Together Time
The heart of the homeschool day.
About thirty minutes each morning, with everyone in the room. Scripture memory, a hymn, a catechism question, a poem, a piece of fine art or a few minutes of Shakespeare.
What it is
Worship, then beauty.
Together Time opens every Living Heritage day. It's worship first — Scripture memory, a hymn, prayer, catechism & creed — and then a single “beauty subject” on a four-day loop: poetry, picture study, music appreciation, or Shakespeare. About thirty minutes total. Everyone in the room. Babies to high-schoolers.
What's in it
Eleven elements, woven through the week.
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Doxology
Singing a doxology and voicing praises to the Lord. "Lord, we praise you because you are..." The day starts here, praising God for who He is and what He has done.
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Creeds
A historic affirmation of what we believe, just as people have said through the ages. We learn and recite the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed. The children grow up knowing where the church has stood.
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Prayer
Praising God, confessing our sins, and laying our needs and the needs of others before Him. Praying the rich, Scripture-saturated prayers of saints of old — Early Church Fathers, Reformers, and Puritans. Communion with God through prayer anchors Together Time.
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Scripture memory
Hiding God's Word in our hearts, memorizing passages worth meditating on for a lifetime.
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Hymn study
Psalms and Hymns from the historic Reformed tradition, coordinated with the cycle's historical period. Premium plans include sheet music, audio vocal recordings, and piano accompaniments.
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Catechism
The 52-week Tune My Heart catechism, taken from the historic Reformed catechisms, memorized over the course of the year. Audio files included on the G3+ app so the children can review on their own.
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Poetry Recitation
Memorizing and reciting beautiful ideas that take root in the heart. Poetry — "the best words in the best order" — shapes our communication, our imagination, and our affections.
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Poetry Reading
The simple reading aloud of one poem per week from the semester's poet. The rhythms, sounds, styles, and verbal images of the world's best poets throughout history become familiar and inspirational friends.
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Picture study (art)
A few minutes once per week with one painting from the semester's artist. Look. Cover. Describe what you saw. A gallery of the world's most beautiful art forms in the mind. Picture study never includes depictions of Christ.
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Composer Study (music)
Once per week, one composer per semester from the world's greatest classical composers — Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Copland, etc. Listen to a 5 minute clip. Learn about the composer's life. Learn to love ordered, well-written music that shapes the affections.
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Shakespeare
Just a few minutes once per week through a single play per semester. Read aloud or listen along to the greatest playwright in history. Let the master of the English language become a household friend as the beauty of the words infuse your day.
Why it matters
Because worship is the heart of Christian education.
Imagine starting your day by singing the “Morning Prayer,” a doxology, with your children and then, in your time of family worship before bed, ending your day with the partner hymn, “Evening Prayer,” bookending your day in praise to the Lord. Imagine praying the rich, Scripture-saturated prayers of saints of old, like the Early Church Fathers, the Reformers, and the Puritans, and singing the same hymns they would’ve sung in their church services. Imagine taking the time in your homeschool day to stop amid the bustle, confess your sins to one another, and speak to the Lord in praise, confession, and intercession. This is the heart of Christian education.
Together Time is intended as a time of worship to anchor the homeschool day in God and His Word. It can also be used as a whole or in part for family worship. It is a time for all ages to come together in worship of God and in forming hearts to love beauty that reflects God. Worship before lessons puts everything else in its proper place.
If education is primarily a discipleship effort, we believe that Together Time should be the cornerstone of the school day. If we are not taking time to worship God and confess our sins and hide God’s Word in our hearts, what are we doing? These are the most important things that our children need to learn, and if we stop to think about it, training our children to be worshipers of God is the thing that most of us would want above all to teach our children before they leave our homes.
Our Together Time plans are arranged to reflect a gospel shape. As God speaks to us through His Word and we respond to him in worship, we “act out” the story of the gospel over and over.
We also want our children to be able to recognize and appreciate and love true beauty in the arts—those fitting expressions of creativity that reflect the order and creativity of God and form our hearts to love the right things in the right way.
How long it takes
About thirty minutes.
That's it. Worship plus one beauty subject. Some families do it at the kitchen table over a final cup of coffee; some do it in the living room with everyone on the couch. Babies wiggle. Toddlers color. The big children sit and listen. Everyone sets their heart on Christ to start the day.
After Together Time, the children disperse to their own age-group work — Group I to read-alouds and short narrations, Group II to independent reads and beginning writing, Group III to their full-credit independent courses. Mom (or Dad) circulates for math and listening to narrations.
What's included with each plan
Together Time plans ship with every cycle.
Whether you buy Basic, Premium, or Premium + Syllabird — Together Time plans are included in every cycle. The plans tell you what hymn this week, which catechism question, which picture study, which poem.
Premium adds: piano accompaniments, full sheet music for every hymn, professional audio recordings of every catechism question, audiobooks, the live Zoom parent book group with Becky discussing what the Bible says about education, a theological library for Mom and Dad, and more.
Together Time can also be purchased à la carte if you want to layer it onto a different curriculum without buying the full Living Heritage program. Coming summer 2026!
Begin together
Start tomorrow morning.
Pick a cycle, open the plan, and join the rhythm. Your whole family will be richer for it.