What are your "First Day of School" Traditions for HSing?

[mamaupupup]

I've homeschooled my girls through preschool and we're looking forward to "Kindergarten" homeschooling after Labor Day.  (Which is kind of funny since we really are always learning...right?).  Anyhow, I want to create some wonderful traditions to kick off the year.  What traditions do you follow?  Or, what ideas do you have? 

[4evermom]

People around here commonly have a "Not Back to School" Picnic with other homeschoolers.

[SweetSilver]

We just go and go and go.  Something fun would be nice.  I might like to rent a big yellow school bus and give the littlest homeschoolers a ride and a big field trip so that they can stop wanting to go to school just so they can ride the bus and have recess!

[moominmamma]

Rather than doing a poor-cousin version of something that schoolchildren get in the back-to-school season but is not actually a meaningful/necessary/integral part of homeschooling (like a bus ride, or first-day-of-school photos, or a new backpack and outfit), we've focused on celebrating the things that make homeschooling unique. Like ... spending the day at the [now-empty] beach, going for ice cream, lazing around playing with friends, going on a family hike or bike ride. Celebrating the freedom of stepping outside the mold of school and schedules and such.

Though we really only did that a couple of years. My kids don't miss that "back-to-school" feeling, because they've never been to school. We ignore the hype and enjoy the way we can simply carry on doing what's fun and what works for us.

Miranda

[onlyzombiecat]

Originally Posted by mamaupupup 

I've homeschooled my girls through preschool and we're looking forward to "Kindergarten" homeschooling after Labor Day.  (Which is kind of funny since we really are always learning...right?).  Anyhow, I want to create some wonderful traditions to kick off the year.  What traditions do you follow?  Or, what ideas do you have? 

Dd will pick a theme for the new grade level and we decorate with that theme. Last year she chose a candy store.  She cut out pictures of candy and glued them on paper jars that we hung on the wall. We put up a sign that said "Learning is sweet!" We had a world map labeled with sweets around the world. Kind of like an expanded bulletin board that will stay around until she moves to the next level.

The year before it was acorns and leaves. We made a giant paper tree and dd put on birds and a squirrel.

[mamaupupup]

I love the "decorating your classroom" idea!  Wonderful!  I love the learning is sweet motto and the global connection (this is why hsing is so much fun!).  I've just started connecting with one of the local hs groups and hope we have a picnic!  I probably will do a staged picture since back to school is a milestone for me! 

I think I'm also going to create a "school" logo with the girls each year--a circle with four quadrants which each of us gets to design.  That might be fun too.

[Stacey B]

Though we aren't really changing what we're doing, ds is turning 5 this summer, we are going on a long camping trip in September to celebrate life in general, and empty camp grounds.

[moss]

we usually do a big messy science activity on the day that the schooled kids head back. one year it was super unbreakable bubbles, another year it was diet coke and mentos. .. we also like to take advantage of the empty parks and beaches while the warm weather lasts and ease back into our usual hs routine by the end of sept. ds is always working on projects etc thru the summer too so it's not like he ever really stops learning iykwim.

[mamaupupup]

LOVE the camping trip and the BIG, messy science!  Keep the ideas/traditions coming!  I'm learning so much from you all, thank you!

[oceanbaby]

We usually hit the beach or the normally very crowded science center.  One year we planned a trip to Disneyland for the first week of September - that was a super fun way to celebrate not being in school!

[MommaCrystal]

I'm a former school teacher so the first day of school means something to me, if not my children! LOL!  I am ALL about doing things you normally can't if you go to school

Our district starts school a few days before Labor Day.  On that day we drove by the school and waved to it as we headed to the beach for the day.  Loved it.

OUR family kicked off our school year (sort of, we kind of school all year) the day after labor day.  We began the day with traditional photos in front of the house.  Then we went out to breakfast - something you probably aren't going to do if you go to school.  Then we came home and had a ball with some messy science experiments.  We drew pictures of our family and mommy saved them for the family time capsule.  We ate lunch outside (something else you never really get to do at school).  And finally we hit the road and went a visited a nice and empty children's museum.  All with my mother in tow.  Great day!  I think we'll do it again this year!

[mamaupupup]

I love all these ideas!  Keep 'em coming!