10 Back-to-School Traditions

This week's assignment for my H&H blog group came from yours truly! I love cute, fun traditions for the kids and am always looking for new ideas. I thought it would be great to hear what my blog group and other friends do for their kids for back to school traditions.

Here are our 10 back-to-school traditions:

1. We have always done first day of school pictures on our front porch. 

These are from when Grace was in Kindergarten in 2009!

  

That same year, Cian went to a daycare that did "school." He went for two days a week and my mom watched him the other three, so we photographed that first "school day" as well.
 

Two big changes have happened since we started doing this tradition!
#1- We now homeschool!
#2- We moved!
So, the porch is different, and the kids aren't backpack in hand, but I loved this tradition and still do it.

2. Year in School Sign 

I replaced the backpack in the photos with the a sign of what year they are in. We have done this for both of our years of homeschooling and this has become a new tradition. I got mine at iheartnaptime blog.
I REALLY like the chalkboard-looking ones though, and will probably switch this year!


Here is last year's blog post.
Here is our 1st year's blog post.

3. This one is also pictured above: Class photo!

They are each others classmates after all! We've gotta have a class photo each year!

4. Backpacks! 

When the kids were in school, getting a new backpack was always a back-to-school tradition! They loved picking out their favorite character all on their own. I always made sure to get at least one photo of the backpack too!

Grace in Kindergarten 2009

Ellie last year 2013

Tot School

 Surprisingly, we do still use backpacks, just not daily. We take some work with if we are going to activities or field trips that require a bit of a drive. They still like getting new backpacks, but we don't get each kid a backpack each year anymore. This year, I bought Ellie a new 10" one... as you can see the 12" from last year's picture is still pretty big on her! Walmart was having a $5 sale on backpacks so I let Ellie get a $5 Tinker Bell 10" size and Zoe got a $5 My Little Pony one. Grace has a NICE one from Target that holds her ipod and a zillion other things, so she won't be getting an new one anytime soon and Cian is quite content with his from last year.

5. A special treat!

A homeschooling friend had this adorable idea she did on the last day of school last year. It was a little Hostess cake and said something like, "1st Grade was a piece a cake, you're now a 2nd grader." I plan to use that at the end of this school year, but might also do it for 1st day starting back with adjusted wording.

6. Memory books

We do this, but at the end of school. I make a yearbook for the kids and also have a school memory holder book for each kid. These hold special drawings, papers, etc from that year. I also put their school photo and class photo taken on the 1st day in it.

7. Self Portrait

I am doing a journal supplement for Zoe's Kindergarten that has her draw and write about herself each month. It also has a page for "1st day of Kindergarten."

8. All About Me Journal

Why should Kindergartners get all the fun?! I found a free "All About Me" on teacherspayteachers.com. There are lots of really cute ones to purchase, but I think this free one here from The Savvy Corner is great too and did I mention it was FREE! It says "Elementary School" on it, but we just write our homeschool name on it.

I also found a 1st day interview from pinterest I'm going to do too!  

9. Donuts!!

This one is a win/win! The kids get a special treat for breakfast, and I don't have to spend time making breakfast. This gives us that little extra time as we are getting in our new groove.

10. Handprint

This will be a new tradition for me this year! I saw a cut out on a pinterest back-to-school pin and loved the idea. I will probably just flip over their All About Me journal and trace it there.