FloridaLisa Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 I wrote something this weekend about an end of school year tradition we have. I began thinking about all of the facebook pix I see posted of first day of school and the back to school shopping and various traditions I see for beginning a new school year. What does your family do to cap a school year? We didn't start out with any end of school year traditions, but over the years, we've done 2 things. First, we like to go to a restaurant or make a special dinner at home. During dinner I speak about each one of my kids (even college kids that are home) and affirm them for specific character and academic growth I saw over the year. My husband used to do this (we'd talk ahead of time and I would share some things I saw as well). He was completely uninvolved in our day to day schooling so it was neat for him to step in and speak words of encouragment and praise over the kids. You could see them sparkle from the affirmation. I still do this b/c it's a time for me to purposely reflect on their character growth and give true praise for it. The second thing we do is a questionnaire. This has actually been pretty insightful for me! One of the most helpful questions is "What would you most like me to understand about you?" That's a good question with a house of tweens and teens! The other questions are kind of a fun documentation or bookend to our school year. What does your family do to celebrate the end of school? :bigear: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loesje22000 Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Wrapping the new schoolbooks with 'school wrapping paper' ( in America it seems to be brown paper, but here we have fancy wrapping paper special for schoolbooks). Sending our letter to the government with the announcement that we will homeschool next year (again) with the long list of books we plan to use. It is one of the last acts of our schoolyear (that ends June 30). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted May 18, 2015 Author Share Posted May 18, 2015 Wrapping the new schoolbooks with 'school wrapping paper' ( in America it seems to be brown paper, but here we have fancy wrapping paper special for schoolbooks). Sending our letter to the government with the announcement that we will homeschool next year (again) with the long list of books we plan to use. It is one of the last acts of our schoolyear (that ends June 30). Love it! What a neat idea to wrap up the new books. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loesje22000 Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Love it! What a neat idea to wrap up the new books. In the Netherlands / Belgium it is something you do the week before you start the new schoolyear. But when my new books arrive, I have a lack of space on my shelves :) So the last month we reorganize the shelves, wrap the new books, and set everything ready for the next year. It is also a last check if I 'got' everthing :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 I'm thinking of doing a massive water balloon fight this year. :) 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 We go out to lunch to celebrate our last day of school. I also go through all the papers, notebooks, and workbooks that have accumulated during the year. I choose a representative sample to save and trash the rest. I love doing it each year, because it helps me to see the progress they've made over time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space station Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Announce, "Yay, now you are a nth grader! Here are your new books. Let's go get some pretty new notebooks to fill up!" :laugh: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cottonwood Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Special dinner, dessert out, movie night, commendation, congratulations, turn alarm clocks off. Lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 Announce, "Yay, now you are a nth grader! Here are your new books. Let's go get some pretty new notebooks to fill up!" :laugh: Lol, this is pretty much what we did for lots of years! Minus the going to get new notebooks. It was more like "Let's hit the pool/beach/dollar movies!" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 This year we ended with a week of field trips and fun excursions. The zoo, the river, the rodeo, Target for new flip flops! We usually go out for ice cream too. I love what FloridaLisa said about speaking purposefully of the character and academic growth you have seen over the year! I have done this in an informal way, but can see that it would be more powerful from Dh and me together with a somewhat more formal delivery. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldilocks Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Our local homeschool group has a project fair. Children display something that they worked on this school year. However, we do it at my home just for my family. The kids love displaying their notebooks, history projects, and special compositions and then talking about them with aunts, uncles, and grandparents. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 We go to DQ and get Blizzards for the girls. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 We buy each of our kids who have finished a school year (that's all 6 this year!) 3 or 4 books to start their own personal libraries. I try to find good quality editions, hardcover if possible, and most of them are from abebooks.com (used bookseller). I imagine that by the time they are grown and on their own, they will do most of their reading on their magical holograph phones; nevertheless.... There are books that everyone will get at some point - everyone gets "A Hole is to Dig" when they finish Kindergarden. They will all eventually get a set of Narnia, Hobbit/LoTR, Pride & Prejudice, Huckleberry Finn, 84 Charing Cross Road, Pilgrim's Progress, Winnie the Pooh, Complete Shakespeare, etc. Others I get depending on the child and their interests. We inscribe each book with a favorite quote from the book or by the author, or some related thing, plus congratulations from mom & dad on their accomplishment, and so forth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted May 20, 2015 Author Share Posted May 20, 2015 We buy each of our kids who have finished a school year (that's all 6 this year!) 3 or 4 books to start their own personal libraries. I try to find good quality editions, hardcover if possible, and most of them are from abebooks.com (used bookseller). I imagine that by the time they are grown and on their own, they will do most of their reading on their magical holograph phones; nevertheless.... There are books that everyone will get at some point - everyone gets "A Hole is to Dig" when they finish Kindergarden. They will all eventually get a set of Narnia, Hobbit/LoTR, Pride & Prejudice, Huckleberry Finn, 84 Charing Cross Road, Pilgrim's Progress, Winnie the Pooh, Complete Shakespeare, etc. Others I get depending on the child and their interests. We inscribe each book with a favorite quote from the book or by the author, or some related thing, plus congratulations from mom & dad on their accomplishment, and so forth. This is a great tradition! We started giving books on New Year's Eve but this is another really great time to give books. My olders have a beloved lit teacher (imagine book club meets the Socratic method) and he always picks out a book to give each student based on each one's taste in books. He so well read that we enjoy seeing his selections! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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