It’s that time of year again! Charge up your camera batteries and get ready because very soon the kids will be heading back to school.
Celeste Smith
There are plenty of moments to capture and scrap around this annual event. If you are like me, you probably have the obligatory first day of school shot.
This year I’m going to try and mix it up a bit. At the end of the year, I took a photo of my son holding up two fingers indicating that he was no longer a first grader.
I think it would be fun to do that again on the first day of school, maybe with my older son who was not willing to have his picture taken on the last day!
While I usually get a photo of the boys wearing their backpacks. I haven’t done a great job of documenting all the school supplies and new clothing we purchase before school starts. This year I plan on getting some shots of the supplies as well as including the actual list from school on the page!
My children will be riding the bus to school for the first time this year. I will be at the bus stop to get the obligatory getting on the bus shot! I also always attempt to catch the boys with their teachers at the beginning of the year. Luckily, they are in aftercare and I can sometimes catch the teachers as they are leaving for the day.
We also have a “sneak peek” day and I bring my camera to get shots of them at their desks and detail shots of their classrooms. Here I created a page that includes photos with their teachers and some detail shots from that day.
A simple interview is a great way capture your children’s thoughts about the new school year. Ask questions about what they are looking forward to this year, what they hope to learn, who their friends are, favorites (color, books, movies, etc.), and include some stats about their height, weight and age. Revisit these questions at the end of the year for a fun page about how your child has changed!
I’ll confess most of my back to school photos are not taken in the morning on the first day of school. My husband takes them to school so I tend to grab my photos at the end of the day. Don’t worry if you don’t get photos on the first day, worst case scenario you can just take pictures as close to the first day as you can.
The most important part is telling the story, no one is going to remember when you took the photos!
Celeste Smith lives in Connecticut with her husband Terry, her two mischievous boys Adam (9) and Sam (7), and a spooky, old cat named Woody. She works in the insurance industry by day and spends her
evenings reading, crafting with her sons, and scrapbooking. Formerly an ambassador for Simple Scrapbooks magazine, Celeste currently designs for write.click.scrapbook, Two Peas in a Bucket Digital, Sweet Shoppe Designs, Gennifer Bursett, and Jenni Bowlin. Celeste regularly guest teaches seminars at Masterful Scrapbook Design. For years, Celeste was an 8.5×11 paper scrapper, but over the past year she has embraced digital scrapbooking as well as the square. Celeste runs a daily inspiration blog and gathers ideas and free printables from around the Internet for her readers.
I really enjoyed all your suggestions about school pictures, both for the beginning of school and later. My kids are long grown, and my grandkids are getting there, but I still enjoyed the suggestions. I envy and admire the younger mothers such as you who are doing such a good job of documenting their children as they grow up. Thanks for the nice article and the nice layouts.
I am looking for more ideas as well so thanks for the suggestions… I usually get the first day shot and that’s about all! I love that you have a “Sneak peek” day at your kids school! A new thing I want to do this year is take a shot at the new shoes and then take it again when the shoes are about to go to the trash in a few months! 🙂
What wonderful ideas. My children started school this week, and I was too busy to get most of the pictures I usually do. Thanks for the reminder that it’s not too late to get those pictures. I’m taking the camera with me to school this morning!
These are great ideas. I have photos for each first and last day – but they are still sitting in my “to do” pile. Years ago I started the album using the Becky Higgins School Years kit (Kit of the Month). But only one of her 6 years is completed.
I liked your ideas, especially taking photos at the end of the year. It’s easy to remember things like graduation, but on a yearly basis it’s nice to also get those last day teacher hugs and excitement for summer to begin and for the next grade level – thanks!
We went to middle school orientation last night. I was really worried about my son going to this particular school because it includes the worst areas of the city. I feel better about it after seeing the school and all the effort they take to keep drugs, fighting and weapons out of the school. When we got home I emailed my son and asked what he thought. Now I have journaling in HIS words (even if they are very few!)
What a great idea – the interview questions. My daughter is starting 1st grade and I want to do that each year – so glad I came across it NOW. Thank you!!
Love your ideas for mixing it up a bit. I find I get into a rut and take the same photo year after year. If you are like me, then perhaps a comparison page is in order, comparing the similarities and differences from year to year. I also like the email idea, but for my kids it’ll be in text form! Can’t you just picture the cute little conversation bubbles on that LO? 🙂
I have done a series of three pictures each year so far for first days. One on the front porch, one in front of the school sign and one with the teacher. Now I have getting on the bus photos, too, but those didn’t start until now. I like the interview idea a lot. Thanks for a great post!
I love back to school pics but as the kids get older I’m taking fewer. They are less patient hanging out with mom’s camera as they run to catch up with their friends from a long summer away.
You have some great ideas about making the first day of school go beyond just photos. I love the interview idea…it would be very interesting to see how much they change by the end of the school year. My son is too young for school right now, but I’ll definitely keep these ideas in mind for his first day of school 🙂 Thank you for sharing.
I love your layouts! They’re so creative and the pictures that you use here are wonderfully imaginative! Thanks for sharing!
Mary
Love the idea of taking a shot of your son holding up two fingers and also the scrapping of the backpack. Those were very important for my boys this year! 🙂
What great ideas. This is my youngest DD’s Sr. year. Maybe it’s not too late for me…
We have been doing the 1st day of school photo for a long time In fact, my husband will have photo number 55 next week. Yep that’s right! He is a teacher and I have taken a photo of him too on his first day of school each year. He is retiring this year, so this tradition will pass.
I don’t have kids, but as a current student, I like to record my own beginning of the school year. As a college student, we have not just the first day of class, but the first day of clubs, sports, and other campus activities.