For those of you who have been doing this every year of your kid's lives... how do you make each year special and memoriable?
Our homeschool support group hosts a take back the city bbq to kick off the school year. On the day that all the public school kids go back to school we have a big picnic/bbq at a park to proclaim u staking back the city and not having to deal with big crowds etc like we have to during the school year. I have always worked while schooling them so coulding go in the past, this year we want badly to go so hopefully the weather is nice.
I was just looking at the place where we put up special stuff (the school cabinet) and I think we need to make a back to school poster--- something about what we will be studying----
I allow them to pick out things to study as a group or on their own. We often take study breaks together and play board or video games. I try to make review concepts freash. For instance, my son is a huge football fan. So, I am going to make my own football math curriculum and game for him. It is fun to do and I hate football. We also do art projects. I just try to make everyday special in some way. Doesn't always happen...lol..but I do try to pick some new and exciting lessons to break the bordem of the same old same old.
The first week is always full of games, puzzles, even videos. We discuss what we'll be studying that year, what changes have been made to the way we do things, etc. But, it's mostly just fun stuff. I also make sure that the first topics we study in History and in Science are fun ones that she'll really enjoy (and that we can do a lot of projects or experiments with). That way, when we start real work, it's something fun that she'll want to do & not something boring that makes her whine about wanting to do what we did the first week instead. I also try to end the year with a fun topic in both Science & History. This year we started History with Middle Ages & will end it with Pirates. Science started with Weather & will end with Human Body. DD really loves studying the human body. She already knows more about it that people I know who took Anatomy class in High School. This way, we start the year off fun, and she still has something to look forward to at the end of the year. It tends to make the whole year go more smoothly.
Well this year we are joining Jennifererix for a Not Back to School Park Day! Tomorrow actually. Then we always go out of town for Labor Day weekend. My husband goes dove hunting and us girls do girly stuff with their two grandmas. We go out to lunch and shop and play games and talk about the fact that everyone else has already began school sitting locked up in a building all day. It's great fun!
dove hunting? people actually hunt pretty little doves? Now I could see hunting pidgeons they are yuck! What can you do with a dove ? do people actually find food on them?
Oh my husband is hunter! He hunts deer and dove mostly but has gone hog and turkey hunting. I love deer meat but can't stand dove! With a dove you only eat the breast. The way it is usually done is to wrap the breast (which is tiny) in bacon and stick a japaleno in the middle and hold it together with a toothpick and grill it. You can also smother it in gravy. I will try anything once so I have had dove but it is too dark and gamey for my taste. All my hubbys friends will be out there this weekend camping on our property and having a great time! I go out to skeet shoot in the afternoon. Samantha is going to try skeet shooting this year. She shot her first deer last year and is ready to go again!
wow, ya we love deer meat my dad used to hunt deer, never got an elk when I lived there but he did at some point so I may have eaten that too! My fav way to have deer was with gravy and rice! YUM! My step mum made it so good! ( she is canadian so we called her Mum, not Mom )
We are going to have a hat with slips for at large projects, (fun projects) and weekly pull out a slip with an idea on it and dive in. My dd likes the excitedment of pulling out a slip and starting a project she is anticipating.
We do a few things every year I put together a cone for the kids: http://fanzone50.com/Oberstein/schultueteHistory.html It's more to celebrate another year of freedom in educational choices than a first day of school. My children do studies year round, when it fits our schedule so we don't have a real official first day. We can, if we choose, attend any of a few Not Back to School celebrations in our city. I tend to stay away from celebrating things we don't do, so those are not frequented unless some friends specifically invite us. We often go to our provincial museum that day and catch whatever exhibition is on it's last leg. Last year it was Speed and this year it's Titanic. It's a great day to go due to low attendance (tourists have returned home and kids are in school!) and that reminds us again, just another benefit of having choice in education. I personally take a selfish moment to rejoice in returning to the lack of lineups everywhere and the use of near empty parks and swimming pools. Call me spoiled but I love space! Michelle
We do an all about me book each year and have fun looking back over the previous years. The one I use in the file library at www.hsiz.org you have to be a member but, it's free and just be sure to confirm when you get the confirmation email back to make sure you aren't a cyberbot. Otherwise...you don't have clearance, Clarence. lol Anyway....
