Homeschooling Traditions for the New School Year

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Every new year, there are expectations as to what will happen on that very first day of school. Many kids (and teachers) can't sleep the night before the first day of school. What about for homeschooling families? Perhaps the first day of a new homeschool year is not as stressful as the first day of a child attending a public or private school but it can still bring joy and fun.

The new school year always brought on the nerves for me. As a child, I was very shy. I still tend to be shy around new people or in new situations. Meeting new people or seeing classmates after an entire summer apart was often very scary for me. When I became a public school teacher, I still was nervous regarding the first day of school. I taught many freshman classes so these students were new to our school and the whole high school experience. How would they react to new systems and new teachers? Would I be able to reach them and help them learn to enjoy studying history?

Our New School Year Homeschooling Traditions

While our children do not have the same worries as I did as a child and we technically homeschool year-round, I do like to start each new year off with special recognition. We started a new tradition of taking a "first day of school" photograph with our three children. I create an individualized poster for each child to hold with their grade, school year, and image to color with the name of our homeschool to hold in the photo. These 8.5-by-11-inch posters are then used as the front cover of their current school year binder.

New Traditions for 2020-2021

This year we are instituting a new tradition for our first not-back-to-school dinner. We will be having dessert for dinner! What a fun way to make the day special ending with a special meal! We have only done dessert for dinner once so far and our kids loved it. We served ice cream, candy, cake, and cookies. I wonder what else we will serve this time.

We also picked up brand new binders for our two youngest so that I can better organize their papers from the various online resources we have access to in our homeschool. I am thinking of using new binders each year for our children will be a great way to create portfolios of their school work.