Listen to God's voice at the foot of the crucifix." ~St. Gaspar del Bufaro~

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Back to {Home} School Celebrations...(Fun Links to Share)!

{Pinterest links below}
We started back to our homeschooling routine this week!  We kept most of our same 1st day of school "traditions" that we've had for the most part of 9 years now.  AND we added some new fun in the celebrating this year.  Well, that is probably a little bit of an understatement since I kinda went a little nuts with the 1st day fun...Even if you don't homeschool, you may find some fun ideas to help your children start the year with enthusiasm!
What else can I say but that
Life
is worth celebrating!
When you've had deep sorrow to suffer in life, I have found that faith always, always, leads to deeper gratitude and grace.  This is where I am in my stage of celebrating life, not to mention having an older child who left home for college last year!  I have come to appreciate my littles at home all the more:)  
The bread of life continues to sustain me through good times and bad...
Soooo, it is my deepest desire for my children to realize this reliance on God alone.  Serving and receiving Him as much as possible is the goal... But most certainly on the first day of school.  We share in Jesus, the breakfast of champions and then head out for a rare treat...breakfast "out"...
With the Principal:)

Our 9th grader no longer schools at home with us so he missed out on breakfast, bummer for him:(  Thankfully, Mass is early enough so he got to altar serve with the younger sibs on their first day and still "gets the honor", as I say, to altar serve a couple of days a week.  
I had fun making these cute signs for the "home crew!" These clever (and free) chalk board printables can be found at Everyday Party, through Pinterest.  My friend Patty will be so proud of me:)  Did I mention that Pinterest is my newest friend? I just clipped them onto clipboards that I had on hand!
They made a fun first day photo...So easy and super fun!
That banner in the background was also a free printable found at Tatertots and Jello!

It was so cute to drive up in our driveway a few days later and see this hanging in one of our front bedroom windows...Made me smile:)

You may also click on my Back to School Pinterest board for the rest of these cute printable ideas or view the individual links.  Thank you to all of the generous folks out there who share these kind of things!
I don't homeschool that many children, compared to some families I know, but I think this table display would be a good way to make a large group of kids feel special.  Sometimes it's hard to make individual treats since it can be very time consuming for busy Mamas.

This took preparation but not that much in the scheme of things.  It was certainly not very costly, other than the printer ink, and I think it was worth it:) Here's how the overall display turned out!
 
 
Somewhere around my 5th or 6th year of homeschooling I decided to splurge and go "no hassle," only buying the sharpened pencils to kick off the school year! Such a little thing and yet a big thing, too:) Some of you might know exactly what I mean!
Love these pencil tags found at eighteen25!
These little printable tags are everywhere on Pinterest and they just brought extra smiles to the first day.

One Charming Party offers these clever tags for highlighters!

Found these fun glue labels at Sissy's Creations:)

Doesn't every kids love fish crackers?  These are adorable and can be printed over at Ivory Bloom.
The cutest water bottle labels are offered at One Lesson At A Time.
Technology rocks. Seriously. offers the most amazing school signs! I printed several out, and placed them in sheet protectors for each child's learning binder.  (And also a beautiful prayer for my teaching binder:) They would be inspiring decor for a school room!
I'm hanging this one up on a clipboard.  Loving the use of clipboards for fun decor!
They also have these colorful bookmarks to print!

And finally the "big hit!..."
These Pencil holders made from Pringles cans.  Genius idea, right?
You could fill them with school supplies, anything.  I filled ours with little fruit snacks and treats.  To add a little faith, I printed out the Patron Saint of student tags that Jessica created at Catholic Cuisine.  Then I added this little prayer on the back.
I was really thrilled with how they turned out!  A big thank you to Not Just A Mommy who gives excellent and detailed instructions!
*It was a fantastic first day, indeed*
Here's our group back-to-school photo with the older boys.  The world is our classroom from Rome to home.
(Big brother recently departed for his Rome semester)
Darn, he wouldn't let me steal away in his suitcase!
Happy New School Year to all of our family and friends!
Don't forget to keep it real:)

9 comments:

  1. Wow! Great BTS kickoff! We start right after Labor Day day ( Nativity so Mary), so I'll have time to borrow an idea or two from your fun table...Thank you for sharing!

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  2. You did go a bit crazy!! But in a good way ;) I love all of the things that you did, the pringles can is brilliant!! Your kids have an awesome mom indeed!

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  3. Holy Toledo!! You rocked the internet/pinterest world!! I AM so very proud of you, girl! You are a rockstar homeschoolin' mama this year!

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  4. This is soooo awesome Tiffany!!! I will share it in my blog tomorrow!! I will definitively use some of your ideas!!

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  5. Wow! I say, "Tiffany rocks!" :) +JMJ+

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  6. Oh my goodness! You do ROCK!

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  7. Wow! You went all out! Very nice, Tiffany. Can I send my kiddos to your house, lol. Very nice :-)
    I hope the you have a blessed year this year my friend.

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  8. Just popping back over to say thank you SO much for the link to Technology rocks school signs, Tiffany! They are wonderful and I am going to make some sweet and hopefully inspirational signs for our school. Stop by when you get a minute, sweet friend! Many blessings to you.

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  9. Hi Tiffany, I haven't been blog hopping much this past summer and I've missed coming by. I didn't think I'd be teaching RE again because they changed the format. Turns out I am. I am definitely inspired by your back to school ideas. Peace and blessings to you.

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