These morning time plans cover the subjects and activities that we’ll do together as a family. Some things are done daily; others are one to three times per week. Along with the subjects listed below, we study the Bible (and sometimes watch these BibleProject videos), watch and discuss current events (typically with CNN10), and enjoy a read-aloud. Check out this post on Our Morning Time plans from last school year to find out more about this special part of our day.
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Picture Study
William H. Johnson (1901-1970)- I’ll be using a free picture study resource from the Smithsonian Learning Lab to study this artist’s work. I love that the pictures have been selected, and the research is already pulled together! Tip: Use the print feature on the website to save a PDF that you can print (or have printed) so your kids can have hard copies.
Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012), John T. Biggers (1924-2001), Benny Andrews (1930-2006) – We’re going to study works from one or two of these artists, but I haven’t chosen which ones yet. I’ll create a post with picture resources once I pull everything together. We’ve already studied all of the artists in my favorite book 6 Black Artists of American Art, but I found this new gem by Elton C. Fax a few months ago: 17 Black Artists. It has biographical chapters on Catlett, Biggers, and Andrews.
Want to explore other options? Here are other artists we’ve studied from this time period: African American Charlotte Mason Picture Study
Recommended: African American Art History Workshop (Also featured in my Joyful Generations Heritage Pack) – Covers the lives and work of Jacob Lawrence, Alma Thomas, Gordon Parks, Faith Ringgold, Horace Pippin, and Augusta Savage. My kids really loved this!
Composer study
Florence Price (1887-1953) – Someone sent me a study on her last year, and now I can’t find it! If that was you, PLEASE post it in the comments below. If I can’t locate it, I’ll just pull something together starting with this biographical info.
William Grant Still (1895-1978) – We’re using this resource from Classics for Kids!
Duke Ellington (1899-1974) – We’ll be reading this book while listening to his music:
Hymns
We’ll be using Heritage Hymns, my curated collection of multicultural hymnal studies.
Folk songs & Spirituals
For the most part, we’ll be following along with the folk songs included in the lesson plans from the Alveary curriculum by the Charlotte Mason Institute (Full disclosure: I’m a Board member, but I was using large parts of their curriculum long before joining the Board). Their selections include a song from Like a Bird: The Art of the American Slave Song by Cynthia Grady, a book that we’ve been using and enjoying for years now. We’ve already learned a couple of the Alveary choices for this year, so we’ll also be pulling from
Motown
To go along with the time period and Rhythm Ride: A Road Trip Through the Motown Sound that I share in my post on Topical Nonfiction Black History Books (1900s), we’ll be listening to and singing a lot of Motown’s greatest hits. It’s going to be a blast!
Poetry
The first three poetry books are assigned to individual children. I’ll read The Blacker the Berry to my 8-year-old. The 10- and 12-year-olds will read Roots and Blues together, and the 14-year-old will read And We Rise: The Civil Rights Movement in Poems on her own.
For the next three books, we’ll simply read poems from these books each morning during our family time before the kids start their individual lessons. I’ll also pull some recitation pieces from these books (or the kids will select their own recitations).
Freedom Like Sunlight: Praisesongs for Black Americans by J. Patrick Lewis – This volume features 13 original poems honoring Black Americans: Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Arthur Ashe, Louis Armstrong, MLK Jr., Satchel Paige, Rosa Parks, Langston Hughes, Jesse Owens, Marian Anderson, Malcolm X, Wilma Rudolph, and Billie Holiday. Beautiful portraits accompany each poem.
The Dream Keeper and Other Poems: With black and white illustrations from Brian Pinkney throughout, this book is a small treasure of perfectly curated Langston Hughes poems. Check out my post on African American Poetry Books for Children for more Langston Hughes books.
I, Too, Sing America: Three Centuries of African American Poetry – This is a unique collection of 36 poems (perfect for reading one per week for the school year!) spanning three centuries of writing in our country. There are 25 different poets, including some who are still living, and Stephen Alcorn’s wonderful illustrations will illicit their own conversations as they’re different than anything else we’ve encountered. Warning: I find the illustration on Page 15 disturbing, so you should look at it before sharing it with your family. It shows a decapitation. I actually don’t care for the poem much either, and the poet isn’t from our time period, so we’ll just skip that one.
Feel free to share your morning time routine or plans in the comments below! You can find me on Instagram @heritagemomblog. I hope to see you there!
I might have shared this with you, though it’s not an article just about Florence. https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/black-composers-who-made-classical-music-history/?fbclid=IwAR2ZQdCouEU3rYxQq-D7ol55kc2pUUYCEPyXTaEL1PP4cpKM7xnJlYgGx1A
I’m going to have to keep checking back to see if anyone posts the study on Florence Price; I’ve never heard of her before, and I’m really intrigued to learn more. I found this, but you’ve likely stumbled across this, too:
https://www.classicfm.com/composers/price-f/florence-all-time-best-pieces-classical-music/
This one has some pieces as well – https://guides.lib.fsu.edu/c.php?g=353115&p=2383511
Well now I’ve officially spiraled down a black hole and keep discovering these interesting things! Did you come across this book written by a middle school class?!
https://www.npr.org/2021/12/02/1060468024/these-nyc-kids-have-written-the-history-of-an-overlooked-black-female-composer
I found it used at a couple places (though not for much less than new), as well as at Target and Amazon.
But I also liked this short bio for kids online – https://www.tunesforkidz.org/post/florence-price
Her music is beautiful! I’m excited to listen to more of it! Thanks for the introduction!
https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/composer/4938/Florence-Price/ (If you click on listen on the left column, it brings up a page with quite a few selections, and there’s also a link to a Spotify list.)
Okay, I’m done hijacking your comments with not-even-the-info-you-asked-for. Ha!
Hijack away! I’m excited to follow up on these, and I so appreciate the time that you’re saving me and others. THANK YOU!
Hi! This is great! I’m teaching composer study at our CM co-op this fall. I was planning to do Joseph Bologne but am now going to look into Scott Joplin and Florence Price, as I have never heard of them. Do you post your morning time reading schedule or just the resources?
I’m glad that you found something useful! I don’t have a reading schedule for Joplin or Price for morning time, but there’s one here for Josoph Bologne: https://heritagemom.com/2021/06/22/african-american-composer-chevalier-de-saint-georges/.