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SuzanneH
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| Posted: July 24 2007 at 7:54pm | IP Logged
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Does anyone have any back to school traditions or celebrations that they do for the beginning of the school year?
This will be our first year and I'm trying to get everyone excited about it.
Thanks,
Suzanne
mom to Sean, Zoe and Nicholas
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mellyrose
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| Posted: July 24 2007 at 8:24pm | IP Logged
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This is only our 2nd year - but I plan to do this again ;)
Last year, I printed out a sheet of paper that had a recent picture of each boy, and then I had them fill in the blanks for Name, Age, Height, Weight, favorite color, favorite food. I put this page in the front of a binder where I kept samples of their work throughout the year. I also had them make handprints with paint on paper, and used that as the back cover of their binders.
I had intended to do an "end of year" sheet as well to compare the beginning vs the end . . . but having a new baby got in the way and our year just sorta ended. LOL
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Melanie in AZ
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: July 25 2007 at 8:01am | IP Logged
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Ours is pretty simple, but we always start the year with new school supplies, new gym shoes, and new matching t-shirts.
We also do a week of "orientation" which is just getting used to new schedules, new chores, starting in the new books etc.
There was a thread some time ago about these really neat "cone shaped things" that are given to the children on the first day of school in ... Germany I think? Does anyone know what I am talking about? I remember reading about it and thinking what a great way to start the year off.
Hopefully someone can help me out with the name. I will do a search and see what I can find.
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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Becky Parker
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Here it is
I can't seem to link to the discussion we had about them though. Can someone help?
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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teamgriswold
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| Posted: July 25 2007 at 8:16am | IP Logged
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We do new school supplies and a new book for reading time. My husband takes the morning off work and we all go to morning mass together and then out to breakfast. We end the year the same way. The kids are always excited for this day!
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X-Hail
Wife to Mark '97 Mommy to Robby '98, Patrick '01, Abigail '03 and John-Paul '08
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JennGM
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| Posted: July 25 2007 at 8:21am | IP Logged
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Becky Parker wrote:
Here it is
I can't seem to link to the discussion we had about them though. Can someone help? |
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Schultüte Schultuete for 1st Day
First Day of (home)school
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: July 25 2007 at 9:37am | IP Logged
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Thanks Jenn! This is a good topic. I think my kids are all going to need some motivation to start school back up this year.
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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alicegunther
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| Posted: July 25 2007 at 8:44pm | IP Logged
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This is a great idea for a topic.
I usually try to make the first day fun and special. Here is a post about our first day, September 2006: A New Beginning.
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Love, Alice
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marihalojen
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| Posted: July 26 2007 at 6:09pm | IP Logged
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Alice, what an inspiring post!
It brought tears to my eyes last year and again this evening.
Thank you.
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JenniferS
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| Posted: July 28 2007 at 12:20pm | IP Logged
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We do new school supplies. We also have our parish priest out for dinner, and he blesses our house and all of our new school books for the year. The kids really love it because our current priest is just a big kids himself, and he goofs around with them some(not during the blessing, he is very devout, also). It's a nice way for a fresh new year to start.
Jen
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J.Anne
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| Posted: July 29 2007 at 7:32am | IP Logged
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I do try to make it a fun day - the only thing set in stone is that our first "lesson" each year is reading the story of creation, with copy work to match. We are planting cosmos seeds and having a special tea time. And also I saw this episode of Easy Entertaining when Michael Chiarello reproduced an upscale version of school cafeteria food for his dinner guests on the plastic trays etc. I thought this would be fun for my husband and I. Salsbury Steak, anyone?
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Karen E.
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| Posted: July 29 2007 at 7:55pm | IP Logged
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We always go to Mass and then out to breakfast. Alice, thanks for sharing your great post! Here's ours from last September:
First Day of School
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God bless,
Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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jackiemomof7
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| Posted: July 30 2007 at 5:15am | IP Logged
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Since my children are older I am trying to come up with something more fun and exciting for them. They feel the beginning of school as "boring". So this is what I am hoping to do.
I found a lovely picnic basket at the thrift store and I have filled it with a pretty tablecloth, napkins, silverware and glasses. (We will use this through out the year for our nature studies far from home also.)
I plan on making up lots of fancy finger foods plus put in a couple of bottles of sparking grape juice. Then I am going to wrap up most of their new school books in a box as a beautiful present. Inside I am also enclosing a statue of a saint to be their patron saint for the year, a fun book each of them has been wanting and a new journal with me writing the first entry with some thoughts just for each of them. I plan on also adding a nice pen and pencil set for the 2 older boys and some fun ones for the 2 girls. I will also be putting a prayer card in for each one, St. Thomas prayer for students.
Then I will wake them up on the first day as usually (they do not know anything about the above plans) and after we have done our normal morning routine I will have them load up in the van and we will go to a park farther away that we don't go to very often and I will pass out the new sets of sketchbooks and pencils when we arrive and tell them to head out and find something to sketch while I unload the van and set up the surprise picnic.
Now as all moms know the best laid out plans never goes as well as we hope. Like the children moaning as they realize it time to start back to school and somebody will be unhappy about one or more of their chosen subjects that they will have to do this year. But a good mom always hopes and prays for the best! 
God bless,
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Jackie wife to Jim for 27!! years, proud army mom of Chris(25),Chef Matthew(24) and Sister Grace of Benedectines (21),Joshua(19),Nicholas(17),Jaymee(15), Elizabeth(13) and 2 in Heaven.Grandma to 3!
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LLMom
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| Posted: July 30 2007 at 7:32am | IP Logged
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What lovely ideas. Jackie, I too have been thinking of ideas for older children. Yours are beautiful. I may try some of these.
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Lisa
For veteran & former homeschool moms
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MichelleW
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Jackie,
I love these ideas! How special Thanks for sharing.
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Michelle
Mom to 3 (dd 14, ds 15, and ds 16)
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Topic: Back to School Traditions?
