It’s an unwieldy title, I know. But it gets at the heart of what some homeschoolers might be feeling at this time of year. Not all homeschoolers. But some. Maybe especially parents of homeschooled kids with disabilities. I’m not talking to the parents who were enthusiastic homeschoolers from kindergarten onward. I’m talking to the parents who probably attended public school like we did. We were at a really good public school with some great teachers who offered a lot of accommodations. But it still wasn’t a great fit for my son, Sweetboy. He was still burnt out, anxious, and not learning as much as I knew he could. For us, homeschoooling was a great option, and we went into it enthusiastically at the end of elementary school. But other parents might have felt forced out of multiple schools before homeschooling. And for those parents it might feel hard to see the wave of first school day pics on social media.
Last week, I realized that we had skipped a new school year ritual. We hadn’t gone shopping for new school clothes! For a moment, I thought something like, “Poor Sweetboy didn’t get any new clothes!” And then I remembered that Sweetboy doesn’t care anything about clothes. And he hates clothes shopping. So while I had a moment of FOMO, Sweetboy was probably feeling lucky he dodged a bullet there.
Let’s banish the creeping FOMO and find ways to make the start of the homeschool year special for our kids in ways that are fun and meaningful to them.
We’re making new traditions in place of old rituals.
So instead of new clothes and photos on the front porch with a cleverly written sign, we ate chocolate ice-cream cake and made this video. Maybe next year we’ll eat chocolate ice-cream cake on the front porch in our pajamas for the first day of school, and we’ll be sure to take a photo.
What special traditions do you do with your kids to kick off the school year?
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