Back To School
Are your children wistfully watching their friends and
neighbors buy new school clothes and supplies? Do they feel left out
because they are not "going" anywhere for their first day
of school? The opening of the new academic year is a great opportunity
to reinforce the blessings of learning at home! You may want to try
one (of more) of the following:
* Take your children shopping the week before you have your kick-off
and buy special "school food" or clothes to wear on the first
day. Second-hand shops are great places to find fun, unusual things
for not a lot of money.
* Go to the zoo or a park while the other kids are in class. Your family
will have it all to themselves. Take a picnic and your nature notebooks
and make an afternoon of it.
* Plan a meal or activity around this years' course of study. Examples:
if you are studying early American history, create a cornucopia out
of construction paper and put the new school supplies, books, whatever,
into it and have it overflowing onto the kitchen table; if you starting
a science unit on botany or zoology, go to the mountains, desert, or
Jordan Parkway and look for animal tracks and changes of the season;
if you will be learning about your own family's history, make a meal
from your country of origin, i.e. try escargot (France), brats and kraut
(Germany), Yorkshire pudding (Great Britain), shoofly pie (Pennsylvania
Dutch-and a personal favorite in our family).
* Make a library trip during the day when the library is quiet and ask
the librarians there to help your children research and locate materials
for this years' topics or their own areas of interest.
* Have a scavenger hunt that takes you around your house or yard with
clues about the upcoming academic topics. Place study-related materials
throughout the hunt or end with a "treasure box" with the
materials they will be using. If your neighbors are willing, go all
over the neighborhood or hold the hunt at Grandma's.
* Create T-shirts with a family logo or let your children create their
own to wear during outings (fabric paint is great for this).
* If you do not have a lot of money to purchase things, that's okay.
Create personalized notebooks or other supplies for your children. Purchase
inexpensive spiral notebooks from a back-to-school sale and glue or
clear contact a label onto the front with a fun picture and their name.
Use 3X5 cards to create flashcards or make your own dominoes with card
stock. Scour second-hand shops and yard sales for things to add to your
school supplies for a fraction of the cost of new.
* Introduce this years' schedule, supplies, routine, whatever with a
game (charades, hangman, etc,) or song or puzzle. (Then stick to it.)
* Set up a field trip for the whole family.
* Go on vacation or camping while everyone else is in school.
