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“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” – Anthony J. D’angelo (quote found here)
“…a passion for learning,” as D’angelo put it. How do we develop that in the hearts and minds of our children? As we see all the “back to school” memorabilia in so many of the stores and hear it in many conversations around us, it can be easy to feel excited, overwhelmed, anxious, and even just ready to get started. Many teachers in private and public schools have been trying to think of fun and exciting ways to make the first day of school special for each of their students. After all, in some ways, they are setting the tone for their school year.
With that said, just because we are homeschoolers does not mean that our first day back to school can not be special as well. In fact, it can be just as special and just as exciting. In this post, we will discuss various homeschooling back to school ideas that you can incorporate into the first day of school for you and your kids in hopes of developing in them the “passion for learning” that D’angelo discusses.
Without further adieu, here are 10 fun and simple homeschooling back to school ideas!
1. Embrace finding fun and creative school supplies for the year
Each year, my mom took us shopping or asked us what we wanted for school supplies. She allowed us to be creative with our binder/notebook choices, pick out special pens and/or pencils, and even pick out some inexpensive things for the walls in front of us including mini white boards and notecards. Though it was a small and necessary part of the school year, having these simple new supplies was so exciting for me, as a kid.
As a small side note here, buying special supplies does not mean buying unnecessary supplies. For more information on which homeschooling supplies you will actually need and use, check out my post here: “Homeschooling Materials You will ACTUALLY Use.”
2. Make a special breakfast or supper to commemorate the first day back to school
This idea may be as simple as buying the more sugary cereal that you may not buy throughout the year, or maybe you would like to go all out and have your kids help you make homemade pancakes and biscuits with eggs, sausage, and bacon. Whatever you choose to do, having a special breakfast can help make the first day of your homeschooling more exciting.
3. Find some fun and easy ways to decorate your homeschooling space
There are so many options for this idea. Maybe you would like to make a special banner out of construction paper with your kids, or you could even buy a bunch of balloons and streamers to decorate your school area. Additionally, you could even do something like this family did in the photo below (found on Keep Toddlers Busy) with the pictures of each of the kids above a chalkboard that could be used to track each of their projects, assignments, and homework notes for the days and weeks ahead.
4. Make cookies or some other sweet treat
It would not have to be cookies, maybe it is just some kind of “back to school” themed sweet treat or snack. I think just making something special in particular for this first day of school sends a sweet message to kids as they begin a new grade.
If you want to get super fancy, check out these adorable cookies that Casey made over on her blog here:
5. Take an annual picture of each of your kids
Times change, years pass on by, and kids grow up. Taking an annual “back to school” picture can be such a fun and special way to celebrate homeschooling not to mention how neat it is to have pictures of your kids from each year on the first day of school. These pictures become keepsakes that you can display in your schoolroom or even show your grandkids later on!
6. Give each of them an inexpensive yet thoughtful gift to unwrap
This option is a little more expensive than the others, but it may be special to give each of your kids a more thoughtful gift that they can unwrap each year. Maybe, you could put together a little mini calendar with pictures from the highlights of your summer together that they can put up on the wall in front of their desk. On the other hand, you could give them a really special pen that they can use on their assignments for the school year. Additionally, you could even have a framed picture of a special memory you have made together that they can keep near their desk.
These gifts do not need to be expensive, only sentimental or thoughtful.
7. Create a theme for the year to ponder and focus on
Maybe you really want to focus on character building this year, or growth, or kindness. It may be neat to start a yearly “back to school” tradition that involves picking a theme for the school year that you can refer back to throughout the semesters. In addition to choosing the theme, you could even decorate your school room using this theme!
8. Take time to document various details about your children (favorite color, dream career, favorite movie, etc.)
This idea is adorable, in my opinion. How many times do your kids change their minds about what they consider to be their dream job? Or have your kids ever said Clifford the big red dog is their hero? Having your children fill out a yearly “about me” page on the first day of school can be a precious way to document all the sweet little dreams and thoughts they have.
9. Create your own “vision board” with your kids
A vision board can include a lot of things, and it kind of goes along with choosing a theme for the year, as was previously mentioned. Things to put on a vision board might include bucket lists, dreams, goals for the year, books you or your kids would like to read together or separately, people your family would like to pray for, favorite Bible verses, or simply pictures that inspire you and your kids.
Feel free to really let your creativity shine on this point!
10. Put together your first morning basket of the year together
Whether you choose to do a morning basket that has seasonal themes or not, it would be so special to put together a morning basket together on the first day of school. I am planning to write a post giving ideas on “Fall Morning Basket Ideas,” specifically, but you can check out my post on “Morning Basket Theme Ideas,” for more thoughts, as well.
Honestly, even if you just choose a chapter book to read together or a passage of the Bible to memorize as a family, choosing things like that on the first day of school can be both fun and educational.
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This post has discussed 10 different homeschooling back to school ideas for you and your family. I sincerely hope that these ideas have inspired you and that you and your family are excited about school starting back and the year ahead of us!
Do you have any traditions for your first day of homeschooling?
Have you tried any of the ones I discussed here?
I would love to hear from you in the comments below!
