Circle Time

I’ve been recently inspired by Rebecca’s posts on circle time to finally get a little organised and re-introduce this activity to our family. Years ago;) with my older children we enjoyed ‘circle time’ although back then I called it ‘mat time’ because that is what we called it when I went to school. It is quite interesting to note that alot of the enthusiasms happening around the blogosphere I used to do with my older children, before I knew about the big wide world of blogs, and am now re-visitng with my younger ones, does this make me old???

Anyhow what exactly is circle time? Well it may vary a little from family to family but essentially it is a time to come together and enjoy songs, poetry, fingerplay/action nursery rhymes and hymns daily, more specifically with the little ones. The time varies depending on how many rhymes etc belong to your repertoire but generally I allow 20 minutes to half an hour. For me this time is important as it allows me to focus on my little ones, being part of a large homeschool family I have to watch to make certain my younger ones don’t get lost in the shuffle.

Our circle time usually starts after family prayer time, I settle the older children with their seatwork and then re-group the girls and Jack Jack. The first day we attempted this Michaelangelo joined in as he told me he “could be little or big” which is true, but he decided it wasn’t for him after all. Sometimes Princess our resident slow poke is still eating breakfast at this time so circle time is postponed until she arrives, but it is always done before morning tea time.

Currently we start with Incy Wincy Spider complete with actions, then we sing a few nursery rhymes, at present these are of a sheep theme, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Little Bo-Peep and Mary Had a Little Lamb, we then recite our poem Time to Rise by R L Stevenson and finish with the hymn The Lord is My Shepherd (and I want to follow). We will stay with these rhymes etc until they know the words well. I plan on adding more in the future, perhaps if I add more difficult ones Michelangelo will return. The girls just love this time and it amazes me how much they remember. They are both really keen and Jack Jack of course grins and plonks himself amongst the group.