Begin with Ritual
The place where order + wonder, reverence + gratitude reliably come together in our homeschool is in Morning Time. We began the practice when there were only preschoolers in our homeschool. And now 15+ years on, we still begin each school day like this.
At the beginning, when no one could read, we recited everything in a call and response fashion. I would read a line from a poem or prayer and the children would repeat it after me. Over time our selections have gotten longer and more complicated. But we still follow a simple, adaptable formula:
Prayer :: Hymn :: Scripture :: Poem
This structure can grow or contract based on the needs of your family. We change our selections seasonally through the year, usually changing the selections every 4-6 weeks. Now that we have all teens, we add in our history studies and Latin. Many families use the structure of Morning Time to do music or art history as well.
Here are two simple collections that we have used.