Do you have a Homeschool Power Hour in your day?
We have been doing a Homeschool Power Hour for a long time in our homeschool journey. Recently we started adding a bit more to our learning time, hence the name “power hour”. We can cover a great deal of ground in a short amount of time! Originally it started as a way for us to say the Rosary together in the morning, perhaps read about the Saint of the Day, and sometimes have a group religion lesson. More recently we incorporated our scripture memorization, and we often watch CNN Student News as well.
Homeschool Power Hour started as our morning time. Some people call it circle time (however, that sounds like its only for little children), morning basket time – whatever you call it. This isn’t a new concept, but what’s new for us is that I’m making it a bit more meaty. We have been adding in a states and capitals study, parts of speech, learning about different presidents etc. We have been utilizing quite a bit of YouTube in this part of our hour. I highly recommend reading How to Make a YouTube Play List. It’s easy to do and will streamline your time.
Make the Time Work for Your Homeschool Day
Here’s a little secret. Your Homeschool Power Hour does not have to be in the morning! We did morning for a long time, but as the kids are getting older, and we have a teenager and a tween the morning wake up times are staggered. Instead of waiting to start our day when the teenager wakes up, my younger kids can start on independent work and I can work with the littles. Now I may start our Power Hour at 11:00am or right after lunch. It could even work well as an after dinner activity and Dad could join in with the fun.
I generally keep this time to an hour our less, depending on what we are doing. Any longer than that and I think it gets a bit boring for everyone. My oldest sticks around for the rosary, prayers, etc and then he is free to go work on his daily work. I let my other children draw or color quietly when they are just listening and not watching a YouTube video. They are allowed to play with Lego as well – but often that isn’t very quiet! The point is to do what works in your house. Tweak it to make it work depending on the age of your children and your unique needs.
Homeschool Power Hour Ideas
This list is only limited by your imagination and your individual family needs.
-Rosary (Prayers for Catholic Kids)
– Scripture memory work
– Feast Day/Saint Day
– Poetry – memorization/reading
– Read aloud time
– Science concepts
– Shakespeare! – We are enjoying this book right now.
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– Geography (states/capitals, countries, land forms etc)
– History (presidents, inventors, other notable people in history)
– Composers
– Artists
– Parts of Speech
– Manners – These books are fun to read
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– Art – Chalk Pastels or Art for Kids Hub
More Power Hour Resources
Educational YouTube Channels – great resources for filling up your play list.
Morning Binder – I don’t have anything as super organized as Pam, but a girl can dream! Maybe someday.
Morning Basket at Wildflowers and Marbles
Looking for further help to get your Power Hour organized and off the ground? Check out this handy dandy resource!
 
What a great idea — and name!!! Love it!
Thanks Mary!
Love the name! I’m thinking about moving away from doing this first thing. I’m not a morning person and it’s a struggle for me to be excited about it first thing. When my boys were younger we did morning basket right before lunch . . . . until we were reading Farmer Boy. Too many food descriptions right before lunch! ; )
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Ooooh, I am so going to do this! Love the name, too – I think it will appeal to my kids more than “morning time” or “circle time”. 😀
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What a fabulous idea! I’m seriously considering the idea of doing fewer classes together next year for a variety of reasons. I think it’s best for now but saddens me. But a PowerHour sounds like a great way for us to retain the beauty of being together and using the “Mommy it’s a Renoir” , Greek & Latin Word Roots, Saint Day stickers, etc. that have been collecting dust on my shelves. Sounds like a great way to come together to do something enjoyable without feeling like it’s another thing we MUST get done!
Think I’ll be heading over to my long forgotten blog and recommending this to any readers I might have left 🙂 with a link back here of course. 🙂
I love the name!! I also LOVE your idea to move this powerful learning time around to different times of day!! And I will definitely be checking out how to make a YouTube playlist!! Thank you so much for sharing!
This is how we do Mothering Gathering: http://www.busyboysbrigade.com/day-1-homeschool-morning-gathering-series-morning-gathering-will-optimize-homeschool-day/ (It’s part of a 7 day series)
God Bless!
I love the name! It has been years since I’ve done a morning/circle time and while I want to get back to it with my younger ones, I know they’ll balk at the idea (esp 12yo). However, if I called it the Power Hour — resistance might be less. Names are important!
Thank you so much for sharing!!
~Lee
Yes, I used to get eye rolling from my oldest if I called it circle time!
Love this!
Awesome blog!! The points discussed in the blog are really great. Homeschool is the power hour ideas concept is great. Thanks you for sharing.
Thank you for this! I’ve been reading a lot about morning time, but a lot of people’s descriptions of their morning baskets just sound too lofty for our current needs. The name Power Hour and the idea of getting through as much of the meat as possible during that time are going to appeal a lot more to my kids, especially the 11-year-old boy.
I’m glad to hear it, thanks for reading!