Last night marked the 7^th freshman high school orientation for our family!! We have had someone in high school for 12 years now (over 20 years when you count the kids that we have taken in!)  Keila, our 7^th child and last son will begin his high school journey along with Danielle who is a junior and Tana who is a senior.  We are excited for Keila, knowing how fast the years are going. Once they enter their 9^th grade year, it feels like in the blink of an eye, we hear their name being called to accept their diploma!!  We are reminded again of how little time we really have to train, love and enjoy them as teenagers! Here are some things that we do at our house to make an impression for a great school start:

 

Have a family meeting to ask how everyone is doing preparing for school. Are rooms organized, clothes sorted into what to give away and keep, backpacks filled with supplies, schedules set, sports equipment ready, paperwork turned in, and goals for the year written out? We want kids to be excited, to feel prepared and most of all to feel like we are entering Fall as a family unit. We talk through the routine ie morning devotions, study table, work and sport commitments, our speaking engagements etc and ask for input. We remind everyone of school year TV/technology restrictions, curfews and the relationship between freedom/privilege and responsibility/obedience.( We will talk more about this later) We do ask for buy-in on these matters and everyone is allowed to give thoughts or suggest changes. We ask them if there is anything we can do to make this a better school start and school year for them and listen carefully. Lastly, we pray for them as they start this new season.

 

We ask each child,” What is one more thing you would like to do before school starts?” If we can get that done, we try to spend time accomplishing those during our last free summer days. They are usually not expensive things, just a few more ways to squeeze the vacation time for fun!!

 

The night before, we try to have everything laid out and ready to go. Bedtime has been very lax during the summer, so we do try to start getting everyone to bed earlier about a week or two before we actually have to enforce it. We pack lunches during the dinner clean up and have them ready to go.

 

We try to have a special breakfast on the first day of school with one more school supply surprise. Keila loves mechanical pencils. We don’t buy those for everyone, but he may find one at breakfast for him the first day of school. (Keila if you are reading this, act surprised) We also try to take everyone’s picture. It is fun to look back at this, especially on graduation day!!

 

During the first week of devotions, we pray for new friends, teachers and our purpose for gaining wisdom in school. We are thankful for all that God has entrusted us with and remind ourselves to steward those things well.

 

With the elementary children, we go with them the first morning. This was probably more for the parents than the kids!! We greeted each other and walked the students to their classes with our coffee in hand, heavy in conversation about how fast the summer went!

 

We try to eat dinner pretty regularly during those first couple of weeks together so that we can soak up all the new, exciting and challenging parts of the school start. It is one of my favorite things about beginning a new year. We love listening to all that is happening! Please remember to be a safe, supportive place for your children to share. We want to hear it ALL, but that comes with a responsibility on our part to listen without extreme response. One of my favorite things to say is, ”That’s interesting, tell me more”. We want to be the place where sensitive questions and discussions can happen. Use these conversations as opportunities to encourage and affirm. Our goal is grow trustworthy relationships with our kids and cultivate an atmosphere that invites them to seek the counsel of their parents and view them as a source of love and support.

 

We love this time of year! It marks the start of growth, gratefulness, and anticipation for all that God will do in our family through the academic calendar. Please enjoy these days and remember that however you choose to start the year, you are making a memory!!

 

PS If you have not read our book yet, we invite you to order a copy of Going Public: Your Child Can Thrive in Public School on our website. It is not an anti- private or anti- home school book, but rather an encouragement for those of us in the public school system. We would love to hear what you think!!