First Day of Homeschool (with Printables!)

Ironically, one of the things I love most about homeschooling is one of the things that makes the end of summer, and the beginning of the new school year somewhat drab and anticlimactic. I love the flexibility that comes with homeschooling. Being able to take breaks when we decide to for vacations, holidays, or even sicknesses of because of other family obligations. No predetermined Spring Break, Fall Break, Winter Break and Summer Break. We can travel when it is less busy and more affordable. We can slow down for the Summer and ramp back up for Fall without having a distinct end to learning and shell shock when it all starts back up again.

But what about the first day of school celebrations? What about pictures in front of the house? What about shopping for new school supplies on the list the teacher made? Seriously. Picking out which folder and pencil case I liked best was the greatest. Honestly though, I can’t think of much more that made it so wonderful beyond that. And I’m pretty sure we can pull together some homeschool hacks to make “back to homeschool” even better!

For starters, even though we may not be leaving the house for school doesn’t mean we can’t get dazzled up and take some “first day of school” photos out front. Even as an adult, sometimes getting all dressed up for something all of the sudden makes it feel more special. I’ve put together some “First day of…” printables for you and your kids K-12 (blue for boys and pink for girls or use them however you choose). Throw them in a frame or just print them on card stock, and say “cheese” (or as we say around here “1-2-3 goober pea!”).

But what happens after the photo op? Find a way to make it memorable and exciting. Jumping straight into the books is not the way to do that, at least not in my house. My boys always need to get out and get moving first. I know for some it is the opposite and school work has to come first but again that’s why homeschool is great. We can make it work for our children and not try to fit them into some mold they may not be cut out for. Talk about salmon swimming upstream. I’ve heard of lots of fun traditions like going out for breakfast or ice cream on the first day. Or going out in your PJs (though that would wreak havoc on my first day photo lol). Whatever it is, make it work for your homeschool. Because we always aim to get outside first thing (and because this mama loves breakfast fare), we are going out for a special breakfast. But I’m thinking ahead and being intentional not to get too caught up in the “making a tradition” of things so that if our homeschool needs change as the years pass and we turn in to morning time school folk, all will not be lost.

So how can we recreate the energy of public schools getting all the kids together again? For us, we’ll be coordinating a “back to homeschool” park day with other homeschool families around that time to celebrate all together. If you aren’t already, this is a great time to get plugged in with other homeschool families in your community and plan a get-together.

And last but not least, I couldn’t in good conscience ignore school supply shopping. I’ve been gearing up for our school year since January and I’ll be putting together a list of supplies we can go pick out in the next couple weeks. One of my oldest son’s favorite things is to make lists and pick things out himself (wonder where he gets it). I don’t want my children too focused on the material things of course. But getting to pick out school supplies that are personal to them and that we will actually use will help me and excite them.

Pair all of this with the fact that we are doing unit studies on topics they simply can’t get enough of (starting with Dinosaurs – rawr!) and I think we have a recipe for an awesome start to the school year!

What do you do for back to school? Share your comments below!