What’s the school-year focus at your house? If you don’t have one, don’t worry, most families don’t! However having a theme is a great way to make your children aware of specific attributes and attitudes you want them to cultivate.
1. Choose key words.
Start with key words for your theme: integrity, discipline, diligence are all examples. You can also add in a sub-theme of a lighter nature: fun, adventure, joy.
2. Create a theme paragraph.
Once you have a broad theme, come up with a short paragraph with more details. You can do something like this:
For this school year, the Smith family will be honest, kind and joyful. We will start each day committed to showing honesty and kindness to all we encounter. We will also be sure to fill each of our school days with an attitude of joy, no matter what the day brings.
You can also keep it light-hearted:
This school year we will be
A family that’s joyful, kind and shows honesty!
3. Use a theme verse or quote.
Think about your favorite Bible verses and find one that will inspire and encourage your children. You can also use one of these inspirational quotes for your school-year theme. If your children are old enough, let them help choose.
4. Give it center stage.
Once you have your theme, proudly display it. Let your kids come up with ways to show it off: taped to the bathroom mirror, posted on the inside of the front door so that they can see it each day as they head out the door, framed and hanging in the kitchen are all good places to start.
You can also let your kids write out the theme themselves in colored pencils, markers or, if they’re old enough, calligraphy pens.
