Beginning Your Homeschool Year With Excitement

I remember so clearly how excited I was for the first day of each new school year as I was growing up. It was like having a birthday - it clearly marked the beginning of a new level, a new age, a fresh start.  Here are five ways to create an exciting and positive start for your homeschool.

1) Teasers

Nothing gets my children begging for school to begin as quickly as opening the boxes of next year's books.  Getting to see, touch and hear what they will be learning about actually makes them drool.  Talking about the new things they will get to learn in now that they are older (cursive! an instrument! touch-typing!) is a great validation of their continuing progress in learning.

2) Sprucing Up

We always take time before our new year begins to put away all the items we used last year (giving us time to discuss all the things we loved about learning during that time) and clean a bit.  The shelves get wiped down and reorganized, leaving clean and empty areas just begging for the year to begin.  We clean up our learning spaces and sometimes add a new place that would be fun to work.

3) New Supplies

Remember the brand-new box of crayons?  The fresh, unsharpened pencils?  Each year I provide the children with surprises at the beginning of our school year, including things like erasable pens, character pencils, rulers and counting charts.  Older children can be given protractor sets, staplers, binders and sketch books.

4) A Count Down

We do not run on a tight schedule.  We have started our schooling at a different time every year and tend to make our decisions about when to begin based on what is happening in our lives RIGHT NOW and plan around it.  However, we always manage to include a count down to the new school year, even if it is only a week.

5)  Create Traditions

Find a special way your family likes to celebrate the first week of school.  My children love having their pictures taken to mark the beginning of a new grade.  They spend time choosing a location, setting the stage and reviewing the photos to decide if we need to take another one.  Other ideas would include a special meal, a first-day field trip, or a surprise activity after lessons (like roller skating or going to a restaurant with Dad to tell him all about the day).

Whether you are preparing for your first year of learning at home or your tenth, the start of the new year is a wonderful time together.  What helps your family build excitement?

Preserving Memories

This is a photograph of the first time my son went bowling. 
My husband said he had never seen him have that much fun before!



If you haven’t already, please read my posts about “Making Good Memories” Part 1 & 2.  I discuss the importance of making good memories with your children, and some ways you can do that.

While you are making memories, think of ways you can preserve the memories.  Create items your children will treasure as they grow and when they become adults.  A few ways to do this are:

1. Keep photo boxes.  Fill them with photos of special family memories.  You can also create digital albums to store, especially in the advent of all the new technology.

2. Create keepsake boxes.  You can fill them with baby clothes, teeth, hair snippets, baby dedication forms, blankets, etc.

3. Video.  Whether you have a video camera or just use your phone, video is a great way to store memories.

4. Baby books.  A lot of the baby books now go all the way up to kindergarten.  You can record those memories for your child to read about later.

5. Journals.  Create a journal for each of your children where you write to them individually as they grow up.  Share your feelings with them about their birth and special events such as birthdays and Christmas.

As they get older, include them in the process.  Make a time capsule together and fill it with new treasures on their birthdays, or other special occasions.  They will enjoy looking back at baby teeth or something they drew in the first grade.  It is a great way as a homeschooling family to see some visual progress.

Making good memories is so important to your children.  I believe it will make them more secure people, confident in who they are, and secure in your love which will help them as adults fulfill their purpose in history, God’s great story.

Many blessings to you on your journey through parenthood,

In Him,

Beth