Fun Ideas For The First Day of Homeschool

i love september. where i live it is cold at night this time of year and in the morning it is cool and crisp, just enough to where you slip into a fleece parka and need your slippers on your bare feet so they don't freeze on the floor.  no more air conditioning or fans at full blast. windows cracked in your house and the air is perfect.  the sun seems to give off a different kind of sparkle in september as well.  taking in this phase of nature can cleanse you of any negative energy or worry, even if it is just temporary, it is very therapeutic!

our first day of homeschool was yesterday.  it was magical.  the night before the first day of school (do you got that, lol) as i was tucking the girls into bed we were talking about our first day of school.  they kids were SO excited.  just really pumped about being in a new grade and excited about everything we were going to learn together this year.  as homeschoolers would know, homeschooling is just different than public school.  but i sensed that the kids excitement was the kind that they couldn't wait for the first day of school. like it was going to be different than any other day in my house.  we do some sort of learning everyday but to them, this first day was really going to mark some milestone in their life.  i tucked them in and went and laid down in my room where my husband was fast asleep and my son was waiting on me so i could cuddle him to sleep.

once he fell asleep i was laying there realizing that this first day of school maybe meant a little something different to the kids than it did me.  to me it was a time of getting back into the groove of some of our school routines. sitting as a group reading and discussing. making more trips to the library. learning daily again instead of casually the way it was over the summer.  for them it was more.  i was starting to worry that i was going to let them down.  i wanted to have a nice plan for our first day.  so aside from my lesson plans, i got up and planned out a few more fun activities to help make the first day of homeschool exciting.

Here are the special things we did:

1. I found an "All About Me" worksheet on-line and printed one for each child.
2. We measured everyone and marked how tall they were on the wall.
3. We traced their hand prints.
4. Took pictures of each of them.

These very simple, non-original ideas were exactly what my kids were seeking.  I felt this acknowledged and celebrated their excitement.  The "All About Me" worksheets were great too as we now have a keepsake along with their height, hand print and picture!

We had a fun first day and they are still so excited to spend time in our classroom!