Traditions: Back-to-Homeschool
I feel like it was just a few weeks ago I was blogging about our last day of homeschool…but it was three months ago! On this post I shared a little bit about why we have first and last day of school traditions. Today, I’m talking more about what I’ve learned while creating new traditions and what we like to do for the back-to-school season.
Creating New Traditions
When it comes to homeschool traditions, here are a few things I’ve learned over the years:
Our nostalgia is not necessarily our children’s nostalgia. In most cases, we have a blank slate to create what is important for our family cultures. If you have special memories of back-to-school traditions, Halloween class parties, and decorating cookies on Valentine’s day - then create those new memories in your home with your children. They’ll grow up remembering these days with a new nostalgia and I guarantee you’ll enjoy sharing these special days with them.
Traditions are part of making a house a home. I’ve talked about this before but instead of being in a place where I am afraid my kids are “missing out” on things at school - I’ve come to realize how treasured creating new memories WITH my kids are. Traditions bond us, give family members a sense of self and belonging, connect us to the past, and can also set a tone for future generations.
Make traditions your own. I love the traditions we’ve started, but if baskets and breakfasts, shopping and school supplies, parties and performances aren’t your thing - that’s okay too. Some families don’t celebrate “first” or “last” days of school. Some make sure to plan their summer vacations around the week everyone else is headed back-to-school. It isn’t uncommon to see “not back-to-school” parties or moms packing up lunch to head to the park or museum now that crowds have dwindled. And some simply choose to focus the creation of their family traditions in other places.
Communicate with your kids. Talk to your kids about what they want to do. Have a family council and decide together what traditions you want to try out. We’ve tried a few that haven’t stuck and some that have. I think open communication is really important especially if this is your first year homeschooling and you’ve previously had a child in a school. It may be a good idea to help them navigate change by communicating what may be different with things they’ve previously looked forward to - like first/last day of school, class parties or performances. Even things like PE, art, recess, or their favorite classroom routines can cause a sense of loss to who they are because it’s what’s been familiar to them in a school environment. Likewise, this can also be a good opportunity to refresh and work to reset any negative emotions associated with school/learning. Be open and talk about establishing new rhythms and traditions together. One-on-one homeschool interviews can help with this.
Our Back-to-Homeschool Traditions
We’re walking into our 4th year of our “first day of homeschool.” It’s our 5th year homeschooling, but we started 1st grade in public school and pulled our twins a few months after. When they were in preschool, kindergarten, and 1st grade we did first/last day of school pics. Before homeschooling, one year we tried a back-to-school dinner and it didn’t go well - I think everyone was tired and whiny and I remember thinking I’m never going through all this effort again! (It is a little ironic if you’ve seen any of our back-to-school breakfasts now, ha!) Other years I always made sure to have cookies when they got home from school.
Now that we’re settled into homeschooling, I feel like I’ve gone from playing that support role to experiencing life with my kids. The first year I had mixed emotions that I wasn’t making them cookies on our first day so then I just realized I could plan it into our routine and we made ocean themed cookies because we were studying the ocean!
Anyway, here are a few of the things that have stuck for our traditions…
Back-to-Homeschool shopping lunch date. I do most of our shopping for the kids needs online and we just buy it when they need it but this time of year we make a special outing and at least get a new shirt or two and have lunch together. I’ve realized, this has unintentionally become a signal to the kids that routine and rhythm is about to change. It’s a day they always look forward to.
Father’s Blessings. The night before school starts, we invite the Spirit into our home with father’s blessings. My husband offers a special prayer, individually, for each or our children and then he finishes with one for me.
Back-to-Homeschool Breakfast & Baskets: On the morning of the first day of school we have a special breakfast. This year the kids requested crepes, but we’ve done different things over the years. I also do a baskets with new supplies and gifts for the kids. I keep all the normal school supplies readily available so it’s not very exciting for my kids - things like glue, markers, pencils, and crayons. So, we actually prefer to invest in something a little nicer for the kids. This year we’re doing new backpacks instead of baskets and filling it with a few unique supplies and materials they’ll need for the upcoming school year.
First Day Pictures. In our first go-around or so with homeschooling I skipped these because I wasn’t sure what to do since we weren’t in a traditional school. I totally regret it. I really wish I had pics from that time! I get the kids all dressed up and I like to have a sign with what grade the kids are going into. We do group pics and individual pics. This year I am going to make sure to also take pictures without the sign just for updated pictures for our walls and future family books.
Dive into all our school work. On our first day, we dive into all our curriculum. A lot of people like to ease into it which is probably easier, but we just go for it because we get excited for all our new things! I love to go all out and have all their curriculum set out, help the kids organize it onto their shelves, and set up some fun things for them to learn and explore! My kids love it and it’s easy to catch their enthusiasm. Our day is usually a little all over the place and our rhythm is always bumpy that first week - but eventually everything smooths out.
I can’t wait to share our 2023-2024 school year, but until then here are posts and pics from the last few years. If you’re looking for a printable or item in particular - you’ll find all the links on these pages!
Back to School Breakfast 2021 and we started with an All About Me Theme
Back to Homeschool 2022 and we started with Birds