End of Homeschool Year Traditions
Whether you follow the public school calendar in your area or whether you homeschool year round, you may be approaching the end of your homeschool year. And with that…it's time to CELEBRATE! Homeschooling brings up so many emotions in me. It truly brings me so much joy to watch my children grow not only physically, but emotionally, spiritually, and academically. Being a homeschool mama is a special job and I feel it is important to celebrate not only what you accomplished as a homeschool teacher, but what your kids have accomplished over the school year.
I always try to do something simple but special for our last day of our homeschool year to help celebrate all of our hard work, all we’ve learned, diligence, perseverance, and send us into our summer break. Each year that passes brings such strong emotions, especially as my oldest children reach graduation years. However, I also don’t want to squander away these precious moments at home with my kids. So in this post, I share all I do from preparations and the night before to the morning of our last day of school. I hope this encourages you to make some end of school year traditions with your family. You won’t regret it.
PREPARATIONS IN THE WEEKS AHEAD
One of my favorite things to do is to make a yearbook every year. I use photos from my phone and chatbooks. I keep it simple by just including pictures from the school year like the first day of school, poetry tea times, field trips, science experiments, outings, school projects, etc. One thing to keep in mind is the yearbook can take a few weeks to arrive, so plan accordingly.
The weekend before our last week, I will get my children summer gifts and summer themed party supplies for an end of the year celebration. The things I typically “gift” my kids for summer are generally things I would buy for the summer anyways, but it makes it more special when I package it as an end of the school year gift.
Summer Gift Ideas
pool toys like diving rings and pool noodles
prime electrolyte drinks (ice pop) not energy*
In addition to the gifts, I find special cards for each of my kids.. I typically get my cards at Trader’s Joes because they have a fun collection. Jake and I will both write heartfelt messages inside the cards to share how proud we are of them for completing another homeschool year.
THE NIGHT BEFORE
The night before our last day of school, I like to set up a simple table setting with a summer themed tablecloth, decorations, and plates along with completion certificates for each child’s grade level. I also set the cards and gifts on the table or in a basket for the kids. Also, I like to place out a few summer bundle worksheets, such as the summer bucket list, during breakfast for the kids to work on. Lastly, I’ll set out the yearbook so we can all look through it together during breakfast. Doing this the night before helps me feel prepared for the next morning.
MORNING CELEBRATIONS
I typically wake up before the kids to make a special pancake or waffle breakfast with a variety of toppings and syrup flavors to choose from. While everyone is enjoying their breakfast, the kids will fill out their summer bucket lists and read their cards. The kids are usually pretty excited to share what they put on their bucket list, so we’ll take some time to do that before looking through the yearbook together as a family. My kids really enjoy looking back through all the memories we made over the school year. After spending this time together, we typically have a lesson or two to finish out the school year and will complete those before the kids are officially done for the summer.
RELEVANT VIDEOS
If you want to see my preparation or a few DITL videos of our last day celebrations, check out the videos below.
I pray this post encourages you to make these special end of year memories with your children. Sharing in these special moments will truly bless your life and the lives of your children. As Dr. Suess once said, “Sometimes, you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” Turn those precious moments into memories, friends. Until next time.
