We are lovers of tradition at our house, and the end of our homeschool year is a time filled with beloved traditions that we’ve embraced over the years. In this three-part series I’ll describe our activities that really cap off the year for us and provide great future memories.

First is our last day of school which is our Game Day. I remember my own last days of school being filled with fun and no schoolwork, so we established our own tradition that we always look forward to. Our last day is always a Friday in early June, and the boys make out a list before that day of games that we will play. I said they had to be educational games, but truth be told, every game can have an educational angle if you look hard enough for it.

Some of the favorites we’ve enjoyed just about every year are: Travel (you have to know your math facts to take steps across the yard before your opponents), Monopoly, Yahtzee, Battleship, Mastermind, playing with Legos, Magnetix, and Brain Benders (those are science!), Boggle, Scrabble, the old standby Hangman, Borderline (that’s a card game we have where you have to know geography), and a world map puzzle. Then there’s carpet square challenge where the caller calls out two body parts which the players have to touch, at one time, to a small square. It’s funny watching them try to touch their nose and right toe, or left elbow and right ear, to the square (gotta be limber for that one. Oh, and that counts for P.E., in case you needed to know.)

The favorite game, by far, for all of us, has always been Balderdash, our own simplified version. We take turns choosing one of the hardest, unheard-of words we can find in the dictionary, and write down three definitions. One is the real definition, and the other two are made up, and the others have to guess which is the right one. The trick is to make up the most complex, convincing, dictionary-sounding definition you can.

Surprisingly, our last day of school is usually the longest school day of the year as the boys want to make sure they each get all their favorite games in. We throw in a pizza-and-pop party for lunch. What a great kickoff for summer!