First Day of (Home)School Activities
Let’s make the first day of homeschool of the year special. Back to School articles abound right now so I thought I would join in with something fun. Plus check out my free First Day of Homeschool worksheets, which I talk about below!
We want our children to look forward to the first day of home school every year. There are a few ways to go about this. And so I will talk about some awesome ideas to make a joyfilled and memorable first homeschool day of the year.(not a Monday?!)
Ways to Make the First Day Special
Keep it Simple
The first way to ensure a great first day of homeschool is to keep it simple. There is no need to overwhelm the family by starting every single subject on the first day. In fact, why not stick to the fun subjects, or just every child’s favourite subject, for that first day? There is plenty of time in the first month to build up to a “full” homeschool day. We don’t want to be burned out after the first week.
Limiting the number of subjects is not the only way to keep the first day simple. Think of other scheduling that may be going on around this time. Are Mondays particularly difficult in your household? Then don’t start on a Monday! Do you have extra lessons and activities outside the home on certain days? Move your first day or these events so you don’t have extra outside time pressures on this first day of homeschool. Finally, there are a lot of great ways to make the first day of school special. But you don’t have to do all of them. The point of this article is to provide ideas, not an itinerary to be checked off!
A Special Meal or Snack
A first day of school feast sounds like a lot of fun. But also possibly a lot of work. A special first day of school snack may be more do-able. If possible, have the children be a part of preparing the meal or snack. Not only is this educational, but it makes the meal even more special and fun.
And even if you would rather just order pizza for everyone on the first day of homeschool, that can be special too. Have the kids make up some fun place-mats with just crayons and paper.
Otherwise, consider baking anything, or decorating premade cookies.
Special First Day Activities
The first day of homeschool needn’t be an ordinary homeschool day. Pull out some new books and school supplies and have a flip through the materials together. Instead of rushing to get started, spend some time talking about what looks exciting in the year ahead. Colour some pictures with the new school supplies. Make fun covers for the child’s binders and notebooks.
Looking to make the first day of homeschool memorable? Fill out these fun (FREE) worksheets at the beginning of the school year. These are a great special first day activity, especially for the younger grades. Then you can look back at the end of the year (or the beginning of the next school year) and see what has changed! Sheets are labelled Kindergarten through grade 12 in order to provide options suitable for any family.
https://thebyzantinelife.com/product/first-day-of-homeschool-worksheets/
Have a Photoshoot
Parents often take pictures of their children on the first day of the school year, usually in front of the school building. While this first day is not as dramatic a change for those of us who keep our kids at home, it can still be fun to take a photo to remember how the child looked at the beginning of each year.
There are no rules about how fancy this first day of school photo should be. You can go all out, with a new outfit and a fancy background. Or you can just take a photo around the kitchen table of everyone wearing whatever they happened to choose that day.
Either way, the photograph is something to look back on to remember the start of the new school year.
Bonus: Three First Day Mistakes to Avoid
Mistake to Avoid One
Don’t start every subject on the first day.
I covered this under keep it simple, but it is worth repeating! Again, we don’t want to be burned out by the end of the first day!
Mistake to Avoid Two
Don’t let “all hell break lose.”
Set the standards for homeschool time. While you may want to allow sleeping in just on the first day, allowing too many of these exceptions can make holding them difficult later. Consider what time do you want to start the homeschool day. Also, how do you want to gather the family begin homeschool time? Will you call everyone together? Will you play music or have a certain song play, and every child is responsible for gathering before the song finishes? And how will you start homeschool time? With a prayer? A subject everyone does together?
Make sure you go over any expectations with the children from the start. Every minute spend preparing them for the homeschool days now will save you time implementing these expectations later.
Mistake to Avoid Number Three
Don’t forget who you are homeschooling.
It is easy to get lost in the pressures surrounding homeschooling. You have disappointed grandparents, wary neighbours, and perhaps pressure from the government or school board regulations, depending on where you homeschool. It is easy to just work on checking off boxes, and pushing children to meet state expectations. But we need to remember it isn’t about how much our children learn today, this week, or even this year. We are nurturing our children’s souls. Our relationship with our child is more important than any math worksheet or science paper.
So when our child is not responding well to what we are doing (on the first day or any day), let’s not pressure our children to just get the work done. Instead, let’s focus on our relationship with our child. Is our child hungry, or tired? Perhaps feeling a little lonely or bored? If we can address these concerns first, we can build our relationship with our child, rather than break it over a few math problems.
The Byzantine Life
Thank you for checking out this week’s article. For more about homeschooling, be sure to check out our other articles, and many free homeschooling printables.
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