This year for the kids back to (home)school pictures, I wanted to do something different. There are so many cute ideas out there on Pinterest and other blogs with “students” holding signs or chalkboards announcing their grade, but that concept doesn’t work that well for us as because of some of the special needs of our kids, they are not necessarily in the grade they should be in for their age or they may be doing more than one grade in a single year so I had to come up with another idea.
This is a picture of our little “class”. As you can see, some of my little “students” are getting to be as tall as I am! I think it’s going to be a great year!
I chose to personalize the kids’ individual pictures with something that would be fun to look back on someday…their favourite book. They each chose their favourite book of the moment to have with them in the picture.
Miss Optimism is 11 years old. She chose the book Mia, a Matter of Taste. It’s the book she happens to be reading right now after we picked it up for her on our vacation.
Einstein is 11 years old. He had a hard time choosing a favourite book. He is a voracious reader! He chose one of the Warriors books to represent the whole series as he has read them all.
Snuggle Puppy will be 11 years old in less than a month. He chose the Bible as his favourite book which I have to say made my heart melt!
Granola Girl is 8 years old. She really enjoys the Little Critter books and it came down to her choosing between the Little Critter ABC book or this one and the Just a Little Critter Collection won out!
Dancing Queen is 7 years old. She loves the book I Like Myself so much and the smile on her face in the picture is from her telling me about her favourite part in the book!
Other ideas to personalize your child’s back to school picture:
- have them pose with their favourite stuffed animal
- take the picture while they are doing an activity that shows a bit of who they are
- have them holding a sign of their goals or dream
- have them hold a sign of what they want to be when they grow up or have them dressed in costume of that occupation
- eating their favourite food
- posing in their secret or happy space
- playing with their favourite toy
- holding a sign with their favourite scripture verse
- sitting with their pet
- holding their favourite movie
- dressed as their favourite superhero or book character
- wearing their favourite outfit
- draped in their favourite colour or standing in front of a “wall” (sheet or blanket hung up) of their favourite colour
- holding pictures of themselves when they were younger
- with their special blanket
- highlighting their hobby
- playing their favourite board game
- holding a balloon with their age written on it
- with their bike or skateboard
- doing their household chore
- with their own artwork
- being silly
If you want to learn more about our upcoming year, you can read about the kids’ goals, the curriculum choices we will be using and our classroom. I am participating in the Not Back to School Blog Hop where you can find other ideas for (not) back to school pictures.
Our homeschool classroom is all about functionality. Years ago, we decided to convert our family room which almost never got used into a homeschool room. We tore up the old carpet and painted the floor. This may not be the most attractive flooring solution, but it was cost effective and it is easy to sweep up bits of paper and scraps from crafting and I never have to worry about the kids ruining the floor by spilling paint.
The room has less wall space than it appears to because there are patio doors, an outside door and two entrances so I made the door to the outside into a chalkboard using chalkboard paint. As it is a metal door, it is also magnetic so I have magnets on it as well that I can hang up posters or charts with. This has really helped make the most of the space. I write the quotes we are memorizing on the “chalkboard” and the kids sometimes use it to draw on or play games on.
I use the Ikea Expedit unit to house our board games and puzzles. Above that, I have three clocks set to different time zones in the world that are important to us. One is the time zone for where we currently live, the other is for Ethiopia (where two of our kids were born) and the other we change depending on what we are studying or what is happening in our life. For example, later this year when The Husband and our second oldest son go to Thailand, we will set the third clock for there.
My whiteboard is all about functionality. It is obviously used as a white board but is set up so that my chore chart is on the back and the bins underneath are often what I use to create and store our 
My favourite part of the room still is the reading corner because we have made such great memories there. The bean bag chair and light sit beneath the owl tree decal and it is a comfortable place to read or snuggle or play Uno.
Our classroom works really well for us. We have tried to make it functional and fun. I like to have things such as books, globes and maps, board games, puzzles, and hands-on learning aids accessible to the kids at their level so I have set the room up to maximize those opportunities.
I am linking up in the schoolroom hop week of the 
There are many factors to consider when it comes to choosing math curriculum. Math is my least favourite subject and the one that is my personal weakness so I am not confident in teaching it. When the kids were younger and I was only teaching simple addition, choosing curriculum wasn’t as big of an issue, but as they get older, the stakes get higher.
If you have any experience you can share regarding the math curriculum you are using or have used in the past, please add it into the comments section. I’m looking for all the help I can get with this decision and I know that your experience will also help others with their choice as well.
