It’s our first official year of homeschooling so we are starting off in a joyous way with a back to homeschool party.
We started homeschooling in February so it is still a “back to homeschool” party but it’s also our first full year so I’m extra excited.
As my oldest child is only in pre-k, we are fortunate to have our school days be full of play already. Having a party just takes it up a notch.
Here I will share what was included in our back to homeschool party and where I found everything!
Contents
Back to Homeschool Party Decorations
I am not a beige mom so this party includes pretty much all the colors! My son loves color so I was not going to disappoint him.
As we plan to start our homeschool day at the dining room table, I decided this was the best place to set up the party.
I started off with a fun polka dot tablecloth from Walmart that has almost every color in the rainbow. Walmart also had polka dot Happy Birthday napkins. I just placed them face-down on the table so only the polka dots showed, an easy win!
Yellow seemed like a happy color for plates so I picked up plain bright yellow plates from Walmart as well.
To top the table with “confetti pieces,” I used alphabet magnets. You know, the kind you see on refrigerators. These magnets were new to my son so it was the perfect place to gift them. They will be great for our phonics lessons.
I found a wonderful pack of rainbow colored balloons, some clear with rainbow confetti, on Amazon. The balloons came in various sizes and with a balloon strip. I decided the balloons would just be on the table and the floor, since I knew my kids would want to play with them anyway.
My mom gifted us an easel, which I saved for the back to homeschool party. I set it up the night before and wrote Happy First Day of School on it. My son can’t read, but it’s the thought that counts, right?
The decorations were so easy, affordable, and were super easy to match as every color in the rainbow was used.
Back to Homeschool Party Food
For the most part, we kept the menu very simple. I have a four-year-old and a two-year-old, so making anything too involved would likely not win their approval.
Instead of fancy dishes, I chose some of their favorite breakfast foods and created a buffet. I placed all the food onto the table so they could serve themselves (or ask for help) in a family-style.
I went with scrambled eggs, waffles, cherry tomatoes, string cheese, and blueberries. I also had two “fun” drink choices for them. They usually have water for breakfast so having the option of orange juice or chocolate milk was fun for them.
I also decorated some back to school cookies to really set the party theme. These are soft sugar cookies with buttercream frosting. Super easy to learn and tastes better than royal icing cookies.
My kids like to eat something light when they first wake up and then eat breakfast an hour or so later. We didn’t get around to eating breakfast until 9 or so, which was great because it meant I could skip snack. Am I the only mom that struggles to feed breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner every day?
Back to School Party Activities
These were the easiest activities I have ever done for a party and my kids were having a blast. The first activity: play with the balloons.
My kids played with the balloons for probably 20 minutes straight, which for my kids, is a lifetime. Not only that, they came back to the balloons several times during the day to also play for long durations. Of course, they rounded me in for a few games of throwing the balloons back and forth as well.
While they were playing with the balloons, I asked my son his First Day of Homeschool Interview questions. It was a fun way to connect with him while he got some energy out.
I have included a free downloadable copy of the interview questions I made for him. You can get your copy using the download button. I have a hard time with printer margins, so I just selected “fit page” on the printer settings and it worked perfectly.
How We Transitioned From the Party to School Work
During our breakfast, we did our Bible study. My son loves playing school, as we call doing school in our home, and my two-year-old daughter loves to feel involved. They both enjoyed our Bible study and it was a good way to start the day.
You can find what we do for Bible in my Preschool Bible Curriculum post.
Once breakfast was over, my kids immediately wanted to play with the magnet letters. We moved them off the table and onto the fridge. My son taught my daughter colors and letters as they played. I love seeing my son be the teacher and I know he gets a confidence boost out of it, too.
Our next activity was coloring on the new easel. They did so well at sharing the easel I was able to step back and clean up breakfast.
After that, we decided to head outside for a breath of fresh air. We pulled the kite out of the garage and my son had lots of fun running up and down the hills in our yard trying to catch the wind gusts.
My daughter had fun playing in the rocks or being held. She loves being the baby!
Once we were back inside, we opened up our new curriculum. This year, my son is doing The Good and The Beautiful Kindergarten Prep course. My son loved the preschool course by The Good and The Beautiful so he was excited to start.
In the first lesson, he was able to listen to a new song, play with buttons, “pick” apples, and play alphabet freeze tag. I still consider this a party activity because my son loves the curriculum.
All in all, the party was filled with lots of fun, food, and, if we included our easy transition into school, education. Oh, and lots of color!
As I mentioned before, my son loves “playing” school so it was super easy to keep the party mood into our studies.
Save This Back to Homeschool Party Idea for Later
If you are wanting to start the tradition of a back to homeschool party or are in need of new ideas, make sure to save this post for later. You can use any of the social share icons at the top of the page or pin the images below to your Pinterest profile. Make sure to follow me on Pinterest for more joyous homeschooling ideas, too!
