When it’s time to wind down summer vacation and kick off the new school year, it can be fun to mark the occasion with a fun back-to-school tradition. Celebrating the start of school as something to look forward to will help build a sense of excitement around it, instead of bringing the sense of dread and disappointment many kids experience when summer comes to an end. If you are looking for a new back-to-school tradition to start in your home, here are several back-to-school traditions for homeschool families to consider:
Whip up an extra special breakfast or treat
There’s no better way to start the day than with a delicious, home-cooked breakfast. Kick it up a notch by scrapping your usual breakfast menu and cooking something extra-delightful on the first day of school. Cinnamon rolls, homemade donuts, chocolate chip pancakes or another sweet treat can make a day that kids sometimes dread start off a little brighter. Or make a special treat for later in the day; give them something to look forward to (or better yet, make them together), like back-to-school cupcakes.
Snap a photo
Since your little one isn’t heading off to hop on the school bus, the traditional backpack-over-the-shoulder shot might not make so much sense, but it’s still a good idea to commemorate the start of the new year with a portrait. Let your child get dressed in their favorite back-to-school outfit and have them strike a pose wherever they’d like!
Conduct a back-to-school interview
Come up with a set of questions to ask at the start of each school year and watch as your child’s answers change as they grow and mature. You can take an old-school approach and write everything down, or go high-tech and capture the interview on camera with your smartphone or another device. Need something in a jiffy? Click the link below for a FREE printable first day of school interview.
Kick things off with a field trip
One of the best things about homeschooling is the freedom to learn wherever you’d like! You can keep things close to home with a field trip to a nearby museum, farm or other local attraction, or plan a family vacation that doubles as a learning opportunity. As traditional schools resume, crowds die down in big cities, national parks, and other popular tourist destinations, making it the perfect time to visit.
Throw a back-to-homeschool BBQ
If you’re friends with a few other homeschooling families, plan a get-together to kick off the new year with a back-to-school BBQ! Although you may not all start classes on the same date, celebrate the spirit of the season and pick a weekend that works for everyone to fire up the grill and let the kids play.
Create a homeschool vision board
Setting goals at the start of the year is always a smart idea. Designing a vision board can be a fun way to let your homeschooler creatively capture their goals and ambitions on paper. Collect magazines over the course of the summer so your little ones have plenty of images to choose from for inspiration!
There are dozens of different ways you can commemorate the start of the new school year – these are only a few suggestions. Does your family have any back-to-homeschool traditions to look forward to? Leave a comment and let me know!
Hi Sarah! Thanks fir this great giveaway. Hope everyone has a blessed school year!
I appreciate the reminder to make the start of school fun.
Eye opening stuff. I learned a lot about homeschooling
Thanks for the chance to win and blessing others!!
Cute printable for the Interview! Thanks!!
Thanks for the chance to win!
Loved the first day of school ideas in this article! I already do a few of them, I will be adding in the special breakfast and first day of school field trip this year! I really want my kids to be excited about our homeschool adventure. Thank you for the tips!
love the idea of having a Homeschool Vision board!
I love all the ideas! We love to make a big deL of the first day. We make a yummy breakfast. Everyone gets dressed up nice with cute/handsome hair and we take a few pictures. The kids love it!
A back-to-school interview with one’s child sounds like a fantastic idea. It would get him to reflect and be a nice memento for mom as well.
havent seen anything yet
A back-to-school interview is a great idea! Thanks!!
We did the back to school interview last year as the pre-k, looking forward to doing another this year and see what changed 🙂 I didn’t do school pictures though so I’ll be sure to start that this year! Thank you 🙂
I like the Back to School interview idea.
Great ideas to help kick off another year of home education in fun and memorable ways. Thank you for encouraging reminder to celebrate a fresh year of learning!
I like the idea of special cupcakes for the first day of school!
Great ideas for back to school day!
You’ve inspired me to take a first day photo with my kids. Thanks!
great ideas for home schooling love the idea of home school vision board
I would love to win for my grandson
I like the idea of a back to school celebration bbq.
Thanks for all the freebies you post. It is nice to be able to do fun things within a budget!
Love you blog! And thank you for your time and effort for homeschool moms like me!
I love the idea of a bbq
I enjoyed the fun ideas for traditions!
Great ideas you are sharing here! What a sweet blessing 👍☝️☝️
I like that there many things to do for back to homeschool: I like the idea of the interview and also to start off with a field trip!
I like the idea that there are many things you can do for homeschool to make it special. I especially like the school interview idea and also going on a field trip to start off. 🙂
You have easy ideas to incorporate that aren’t overwhelming
I tried to get my kids interested in setting goals. Maybe a Vision Board would be a better place to start them.
Great ideas! My kids love making breakfast together on our first day of school.
This is my first year homeschooling, and I’M NERVOUS! LOL!! I’m sure we’ll be fine. Thank you for these great ideas though!
I came here for the Lego Math printables but found so much more great information!! Thank you!!!
I’m a fan of vision boards and think it’s a great idea for homeschoolers.
I’m a big fan of vision boards and love the idea of them for homeschoolers.
I enjoyed reading all the fun ideas!
Thanks for the lovely giveaway!
We love making a big breakfast together and spending the day together talking about some of the exciting things we think will happen in the new year
I like the vision board. I’m going to try this!
I learned about a great website where I can get teaching supplies for the young man I home teach! Thanks and God Bless!
I love the idea of kicking off the year with a field trip! We are definitely going to use that idea. 🙂
I would use the gift card for educational games!
I love the vision board ida!
Thank you for your cool and fresh ideas for possible to have fun the fist day of school.
These are some great ideas. I’m looking forward to Fall and school starting and routines. I think we will definitely be doing a field trip and we already have a back to school BBQ scheduled 💗
I Wish I didn’t have to have Facebook or Instagram to get entries into the contests.
Can’t wait to start back to school traditions! 🙂
This is my first year ever doing homeschool and I am so nervous and pray this doesn’t turn into a nightmare. I will be starting with the boys this coming Monday and as I look at all my material and supplies I see I’m already missing things. Was anyone else scared to start the journey of homeschooling with your kids or am I just over thinking all this?
Wow what a great give away!
I love these ideas! We get donuts in our pjs. 😜
I am working on a homeschool vision board too, and making our homeschool mission/vision a focal point of our school space 🙂 What a great giveaway!
I was not familiar with Timberdoodle — it looks like a great resource! My favorite thing about this post is how you recommend starting the school year with a vision board and goals. When we start a new course, I have started kind of going over what the point of the class is, the kind of things we’re going to learn, etc. I remember being in school and just drudging through every day, not knowing where all the tasks we did every day were leading. Giving our kids a clear-cut idea of why we should study biology, church history, algebra, etc… can be very motivating and give our work more of a feeling of purpose. Thank you for the idea of making this more tactile by making it VISUAL! That’s such a great idea, and I plan to implement it right away! Thank you for all you do.
I loved the suggestions. My girls only started homeschooling last year and were in grade 6. They had 6 years (including K) of school traditions and it was a tough transition. Trying to make new traditions and memories is important and your suggestions were great. Thank you for the ideas 🙂
Just started HS my 6th grader and made him take the traditional out front picture with his siblings today
Great Idea!! this is too amazing to read the blog I would suggest this to my daughter who will be glad reading this blog as she has just started homeschooling for her children. Keep writing such amazing blogs that will help every parent in homeschooling their children.
What a great back to school ideas! Thank you for sharing this!