Fun Homeschool Traditions
At the beginning and ending of each school year, there are always lots of cute posts in my social media feed that show school kids enjoying the fun school traditions. Homeschool families can enjoy fun traditions, too! Here are a few that my family does.
Back to School Ice Cream Outing
When we lived in Iowa, all of the public schools in our town had back to school ice cream socials at the end of summer to meet teachers and classmates before the first day of school. We quickly adopted this tradition for our family, making a family trip to a local ice cream shop. Yes, we already go out for ice cream as a family occasionally, but this gives us an excuse to mark the end of summer together and share what we’re looking forward to in the coming school year.
First Day of School Breakfast
On our official first day of school every fall, we have a fancy breakfast, usually bacon, pancakes (just a weekend treat at our house), and orange juice (also a very rare treat). I didn’t realize how much my kids looked forward to this until my girls asked me a couple years ago if I had gotten orange juice yet for our first day meal! While we do a lot of educational activities year-round, it’s nice to have an official, celebratory start to our school year.
First Day of School Posters
While it’s common for kids to have a photo shoot with first day of school posterboards, featuring name, age, and grade, my kids started adding illustrations of the subjects they’re most excited about learning about each year. Now that my oldest child is off at college, I’m so glad that I have this quick record of him (and his interests) over the years. We also always do it in front of our front door. We’ve lived in many different homes, so it’s fun to look back at the front doors and remember the year we studied prairies while living in Iowa or oceans when we lived in Malibu.
Cuddle Up and Read Day
Shamelessly stolen from another homeschool mom, we pick a day in the winter when everyone is lagging and lacking joy. I invite our friends over in their jammies, with some of their favorite books, to spend the day reading together (and playing reading games). We usually start with a fun breakfast together, then I’ll read a couple chapters aloud from a fun classic like Charlotte’s Web or Hitty: Her First Hundred Years. We often do a book related craft like bookmarks or decorating notebooks for book journals, then the kids do some free reading (snuggled together on the couches or in various nooks or crannies around our house), and older ones take turns reading picture books to the younger ones. We usually play Bring Your Own Book, our favorite party game, and sometimes will do picture book title charades, as well. We have tea or hot cocoa throughout the day, share a simple lunch, and usually break by mid-afternoon. My girls loved doing this as preschoolers when our friends hosted, and they love it just as much now that they’re teenagers. Not only is it fun break in the midst of a long winter, but we’re cultivating a love of reading and sharing books with each other.
Last Day of School Pictures
I save the first day of school posters each year, and on our official last day, the kids scrawl, “DONE!” across them and have another photo shoot in front of our front door. It’s always hilarious to see how much the kids have grown since the previous August, and it’s a fun way to mark officially that our school year has come to an end.
