Little Morning Reminders

We are working on mornings.... for the past 4 year I've let the boys sleep as long as they need... minus the occasional random day that we need to be somewhere or it's pushing 10:00 and they need to get moving....

With school starting they now have to get up... there is no sleeping in. So far the mornings have been pretty smooth. I get them up with plenty of time to do the things that need to be done, and even a little snuggle for each of them in the morning before they roll out of bed.

I would love to say that they boys remember every thing I ask them to do, but alas.... they are 9,8,6. And remembering is not their strongest suit....

So I made some reminders and other things to help our mornings.

I printed and then laminated a sign for each of the doors. The first is a reminder of what I want them to do first. I really think that the best way to start the day is with prayer. Talking to the Lord and asking him for help and guidance through out the day is a habit that I want them to get into.

Then it's just a quick run through of what else there is.

Are my kids the only ones that think that if nobody says to make the bed that it doesn't have to be made??? I've covered my bases here!

Here is something that I thought of one night.... The boys will get up in the morning and raid the cereal... and while I love that they are independent enough to manage by them self.... I also don't want them to have cereal every morning.... we go through it way to fast!

So... again with the laminating.... I have a "Today's Breakfast" sheet. I can use a dry erase marker and put what's on the menu for that day. It forces me to get up, and make them something... and they are not left wondering what is going on for breakfast... it's right there.

Also, I put a quote and a scripture on it. So while they are sitting and eating they are reading something worthwhile.

This quote is my Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley and it says.... "The Lord as mandated that his people get all the education they can. He has been very clear about this.... And I say unto you young men, rise up and discipline yourselves to take advantage of educational opportunities"

I haven't yet decided how often I'll change the quote and scripture.

And then lastly.... scripture reading. Sometimes the scriptures can be a daunting task to undertake. There are a lot of words and a lot of pages. Even for me I have to go back and reread a verse because I have no idea what it meant, or the what the lesson was.

I found over at The School of Abraham a great scripture help! This is what the boys have been using to read for about a year now. Everything is broken down so it's easy to read. Rather than read a whole chapter it breaks the scripture stories down to just verses.

The one pictured is for the Book of Mormon, but they also have the Old and New Testaments.

So when reading about Noah and the animals.... it's broken down and you just read the couple of verses of him actually gathering the animals.

It has a overview about what the reading is and then the verses.... I don't think any section is longer that 20 verses. This is nice in the morning because I know they are reading their scriptures but not feeling like they had to read a lot to get to the part they understand.

What are parts of your morning schedule??

Is scripture study important for you to have your children do in the morning?