Happy New Year! This week we kicked off the 2019-2020 school year! Complete with our traditional celebration breakfast, surcies, and a day full of FUN! New school supplies, new structure and routine, but still plenty of opportunity to do all the fun things of Summer too! Since we homeschool there’s no rule saying we can’t have poolside lunches after lessons or a quick trip the the splash pad mid-morning. I’ve had a few questions and thought I’d share how our first day went.
Let me start by saying this, last hear we unofficially officially began our homeschool adventure. We navigated our way through all new territory in kindergarten and I put way too many expectations on our first day.
I planned all the fun things AND I planned all the lessons. By the end of the day I was on the phone with my mom saying I wasn’t going to make it. haha! Homeschool was way too hard! But it just turns out I put too much on our plate. This year I determined it was going to be different. I planned out our activities and left lots and lots of margin. We would do learning activities and balance them with fun snacks and piles of picture books. If we wanted to play outside longer we could and there wouldn’t be a guilty thought over it!
The night before I set the table with a colorful table cloth and made a simple ballon garland over our chalkboard. I picked up sprinkle donuts and added curling ribbons to a few outdoor play things (bubbles, chalk, and a frisbee)
When the children woke up they discovered the decorations and table full of sweets and surcies! After breakfast I brought out our new morning basket. (I’ll share more about our August morning basket later this week.) While the children played independently with morning basket activities I got myself ready, cleaned up breakfast and did morning of preparations for the day. After morning basket we went right outside to water plants and get in a little play before the day warmed up. I spent intentional time with each of my littles while we were outside. This helps when I need to work one on one with someone so the other two don’t feel need to demand attention. Their attention bucket is already full.
I did a (very short) math lesson and language arts lesson with my oldest and then we went right to read aloud time paired with a giant bowl of popcorn and m&ms.
I made a favorite summer lunch, “cold plates.” Lunch meat, fruit, veggie straws, and a veggie. And just like all Summer my little crew went straight to nap/room time after lunch. As soon as they woke up we baked a celebration cake! We had a wonderful day and what better way to rejoice than with chocolate cake and sprinkles? While the cake baked we went out side to run and play until my sweet husband came home! All 3 bounded into his arms cheerfully exclaiming the joys of the day! It was a day well spent- plenty enough learning and even more play. We’ll slowly get into our new rhythm but rest assured play will be a big part of our day!
We’re just getting started on our homeschool journey so I very lightly call what we do traditions. However, if every first day could go as well as this one did I’ll gladly make what we do a tradition from year to year.
What about you? How does your family celebrate a new school year?
Looking for something to make your first day extra special?
I created a simple little bundle of printables perfect for all families headed back to school this year whether your littles travel to school or stay home. Be sure to check it out here:
Carla Snipes
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