LAmom Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Do you do anything special? Do you generally start the day with a morning board/circle time? Or just simply sit down and jump right in (to math, English, etc)? My 5yo is very excited to start doing some school....and I'm thinking, yeah, not after the first few days. :tongue_smilie: Let's just say overall last year was a failure. Bare minimum was done and it was a battle (for the older two). My ds 7 is so hyper and bouncing off walls in the morning; up at 6 am and ready to go (and not to sit at table for school). The rest of us are not morning people! Anyways, I know, a lot of random thoughts but just looking for some ideas. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 We're pretty new to this but we wanted ds's first day of "big Kindergarten" as he puts it, compare favorably to "school in the big building". He's been thinking he wants to go and I know he'd be fine - as in he's ready for K work, being away from home, that kind of thing. So we want to show him some advantages of K at home. Sunrise hike above our ranch to a viewpoint where we can see the whole valley and town not far away. We'll sit down and talk about what everyone else is going to do that day, and what we're not going to be doing that day. And why. Nothing to heavy, but just lay it all down in simple terms for him. Special breakfast (blueberry waffles and whipped cream?) Receive new books and supplies, go over they way our days should play out. Take a few "first day" pictures. Each of us will pick something they want to do between the hours of 10 and 2 (when the ps run on the first day). I'm thinking Dairy Queen, Skateboard park with bikes, playground, tubing on the river, drive to the nearby U-pick orchard, stuff like that. Then go home and play lol. Wednesday is soon enough to start regular work, but I"ll probably ease into it a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephanie Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I do a little gift every year for first day of school. We dont do all the school clothes shopping so I figured it was something for them to get excited about. We've done that for 9 yrs now and even my ds17 looks forward to it. This year ds17 got a bulk pack of his favorite gum and candy. (ok...Legos just dont excite him anymore and he loves gum). Ds13 got Star Wars men to put in his stop motion films, and dd 12 and 10 got tshirts that have a picture of One Direction on it (their fave band) They were so excited and thankful. Besides that, I think the best gift for all of us is me not stressing out and expecting too much the first week. We are working out kinks, getting into our routines, and making changes so at the end of the day I dont find myself disappointed. Hth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketgirl Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 This is just our 2nd "first day of school" homeschooling & we want it to be special too. Last year we took first day of school pictures at the park first thing that morning: my oldest by some pretty trees, my skater by the skate park, and my other 2 on the equipment. Then we went out to breakfast (we never do that - so it was a big deal). This year we'll do the same (we start tuesday). Then we'll come home and they'll each have their new schoolbooks on their tables to look at (they came in the mail weeks ago & as much as they were dying to see them, I said, not til the first day of school). I'll also have out their new school supplies and a few new desk items for them. We do go "back to school" shopping for new shoes & a few clothes. I don't buy a lot of clothes tho because the season changes in just another month here and we'll get cold weather clothes then. My kids all came out of public school so they still remember & appreciate that back to school shopping - although now I'm leaning more towards, new soccer shoes since soccer's starting, or a new karate shirt, etc. We'll also do a little school work that day, we'll read our science lesson, do our bible study for all ages & write in our journal. Best wishes for a great first day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 In elementary school the first day was like Christmas. All the new books/toys were placed on the couch with a banner above and a schultuete right in the middle. We spent the day organizing and trying things out, then eased into a schedule the next day. Now I have an 8th grader. First day meant getting down to business and incorporating him more into creating the schedule and blocks of work to finish each day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissKNG Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 This year, we went to a local water park for our first day! (gotta love that PE requirement!) Normally, each girl gets a new box of crayons on the first day. Nothing too crazy here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I did some fun new activities that I hope will become yearly traditions. (Like taking silly photos) I posted about the flow of our first day here and shared some pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staysee34 Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 (edited) This year our first day was a complete blast! The day started with a treasure hunt to find small backpacks filled with the basic supplies they would need this year. We followed up by starting our School Days Paper Chain in neon colors no less. After that they perused our curriculum, put their names inside the books, and we went over the routine for this year. I had intended on a field trip to a local nature spot but we were rained out. Instead, we spent the entire afternoon playing "Erie in a Box". It's exactly like Monopoly except the business and street names are local. Much to the girls' disappointment, I won! I must admit it was a close game! Edited September 1, 2012 by staysee34 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 We take pics but don't do anything else out of the ordinary. We jumped right in with the schedule I had in mind. (Oldest did independent work while I worked 1 on 1 from youngest to oldest - this has already changed:tongue_smilie:) One thing I read on here was to keep the first day/week light. Keep the lessons short and relatively easy so everyone leaves with a sense of accomplishment. I thought that was a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 We take pictures and they like to pick out which folder and which color notebooks they will use for each subject, then they decorate them with markers and stickers and such. We generally do try to jump in and get started on curriculum, though we take it a little easy. I make sure that we have a read aloud started that day. And we do outside play time and take more pictures having fun (this year it was playing in the sprinkler in the afternoon.) We also do a week or so of review in math before we jump into the new book just to get their heads back in the math game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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