Way back in the year 2000 we celebrated our first day of school. Or not. Not school, I mean. And every year since then, we have celebrated Happy-Not-Back-to-School-Day. We now have regular traditions that must be observed on the first day of homeschooling each year. I must put up balloons and streamers and a sign (which usually involves a last-minute run to Walmart the night before, and begging Karl's help.) It's generally understood that there will be presents of an academic nature, and possibly a creative activity. Not much work gets done, but we look at all our new books and talk about plans for the year. And ice cream for lunch is absolutely mandatory.
The zenith of our Not-Back-to-School-Day tradition occurred several years ago, before we began reenacting. We used to begin every school year the day after Labor Day, and in our heyday, we tie-died t-shirts, and had real presents. Last year, newly returned from Fort Stevens and still with a month of living in the 1800's ahead of us, we moved the party to Wednesday. I'm afraid we might even have skipped the whole bash, although I'm certain we went out for ice cream. This year, we arrived home from Fort Stevens on Tuesday evening, having stayed over an extra night, tired, dirty, smelly, and with a ton of unloading and laundry to do. So we spent Wednesday getting our house in order and moved NBTS Day to Thursday.
What's next, you ask? Skip the whole week? Sadly no, because this ~sniff~ is our last Happy-Not-Back-to-School-Day as a family. It's Hailey and Claire's senior year. Next year, Brennan and I will have to have an epic blowout bash to make up for missing the girls, maybe ice cream for all three meals and movies all day. Maybe a 20 mile hike. Who knows.
Once I've decorated the room, I have to crawl in and out for everything I forget...which happens a lot.
Then the kids get to break through the streamers.
Then we take school pictures. I tried and tried this year, with and without flash as you can see, but they were not our best. I hope to get some good senior pictures soon. Remind me.
We very much enjoyed your monkey bread recipe for breakfast for our 1st day of school! That's our biggest tradition: eating large amounts of sugar (past years have included donuts, muffins, and I think maybe one year a pie), and then attempting to do some school work while opening various somewhat academically oriented gifts.
ReplyDeleteThis year, Isabelle suddenly realized during breakfast that this was Hailey, Claire, and Spencer's last year of school, and she totally started freaking out. She is very worried they will all leave once they graduate, and we'll never see any of them again. So, it's not just you who is sad. :)
Sounds like your traditions are much like ours. Aw, that's sweet that Isabelle is sad. I'm not sure yet what the girls' plans will be, but it's very likely one or both of them will still be around next year. These is really the first seniors in our group and it'll be a transition for sure, though others will follow in short order!
ReplyDelete