A few years ago I started thinking about all the fun end of the year activities and awards ceremonies that are typically done in public schools, and I had a little FOMO for my kids! I went to public school as a kid and I have some great memories of some of those end-of-the-school-year events and of receiving different awards for academic achievements. And I want my kids to have good memories of the end of their school year too! So we started developing some fun end of the school year traditions of our own. These end of the year traditions are a fun way to celebrate progress, mark time, and make great memories together. They give us a meaningful way to wrap up the school year and recognize all the hard work that we have done! One of our favorite traditions that we have started in our homeschool is an end-of-year celebration where we give out end of year awards. We don’t really give grades to our homeschooled children (except our high schoolers) so these annual awards are the perfect way to recognize and celebrate the progress that the kids have made throughout the year. In this post I’ve included free printable end of the year awards in case you would like to start a homeschool awards ceremony tradition of your own! I’ll be adding more end of the year awards every year, so feel free to check back! Also, I’m open to suggestions if there’s an award you would like that I haven’t made – just tell me your ideas for award types in the comments!
How to Start Your Own Homeschool End of Year Awards Ceremony
The homeschool end of year awards resource that I have created is focused own helping you celebrate your child’s unique traits. I think the best awards help children to feel good about their own strengths and growth Homeschool families have a great opportunity to really cultivate a growth mindset and help kids learn that outstanding students aren’t just the ones that get good grades. An end of year awards ceremony is a great time to recognize a new skill that a child has gained, a challenge that he has overcome, or a positive character trait that she is developing. It’s a great way to communicate to your child that you see and value the progress that he is making and all of your students’ hard work.
Our homeschool end-of-year awards ceremony is super simple – it doesn’t have to be elaborate to be meaningful! Before I prepare the awards, I take a little time to reflect on what each child has accomplished during the school year. I think about the progress they have made, the things that have been challenging for them, the obstacles they have overcome, and the ways they have grown. I also think about what they are proud of and the areas that they would probably want to be recognized for their accomplishments. Then I make award certificates to celebrate them in an area where they have had a lot of growth. I also get a little treat for each child to give them with their end of year award – it’s a great way to make it a little more exciting and special!
We do our end of the year awards ceremony on the last day of school. We have a special dinner to celebrate, and then have our awards ceremony. When I hand out the awards I say a few things about what the child has accomplished that school year and why they earned their award. We clap and I present the award, and that’s it! Then we go out for a treat. It’s a great way to finish off the year and my kids love it.
Below are some of the end of year awards that I have created. The printable certificates have blank spaces for student names and the teacher name, so you can personalize them for your students. Feel free to use this set of awards in your homeschool, co-op, or classroom. They are for personal use only, as are all free printables on my blog. And feel free to make a suggestion for unique awards you’d like in the comments! I’d be happy to create some special student awards for your little learners!
Homeschool End of the Year Awards Free Printable Certificates
These printable certificates are in PDF form and are free to download and use. Just print them, fill in your students’ names, the name of the person granting the award, and the date, and you are good to go! After the awards ceremony, you can put your child’s certificate in a memory book so he can have a special way to remember all the ways that he has grown.
The Happy Honeybee Award
I made this one for my four year-old who is not doing much school work yet, but who is learning to do chores and be helpful! He was so proud of himself when he received his award at our award ceremony! It was pretty cute.
The Bookworm Award
This is a great one for young readers who are just beginning to enjoy reading books!
The Curious Cat Award
This is a good one for a child who is growing in their curiosity and love of learning.
The Huge Heart Award
This is a great end of year award for a child that has grown in kindness and compassion, or for a child who loves to love!
The Tenacious Turtle Award
I made this for my daughter who was really struggling with math, but persevered, and learned to stick with it even when it was hard. It’s a great award for celebrating persistence in adversity!
The Awesome Ant Award
This is a great award for recognizing a child’s hard work and effort in achieving their goals. I made it for my son who was focusing heavily on building his own business. While this is not a traditional school subject, it definitely involved a lot of life skills and character development, which I wanted to recognize!
The Creative Cat Award
This homeschool award is great for recognizing the child who has found their creative side!
The Beautiful Butterfly Award
This award is to recognize a child who made a transformation during the school year. For the particular child that I created this for, the transformation was more one of attitude than of academic skill. And I wanted to celebrate that! In my book, it was a big triumph and showed a lot of growth and maturation.
The Lion Heart Award
This is a great end of the year award for a child that has faced their fears!
We have such a great opportunity in the home school community to nurture the growth of our children in so many different ways. I hope this homeschool end of year awards resource helps you to celebrate your child’s unique strengths. And I hope your student feels a sense of accomplishment in the wins and the growth the she has experienced this school year.
Happy summer break y’all! I hope you have a great one! You’ve earned it!
