Back to School: First day traditions

Do you have first day of school traditions?  Some years I have been way better about this than others. Last year was discombobulated because Sam was on a roof with Jim when the other two kids started school, then we took a 2 week trip to NV in the middle of September, and started in again when we got home.  This year may be similar since we are currently on vacation and may not have all four kids  there to start on the same day when we get back, depending on Jim’s work.

But at least for many years, I would take first day of school pictures, measure the kids’ height to see how much they’d grown in a year, make a special breakfast, etc.  It didn’t always mean our first day got off to a good start, but at least I tried! 😉

Somehow I inserted a page break here and can’t figure out (on the iPad) how to get rid of it.  Oops.  Anyway, back to the topic at hand...

I enjoy browsing Pinterest for ideas, but I try not to put much pressure on myself to make the first day of school super fancy.  I know that can just lead to stress and even disappointment when my kiddos don’t get all excited about my efforts.  But I enjoy seeing what other moms have done, and maybe incorporating an idea or two as I have time and resources.

One blog I love is Monica Wilkinson (formerly The Homespun Heart), who is amazingly gifted at making ordinary moments special and beautiful.  Check out her first day of school ideas here: http://www.monicalwilkinson.com/2019/08/back-to-school-and-diy.html
And here are a couple of my own back to school posts, from back in 2013 and 2015.
https://samsmommy.blogspot.com/2013/09/first-day-of-school.html
https://samsmommy.blogspot.com/2015/09/first-day-of-school.html

Last year we completely missed doing the growth chart, so it will be fun to see how much they’ve grown in the past TWO years, this time.  Sam in particular has had quite the growth spurt, and I have the feeling Josiah is going to shoot up pretty soon also.  He’s been eating so much lately! 😲

{growth chart pic from two years ago}

Another idea I love, but haven’t implemented yet, is giving the kids some fun little gifts or new books to mark the start of the school year.  One of my friends on Instagram gave her boys each a tiny Etch-a-Sketch this year, which I thought was so fun.  Some people get their kids each a new mug for poetry teatime, or a new set of colored pencils or pens, etc.  Some think of creative gifts to go along with their kids’ passions or interests.  There are tons of great ideas out there, maybe too many because it’s not really practical to use all of the ones that catch my eye. 😉

Once we actually start back to school (hopefully next week we will be easing into a “soft start”), I will try to update with some pics of whatever we did to mark the day.  I would love to hear from my readers with your first day of school ideas, too...if you do anything special.  Or just how your first day of school (homeschool or otherwise) went!