life to your family. 

For us, we begin each day by lighting a candle, reading ​Scripture, and voicing things we are thankful for. We look at the calendar briefly, then ​sing and work on memory work. ​Then we read aloud.

The bulk of our Morning Time consists of me reading-aloud from our booklists (see Resource List below), and sometimes I bring in a seasonal activity.

We always end ​our Morning Time by sitting together at the table and working on handwriting​ or copywork for 5-10 minutes. All of this takes about an hour and a half if attitudes are in good working order.

​From the moment we began Morning Time, I spoke only Spanish (unless I ​was reading a book in English). However, even if I read a book in ​English, I ask discussion questions in Spanish afterwards. 

​Although my children understand Spanish perfectly, they generally respond in English, and for now that is okay. I am working on their active language skills - that is their ability to speak Spanish - but during Morning Time ​my goal is to:

  • connect with my kids.
  • have ​deep, meaningful conversations.
  • provide lots of quality Spanish ​exposure.

​And for us in this season, all three of these goals would not happen if I required them to speak Spanish. If you're curious, the only time I require spoken Spanish during our homeschool day is during math.

​​Morning Time ​Resource List

I know it can be hard to track down resources in a minority language, so I have compiled the songs, poetry, memory work, Spanish literature, and activities we ​use in our Seasonal Morning Time Plans in Spanish.

​For History and English Literature we use booklists (in English) from Tapestry of Grace, and for Science I ​check out piles of books from the library (in Spanish and English) based on our current nature focus. Our handwriting books are in Spanish.

  • ​​Seasonal Morning Time Plans in Spanish - ​​​Our faith-neutral seasonal plans contain all you need to implement a Spanish immersion Morning Time in your homeschool. Each plan contains 10 weeks worth of poetry, vocabulary, memory work, booklists, music, nature activities and crafts.
  • ​​​Tapestry of Grace - ​​​is a full K-12 ​classical Christian curriculum based on a four-year history cycle. We follow their cycles and use their booklists for history and English literature. However, I think any good booklist will serve you well for those subjects.
  • ​​Exploring Nature With Children - ​​​​is a year-long nature study curriculum. It is written in English, and we use the booklist suggestions as well as searching for Spanish language titles that correspond to the theme.
  • Handwriting Without Tears - ​is a great program, and they offer their workbooks in Spanish.

​​That may sound like a lot, but that is the bulk of our homeschool day. And it’s all done in our minority language! 

After Morning Time, we break for a snack. Then we come back for math (in Spanish) and phonics (English and Spanish) and we usually wrap up our day by lunch time.

If you want a more in-depth look at our ​entire ​daily schedule, you can check out this post. We have shifted a few things this new year, but the general flow is still the same.

​What about you?

​Do you have a Morning Time at your house? What does it look like, and how do you balance languages during that time?​

Take a second and let me know in the comments!

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Lauren Stengele


Lauren is a 4th generation Mexican-American, and 2nd generation homeschooler. She learned Spanish as a way to reclaim her heritage, and now passes it on to her three children whom she homeschools bilingually. She started Bilingual Together to provide encouragement and resources to other bilingual homeschooling families.

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