Homeschool Tidbits: Tips for a Great First Day (B2HS)

August 26, 2022

Welcome to Build Your Library’s Homeschool Tidbits: Episode 27 – Tips for a Great First Day!  In this weekly video series, I will delve briefly into a topic related to homeschooling and will share some of my knowledge and expertise as a long-time homeschooling mother of 4 children. Three of whom have graduated high school and one who is a new college graduate!

This is the third post in the Back To “Home” School blog series, now also included in our Homeschool Tidbits series. If you watch the video version of this article, I filmed a Day in the Life on our first day of 8th grade!

Is there anything more exciting than the first day of school? All those new books and shiny new school supplies…it’s pure joy. I don’t know about you, but after a long enjoyable summer, it’s still a huge relief to get back to our normal routines.

Many families have special traditions for the first day of school. My goal every year is to make this a special day, one they’ll look forward to at the end of summer. Here are a few ways you could choose to make your homeschool opening day great:

1. Make a special breakfast treat.

I know I can’t be the only one with kids who love junk food for breakfast. I usually try to keep meals healthy, but on the first day back to school we splurge. My children LOVE monkey bread. It’s been our go-to 1st-day breakfast for the past 15 years. Maybe you could make chocolate chip pancakes or French toast with syrup and whipped cream… or even better — go out for breakfast to your favorite diner or restaurant. 

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2. Take first day of school pictures.

Every year, I take a first-day photo of each of my children. Since we rarely get professional portraits done, these are special treasured photographs of my children as they grow up. I love looking back at older 1st-day pictures to see how they’ve matured. They each pick out a special “first day of school” outfit to wear and if the weather is nice, we go outdoors for our pictures.

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3. Start with something fun.

58838_4426125767142_329765418_nStart your year off with something they are already excited about. Is your child really into art? Begin with a fun art project. Do they love science? Start with a science experiment. A new read-aloud, a nature hike, an exciting field trip, whatever gets you and your children excited to jump back into learning mode.

One year, we started off with a Harry Potter theme. All of the spelling words were from the books (pensieve, lumos, wizard, etc.), we made wands, read aloud one of the books, wrote copywork and dictation from the books, did some chemistry experiments (potions class!), and sorted ourselves into Hogwarts houses. You could do the same by starting off the year with one of our Harry Potter unit studies!

4. Complete an “All About Me” survey.

This is a fun thing you can do every year just like pictures. It’s a great way to get a different type of snapshot of your child right now. It can be great fun to go back and see how they’ve changed over the years.

Download All_About_Me Survey

5. Go out to dinner.

If you didn’t already do it for breakfast, consider going out to dinner as a special treat. It can be a great time to reflect on our first day back, discuss goals for the year, and just kick back and enjoy time out as a family when no one has to be in charge of either cooking or clean up.

6. Go on a Field Trip.

What could be a better way to celebrate the start of a new year than taking a trip to the beach, a state park, or a local museum. Not only will you get to do something fun, but the crowds should be minimal because everyone else is back in school.  Pack a lunch and make it a picnic! For some reason my kids think simple PB&J sandwiches and juice boxes taste better when eaten on a blanket at the local park. 😉 In the midst of the craziness of the last couple of years, even having a picnic in our backyard is a fun treat.

It can be easy for us homeschool parents to get wrapped up in the curriculum, the schedule, and the dailiness of school. But by just working in a few simple things, we can add meaning to the day and make special memories in the process. And isn’t that what it’s all about?

I’d love to hear your first day of school traditions! What do you do to kickstart your school year?

Coming up next…

I hope you found this Tidbit helpful! Come back next week for more homeschooling inspiration!

Until then, happy reading!

Related Articles: Back to “Home” School Series (B2HS)

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Emily Cook is the author and creator of the secular homeschool curriculum Build Your Library, a literature-based K-12 program infused with the teachings of Charlotte Mason. She writes full-year lesson plans as well as shorter topical unit studies. Emily has been homeschooling her four children in Southern NH for 21 years. She is passionate about reading aloud to children of all ages and loves to share her love of literature with others. She and her family also make incredibly dorky videos about homeschooling, books, and more on Youtube at ARRRGH! Schooling. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. You can also check out her author page on Amazon.

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Have you been looking for a literature based homeschool curriculum that is secular? How about a way to incorporate narration, copywork, dictation and memory work into your child’s education? Or art study that ties into history?

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