Every year of homeschooling should be a special one. No matter if it is kindergarten, preschool, elementary school, middle school, or high school.
As a parent, you should be keen on capturing those moments that have sculpted the school year. Both you and your homeschooled child can see this as a worthwhile crafts project so you can remember each year with affection.
Remember that a homeschool yearbook is pretty much the same as any yearbook for a child in a public school. If there are notable differences, it will be in that your homeschooled yearbook can be more customized.
Include more content about your child, their individual projects, artwork, and field trips. In this guide, we will detail seven of the best homeschool yearbook ideas.
A Photobook Yearbook
A picture is worth a thousand words, so you could have a yearbook comprised entirely of photos. With that in mind, take some photos to act as evidence of what your homeschooled child did during the year.
That may be the artwork they created, the science experiments they conducted, or the nature they experienced outside. By taking some candid shots during lessons, you can really capture the essence of an entire school year.
Certain photos should also be taken to act as milestones. Take a photo of their first day of being homeschooled and for the first day of each subsequent year.
Try to source a small chalkboard that you can reuse, yet on this occasion, decorate it with a message like, ‘First Day Of Homeschool.’
If you attend a homeschooling co-operative, make sure that you ask each individual child’s parents for permission to include them in photos.
A photobook yearbook is also a great way of showing family and friends how the school year went. If you want to spend the time designing a cover, and when the photos are developed or printed off, you can provide extra copies.
That way, you will have one copy for yourself and can send a copy to their grandparents. A photo box can also work well, as you can simply place all the photos, pamphlets, and assignments into one box and then store it.
As much as the focus should be on your homeschooled child, there should be evidence of you providing the teaching.
Perhaps have a few photos of you reading to your child or laying out a lesson plan. The yearbook is for your child, yet you can always include some photos of you to show that homeschooling is a joint effort.
Also, add a caption to each photo, as you may forget over time what it was you were trying to capture.
A Ringed Binder Yearbook
Some school years simply produce more content, and you will need a bigger yearbook to contain it all. In preparation for the school year, get a ringed binder and a few plastic protector sleeves.
For every field trip or trip to a museum, make sure that you pick up a program or pamphlet to act as evidence to slip into a plastic sleeve.
Take photos on a disposable camera and then get them developed for some candid shots that can really add some visuals to the school year.
Of course, there should be plenty of schoolwork to go into the binder, too. That can be artwork, A-graded homework, and diagrams that prove what you did during the year.
The plastic protector sleeves also work well to keep your schoolwork in pristine condition while it remains organized.
Take Control Of Your Templates: Printed Or Online
Websites such as Canva and PicMonkey are great online resources for yearbook design templates. Involve your child by letting them peruse either website and picking out their favorite designs.
You can also buy a yearbook that already includes printed templates, which can make things really easy. All you need to do is add the content, and you have a yearbook.
Some companies use templates, and you can use these to easily create your homeschool yearbook.
Check out Picaboo, Presto, or Shutterfly to find some great designs with templates that make creating a yearbook very straightforward.
These can be expensive, though they do make the job a bit easier by simply personalizing the pages.
Tailored Sections
If the school year included a particular achievement or event, then create your own section for it in your yearbook.
That could be learning to play a particular instrument, in which case, make sure you have a section dedicated to showing them play.
A specific field trip could have meant a great deal to both you and your homeschooled child, so feature it in detail.
This could also be the year when books played a prominent part, so capture your child’s reading and even include quotes or excerpts.
Quotes
Take inspiration from the quotes that meant something during the school year. That could be from your child’s favorite book, a quote from a historical figure, or simply something motivational.
For a young child, Dr. Seuss’s books are a treasure trove for meaningful quotes such as, “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”
For creative minds, a quote from a figure like Pablo Picasso can work really well, such as, “Everything you can imagine is real.”
Everyday Shots
Some school days can be a little more tedious than others. Instead of simply highlighting the events of the school year, take the time to include a section for the mundane, too.
That could be photos of your child concentrating on a particular piece of work. It could be a photo of downtime to prove that there are moments of relief during each school day as well.
Visual Subjects
Certain subjects work better in a yearbook as they provide more visual material. These can include presentations, art, handwriting, field trips, handicrafts, science, and field trips.
Each one of those subjects should have its own section with plenty of photos.
Individual Class Sections
As the classes will change year-on-year, make sure that you include a section dedicated to classes. You will likely find that in the early years of homeschooling, you include typical subjects like writing, reading, and arithmetic.
For later grades, you can introduce some life skills such as budgeting and politics. As your child becomes a teenager, insist on a section for driving lessons, as these can prove to be a worthwhile reference.
Design The Cover In An Art Lesson
Your child’s yearbook should be something that they are fully invested in rather than a high school yearbook that comes with its own design.
While you can largely control the content, they can have full responsibility for the cover.
Close to the end of the school year, make sure you include an art lesson where you spend it solely designing your yearbook’s cover.
Ask your child to think about what has happened so far in the school year and use that as inspiration for the cover design.
Your child may become a fan of a particular book, in which case you can spend time trying to create a cover that is inspired by that book.
Treat The Yearbook As A Scrapbook
For a more rustic approach, consider treating your homeschool yearbook as a scrapbook. This can really get your child’s creative juices flowing as they work out how to fill each page.
Quotes can be written out, and descriptions to accompany photos can be written in. Of course, you can let your child have free rein on which scrapbook to pick, and there are plenty available from various stores.
Instead Of Signatures, Consider Autographs
One of the key aspects of a high school yearbook is the section where school pals leave messages and signatures.
For a homeschool yearbook, you can still have signatures, but you can treat them like autographs.
On every field trip, encourage your child to ask for an autograph as a memento of the event. You can even buy stickers that you can simply fix into the yearbook in a particular section.
Creating a homeschool yearbook can be a great learning experience as you and your child create memories. These yearbooks can also include reference points for what you learned throughout the year.
As you continue to develop your lesson plans, you can read back on what was included in the last school year and then build on that.
Your child’s education should be something that you develop over time, and a yearbook can prove what worked and what did not work so well.
To make the best yearbooks, try to document as much of the school year as you can. That should include photos yet also autographs, diagrams, notes, and quotes.
Any class where you think you have reached a breakthrough should be documented. Above all, you want to create a yearbook where you can look back upon that school year fondly.
Leave a comment