Are you ready for your first day of homeschool this year?
Do you have any special activities planned?
Doing something fun and unique on that first day can make it a more enjoyable experience. It can make it seem less like a chore and more like a party. So why not have a little party on that very first day?
Here are some activities you might want to use to make your “First Day of Homeschool Party” something to be remembered.
*This post contains paid links. I earn a small commission from the sale of products purchased via these links. Please see my disclosure for details.
Activities for Your First Day
Riddles, Jokes or Music
How about getting your kids’ brains going with a riddle on the first day? Or you could make them laugh with a few jokes. You can usually find them online. If your kids like music, you could sing a song together. It just takes a few minutes to do a little something like this to add a little zing to your first day of homeschool.
Do a Craft
Your children could do a fun craft on the first day of homeschool. They could make posters about themselves. Maybe make their own bookmarks. How about making a pencil cup with milk cartons and craft sticks?
Do you keep your kids’ books and school supplies in a desk, bin, shelf or drawer? Do your children have notebooks, pencil cups (or boxes) and folders of their own? Then you could let each child decorate and personalize his or her own stuff. Craft supplies like stickers, permanent markers, colored paper, etc. will work well for this.
Photos
Why not save memories of the first day of homeschool on camera? You could use a video or digital camera to capture the fun.
Once you have a collection of images, you might want to start a photo journal of your homeschool year. Photos from a digital camera can easily be uploaded to Picasa or Flickr. Then you can share them with friends and family.
Science Experiment
You might want to pick out a fun science experiment. Maybe something with a little pizzazz to it. You can get some ideas at Steve Spangler Science. Just be careful not to blow up the house. 😀
Treats
You can surprise your kids with a tasty treat on the first day of homeschool. Sugar is good for getting the brain going, right? 😉 If you are in the baking mood, you could make some cookies, brownies or cupcakes. Or if you are short of time, you can get a little candy to put on their desks. Kids love to get sweet treats no matter what form they take.
Play Games
Games are another great activity to use in your homeschool.
You could play some quick educational games for fun on the first day. Quick Pix is one of our favorites. If you want some ideas for educational games, I have some math ones listed here: How to Make Learning Math Facts More Fun.
You might want to create an obstacle course as a game. It could be set up either inside or outside your house. To make things interesting, you can have one person guide a blind-folded person through the course. There are lots of possibilities.
Another fun games is a scavenger hunt. All you have to do is send your children off on a hunt to find interesting things in and around your house.
Have a Paper Snowball Fight
Here’s a really goofy activity that you can do with your family. Give everyone three pieces of paper. On each piece, each person should write something interesting about himself like something funny that happened to him, his favorite food or favorite game. Then everyone should crumple each piece of paper into a ball.
Guess what it’s time for…WAR!
Just set a timer and let everyone have at it. Who says you can’t have a snowball fight in September. Well…at least a paper one. When the timer goes off, everyone should pick up three random balls. Now take turns opening each ball to read what’s inside. The person reading should try to figure out who wrote it.
My special thanks to A to Z Teacher Stuff for this great idea.
Stories
You could share a favorite story with your kids. They might like a story about homeschooling like Kandoo Kangaroo Hops into Homeschool. That’s a really great story for homeschoolers.
They might enjoy a humorous book like Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs or Tuesday.
Or you could tell a hilarious continuous story together. It’s pretty easy to do. Simply start with a prompt like:
- The strangest thing that ever happened to me was when…
- A funny thing happened to me on the way to our homeschool this morning.
- The weirdest homeschool day we ever had was when…
Everyone takes turns adding something to create a fun, fictional story. You might want to set a time limit like 2 minutes for each person. That way you won’t have any little Shakespeares going on and on and on.
What are YOU going to do on your first day of homeschool? I would love to hear about it in the comment section.
Many blessings,
