Homeschoolers Can Have Yearbooks Too!

Sometimes, as a homeschool mom, I wish my children could experience certain things that brick and mortar school kids experience… like yearbooks. I wanted my kids to have yearbooks too. Well guess what… they can! Homeschool yearbooks are easy to assemble and are a wonderful keepsake.

This article is going to give you some simple and practical ideas for assembling homeschool yearbooks. Are you ready? Let’s dive in shall we?

HOMESCHOOL YEARBOOKS

A yearbook is a must-have for homeschoolers and here’s why:

• It’s a great way to document learning.
• A homeschool yearbook is a fabulous keepsake.
• It’s a wonderful way to inspire you (especially after a rough homeschool day).
• In the future, your children can look back and be nostalgic about their homeschool years.
• It captures field trips, projects, friends, and activities during that time in your child’s life.

HOW TO CREATE A HOMESCHOOL YEARBOOK

The best homeschool yearbook is full of pictures. So if you’re not taking loads of photos yet, hop to it!

WHAT KIND OF PICTURES SHOULD YOU INCLUDE?

Here are some great ideas of what kind of photos to take during the year.

First day of “homeschool” photo

Yes, you can also pose your child with a sign that indicates what grade they’re going into! Those photos aren’t just for kids who go to brick and mortar schools! 

Field trips

Make sure to snap photos on all the field trips you attend. 

Co-op events

If you attend a homeschool co-op, snap some photos of the activities there (check first to make sure that photos are allowed). If your child has some best buddies at the co-op, ask their parent’s permission to take a picture of them together. 

Special homeschool activities

Did you mummify a chicken with your child? Perhaps you made an erupting volcano? Or maybe your children put on a skit? Take pictures of all those special homeschool activities.

Capture the mundane too

As nice as it is to look at all those extra-special activities, it’s wonderful to capture the mundane, basic moments too. Take pictures of your children solving equations, or working on a writing project. 

Take some pictures of you

Set up a tripod and snap some pictures of you reading to your children or working on an experiment with them. You children (and you) will love having those photos to look back on!

Completed projects

The yearbook is a great way to document some of the special projects your children worked on. Whether it’s a painting they completed, a sculpture they made, a handicraft they completed, or a poem they wrote… take photos of their work.

HOW TO ASSEMBLE HOMESCHOOL YEARBOOKS

Select your photos and write up a small caption to include with the photo. Dates are handy but not necessary. Just make sure you complete your yearbook every year and have the year on the outside of the book.

You can place your photos in an album OR you can make a photobook online! I make all of our yearbooks with Chatbooks. I find it’s the easiest and simplest way to assemble our yearbooks. 

USING CHATBOOKS TO MAKE HOMESCHOOL YEARBOOKS

The best part about Chatbooks is they have an app you can install on your phone. 

Once the app is installed, when I take a picture that I want to include in the yearbook, I pop it in there and quickly write up the caption.

All year long I add to the yearbook. This way the yearbook is never an overwhelming project an the end of the year because I’ve picked away at it for ten months.

Once we’ve wrapped up our year, I order the Chatbook and voila! The book arrives in the mail a few weeks later. 

I love that I can stack our yearbooks easily and the children can sit down and look through them at any time. 

Plus, with the Chatbooks account, my previous books are kept on file. So if a book gets damaged, the kids can’t bear to share it, or the grandparents want a copy, I can simply order another yearbook with the click of a button.

Easy peasy, right?!

So what about you? Do you assemble homeschool yearbooks too? I invite you to comment below… I would love to hear your process for making a yearbook. 

Psst – If you use my Chatbooks referral link, you’ll get $10 off of your first photo book! 

Jennifer Bly

Author of My Kitchen, My Classroom: An Introduction to Homeschool and creator of The Deliberate Mom. Jennifer writes about parenting, homeschooling, her faith, and life with her husband and two girls. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Applied Human Service Administration Degree with a specialization in Early Learning in Child Care.