Tradition! Tradition!

Okay – if you aren’t singing Fiddler on the Roof, you need to start now. Anytime I hear the word “tradition”, I think of Fiddler. One of my all-time favorite musicals – to play or to watch. But that is getting off topic now, isn’t it? Since today’s Homeschooling 101 post is supposed to be about traditions and not musicals.

Do you like traditions? I often forget just how important traditions are to my children. I love them and I really enjoy them but sometimes I think “Too much work; we’ll just skip it this time.” And before I know it, I have a daughter asking when are going to do whatever it was I was thinking we’d skip.

No skipping traditions! So, I now work hard at keeping traditions, especially related to schooling. So, I just thought I’d share our traditions for the beginning of a school year.

1 – Shopping for a new outfit.

The girls don’t get many new clothes so that first-day-of-school outfit is all-important! We give them a choice of where they would like to shop at (within reason) and we go shopping! Each girls gets to choose an outfit – dress and shorts or leggings or shorts/pants and a top. We’ll get shoes if they are truly needed but since dance is about to start and shoes will have to be bought for that, we skip the shoes if we can.

2 – Eating out for lunch.

On the day we go shopping, we eat out at lunch. On a school day, this is unheard of so it is a special treat. The girls get to choose and we enjoy a leisurely lunch at a favorite spot.

3 – New school supplies.

We don’t go crazy with school supplies but we do buy some things new. Partly because we can get them inexpensively and partly because it is just nice to have new crayons and new colored pencils. This year, we also bought a whole bundle of click pencils and a box of sharpies. A couple of composition books, folders, and spirals rounded out the new supplies.

4 – Grade level signs.

We keep up with grade levels for the sake of knowing where to register them for certain activities, like Lads to Leaders, and because our church changes classes at the beginning of the new school year and they are organized by grade level. So, to keep the girls with their age-level peers at church, we do give them a grade-level. Each girl gets a blank page and designs her own sign that shows off her new grade level.

New outfits, grade level signs, and first day pictures

 

5 – First day pictures.

Once the sign is completed, we take a first day of school picture in the new outfit and holding the new sign. This is one I almost skipped once only to be reminded how important it all is. Those pictures represent a new start and moving forward to the girls so we honor that and take the pictures. We do hold those for sharing until everyone else starts school locally.

6 – Fun activities.

The first day or two or three is mostly just fun activities, rather than a full schedule and full curriculum. That is partly to ease into the returning routine and partly because there is no reason to jump in when there are fun things we can do. This year, we are taking advantage of the 2016 Summer Olympics and enjoying them as part of our schooling. We have done games and mazes in the past and sometimes, it is just a light load. Whatever it is, the first few days are easier and simpler.

7 – Cleaning out the boxes.

This is one I never considered a tradition but the girls do and therefore I make sure to include it. The girls go through their school boxes and remove the old papers that they never finished or are torn or are just no longer needed. They take out the old supplies and refurnish the box with the new. They evaluate what they need to keep (sometimes I wouldn’t keep it and the girls do and additional learning beyond what I plan is done – Miss L kept a creative writing fun pad that I found and is using it every day!) and toss what they no longer need or want. Sometimes we disagree but it is still all fun and work gets done that needs taken care of.

These are just a few of our traditions and we enjoy every single one of them. I would enjoy hearing about the traditions that your family keeps!

At Home.

 

This post is the fourth in a series for 5 Days of Homeschooling 101 and is part of the TOS Review Crew Blog Hop.
Monday – Curriculum
Tuesday – Planning
Wednesday – Home Management
Thursday – Traditions
Friday – Encouragement

Some of my blogging friends participating in this blog hop are:
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses
DaLynn @ Biblical Womanhood
Elyse @ Oiralinde: Eternal Song
Erin @ For Him and My Family
Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning
Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine
Jenn @ Treasuring Life’s Blessings

To read more please visit the Review Crew post or the link up to read more on planning and to get a whole bucket full of idea to help you plan. If the linky doesn’t show up below, please just head over to the Review Crew post to find the link up.

http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=271511