HOMESCHOOLING ONE CHILD
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Homesteading in your Homeschool Online Summit
    • Second Homeschooling Special Needs Online Conference
    • Essay Writing
    • Homeschooling One Child Online Summit
    • Homeschooling Dads Online Conference
    • Special Needs Conference >
      • Sessions
      • Speakers
      • Sponsors
  • Resources
    • About Us >
      • Why We Homeschool
      • Contact
      • Statement of Faith
      • My Testimony
      • Speaking
      • Disclosure Policy
    • Vlog
    • Homeschooling News
    • Printables
    • Special Needs
    • Curriculum
    • Encouragement
    • Home Management >
      • Recipes
      • Homemaking >
        • Cleaning
        • Chores
    • History
    • Science
    • 25 Days of Advent
  • Store
    • Books
    • Worksheets / Packets
    • Supplies
    • Decals
    • Bags
    • Subscription Boxes
    • Workbooks

how to plan a terrific first day of homeschool

8/12/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
When I was a young girl, I loved back-to-school time: the new Trapper Keeper, the new pencils, the new, four-colors-in-one ink pen, the new glue sticks. I loved taking my time to decorate and sort through my new school supplies and preparing my new clothes for the first day of school. 

While homeschoolers don't have the typical first day back to school, making the first day of a new grade in homeschool special is a celebration worthy of the name. The following are some things I do to make the first day of homeschool special. 

Prepare
After I purchase the curriculum, I go through it and make a lesson plan that covers the first month. There are some homeschoolers that can plan the entire year out, but, alas, I am not one of those. This year, my daughter is going into the 5th grade, so her list of subjects looks like this: 
  • Bible
  • Spelling
  • English
  • Math
  • History
  • Science
  • Civics (the presidential election) 
  • Spanish
  • Art/Music
  • Reading
As I plan the schedule, I divided the subjects like this: 
Monday-Friday
  • Bible
  • Spelling
  • English
  • Math
  • History
  • Science
Monday & Wednesday: Civics and Spanish
Tuesday & Thursday: Art/Music & Reading
On our dry erase board, I've written that Laura needs spiral notebooks for Bible, spelling, English, and math. She needs a spiral notebook and a folder each for Spanish, science, civics, reading, and art/music, and a three-ring binder for history. She decorates each of them based on the subject they will contain. This helps her prepare mentally (and have some fun) as she takes ownership of her school supplies. 

We also prepare the dining room, which is also our homeschool space, to start the new year. We hung a new wall calendar on the wall, refreshed our stash of dry erase markers, and will give the dining table and chairs a good cleaning. The floor will get swept and mopped as well. 

The night before homeschool, once she has showered and gone to bed at a reasonable hour, I lay out the books and supplies on the table. 

Breakfast
It's our tradition to go out for doughnuts for the first day of homeschool, and have our morning basket reading while enjoying breakfast. It's a tradition that we both really enjoy and it's a sweet (pun intended) celebration to start our year. 

The First Day
The first day is always exciting, because books are new, pencils are well-sharpened, and we're back into a schedule. Taking regular breaks, though, can help with restless legs and learning fatigue. Make sure your child can get water and go to the bathroom when they need to -- when we first started homeschooling, Laura would raise her hand to go to the bathroom, but I told her: just get up and go, and come right back. We're homeschooling! We don't have to raise our hands to go to the bathroom. 

At the end of the first day, make sure that the child helps pick up. Have a shelf, basket, or bin that the materials can go in to, if you don't have a dedicated homeschool space. If you do have a dedicated space, pick it up and get it ready for the next day. Be sure kids can run and play and burn off energy. 

Remember, homeschool is more of a learning lifestyle than an education. It's geared to give the whole child opportunities to learn, grow, and become who they are meant to be. Celebrate this time together! And please don't say, "We have to homeschool," like it's the worst thing ever. There's a world of difference between "We have to homeschool," and "We get to homeschool!" Celebrate it! 

Happy Homeschooling! 
Blessings,
Terrie 

(C) 2020 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Terrie Bentley McKee 


1 Comment
Amy Sloan link
8/19/2020 07:52:05 am

We enjoyed donuts on our first day of school this year, too. :) A little sugar goes a long way to making us excited!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Terrie Bentley McKee is an author and speaker who homeschools her youngest daughter. Married to her husband Greg, they have four children, all of whom have special needs of varying degrees. Terrie is a follower of Jesus Christ and tries to glorify God in all she does. To read more about her testimony, click here. 

    Affiliate Links

    Homeschooling One Child is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

    Picture

    Please pin!

    Picture

    Picture

    Archives

    January 2023
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    August 2019

    Categories

    All
    Autism
    Back To Homeschool
    Budget
    Christian Faith
    Christmas
    Conferences
    Curriculum
    Deschooling
    Encouragement
    Finances
    Gardening
    Holidays
    Home
    Homeschool Basics
    Kindergarten
    LIfe SKills
    Only Child
    Organization
    Overwhelming
    Portfolio
    Preschool
    Reading
    Resurrection Day
    Schedule
    Science
    Singletons
    Socialization
    Special Needs
    Sponsored Posts
    Summer
    Testing
    Thanksgiving
    Websites

    RSS Feed

    Picture

​HOME
​ABOUT US
BLOG
​PODCAST

​YOUTUBE/RUMBLE CHANNELS
COURSES
RESOURCES
STORE
​
​DISCLOSURE POLICY
SPEAKING
BIO / TESTIMONY
STATEMENT OF FAITH


​HOW TO WRITE FOR US
​CONTACT US
(C) 2023 Terrie Bentley McKee ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Homesteading in your Homeschool Online Summit
    • Second Homeschooling Special Needs Online Conference
    • Essay Writing
    • Homeschooling One Child Online Summit
    • Homeschooling Dads Online Conference
    • Special Needs Conference >
      • Sessions
      • Speakers
      • Sponsors
  • Resources
    • About Us >
      • Why We Homeschool
      • Contact
      • Statement of Faith
      • My Testimony
      • Speaking
      • Disclosure Policy
    • Vlog
    • Homeschooling News
    • Printables
    • Special Needs
    • Curriculum
    • Encouragement
    • Home Management >
      • Recipes
      • Homemaking >
        • Cleaning
        • Chores
    • History
    • Science
    • 25 Days of Advent
  • Store
    • Books
    • Worksheets / Packets
    • Supplies
    • Decals
    • Bags
    • Subscription Boxes
    • Workbooks