Back to school traditions.

Adding to my earlier post... Seeing as how I failed to get my preschoolers to bed on an earlier schedule the week prior to school starting, I knew I needed help to wake them up on the first day. As I reached for the doorknob of my oldest child's room, I turned on a CD in a player we keep just outside his door. I played "THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT." As I opened the door he sat up, his eyes lit up and he began bouncing to the beat of the music. I received similar reactions from my other two children. The element of surprise mixed with the pleasure of music turned out to be an effective wake up system. We have repeated this waking to music every school day since then. I plan to change the wake-up song when this trick loses it's magic -- maybe some UB40, Bob Marley or Byron Lee... happy tunes. Or maybe I will let it go until the start of school next year. :)

This isn't related to your blog entry, but I couldn't find a "contact me" button on your blog...
Here is a blog entry about autism that I think you may be interested in...
http://karianna.clubmom.com/karianna_spectrum/2007/08/parents-magazin.html

Every August, usually about a 2 weeks before school starts, we take a little road trip. We spend the night in a hotel, go swimming, and take the kids shopping for school clothes & supplies. It's a lot of fun! It's sort of like a "going away" party for the summer & a "welcome" party for the new school year. It's something we all really look forward to each year!

nothing smells more exciting and wonderful to me that a fresh, new, pack of perfectly pointy crayons (yes, even as a mom)! For our tradition I like to snap a pic of my girls on the 1st day of school with them holding up a number of fingers which represent the grade they are entering. You know, 4 fingers = 4th grade! Here's a LO I did showing what I mean...
http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=1121776

I love back to school supplies shopping. I can remember as a kid going with my list to a Jefferson's store (no longer in exisitence) with my best friend. We would spend the whole day picking out just the right supplies. When we got home form shopping we would them organize our notebooks over and over. There for a while I didn't get to shop (No kids and finished schcol) however for the past 30 years I have been able to shop again since I had kids. I shop now for me since I am a teacher. I still get a thrill at buying and organizing my supplies.

I grew up in a family with 5 boys and 2 girls. We didn't have a lot of money. But my dad, who was a mechanic, would work extra and my mom and him would save for the beginning of school. That was the time of year that we each got a new outfit. Not "new to us" but actually new. And I still remember the excitement of going to the store and picking out my one outfit and my school supplies. My parents worked and saved extra so that we could each have something new to wear to school our first day. I think of that every fall.
This year is the first year I will have a child going to school, well preschool. And I can't wait to buy him his new outfit.

LOVE - #2 pencils - SHARP

What a great chance to relive and remember ALL those years ago. I do remember receiving a love of learning from my parents and close family, and a love of reading. This was all tied in with the same idea of "a clean slate" which I read in another comment. I never really thought of it that way. One of my fondest memories is how a return to school (when I reached late adolescence and early teen years) meant that my dad would take me shopping in Chapel Hill and we'd eat Chinese. I always felt so special and he had so much patience with me and let me try on and on. Back in "those days" we bought clothes like 4 times a year and I think of what my girls like to do - shop whenever! Gotta love a house full of girls. My youngest is a senior in high school and we are thick in the throws of cheerleading (one last and final year). First game this Friday night. Whew!!! It won't be long before the air is crisp and the smell of wood smoke permeates the early morning hours.

So many cool ideas!! My kids are older now, no more crayons on the list :( But one tradition has held since pre-school and that is once we see the kids off to school, all the moms go out for breakfast!! We used to call it the "crying breakfast"!! Sometimes the breakfasts last so long that the half-day kindergarten moms have to leave to pick their kids up!!

First day of school is tomorrow here and I just happend to read all of this tonight. wow, that is some amount of reading;)
Today we celebrated the last day of summer at the water park and the girl's each brought a friend with a nice dinner afterward.
I always treat the girls to their own day of school shopping before the new school year. For Delaney, 8, it consists of her favorites, school clothes shopping, definitely a very nice sit down lunch somewhere fancy, and lots of one on one talking about the year. The trip is always an hour drive each way and for me that's the best part. The day always ends well after dark. Then Daddy looks forward to hearing her replay the day bit by bit. She picks out matching school supplies for herself and we started a tradition in Kindergarten to buy fun "teacher" supplies for her teacher. She starts with a gift bag, then picks out colorful paper clips, fun sticky notes, a pencil cup, a beautiful pack of sharpies in 24 colors, and then always tops it off with several packs of gum, candy and chocolate. I always get such a giggle from how important she thinks the candy is and how she is just sure her teacher will need that some time in her first day. We finish the year with flowers and start with the fun stuff we're not sure teachers have the luxury to afford anymore.
New tradition this year for us. We sit down to family meals every night and often twice a day, however never in the morning based on scheduling. Just recently Delaney asked for us to do this as we did every day on a recent vacation. Inspired by something I read in Everyday with Rachel Ray, tomorrow we're having breakfast outdoors as the sun rises. We often eat outside for dinner, but I have never thought about breakfast. So we're going to surprise Delaney in the morning with this new first day of school tradition. Oh, also, I even made a first day of school banner in school colors to suprise her.
I cherish my first day of school photos on our front steps and at school. We do the door to the classroom on the first day and either locker or desk and at the end of the year with their teacher after they have a relationship formed.
A few years back I started my own personal tradition of a simple photo shoot of each of the girls the week before school starts. I try to just do it and not make it complicated, very simple, often just outdoors. I truly appreciate that I took just even 10 minutes for this. Some of my favorite pictures ever. I will work hard to keep up this tradition.
I find myself so sentimental at this time of year and it was a way to express myself and what I'm feeling, hoping that I just might capture a little bit of what I'm afraid will quickly pass with a new year.
I also have a song that always reminds me of the first day of school and what is symbolizes "Find your Wings by Mark Harris." Grab a kleenex for that one.
Best regards to all you mom's out there
Danelle

One of our favorite traditions, only the 2nd year now, is to buy extra school supplies for the school drive that grocery stores or shopping malls have. We filled up a big box at the grocery store with crayons, pencils, markers and backpacks.

My mom would always get a photo of my sister and i next to the same big old tree in our yard every year - it was fun to see how we changed over the years. I also begged to have a Trapper Keeper! :) Its bringing me back just thinking about it!

I LOVED my Trapper-Keepers! Those were great. :D My favorite thing about starting school was probably a new outfit. Our mom worked A LOT when we were younger so it was a day for just my mom, my sister and me (which we didn't get very often). We would get school supplies and maybe a few articles of clothing if we had outgrown some that year. But always a FULL new outfit for the first day. I loved that!

My mother-in-law always took a picture of my husband at the mail box on the first day of school with bag in hand. He's the oldest child so for a couple of years it is just him. His senior year first day is again at the mailbox and has his brother and two sisters with him. His youngest sister was just starting kindergarten! We have done the same for our kids. The first day of school picture is always at the end of the driveway by the mailbox with the back packs etc. rain, fog or shine! When our kids were younger, K-3, the neighbor lady and I would sneak into town and watch the kids get off of the bus and run to their class rooms. Our kids never knew we were there! Fun Years!!

Back to school is a very exciting time of year. It will be interesting if Simon's new school has a school supply list; some schools in Eugene just ask families to contribute a set amount of money, and then the school buys the supplies for all kids in bulk. This helps out lower income families and everyone has the same supplies, so no big problems about someone having an extra "cool" notebook. At first this is disappointing for those of us who like school supply shopping (me included), but if this happens to you, then maybe you could go shopping to pick out supplies that can be used at home. Have a great vacation back East visiting your sister!

I know that I get more excited than my daughter Colby about getting school supplies. We have several traditions. I photograph all supplies and clothes and especially new shoes. I also get her a little gift. This year it is a snowglobe with crayons,ruler etc. of course the 1st day photo at school and with her teacher.

I now homeschool my four girls, but when they were in public school my girls wrote a brief but informative letter to their new teachers to take on the first day of school. The letter had stuff like what they want to be called (nickname or not), favorite subjects, color, hobby, etc.... Also family stuff such as siblings or a new move. The teachers told us that they really liked the letter and it was helpful for them to get to know my children a bit faster. Remember to print a copy of the letter for yourself. We also had (and still do) fresh homemade cookies and cold milk waiting at the end of that first day of school. Ooooh, I can't wait :)

I take each kid out to lunch an school shopping alone. It's a fun time and a nice way to get excited about school! With four kids they each need a little alone time, although my two youngest don't get to do this yet. My five year old is thrilled to be joining this tradition and big kid ranks!

First, there's the bargain hunting for supplies. We love it when Office Max sends out their 15% off bag, or Target runs a special.
Secondly, I take the morning off and take back to school pictures on our back deck. Then we all walk to school (1/2 block) away, and drop each child off in their classroom.
This works good for elementary school. But, I don't know if my kids will like the personal escort when Jr. High rolls around. But, I have 4 years to find out!

My oldest grandchild started kindergarten yesterday. The night before the first day, her mom and dad had a 'back-to-school' BBQ for about 5 families whose kids all go to the same school. There were about 13 or 14 kids there, with 5 or 6 starting school the next day - all kindergartners. Since this was the first day of 'real' school, Dave had a pretend classroom set up. The ones going to school got to sit in chairs; the younger ones sat on the floor. Dave came out of the bedroom dressed in a black robe and a black hat and acted like a funny teacher. The kids roared and he went through some back to school reminders about behavior and things the kids might not know how to handle in school. The kids had to raise their hands to answer his questions and he gave them a piece of candy for each right answer. He was hilarious and the kids and parents loved it. When he dismissed class they all got a popsicle for dessert and the parents had root beer floats. I think this is a new tradition that just got started for us.