Be a Rockstar Mom! 6 Clever Traditions to Start the School Year Off Right

Last Updated on August 22, 2024 by Alicia Michelle

Are you looking for fun ideas to welcome the new school year? Great!

Want to be that rockstar mom that has it all together this school year? Awesome!

I want to share powerful tips to do both!

Back to school is full of opportunities for great family traditions, and our family has several annual back to school traditions that I know your family will love too!

Plus, I've got a few great tips to help you start off the school year organized and prepared! (Who doesn't need those?!)

Ready to get started with the ideas? Let's go!

6 Awesome Ways to Start the School Year Off Right

1) Host a special dinner and family game night the evening before school starts.

We celebrate the school year with a special dinner (ours is always “make-your-own-pizza night”) and play a few family games!

We also have a fun breakfast the first day of school (kind of like the pancake smily faces in the picture above!).

2) Have the kids complete a fun annual “back to school questionnaire.”

What's your child's favorite toy? What does he love to do right now? What is his favorite summer memory?  Help you child write these down and you can treasure them for years to come. These are priceless, wonderful little treasures to store with other precious school artwork and papers.

P.S. You do have a plan to store all those upcoming school papers your child will bring home, right?! You've got to check out my foolproof kids school paper organizing system here! Seriously–this will be your sanity when all those papers start piling in again!

3) Take a first-day-of-school picture with some sort of prop that tells their grade.

Some moms create a special board or print a fun paper that tells each child’s grade. The child then holds the sign in the picture, thus marking that child’s first day of school in that grade.

I love that idea… but this too-busy mama takes the non-fancy, low-tech approach. I hand each child a small whiteboard and tell them to write their name and grade on the whiteboard (in a fancy design) using dry-erase pens. My only request is that they make their name and grade legible for the picture.

These pictures are something else that we store in the My Memory Box school paper organizing system!

Or, if you prefer to use a good-old-fashioned school picture, there's a place on the front of each folder in the My Memory Box organizing system to include a photo and a few fun facts about your child for that year (even a place for him to write his signature)!

P.S. I create one My Memory Box for each child and then we have a place to store all their special school photos and memorabilia for every year of school!

I love how once you set up the My Memory Box system, you're good to go from now through high school! Because, let's face it–you're a busy mom and you don't need more to do each year around back to school time, right?!

4) Pray the night before school starts.

This is crucial! Back to school is like the beginning of brand new journey for our family, and my husband and I do our best to lift our concerns about that journey (behavioral issues, curriculum concerns, etc) before we start!

Prayer doesn't have to be super complicated or scary. Think of prayer as conversation with God, so simply share what's on your heart (here are some tips for moms on prayer).

5) Host a simple celebration at the end of the first week (no matter how rough it was!)

At the end of our first official week of school, I plan something super fun for us to do that following weekend.

Whether that’s going for a hike, riding bikes together, or simply making a fun dessert as a family, I try to find something that focuses on building relationships.

 6) Plan a date night.

Perhaps planning a date night sound like a strange back to school tradition?

My husband and I do our best to get out alone sometime that week because, let's face it–back to school takes weeks (or months, if you're homeschooling!) of planning! We believe it's important to get out and have a great time together to celebrate the culmination of all that planning

7) Enjoy some back-to-school themed books.

8) Set up systems to keep you organized through the school year.

Organization is key to staying sane as a mom, right?! I am a firm believer in systems like once a month grocery shopping and meal planning.

But honestly, having a plan to manage the school-related activities (and all that paper clutter) is critical !

That's why I can't say enough good things about the My Memory Box kids school paper organizing system.

I mean for $9.99, you get:

• a convenient, organized system for all school papers from the toddler to high school years
• no more lost papers
• the ability to organize school papers as you go throughout the year
• no more piles of papers without a home
• personalized way to chronicle your child's school experience
• easy way to store awards and other memorabilia

Talk about back to school sanity insurance!

That's a whole lot of organization for super cheap!

Imagine how much more ready you'll feel to tackle the school year when you have a system like My Memory Box in place!

Other Helpful Resources for an Organized School Year:

Homeschool Sanity Savers: Monthly Meal Planning and Monthly Shopping Tips

Homeschool Sanity Savers: Household Cleaning Routines that Work for Your Family

And, lastly, of course, make sure you grab your My Memory Box kids school paper organizing system!

Happy back to school everyone!