Oh, the last day of school. I have really fun memories of being a kid and rushing out to summer with all of my papers, end of year awards, and used-up school supplies. It was a feeling of freedom. Now as a mom, I love watching my children’s end of the year excitement too. Except, we homeschool, so running out of the building and not returning for several weeks isn’t exactly an option. So to create a fun exit this is what we do, and if you homeschool or not, you might find this becomes a perfect end-of-school tradition for your family as well.
The night before the last day of school is always a late night for me. (Think Christmas-Eve type of late.) I hang streamers on their bedroom doors, make congrats signs, and put balloon bouquets on their chairs. Then I take a few hours to lay out everything my kids have completed over the past year on our dining room table. Every book read, paper written, art project created, math assignment finished… you get the point. I lay out everything I can find and when they wake up, it is all displayed in front of them for their eyes to see.
The reason I spread out all of the work they have completed is because it’s just that… hard work. I want them to look at the table and remember… to truly process what they accomplished during 9 months of grit and perseverance.
Before starting this tradition, I would say things like, “Look at how much you have learned this year!” But now I really don’t need to say anything. There is something about seeing it all sprawled out on a table that helps them comprehend where they started the year and where they are now.
We talk about the projects and the memories of the year then I ask them questions such as…
1. What was your favorite thing you got to do this past year?
2. What was the hardest thing you worked on?
3. What do you wish you could have done better?
4. What did you do your absolute best on?
5. What are you most proud of?
It’s a great conversation where I get to know my kiddos just a little better, and they get to reflect on the past year. And then… we celebrate!
So next question… what do you do with all of the stuff on the table? You THROW IT AWAY! Give yourself joyful permission to recycle all that work. You praised your kids for it. You gave it one last proud glance and now… toss it.
There may be a few things that you just can’t throw away. It’s especially hard to get rid of sweet kiddo artwork. I stumbled upon an excellent resource for that problem called Artkive. They send you a box that you simply load all your child’s artwork into and send it right back to them. They then take amazing pictures of all the items and send you back a cute little book full of all the paintings, drawings, and 3-D crafts your child worked so hard on. Then ladies, you can lay that book on the coffee table or put it on a bookshelf and pat yourself on the back for a project well done.
End of school. All the emotions, right? Don’t skip right into summer. Take a second to be intentional and praise their hard work. They will love that you noticed it all and what a fun way to kick off a much-needed break. Happy summer friends!
