Every morning, at the start of our homeschool (9:00 am?), all school-aged children gather for morning exercises , possibly one of the most valuable parts of our routine. It serves many functions and in a very short amount of time. During morning exercises, we: * gather together and set the tone for our day's work * listen to, recite, and sing poetry * play games to review math concepts * move our bodies! This is how the routine goes. I used to start by ringing a bell but ... our bell broke. So, now I sing a song to gather the children to the rug. One child will light our homeschool candle and say a prayer to open the day. Then, each child stands up and recites a verse (the same one every day for at least a month), after which I read from A Child's Garden of Verses (a different poem every day). On Friday, the kids pick their favorite poem from the week to hear again. The middle part of morning exercises is more free-form. We will do