We had our first day of school today! The plan for the first day every year is to make it a special time for the kids and do things that they normally couldn’t do if they weren’t homeschooled.  The first thing I did was wrap a new book up in wrapping paper and set it outside their door the night before.  When they woke up they were excited to see a gift outside their door.  Here is what the gifts looked like…

I love variety and not doing the same thing all of the time, so I haven’t really done this before for the first day but it was fun putting the gifts together.  A couple of hours later we went out with Grandma and Grandpa for brunch to continue to celebrate the first day.  After brunch we went out shopping for school supplies.  I like getting school supplies after school has started.  You can sometimes get better sales and you miss the majority of the crowds.  Some schools have already started around our area but some hadn’t so there were still some people doing last minute shopping.  We headed home after shopping for school supplies and spent the day reading our new books and creating with our new art supplies.

The last thing we did to celebrate the 1st day of school was school pictures.  I told the kids that it was time to give Mommy her First Day of School gift by taking pictures.  The younger kids were excited and the two older  boys groaned but were willing.  I bought a blank chalkboard and then wrote on the chalkboard “First Day of School” and “Grade”.  I also added the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  I would switch the grade and what they wanted to be when they grew up for each kid.  This was my 3 year old’s turn to hold the sign.

I really liked how the sign turned out.  Now if you are thinking how I must have some awesome artistic abilities you can stop thinking that now because my amazing artistic sister is the one who made the sign for me.  I have no idea how this sign would look if I was the one doing the writing.  There actually might not have been a picture if I had illustrated it (haha). Its nice having an artistic person in the family.  My sister is the best and not just because she is artistically talented.  Each of my kids chose a different career that they wanted when they grew up.  It was fun hearing what they thought.

Here is what my 5 kids want to be when they grow up-

9th Grader- Missionary

7th Grader- Fire Fighter

6th Grader- Missionary Doctor (She actually wants to do Doctors without Borders)

2nd Grader-Soccer Player

Pre-K- I want to be like Daddy (This was my hubby’s favorite for obvious reasons)

I think it will be interesting and fun to see what they think next year about what they want to be when they grow up.  Well, that was our “First Day” of School.  I would love to hear about other people’s ideas for the “First Day” of school and what kind of traditions they have kept with their family.  So feel free to email me or leave a comment about your ideas.  I am excited to see what this year brings.  The Adventure Begins…