Circle Time: Plan the Best Part of Your Day! ~ Review

I was recently given the opportunity to review  Circle Time: Plan the Best Part of Your Day by Kendra Fletcher from Preschoolers and Peace. 

Having 3 children with such a wide range of ages, I am a little skeptical about accomplishing "Circle Time" in our home.  When I think about "Circle Time" I immediately think about preschool or Kindergarten...definitely not High School.   I have toyed with the idea of incorporating a "Circle Time" into the day with my 8 year old and 3 year old but just haven't been able to piece it together without it taking time away from our regular daily schedule.
I began to read Circle Time: Plan the Best Part of Your Day ($4.99 PDF E-book) and discovered a few things about "Circle Time" and I think this idea can work for us after all.   

• Circle Time isn't just about Preschool or Kindergarten subjects like Calendar Time or Silly Songs. In the book there is a list of the subjects that can be easily incorporated into your Circle Time. Our main "subjects" are Prayer, Worship Songs, Scripture reading & Copywork.  These are subjects that ALL of my kids are doing anyway, so why not do them together.
• It doesn't have to be called "Circle Time"....duh!  If I told my 17 year old daughter that we are going to have Circle Time in the mornings....yeah, I am definitely gonna get some funny looks & a little grumbling from her.  So, we have our "Morning Meeting" time now after breakfast.
• Circle Time doesn't have to be done entirely in one sitting.  You can break it up through out the day. We have our "Morning Meeting" and then we our "Read-Aloud" time.  Our Morning Meeting time is for everyone and our Real-Aloud time is for the 8 year old and 3 year old, this is usually done just before nap time for the 3 year old.

The book is filled with helpful ideas to plan your "Circle Time" from planning pages to Questions from others that Kendra answers to "Words of Wisdom" from other Moms that do Circle Time.  There is even mention of a Pinterest Board with lots of great ideas....and who doesn't love Pinterest!!!
The printable planning pages will help you "layout" your ideas for the things that you want to accomplish during your Circle Time.
One of my favorite ideas in the book is the Prayer Box.  A box that is filled with photos/cards of those that we want to include in our daily prayers.  I love this idea....we have a prayer board in our family room that everyone can add a prayer request on an index card to.  It sometimes goes untouched.  So incorporating the Prayer box into our Morning Meeting is a great way to be faithful in our prayer time.
Like I said, I was skeptical about accomplishing Circle Time because of the age difference of our kids and my original thoughts about the concept being only for Preschool & Kindergarten. So the most helpful tip in the entire book...."Do you know that there is no "right" way to do Circle Time?  What Circle Time becomes in your home is what is right for you!"   With the age differences, the kids studies are different so this Morning Meeting time is about us REALLY being together and it doesn't have to (never will) look like anyone else's "Circle Time"!