Hifalutin Hints

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Caricature of Jennifer Cabrera holding a coffee mug

with
Jennifer Cabrera

Hints for Homeschool Traditions

raditions are the sticky film on the kitchen table of life-long learning. They are the honey of homeschooling that sweetens the adventure and holds the family together. Okay, that sticky substance could also be glue from an art project or goo from a science experiment, but you get the idea. Traditions help us bond, give us a sense of camaraderie, establish inside jokes and family tall tales. Traditions create wonderful memories our kids can carry with them and pass on to their own kids someday. ~~Hopefully, we get asked to join in passing down the fun when we’re old and grouchy.~~

top view of a spilled spoonful of honey on a surface

Even after just one year of homeschooling, you should already be accruing plenty of traditions to fill a family time capsule and exasperate the kids.

What do you mean you can’t think of any homeschooling traditions your family maintains!? Of course you have traditions!

You just can’t see the trees for the forest. Some of these customs are so ingrained in your homeschool life that you likely don’t recognize them or their heart-warming worth in the daily grind.

For instance, how do you wake your kids each morning? My personal ritual is to perform a spotlight rendition of “Rise and Shine!” I start low and sweet as I trudge down the hall for the third time each morning trying to wake my son. I flip the light on, pull back the covers from his cringing face and belt out… “and give God the glory glory!” The dog barks along with me. My son groans on cue. Everyone is awake, alive, and annoyed amiable.

It’s tradition! And we have many more traditions varying in size from small habits to big displays of love, humor, cut-throat friendly competition, pointless amusement, and commemorative celebration!

an oversized bee beside a large square chunk of honey comb

Other homeschool traditions that we’ve amassed over the years include:

First day breakfast out and humorous not-back-to-school pics.
Personalized goody-bags to start each year, filled with learning gadgets and needful knick-knacks such as fidget spinners, second breakfast items, and deodorant pencils.
Learn something. Clean something. Practice something. Our simple slightly resented daily checklist for summer days enforced before allowing screen time.
Nonnegotiable treasured read aloud time.
Book vs. Movie Parties: nights where we enjoy pointing out all the discrepancies of a book’s film adaptation while eating themed snacks and voting which was better (always concluding the book).
Silly sarcastic living room awards ceremony. (i.e., Best Use of Free Time Award, Morning Coffee Brewing Award, or The Learning-When-No-One-Thought-You-Were-Listening Award).
Musical instruments, musical theater, living room concerts, sporadic jam sessions, Yuck! Mom and Dad are dancing again! All the music!
Homesquirreling: Where we set out to answer a specific question online and end up following curiosity and clickbait and thus losing hours to game-camera footage, exotic recipes, and memes, dangerous science videos.
Arguing…uh…negotiating the number of math problems that must be completed to prove mastery each day.
Game nights, summer gardening, basketball in the driveway, long walks after dinner, grumbly well-orchestrated family cleaning days, stargazing in pjs, texting daily Bible verses, random kitchen science, birdwatching, random wildlife interventions, messy art, rock hunting, stealthy rock removal, and so on and so forth…

7 Hifalutin Hints

for hunting, highlighting,
& hanging on to your most cherished

homeschool habits:

If you don’t think you have any traditions, look closer into your daily homeschool life. Look for little moments and activities your family shares that would make your day feel incomplete if left out.

If you truly can’t think of any, start creating some traditions today. Start immediately. Let the kids help.

If you lack creativity, copy from a friend to get you started. Or grab from my list above.

Write it down, take pictures, make a pact. It’s not a tradition if you don’t remember to repeat it! We all have tons to remember already, so make reminders to keep the traditions alive.

Be careful! Traditions should not be too fantastic to maintain. For example, you shared an amazing vacation or experience! But can you afford to do it over and over? Most of us are unable to turn high priced activities (ex. climbing a volcano in Hawaii, cooking a seven-course meal from exotic ingredients) into a recurring family tradition. Keep the cost of time and money in practical perspective to ensure you can maintain the tradition.

Stick with what your family enjoys no matter how archaic it seems to the world. The latest fads rarely become traditions. Though it’s great to try new activities we see in our social media reels, a lot is staged for clicks or to sell something. Plus, constantly looking to “keep up with the Joneses” won’t create authentic cozy connections.

Expectations of responsibility, appreciation, and hard work are homeschool traditions, too. A family closely bonded by love and tradition will develop an unspoken creed. Be firm and model the expectations you have for relationships and success in your homeschool efforts. Over time, an understanding and appreciation of each other’s worth and the obligation to uphold and care for one another will ~~hopefully~~ form.

Now go get sticky with homeschool traditions!

~~Force~~ Find or forge those that are going to grace your planners, photo albums, or hearts for years to come.

To get you started, list three homeschool traditions your homeschool family already has or plans to start:

1.
2.
3.

a wooden honey dipper sitting in a little pool of honey on a surface

P.S. Don’t get stressed and bent out of shape trying to create photo-worthy, kumbaya moments you may think others are always having. I certainly don’t want to add to the never-ending list of tasks of homeschool parents. But if we’re going to expend extra effort in life, family time is the place to do it! Enjoy your family. And know that the best stories and laughs often grow out of the blessed mess, not fabricated perfection.

ennifer Cabrera is a physician assistant/MPH who left medicine to homeschool her three sons, two of which are graduated and studying electrical engineering and professional aviation at university. Jennifer is the writer, speaker, author and homeschool advocate behind HifalutinHomeschooler.com and strives to offer truth, encouragement, and humor to new and seasoned homeschool parents. Jennifer co-hosts The Homeschool Solutions Show podcast, is a speaker with Great Homeschool Conventions, and has written for the Epoch Times. Her publications include the humorous language arts series: Gross-Out Grammar & Revolting Writing and Socialize Like a Homeschooler; A Humorous Homeschool Handbook.

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