Morning Box

There is a space of 30-45 min in the morning between when Lilly wakes up and hits the ground running, and when I am cohervent enough to feel like going downstairs. Sometimes she gets books out and "reads" to herself but more often she just whines to go downstairs.

The idea of a "morning box" is not uncommon with homeschooling, but yesterday I saw an Instagram post where the mom talked about them as something available to keep the kids occupied while the parents slept in and THAT was a light bulb moment. Before bed last night I filled a dollar store shoebox with:

* a sticker page torn out of one of her books
* a lacing card from Target
* a notepad and twistable crayons
* a Vampirina pen
* rubber bracelets, and old watch, & sunglasses

This morning she noticed the box and acted like Santa had come when I said it was for her. She opened the box and went through the treasures, which, you'll remember  she already owned,  and kept saying, "oh thank you, thank you so much! I love it!"

So far she has done the lacing card and then used the lace as a fishing line while chatting with imaginary friends, and now she's checking out the notepad & pen. I think now I will be the one telling her it's time to go downstairs and she will be the one who isn't ready!