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Celebrating the First Day of School
Starting off your new school year with something special is a wonderful way to motivate your children and generate excitement in your family. Whether you are a newbie or a seasoned homeschool veteran, the ideas below, contributed by our HomeschoolChristian.com message board participants, will start your homeschooling year on the right foot!
Take the bus to town to buy an ice cream cone. Go on an archaeological dig at our home and dig for pennies. Decorate "mailboxes" and send special messages to each person. Follow a map to find the secret location (the donut shop.) - Alice
Geocache! Stacy in TN
Do Amazing Race! You could either do this in the house or outside. Make each area a different continent, and in each one a different region. Hide clues in the rooms. They have to find the clue and do a task (eat a food from the region, say something in that language, etc.) Have someone race against him or do an event like walk on a taped line on the floor balancing a book, baskets in waste basket, blowing a bubble, etc. Whoever gets through the events first is the winner! Marla
100 Days of School: Get a jar and let him decorate it with glass pens (available at Michael's). Start the first day off with a bright shiny new penny. He needs to add a penny each day and keep track. SoCalPam
Create a passport to adventure. Using construction paper (or other materials), create a passport that will be used each time he begins studying a new country in geography. He will need to design "stamps" or logos to be used in each section. Research the design/layout of a passport on-line. Take his picture, of course! SoCalPam
Make Day 1 all about games -- have your son create a game board that will be used throughout the year as a way to quiz him on his school subjects. Each month (or week, depending on how you feel) you can create question/answer cards to be used with the game board. Let your son get creative with the design, penalties, rewards, etc. I have used a small child's block with coins glued on it as a "dice" when teaching the kids how to differentiate money. You can have moves of 1, 5, and 10 spaces using a penny, nickel and dime. SoCalPam
Go out for a big breakfast with all the trimmings. - AzKate
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