Homeschool Routine: Invitation to Breakfast

Recently I started getting lots of questions about surviving homeschool and working, especially during COVID. So begins a new section to my blog. Today I want to share my morning saver. First, I have to say that I did not coin this term or come up with the original idea. I wish I knew where I found it last year, but it has become such a part of what we do, I can’t remember. If you are reading this and you think it’s your idea or you know who came up with it, let me know so I can give credit. This idea has been life-giving.

Why invitation to breakfast?

We used to start our morning with everyone needing snuggles, food, and entertainment, in that order. All of this would happen before I could finish my first cup of coffee or bowl of cereal. I need at least one of those to be functional. One day while researching homeschool routines, I came upon the idea of an “invitation to breakfast” activity. This is an activity that, after a little instruction, can be done independently while children are waiting for breakfast to begin, after they finish eating, etc. This helped with a few things in our family.

I cleaned off the table or activity space at night, getting us ready for the next morning. Why is this so life-giving?
My knights knew what to do which equals less questions and thinking creatively for mommy while she is trying to get her gears moving.
They stopped asking for screen time first thing in the morning.
Sets the stage for learning throughout the day.
And of course they practiced important skills.

How do I do it?

Start with one activity… maybe ones that require only basic instruction, like play dough or legos. We have a few basic rules for these and use activity trays to keep them contained because we use our dining room table and the floor for everything. On Sunday night, or the night before whatever day you want to start, tell your children that when they wake up a special activity will be on the table waiting for them. They can play the activity until breakfast is ready. If you are introducing a new activity, it’s important to go over rules and give time to just explore and experiment with the pierces. When mommy or daddy are ready, they will give a 2 minute warning and then announce clean up time. If my kids are really into it, I’ll let them keep going after breakfast for a bit while I clean up (my kids have been taking their dishes since they could walk and we are adding to their level of helping clean up all the time.)

Now that you have introduced the idea, you can either keep the activity the same for the week or switch every day. I have done both.

Sample invitation schedule

Monday- Legos (who wants to plan Monday)

Tuesday-Tracing with dry erase markers

Wednesday- Puzzles

Thursday- salt tray tracing

Friday-playdough

Activity Ideas

Fine motor clothing skills. You can get bears and dolls that have these, busy boards, or any other toy to teach tying, untying, zipping, lacing, etc. I ordered these from Amazon.

Chalkboards and chalk. You can but these really cheap or pay a little more for one like that from Handwriting Without Tears. I highly recommend colored chalk. You can use little sponges or cloth for erasers. Kids can have free drawing or practice something specific, so it grows with them.

Use an index card box, a pair of scissors, scrap paper cut to size and a marker to create a cutting practice box. This is also a great thing t to take to restaurants or church.

Orbees or water beads are so much fun. Watch them grow. Scoop them. Measure them. Pour them. Squish them. They start off super tiny and then as they soak in water grow to the size of marbles.

Board games that can be played without a parent like this self-contained travel version of Hungry Hippos are great for fine motor and counting skills. I think we picked this up at Five Below.

For little kids you might start with only putting a few letters in order or only matching sounds for a few letters. That takes a little more prep work. I ordered this in a preschool kit from Oriental Trading. I didn’t know before COVID-19 hit how much educational inventory they carry.

Letter stickers or stamps are so great with some paper! Easy practice of name spelling or plain fun! Write your child’s name on a paper and they can match the letters on or under.

These dry erase boards are from Oriental Trading as well. I give the knights my “special markers” to trace the words and circle all the objects that start with a certain letter sound.

Cuisenaire Rods came with our curriculum this year. We love to build 3-d shapes with them or use this book to make letter and object shapes.

So, don’t go breaking the bank. You probably have some play dough or legos or blocks or stickers laying around the house. Start with what you have and then add one or two activities when you find things on sale or in the dollar tree.

My knights love this early measurement concept activity from Oriental Trading. We call the cubes “units” to prepare for math and science concepts.

These etch boards are from the Dollar Tree. You need these in your life.

These are colored popsicle sticks I had laying around. Put Velcro on each end (opposite sticky types on each end). These can go with you everywhere. Knights can make letters or shapes or whatever! So cheap!

These are also great activities for while you cook dinner or just need some peace but don’t want to give your kids screen time just yet. Have fun! Change it up, and don’t stress! There’s no one right way to do this.