The school year is coming to a close. It’s a great mile marker in the life of a kid to end a grade and be ready for what’s next. Celebrate that sense of accomplishment. Develop a concrete memory to make it a big deal. When I was younger, we always went out for breakfast on the last day of school. We had to get up early, but it was always a fun memory.
Here are some ideas for celebrating the end…
1) Take each child out for a special lunch as school is winding down. If possible, get permission to pick your child up from school to take them to lunch during the last week.
2) Plan a simply party at home the last evening of school – bake or buy a cake, make it a big deal.
3) Give you child a note expressing your appreciation for her hard work this year. Let her know you are proud of her.
4) Have a night where you invite extended family and friends to look at their projects, papers, etc – sort of an open house in your home. This works really well for home school families.
5) Plan something big on the first free day after school is out – go somewhere, sign up for something, do something fun.
6) Make a plan for summer together– look at the schedule and let your kids help decide two fun things they want to add to the summer list.
7) Celebrate the end of school by thinking of a home improvement project that the whole family can do at some point during the summer.
8) Create a summer checklist – with all the free time, set some goals for your child – chores, projects, something they want to learn or accomplish, etc.
9) Create a small mural, video, or collage of pictures from the year of school. A ton of stuff has happened since last August and it’s easy to forget if you don’t recap.
Having big celebration markers at the end of the school year will become a motivator for kids to stick with it until the end.
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