What is Circle Time? 101
Saturday, June 25, 2011 at 12:05AM After seeing our daily schedule, many have asked me, “What is Circle Time?” And though the concept is not original to me, it is a part of our day we love and would hate to let go. The idea is that the children and I gather in a circle of sorts before we formally begin the school day.
One of the most important things about Circle Time is that it causes us to be faithful in prayer together every morning. It is also a time I can gather the littlest ones in close and communicate to them that I want them there, and even if I am busy with the older ones and school, I want them there.
We have read through several good devotional and instructional books during our Circle Time, usually hitting a chapter or so per day.
We also work on memorization. Some of what we’ve committed to memory over the years includes:
- poetry
- books of the Bible
- passages of Scripture
- the Greek alphabet
- the Westminster Shorter Catechism for children
- landmarks
Landmark flashcards, from the Target Dollar Spot
Really, you could have your children memorize anything you want them to.
I often use Circle Time to read books with a spiritual focus, or a particularly good character theme. Here are a couple to get you started:
Big Truths for Little Kids is an excellent place to begin. My little ones could understand it while the older ones were given cause to think.
Practical Happiness changed my attitude about how I was managing our home. Even mom learns good things from Circle Time!
If you're wanting a primer on how to plan your own Circle Time, I've written an ebook that can give you all sorts of wonderful ideas from other moms who have implemented a group gathering/teaching time in their homes, too. The book even comes with planning pages to print out and pencil in.
You can view more Circle Time blog posts here.
Reader Comments (5)
Praise God for your encouraging words and suggestions, especially as you are in the midst of a very busy season of life - God has used you to bless our family in ways you can never know!
Without circle time, it is too easy to go from chores to schoolwork without stopping to pray. I need circle time to keep me on track, and to keep God at the forefront of our day.
Me too, Dawn!
We do a similar thing which we call "Discipleship" time wherein we read Scripture, each reader taking two verses or a section of a Psalm, read about three poems, learn etimology by reading "Thereby Hangs a Tale" and read a book to make us better disciples of Jesus (currently "Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends"). I like your idea of reaffirming the little ones and your ideas of things to memorize. Thanks for sharing.
I shared about our circle time (we call it "memory time" around here) on our blog & mentioned your website: http://tullyfamily.blogspot.com/2011/04/memory-time.html
Thank you for the encouragment- this is my favorite time of the day & I'm amazed how much we are all learning & memorizing!!!