Our First Day of School Pictures and Traditions

Monday we began our first day of school. So, the traditions began. At bedtime, the family gathered in the upstairs hall and we went around the circle praying out loud for the new school year. It was so precious I wish I had video taped it! Then once the kids were asleep, I set up stuffed animals in both of their bedrooms with books in their hands. So they woke to their playmates already deep into their studies!
Then they came to the kitchen to find that it was “Daddy Donut Day”. Periodically, daddy surprises the kids and announces that it is “Daddy Donut Day!” and he takes them to a donut shop. The start of a new school year definitely demands a Daddy Donut Day.

Another mom at church recommended I have my daughter put on one of my dresses and my son one of my husband’s shirts. Then take a picture of them every year in the same dress and shirt and watch them grow. Someday they will fit into our clothes. So we did this! Although I laughed when Alexis announced – “it fits”! It sorta does – I guess I should have chosen one with sleeves that was longer! Lol!

Then we put on our “school clothes” and took pictures outside like my mom always did when I was a kid.

Then we went into the school room and began school (if you wonder where we got two computers read my post here).

It was a picture perfect day. The schedule was working perfectly until after 11am when Alexis clogged our bathroom toilet and it flooded her bathroom and leaked into the light fixture in the kitchen. Needless to say, that was NOT on the schedule – but it was definitely a learning experience for all of us!
May God bless your school year as you go through the ups and downs of the year ahead.
3 John 4 “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”
Walk with the King!
I am linked up here today:

32 Comments

  1. Oh Courtney!! i love these ideas, I know you wont mind when they pop up on my blog next week, lol. fyi, i wore a messy bun to church on Sunday!!!!

  2. I love that you make the first day of school a big deal even though you home school. My kids are still little but I'm already thinking about home schooling and one of the things I was thinking about was how to make the first day of school fun even though they wouldn't be leaving home. I'll be writing this down! I've seen the "shirt/dress" idea before and it is great – a friend of mine does it on easter – she puts her two girls each in one of their dad's dress shirts and takes their Easter picture. She uses the same shirts every year to see how they grow.

  3. this sis so cool I love tradition!!!! And wearing adult clothes pictures is a very neat idea!!!

    thanks for sharing
    Renee

  4. I absolutely love the idea of the kids in your clothing! I know a woman who each year takes a pic of her daughter in her wedding dress, and whereas she used to just lie in it, now she can at least stand. It will so exciting to see her grow into a young woman that way.

  5. My eldest has his first day of Kindergarten next week! We're all so excited!

    I like your grade level number photo idea!

    Cheers!
    ~h

  6. My daughter and I just did our Messy Buns and love them. Thank you for sharing simple beauty!

  7. Courtney, this post is precious. I would expect nothing less of you than to have wonderful, creative family traditions and gorgeous children, too!
    Now if only we had daddy donut day around here:)

  8. Your kids are adorable! Your traditions sound great and I hope you also have a blessed school year.

  9. Here in IN, K12 is not free (no virtual public schooling is). Homeschool laws are relaxed, but there is only one place for free K12 and they end up with a lottery admission every year due to the HUGE waiting list to get in. 🙁 We moved here from the Cleveland, OH area in 2004 and I was surprised to learn of the absence of free online learning.

    We use My Father's World as our main curriculum, plus Math U See. I'm a big Charlotte Mason fan. I'm not feeling well, so I'm praying that tomorrow (first day) goes well for us. I *love* the photos you shared with us. Thanks, Courtney. I have to say, finding your website/blog has been a huge blessing to me.
    Blessings,
    Toni

  10. Love the first day of school pics. What a cute idea with the clothes. Wish I would have thought about that but it is a little late in the game for me-my kids are a Senior, Junior & an 8th grader.

  11. I love your traditions!! I'm going to start taking pictures of our first day of school when we start in September.

    And Daddy Donut Day sounds like such a great idea!

  12. You're kids are so cute! Love the "school clothes" idea. Saw some polo shirts @ Target this week, I may get some for our homeschool. Seems if you are dressed nicely, you seem to act accordingly. Thanks for sharing!

  13. I love your traditions. We are just starting for the first time and I am going to have to borrow the clothes one. My son announced that he wants cherry pie and milk for his first day of school!

  14. As a new homeschooling mom I realy enjoy your blog! It is very inspiring! You have given me great ideas on things I would have never thought to do! Thank you and keep up the good work!
    Blessings

  15. So CUTE! Thanks for the comment leading me here, I loved seeing your day too.

    Our first day is so off due to the renovations, I am looking forward to taking their "first day" with the new school room photos this year 😉

  16. Happy First Day of Homeschooling!! Today marks the first time in 13 years that I have not started school with my own children. My daughter will enter her junior year of college in a few weeks and my son starts his first year away at college today. Seasons they do change (I'm not loving this yet, what an adjustment). If it were up to me I would turn back the hands of time and be starting our first year of homeschooling today. Enjoy the journey!
    BTW-we always took first day of school pictures, with new clothes and backpacks. My son texted me a picture of himself today on his first day of university. My daughter always gets a picture taken too. Traditions live on!

  17. I try to take pictures each year on our first day of school, but I think I need to start a few new traditions after looking at how you start your school year!

    I'll have a first and third grader next year, so I definitely have time to make some changes!

    ~Jennifer

  18. Yes, our homeschool days sometime don't go as scheduled! 🙁 Thanks for sharing. I love the idea of taking a photo of the children with their 'grade level' I want to do that for next year's photo op. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.

  19. Sorry, but the bathroom incident made me laugh! That's homeschool for you. You just gotta go with the flow! I didn't even mean to funny, "flow!" Never a dull moment right?!

    Lovely pictures and great traditions. 🙂

    Stopping in from HSV

  20. I am planning on homeschooling our oldest of 4 {shes's going into 5th grade} and was looking into K12. We live in Texas and it seemed like it was somewhat unflexible…are there a lot of restrictions on you using this program. Thanks and God bless! : )

  21. Shera – we love it. It's not real flexible but It's SIMPLE and that's what I like. Every morning I come to the computer and all my lesson plans are ready for me – I just read them off and do the assignment. I love that there's little prep work and the lessons are genius :-)!

    Your 5th grader will be able to login each morning and do some of her lessons all on her own – my son does this with his math currently and it's really nice!

    It works for us – but it is not for everybody.
    Courtney

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