Honoring the last day of vacation/1st day of school

[owensmom]

Does anyone do anything special or specific to mark the last day of summer break and the first day of school?

I see my kid getting a little anxious about school (he'll be starting 1st grade). He is excited, wants to see friends, etc. I know him and know inside he is nervous about new teachers and stuff. He has been an emotional roller coaster - and the purchasing of supplies and all the strangers asking him if he is excited to go back to school haven't helped.

I feel like I should do something special on his last day, but then I think that if I ask him if we should do something it will turn into something too much for him - hard to make decisions at that age and will just be stressful.

I guess I'd like to do something with him to keep that day before school calm and the excitement/anxiety levels down, but also sort of honor this next little passage in his life.

This sounds super convoluted... LOL

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

Since our school starts mid-week, DH has always (well, since DS started K, this year he started 3) taken the first couple days of the week off as "daddy fun time" and they go out to do some super outing. This year they went to the waterpark for the day before, and Legoland on Monday (its local, we're members -- not as bad as it sounds). This has pros and cons. The cons are that they are probably not as well rested as is perfect for day 1 of school and there is a risk if sunburn. Pros are special time with dad and sort of "last days of summer" feel that is special. Only real requirement I have is that they have to be home by dinner time so that bedtime routine can be respected.

[owensmom]

That is cool, I was thinking about that, actually, but dh just took 2 weeks off and can't swing it.

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

Yeah, this actually started because we were scrambling for one of us to cover those days between end of camp and the beginning of school and that year he had the time off and I didn't.

[Callimom]

What about doing a special project to review summer fun memories (ie a scrapbook/collage etc) and then write down the fun that will come with school?

[owensmom]

Originally Posted by Karenwith4

What about doing a special project to review summer fun memories (ie a scrapbook/collage etc) and then write down the fun that will come with school?

Oh! That sounds like a great idea, he'd really like doing that too.

[mojumi]

We're working on a poster about one of the books we read over the summer, and talking about how he'll share it with his class. He's having fun, but honestly it is making *me* nervous! You know when you see your child start to envision something in his mind, and you start to see him getting 'fixed' on how something will be, and then if it doesn't turn out just that way they are devastated ... or is that only my boy. We kept a list of all the books we read over the summer and ds re-read a couple this week -- this time on his own aloud to us. Nice for us and for him to see how far he's come with his reading, and I hope reinforces some confidence before school starts.

But anyway, the weekend before classes start we're going to visit the grandparents and go to a splash park.

[LiamnEmma]

I let them do whatever they wanted to on Sunday, and they wanted to play video games--when you consider that the "newest" game system we have is Nintendo 64, well... LOL But that's what they wanted. And then they wanted pizza for linner (that's what we call a meal that's not quite at lunch or dinner time), so we did that too. Since they are only able to watch minimal tv and almost never play video games during the school year, it seemed like a reasonable enough request to grant. We also went over to the school and checked out the classroom numbers--they've been modernizing the school and it's completely topsy-turvy--then located them on the campus for easy finding in the morning.

[karne]

While I'd love to really celebrate the last day before school, my kids need to be very low-key! We'll do ice cream, maybe mini-golf, but we need an early bedtime and the return of our school year structure. My oldest is really looking forward to seeing her friends, but my youngest is a worrier, so routine helps.

[owensmom]

We are going to his school today to fill out a couple of forms, I think that will help. It is weird, they are starting on wednesday, so he has tuesday off still after a 3 day weekend with everyone.

I'm thinking that maybe I'll see if Grandma will watch dd (3) and I can take him out for a couple of hours and hang out, get some bubble tea or ice cream or something.


I was thinking, mojumi, about that very thing... my kid is a perfectionist, and I started kind of planning a scrapbooky project and envisioning him getting upset because he can't remember every little thing he did this summer...

[sarahmae1]

Since my oldest started K, I make him a special treat and have it waiting for him when he gets home on the first day of school. Just something simple like his favorite cookies or whatever... this year I made a cake in the shape of a pencil.

We also try to celebrate the "last day of summer" in some way. This year the day before school started we spent all day out at the lake... swimming, boating, tubing, playing on the beach, had a picnic lunch, etc. He LOVED it and has talked about it non-stop since. He's asking if we can do the same thing on the last day of school this year.

[Ellien C]

I took the day off work and we had a special mother-daughter day. She wanted to stay home for breakfast so I made French Toast. And then we went to the Science Center which is her favorite thing.

Our school started on a Monday so we did the outing on Friday. And then DH and I both took time on the first day of school to walk her there and walk her back home. It was nice and unusual to have us both for pick-up and drop-off.

[crl]

We don't really do anything special, except that I always take his picture in the morning. So someday, I'll have pictures from all of his first days of school. And I dress him in a red shirt, 'cause red is good luck!

[bnhmama]

I had a "whatever ds wants day" two days before school started. I didn't want to do it the day before because I knew he'd pick some less than stellar junk food options and didn't want him crashing at school.

As it was, he initially chose going to a local museum but it ended up being close. (Why would a museum have the closed day be tuesday?) So he chose Cold stone Ice cream and chuck E. Cheese. He had far less junk than I was afraid of (Not that I wouldn't have limited it, but I didn't really have to.) Basically just pizza, ice cream and pop. Not great but I'm glad he forgot about the candy factory! I bought soooo many tokens for games and he thought he was in heaven! We had so much fun.