Since we started homeschooling in September 2022, we really haven’t officially stopped for any long-term breaks. Breaks have naturally happened, but we didn’t take the entire summer off. Despite choosing to be year-round homeschoolers (at least at this point in our educational journey!), I still think it’s worth sharing back to school ideas for homeschoolers. In fact, I think it might be even MORE important to mark and celebrate the back to school season as year-round homeschoolers!

Back to School Season

The days are hot and long, the air is filled with promise, and the stores are filled with shelves upon shelves of school supplies. Can you smell the new books and pencil shavings in the air? It’s the smell of sales and discounts on everything back to school! There are so many things to do this time of year, from buying school supplies and new clothes, to picking curriculum and goals for the year… in compliance with your state regulations and guidelines. But along with all of these necessary things, it’s also time to celebrate the new school year!

When do you have your “first day” of the new year? A friend of mine shared her back to school pictures in July. As a fellow year-round homeschooler, that’s when she chooses to start her year with the kids. I know many areas of the United States start school in August, but our local schools always start after Labor Day in September, so that’s what we’ve done the past two years. Another friend chooses to start her year in October. Even if it’s typical to start in the 3rd or 4th quarter of the year, as a homeschooler, you get to decide what will work best for your children, so this might not even be back to school season for you!

Back to School Ideas for Homeschoolers: Pictures

My first tip is to choose your first and last days of school and take pictures. If you use social media, you’ve likely seen first and last day pictures for the kids of many of your friends. Not only can you see how much they’ve changed over the year, but you can keep the photos for posterity (off topic: I cannot hear the work “posterity” without being taken back to an episode of The Famous Jett Jackson where he and Kayla wore makeup and clothes to appear as if they had aged and were in their 70s/80s. Afterwards, they took a picture “for posterity.”)

Fun idea for homeschoolers: pick the same date every year (i.e. September 5th) so that if/when you post it on Facebook, you’ll also be able to easily look through your memories to see your kids at each age. You can also search the date in your photos on your phone to see all of the outtakes. 

If you want a fun back to school sign for the pictures, you can make one on Canva, find one on Etsy, buy one at Target or another store, or check in with some of your favorite homeschool mamas/digital creators. These aren’t necessary, but they can be a lot of fun. Last year, I grabbed sidewalk chalk for pictures on the porch, and dry erase markers for pictures indoors with a whiteboard. Whatever you do, you can choose to be as creative as you want. A local friend of mine takes a July 4th picture of her kids every year sitting on the steps in front of her house. It’s so fun to see how her kids have grown and it’s so much more obvious by taking pictures in the same spot.

Back to School Ideas for Homeschoolers: ID Cards

Another fun tip goes along with the first one. Create ID cards for your kids, yourself, anyone who might be involved as a substitute teacher. Although they’re truly not necessary, student and teacher ID cards are a nice keepsake for the year that can also be helpful. For example, I used my homeschool teacher ID card and applied for the teacher discount at Michaels. It was almost immediately added to my account. Another good choice is Apple. If you go through as if for a college student, when you check out, it has this note (current on 7/14/24): Education savings: Available to current and newly accepted college students and their parents, as well as faculty, staff, and homeschool teachers of all grade levels. There are plenty of other stores that give teacher discounts. There’s no guarantee that they’ll honor their discount for homeschoolers, but you won’t know unless you ask. I haven’t found many student discounts, but they’re around too and will most likely be honored if (you) your child has their student ID card with them.

Back to School Ideas for Homeschoolers: Create a Special Tradition

There’s a reason traditions exist. Traditions honor a moment in time and allow you to instantly feel a connection to others and to the previous times that you’ve honored or celebrated that moment. Some ideas of traditions may include going out for breakfast on the first day or school, or individual breakfast or other meal dates with your kids. This would be the perfect time to check in to see how they’re feeling about the upcoming year and find out if there are any special things they’d like to add to their routines or curriculum.

Considering you’re a homeschooling family, you could have a tradition of having a field trip to start off the year. Go to the water park or an amusement park to make it count as physical education. A trip to the zoo would count as science. Colonial Williamsburg or similar would count as history (click the link to learn about their homeschool days – I hope to experience that in the future!). There’s no need to wait for school to be in session to get signed permission slips. As homeschoolers, you get to make the plans and take the trip when it’s convenient for you.

Back to School Ideas for Homeschoolers: Slow Start

If you don’t homeschool year-round, you have a nice opportunity that public schools don’t have the ability to provide. You can slowly ease back into homeschooling. Instead of going from no lessons to all lessons, you can start with one or two subjects and add a new subject every week until you’ve rebuilt your routine. After spending a week focused on math and science (for example), you can add in language arts the following week, then history the next. By easing back into your homeschool routine, your kids will more likely accept the schedule changes more readily.

Back to School Ideas for Homeschoolers: Host Your Own “Back to School Night”

This tip is for you only if you have family and friends who are supportive of your homeschool journey and maybe a little bit curious. My sister, Miss Michelle, already knows the dates for back to school night for each of her kids, and I was thinking that this would be a fun idea for mine too. The basic premise of back to school night is for parents to see the school, meet the teacher, and find out what their kids will be learning in the upcoming year. As parent AND teacher, we can easily have a parent-teacher conference (shhhh! I’m just talking to myself…), but we could also share some of these things with our support systems. For example, you could plan a visit or Zoom call with your supportive family members and friends and show them some of the things you have planned for the year. They could check out the curriculum, hear about unit studies or field trips, check out some of your children’s artwork and/or writing, and you’d have permission to enthusiastically show off everything, including all of your books and ideas. I wouldn’t recommend inviting anyone who is against the idea of homeschooling. This is more about building excitement and motivation, and maybe coming up with extra ideas. Like someone might have a connection with a farm and offer to take your kids to visit some of the animals during your unit study on pigs or cows, or they could want to join you to go apple picking.

Back to School Ideas for Homeschoolers: Plan Time for Self-Care

You’ve picked out your curriculum. You’ve set up routines and planned out the day, week, month or year. Your back to school is here and you and your kids are rip-roaring and ready to go.

Stop for a second. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Did you consider your mental health and energy?

One final back to school tip for homeschoolers is to plan time for self-care. Assuming this isn’t your first year homeschooling, you likely know just how easy it is to get burnt out on this homeschooling journey. Being everything to everyone and adding in being your child’s teacher can feel like a lot no matter how many kids you have or what other responsibilities you have. It’s important to regularly take a break from the stress (bad stress as well as good), decompress, and turn off the constant thinking. Some ideas include manicures/pedicures (professional or DIY), massage, grounding yourself in the earth, drinking your coffee outside, getting up earlier than your kids, coloring, or exercise. Only you know what self-care is most effective for you, and it might not be on this list. Take some time to brainstorm ideas and schedule them in ahead of time to ensure you take care of your needs as well as your children’s.

Last Thoughts

Back to school time is a time to start anew with new goals, plans, curriculum, supplies and clothes (if the sales appeal to your family). It’s also a time to celebrate your children starting a new year, a new grade level. This time of year is filled with opportunity. How will you mark and celebrate the changes?