Homeschool Afternoon Basket

You’ve probably heard of homeschool morning basket time. This is time carved out at the beginning of the school day to snuggle on the couch and read together. Whether it’s literature, poems, or assigned read alouds, the idea is to get the family together and reading. The bigger goal is to give your children a rich, literary childhood. 

But have you heard of the homeschool afternoon basket? The goal is the same as the morning basket, but how you put it into practice is a little different. 

Many homes observe an hour or so of quiet time in the afternoons. This provides a much-needed break for mom, as well as some much-needed peace and quiet for the kids. It’s tempting for kids to want to fill this time with video games, iPads, television, and maybe not-so-high-quality books. The idea behind the afternoon basket is to fill kids' “down time” with high-quality, useful readings. 

What kind of readings do you put in the afternoon basket? You could choose readings that would enhance what they are learning in homeschool. Or you could fill their afternoon baskets with quality books you (or they) would find interesting. Or you could fill their baskets with books on a subject that always seems to get put on your homeschool back burner. 

Parents will have to do a little curating for the afternoon basket. You will need to pick out books, clip articles, and maybe make a trip to the library. But once the upfront work is done, parents can rest assured that their kids’ minds are being filled with good words and pictures even during their down times. 

Here are some ideas about what to include in the afternoon basket:

• Books about great art and artists: “Electives” like art and art history can sometimes get put on the back burner. So pick out an artist or an art movement and fill the afternoon basket—and your kids’ minds—with beautiful images. 
• Classic literature: If left to themselves, kids may overlook books that don’t have shiny, modern covers. Afternoon basket time is perfect for getting them to read books by great authors. Maybe throw in some George MacDonald, Louisa May Alcott, or Rudyard Kipling. 
• Articles about important issues: Clip articles from newspapers or magazines that you find interesting and important. Maybe use them as preparation for Hot Chocolate and Current Events. If you find an issue interesting, your kids probably will too. And you’ll enhance their civics knowledge at the same time. 
• Biographies: Fill the afternoon with biographies of great leaders, great writers, and great thinkers. Maybe tailor the biographies to the seasons of the calendar or the holidays. Is Thanksgiving coming up? Throw in a biography of Sarah Josepha Hale. Is Veterans Day around the corner? Include a biography of Dwight Eisenhower. 
• Geography books: If you are studying the United States in your history or geography curriculum, put books about states or regions in your afternoon basket. If you are studying countries around the globe, put books about world cultures in your afternoon basket. Your library probably has a good non-fiction selection of such geography books. 
• Cookbooks: On a lazy afternoon, it can be fun and relaxing to thumb through cookbooks, old and new. Reading cookbooks is a great way to get the sensory and creative juices flowing! 

Afternoon basket time can be a great addition to your homeschool. It can awaken wonder, helps kids meditate upon beautiful pictures and words, and increase their knowledge of important people, places, and events.  Why not give it a try? 

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