Have you ever noticed how different ideas stand out during different seasons of life?

We're bringing you an episode from the archives this week with the hope that you'll gain something new and fresh that you need to hear right now.

Here's the best of the Simply Charlotte Mason podcast.

Welcome to the Simply Charlotte Mason podcast. I'm Sonia Schaefer. We talk a lot about your school schedule and how to make it work for you and your students. But what about that block of time

before school starts?

You know, that part of your morning can have a big impact on your school day.

If breakfast is pleasant and chores get done and the children gather in good time to start

lessons, that atmosphere can overflow into the lessons themselves. It gives you good momentum.

But if breakfast is late, because you have no idea what to do about it,

and the children dawdle over their chores,

and you feel like you're herding cats to try to round everybody up

and get them into the living room for school time sometime before noon,

that mood can also overflow into lesson time. It's hard to overcome a sputtering haphazard start to your day.

So let me give you five tips for a smooth morning.

Five tips to help your mornings before lessons start.

Think of these as ideas to help you and your children enjoy a smooth start that will carry

you into school time with a calm and happy spirit.

Tip number one, start the night before.

Wait, that's cheating. I can hear you say it now. We're talking about smooth mornings,

not the night before. But it can be very helpful to think about your day in the same way

that Scripture does. The Bible often talks about evening and morning, starting with the night

before, evening and morning, not morning and evening, evening and morning.

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