The Last Day Of Homeschool: 10 Ways To Celebrate

Celebrating The Last Day of Homeschool

It’s that time of year again, the last day of homeschool, our children finish a grade, while we reflect on the past year with a tear or two. If you’re like us, homeschooling year round, the last day of homeschool is kind of gradual, dropping subjects as they get finished, you almost don’t notice the last day. When homeschooling year round, the transition is often almost seamless into the next year, after a short break.

Nevertheless the last day of homeschool deserves to be celebrated even with an almost unnoticeable end. It’s a significant milestone and a moment of acknowledgement for all the hard work and dedication that went into the past year. Taking a break between curriculums before diving into the next grade level in my opinion is crucial for successful homeschooling. It is a time to reflect on the past year, plan for the next homeschool year, and simply recharge. So, how do you make this day feel special and memorable?

Here are 10 fun and meaningful and more importantly do-able ways to celebrate the last day of homeschool:

1. A Graduation Ceremony

Host a graduation ceremony and invite family and friends over! It can be as simple as you like or go all out with decorations, a podium, graduation gowns, appetizers and so on. You can take a look at my pinterest board for inspiration here

You can definitely keep it simple with making your own graduation caps (find my paper template here) and hand certificates living-room style (templates here). Even if it is not a traditional graduation year like kindergarten or high-school, each completion year deserves to be celebrated.

2. Capture Memories

3. Throw an end of the year party!

Throw an end of the year party, invite homeschool friends and friends who attend public / private school. Celebrate your achievments together. The homeschool community can be a little too tight knit so reach out to others!

You can view my last day of homeschool party inspiration board here.

4. Create A Summer Bucket list!

This is my children’s favorite part. Coming up with ideas to do over the summer. As mentioned above I have a chalk board that we take pictures with for the first day of homeschool and the last day of homeschool. On the last day of homeschool side there is a section “This summer I will…” and space for them to write their ideas. So it does not have to be complicated at all.

Some families like to have a full bucket list or bucket jar they pick from.

Some ideas are:

• Go swimming
• Visit the beach
• Discover a new play ground
• Learn about dinosaurs
• Bake brownies
• Have a lemonade stand
• Declutter (yes sometimes this is exciting and gives us a fresh start)
• Grow a garden
• Sleepover at grandma’s (and/or grandpa’s)
• Build a fort
• Go fishing
• Sew an apron

5. Go out for a treat!

After finishing the last bit of work go out for a treat. I ask my children where they would like to go and budget out. Our first year we went out to the park and released our butterflies afterwards we grabbed “fancy” cupcakes from the bakery section at the grocery store and ate them at home.

For a budget friendly option you can create a celebratory meal to have at home or take a picnic to the park.

6. Take a feild trip

Plan a special field trip whether it’s purely for enjoyment, or something educational that the children would like to learn about.

Enjoyment ideas: Think amusement parks, water parks, a favorite museum they love to explore without a learning agenda, or even just a picnic at a new-to-you park.

Educational: Museum, aquarium, farm, a factory, a train ride, the airport.

7. Year in Review Presentation

Show & Tell: Have each child create a short presentation highlighting their favorite projects, biggest accomplishments, and funniest memories from the past homeschool year. This is a wonderful way to reflect on their progress.

Art Gallery: An idea I saw recently, showcasing all their projects and art work from the past year, inviting friends and family to have a look around and children presenting and talking about their work.

Slide-Show: Create a slide-show with all their projects and art work, as well as favorite picture taken through-out the year, grab some popcorn and watch the slide-show family movie night style!

8. Make A Gift Basket

Make a last day of homeschool gift basket. This can be a group gift or individual:

• Sand toys
• Bubbles / Bubble machines (our favorite)
• Chalk
• A New Helmets
• Swimsuits
• Water bottles (you know you are going to need them!)
• Sunscreen
• Sandals / Crocs
• Journal
• Science kit
• Craft kit
• Airplane building kit
• New books (never stop reading)
• Cook or baking book
• A new game

You can even do a shopping trip to the dollar store or book store for the children to pick out their gifts within a budget!

Or do one big gift for the kids like a trampoline, basically anything summer related.

9. Have a “Book Burning ” party

Let the kids symbolically say goodbye to the past year’s textbooks and worksheets. You can do this by having them write down a favorite (or least favorite!) part of each subject on a piece of paper and then safely burning them in a fire pit or put through a shredding machine. This also checks off a box for you (decluttering homeschool papers you do not need!)

We typically toss a subject book as we finish it as a small celebration of accomplishment

10. Take a vacation

Plan a vacation right after your school ends; be it oversees or a camping trip getting away is always nice!

Another trip idea is visiting your online school in person and meet the teachers. We do abeka which is a physical school with an online homeschool program. While we have not done this since we live in a different country, a friend of mine takes her children every year to the campus.

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