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.

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!