Morning Time Plans for Teens: A Year With Lewis & Tolkien
Your morning time doesn’t have to (and shouldn’t) end just because your kids get older! I know I certainly didn’t want to stop it with my own kids. The teen years are the best for wonderful discussion times and making sure that your kids have the solid grounding that you’ll want them to have before they leave home. That’s why I’ve created some morning time plans for teens called Morning Time Teens™!
Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through affiliate links in this post.
Morning Time Teens™: A Year With Lewis & Tolkien
The first in the Morning Time Teens™ series will be one that I’m doing with my own teens in middle and high school (ages 12, 14, and 16) during the 2022-2023 year: A Year With Lewis & Tolkien.
This course will provide you with a plan to follow where you’ll read all seven Chronicles of Narnia books, The Hobbit, and all of The Lord of the Rings books in one school year.
It includes the schedule, discussion questions, and other activities to do alongside your read-aloud time.
Get it here for only $20!
What is Morning Time for Teens?
Morning time is when a homeschool family gathers all the kids together to do group activities such as read-alouds, projects, memorization, music, art, poetry tea time, presentations for each other, etc., before the kids head off to do independent work. It’s also known as circle time, couch time, morning basket time, and other names.
Since most morning time lesson plans focus mainly on the elementary ages, I wanted to create something meatier for my teenagers, to make their last years in our homeschool meaningful. I plan to create others, but the first in the series is A Year With Lewis & Tolkien.
My Basic Morning Time Plans for Teens this year
We start our day each morning in the living room at 9am sharp. I discovered a couple of years ago that having a specific starting time like this, with a consequence of an extra chore per minute you’re late — including for me if I’m late — helped us start on time almost every day!
I do morning time with all my kids together, grades 5th, 7th, 9th, and 10th. (My 12th grader will be at cosmetology school every morning, so she can’t join us).
Here’s our one-hour morning time for teens daily plan:
WorldWatch News: 10 minutes
Bible: 10 minutes
Read-Aloud Literature: 30 minutes
Loop Through: 10 minutes
- Monday: Writing (each student reads their paper of the week and I assign the next one)
- Tuesday: Philosophy (read aloud/discuss)
- Wednesday: Art (share their work and assign the next one; they’ll do the project independently)
- Thursday: Music (listen to the music lesson of the week)
- Friday: Tea Time or Celebration recipes with Literature Discussion
Bible
During our 10-minute time focused on Bible each morning, we’ll be doing the following:
- Overview of the Old Testament books and memorize one verse from each book (one each week).
- A Gentle Advent – Further Up, Further In! This Advent course is geared for middle grades and high school and utilizes literature selections from The Silver Chair, The Last Battle, poetry, music, art, handicrafts, recipes, and focuses on the coming Advent of Jesus as King.
- Finding God in the Lord of the Rings is a good devotional that we will sprinkle through the year as well.
Literature
Each morning for the 2022-2023 I’ll read aloud (or we’ll listen to the audiobook) of all Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings.
See a free sample for the first two weeks of A Year With Lewis & Tolkien with The Magician’s Nephew here!
Writing
With my teens this year, we’ll be picking and choosing from the following curricula:
- IEW Following Narnia volume 2 Aslan’s Country
- Writing Through the Wardrobe from Compass Classroom
- Writing with Hobbits from Compass Classroom
Philosophy
I’ll read aloud and have discussions with my teens about this book:
A Hobbit, A Wardrobe and a Great War: How J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism in the Cataclysm of 1914-1918 by Joseph Loconte
Art
I have access to the following art lessons that we’ll do (plus the others I’ve included in A Year With Tolkien & Lewis):
Masterpiece Society:
- LiterARTure lessons for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; The Hobbit; and The Lord of the Rings
Lara Moletierre/Everyday Graces:
- Aslan in watercolor from A Gentle Advent: Further Up, Further In!
- Bags End (hobbit hole) from The Hobbit morning time plans
Here is some of the art we’ve done so far:
Music
- Howard Shores film scores for The Hobbit and Lord of the Ring movies
- 20th Century Music Appreciation course. My high schoolers can use the full course for high school Fine Arts credit.
Discussion Days with Celebration Tea Times (Food!)
These are based on poetry tea times that are so popular in homeschool circles today. We will plan on a British-type tea time at the conclusion of each of the 11 books– with foods mentioned in the book we just finished reading! There are lots of recipes you can search online, such as Mr. Tumnus’s Tea Time Toast.
Or choose one of these cookbooks (some are free if you have Kindle Unlimited).
History
We will be using Modernity from Compass Classroom for my high schoolers this year.
The daily video and discussion will take place after the hour morning time is complete. Then, they’ll head off to do independent work, and I’ll meet with my 5th and 7th grader to do their history.
Other history options include:
- Year 4 from Tapestry of Grace
- Mystery of History volume 4
What do you need to buy in addition to A Year With Lewis & Tolkien?
You can actually do the whole course of A Year With Lewis & Tolkien without buying another thing!
You’ll need the books or audiobooks for The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings, but those will be really easy to find in the library or borrow from friends.
I have shared in this blog post other resources that I will be using with my kids this year (such as the writing curricula and the book for philosophy), but those are optional.
How long should morning time with your teens be each morning?
To use A Year With Lewis & Tolkien you should plan for an hour each day, 5 days a week, 36 weeks for the school year. This will allow for 30-45 minutes of reading aloud of the book (or listening to the audiobook) and companion activities.
Books for Homeschool Moms to Encourage You in Reading Aloud
Here are two books I highly recommend if reading aloud is something new you’re exploring for your homeschool:
What are your morning time plans for teens this year? Please share in a comment below!
More Ideas for Morning Time Plans for Teens
Check out these blog posts and podcast episodes for more ideas for morning time plans for teens:
- Plan a Morning Time with Older Kids from Mary Wilson
- Morning Time with Teens: A Conversation with Heather Woodie
- Morning Basket with Older Kids: How to Make it Work
- How to Include Teens in Your Morning Time
- Morning Time with High Schoolers
Related High School Posts:
- Our 2022-2023 Homeschool Curriculum Plans for Elementary through High School
- Learning High School Literature and History Should Go Hand-in-Hand
- Tips for Teaching High School Subjects
Get “A Year With Lewis & Tolkien” for only $20!
