So many families find themselves trying to keep learning going on at home right now. There is no shortage of advice about how to do that. A friend mentioned the other day another challenge she has: incorporating the daily prayers and bible reading into this new normal. Before commenting I will remind you that our life has been in flux more often than not so this is not a perfect science. Also worth noting is that I am relaxed to a fault and never have been one to abide by strict clock-dependent schedules. More often than not however, my days have a flow that includes those things, so I can at least tell you how that happens for whatever that may be worth. It may spark ideas that can be adapted to work in another home.
Years ago we had a book for Catholic converts which touched on common prayers and practices. It mentioned introducing one such prayer or practice at a time and trying to be faithful to it for a stretch of time before adding new ones to the mix. Normally that would be ideal counsel, although with children suddenly home and missing the prayer routine they may have had at school, there is a good argument to be made that including whatever has been taken from them would be a stabilizing thing to do.
Typically, I begin my day with several bookmarks in the Mother Love book. Several of us have private prayers we say alone while it is still quiet. I have a deep devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows and the prayers in my confraternity book for various members of the family and various needs speak to me. Others do bible study or read from something like a Fr Lasance title for boys or girls. It's different for each and some do nothing, quite honestly.
Then comes the whole waking up and feeding of big kids in the throes of adolescence. The challenge here is to retain some of that peace and resolve which descended with the personal morning prayers. No lie. This is a challenge, especially while encouraging them to get up, get up, and, for real, get up now. Eat, do dishes, start laundry.
When we go to the school room to start lessons we use our large prayer card and say the morning offering. Technically morning has already started but we are now awake and starting the work part of the day and more importantly, we are together. The prayer card we use has the morning offering, the acts of faith/hope/charity, and the angel of God prayer. After we finish we read from a saint of the day book. All that takes just a few minutes. I will often read a bit from a read aloud novel and a spiritual book right about then too. Then we knock out seat work such as math and language and other text work.
At noon we say the Angelus (or during Eastertide Regina Coeli) and break for lunch.
After lunch we settle back in to finish any work and then we begin our workouts, usually separately. I will sit in on the girls' dance practice afterwards. If I write that day or do a major project it's usually in the afternoon. Then come afternoon chores and thinking about dinner prep.
After dinner, while most of us are together, we say the rosary and St Michael prayer.
Always.
Then we say the end of day prayers: the Fatima prayers, Visita Quaesumus, Act of Contrition, Angel of God.
Usually we will break up into smaller groups to play games or watch movies or whatever TV shows we are following. Sometimes one or more of us will just go to bed to read or crash early.
A few random thoughts would be first, none of this takes a very long time. These are more like little breaks to reconnect and anchor our days. Sometimes I will listen to the rosary or the Bible online while I soak in the tub or fold laundry etc since I try to get in more decades each day than we say together. Most importantly I will also mention here that we do not consider ourselves to be better people because of this routine, rather the inverse is true. We try to hold to a routine because we are frail creatures and know all too well how much we need this and how badly we mess up when this framework is not in place.
In short, we are not superior because we pray; we pray because we desperately need the grace prayer gives.
Some resources to support:
Many of us have created bulletin boards or a command center of some sort to collect the calendar, saint book, etc needed for our routine. I like to keep a printable calendar or coloring pages (you don't even need to color them) displayed nearby like this
It helps to have a little basket set up for rosaries and bibles/missals/prayer books. Pinterest has some ideas for manipulatives for little people.
Years ago I was inspired by Andrea's discussion about religious communities and their daily routines. She compares the schedules for three different monastic orders, a teaching order, and a suggested "rule" for homeschooling moms. My own schedule look very like hers except dinner and rosary times are flipped. The chart is super helpful in ordering our days and while it is still available online I hope you'll click through to it here.
There are various apps online that can be used for daily devotions. Butler's Lives of the Saints
Catholic Devotions Rosary is one I am used to but there are many on YouTube
Since this is supposed to be a very natural part of the day, I don't go too crazy with bells and whistles. The more complicated it gets, the less likely you are to stick to it.
