I’ll admit I’ve spent the past month or so in Back to School mode, and in reality we started back to school BEFORE all of the public school kids. Of course it was light schooling of one or two lessons a day, but it was some amount of schooling.
But on the first day of public school we won’t do any lessons. We call it:
Not Back to School Day
Catchy title, isn’t it? It’s super original I’m sure, and no one else has ever used it before. Except almost every other homeschooler I know has some variation on this.
How do you celebrate Not Back to School Day?
Our homeschool co-op celebrates with a pool party. We have managed to miss it twice now, but I am determined to make it this year. We all gather at a local neighborhood pool around 2:00, and swim for a couple of hours. Noticeably we are in the pool as all of the public school kids are getting out.
I’ll admit, we did that this spring, our lessons were done for the day, and I might have used swimming as an incentive to get work done faster.
Another year we went to the movies for Not Back to School Day. Some random Disney movie was in the dollar theater, and we went to see it. At 1:00 in the afternoon, on the first day of public school. We were the only ones in the theater. It was glorious.
Last year we went to Schlitterbahn. It’s a local water park, and they are open for a week after the local public schools open because the colleges don’t open for a week after the public schools do. So, we had no lines and got the workout of a lifetime as we walked up the four flights of stairs to take the super cool rollercoaster tube ride down.
Do you celebrate Not Back to School Day?
What are your traditions? Or do you do something different each time? I’m thinking we’ll go to Schlitterbahn again, but I don’t know for sure yet.
Back to School Teacher Gift {Free Printable Bag Topper} from Crafty Mama in ME
The Best {Back To School} Books For Kids from Play Dough & Popsicles
Back to School Interview for Kids from CraftCreateCalm
Free Kissing Hand Songs, Poems, & Videos to Ease Separation Anxiety from Living Montessori Now
How to Help Kids Back to School from iGameMom
Middle School Student Organizers for Tweens from Look! We’re Learning!
Back to School Party Ideas from Schooling a Monkey
Not Back to School Picnic from Tales of Education at Home
Back to School in a Forest School from FrogMom
Back to School Hand Washing Water Play from Play & Learn Every Day
52 Preschool Themes (& FREE 2016-2017 Preschool Theme Calendar!) from Preschool Powol Packets
Homeschooling? Have a Not Back to School Day from Adventures in Mommydom
Books for Kids About Starting Middle School from Planet Smarty Pants
Want some actual Back to School ideas?
I’ve been sharing them for the past month in my newsletter. But, here’s my favorites:
We usually start our vacation the day the ps kids go back to school. This year we are having it two weeks earlier because two are going to college. I still think I will take the younger two to the Waterpark on the week that the ps kids start school.
When do public schools go back in your area? Our local schools are going back tomorrow, so we’re heading to the water parks then.
Emma is campaigning to homeschool next fall (2017) for 6th grade. We’ll see if she gets Mike on board…
I’m totally on board (not that my vote counts for anything ;p).
Nice tradition! I think that “back to school” day is probably the most exciting day for most kids going to public or private school… No, wait! That would be, “School is out!” day 😀
The two biggest days for sure! I think by the time Back to School rolls around most kids are ready to go back, but certainly by the time end of school rolls around, they are ready to be out.
Love this! We started on Monday and I made a special breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes. We did some reading (which my son loves) and math. Then we went to Sweet Frog ad Five Below. They loved it! Thanks for all the ideas and links!
My kids would have loved that too.