4 Ways to Commemorate and Celebrate the First Day of Homeschool

It’s that time of year again. The library reading programs are coming to an end. Your children’s summer sports tournaments are going on. And the stores have stocked up piles of back to school sales.

You have probably spent months researching, purchasing curriculum, and preparing for the upcoming school year.

But do you have a plan to make the first day of school memorable for your kids this year? If not, maybe you'd like to try one of these four ways to commemorate and celebrate the first day of your homeschool year. It doesn't take elaborate preparation to make the day special. It merely takes a little thought. 

1. Back to School Tea Time

During the regular school year, my children and I organize a weekly poetry tea time. However, when it's a holiday or time for a big event, such as the first day of school, I like to take control and put together an extra-special tea time. For a back to school tea time try these ideas:

• reading only school-themed poetry
• making your children all of their favorite breakfast foods
• creating a selfie wall for extra-special first day of school pictures

2. First Day of School Arts and Crafts

Throughout the elementary years on the first day of school, I have my children create a special art piece to commemorate the year. Each year, I choose a different theme:

• Kickin’ it Kindergarten Style For this year, I wrote the theme name and traced the soles of my children’s shoes onto construction paper. Then, I let them decorate their shoe cutouts with art supplies we had on hand.
• First Day of First Grade The first day of first grade is a great time to reflect back on all your child’s firsts up to this point. We made a collage of pictures of everything from their very first day of life to the first tooth they lost.
• Swimming Into Second Grade For second grade, we kicked off the year with a deep sea theme and created a school of fish masterpiece.

Then, once I get my children all set up with their projects, I like to start the first Read-Aloud of the year so we can get right to learning. As an added bonus, these projects can be added to their memory boxes or school portfolios for that grade.

3. Box Day

Celebrate the new school year with a Box Day party. Before our year starts, I discuss our homeschool plans and what they will be learning in their curriculum.

But I make my children wait until the very first day of school to see all of their new materials in person. This is the big Box Day unveiling! Because I purchase three BookShark All-Subject Packages, creating a fantastic box day is super easy. Each child’s materials come in one big box! 

There is some prep work to do before starting off the year, such as assembling your Instructor’s Guides and making sure all of your materials were included in the shipment. Because of this, I have my own teacher-mom Box Day as soon as the packages arrive. Then after familiarizing myself with everything, I put the materials back in the original BookShark boxes and either retape them or tie them shut with colorful yarn or ribbon. In addition, I sneak in a fun new school supplies like stickers, colored pencils, glitter pens, washi tape, and notebooks.

The kids love the fun of opening their huge boxes of curriculum, discovering all the books they will read, and arranging them onto their bookshelves. And what better way to present their curriculum than as a tremendous gift to open and enjoy?

4. Take Time for a Snapshot

Your kiddos will grow up in the blink of an eye. Why not commemorate the first day of school with a snapshot? Take photos during poetry tea time, craft time, and Box Day celebration. Here are fun things to do with those pictures:

• Print them and send to grandparents.
• Create a postcard and send to friends and family. 
• Add copies to your homeschool portfolio.
• Create a special school memory book
• Tuck one inside their baby book. (Remember that book?)

No matter how you decide to kick off the new school year, I hope your first day back to homeschooling is a blast.

About the Author

Roxanne Raiche is a book hoarding, coffee loving, homeschooling mama of three in Iron Mountain, Michigan. She is the voice behind Blushing Bibliophile.