Shaun Groves
Years ago, when we opted to homeschool our oldest instead of putting her on the bus to kindergarten, the public schools in our area hosted back to school bashes. Not wanting Gabriella to feel left out, Becky threw the first ever cul-de-sac back to school party.
It’s become a tradition.
It’s a tradition that got replaced last year by a small family trip to get ice-cream. Adoption is hard…especially in the beginning.
But the back to school party made a comeback Friday night!
We shot stuff.
I made this shooting gallery out of golf tees and ping pong balls. (Thank you, Pinterest.)
Oddly, the game the most kids line up for every year is a simple guessing game.
Becky cut two arm holes in a box. She cut two sleeves off an old sweatshirt and taped them to the holes so kids can put their hands through the sleeves and reach into the box. On the backside of the box Becky sits and places an object in the kid’s hands. The kid guesses what it is. It’s that simple. I have no idea why this is so fun.
But the line is long every year.
And, of course, there were cupcakes.
And unsupervised bowls of every kind of sprinkle Publix sells. You only start school once…or twelve times. Anyway…
But the best part for me every year is the people. Our cul-de-sac has a lot of turnover. Every house but ours has been foreclosed on in the last two years. And now we’ve got a rental in the cul-de-sac – a revolving door. Neighbors come and go too regularly.
We know all the kids in the circle. They play at our house every day. But don’t always know their parents. The back to school party has become the easiest way to turn them into new friends. And there’s nothing I like more than meeting new people.
I think we had 19 kids at the party. Every shade, all ages, home schooled, public schooled. The front yard looked like a meeting of the United Nations…or heaven.
So we took pictures – lots of pictures. To remember. Because we only have 12 more parties left – and I’m not sure how much Sambhaji will want to play the guessing game with mom when he’s a senior in high school.
And besides, these are the kind of pictures rehearsal dinner slide shows were created for right?
Michelle ~ Blogging from the Boonies says:
Well, now THAT looks fun!
I am planning our annual Not-Back-To-School Picnic and may need to take notes here. We’re lacking in the “shooting stuff” category, for sure. We also may need to stock up on the sprinkles.
Andrew W. says:
Hahaha, that’s amazing. I was home-schooled until going to college, but we definitely never did anything quite like that.
Sarah aka MainlineMom says:
Love it!!! But now your “Mom blogging” has definitely moved from your slot at Simple Mom right over to this here little space. Thankfully our neighborhood is more permanent but it is similarly a picture of the UN, or heaven, and we have a big block party every Halloween. It’s the one time of year the grown-ups really come out to meet and greet.
Shaun Groves says:
I could write a post on intentional community, full of bullet points and sociological and theological jargon…or I could write like a mom blogger and just SHOW you what it looks like.
I think this is more effective, don’t you?
; )
amy says:
On the more instructional, bullet-pointy side of things, what have you found is the most effective way to let your neighbors know about this?
Shaun Groves says:
There’s no greater power than a whining child. So we tell the kids “Hey, we’re having a party with cupcakes and games…bring your mom and dad!”
Works every time.
Johanna Hanson says:
What a great idea for getting to know your neighbors!
Kit says:
How fun! I’m so anti-social, I’ve never been good at stuff like this. and my version of those paintings would leave a lot to be desired, ha ha! Those are great!
Shaun Groves says:
Wow, antisocial people on the internet?? Shocker. ; )
Seriously, we started socializing with our neighbors by just sitting in the front yard for an hour in the late afternoon while the kids played. As people came home from work, we waved. Simple. Conversation and connection grew from there.
Kit says:
well I can do that! We just moved to a new place where the backyard is, uh, “unfinished,” so we have some swings and seats out front instead 🙂
Jenn @ I Am Not Superwoman says:
What a great idea and day of fun for all. I wish I had neighbors like your family! Maybe I should be that neighbor. Hmmm… Be the change you want to see in the world.
Mary says:
You guys amaze me! What fun. Wish I could have been there. I always cried the first day of school. I hated for summer to end. I always loved having the kids and all of thier friends over. You’re making great memories!! Keep it up.
Kelli says:
I want to move to your neighborhood…
Shaun Groves says:
We want you to move to our neighborhood. I’ll let you know when there’s an opening.
Jill Foley says:
I want to live on your street. My kids do, too. Hmmm….I am surrounded by a bunch of retired folks.
Shaun Groves says:
You have to get in line behind Kelli.
One of the many reasons we moved out of our big house was because all our neighbors were working non-stop or retired. Neither one of those makes for the most fun neighbors…in our experience. By “fun” I mean they must have kids, own a lawn chair, and play outside. ; )
Jill Foley says:
I see it this way…by moving into this neighborhood two years ago, with two young kids, we are bringing the fun into the neighborhood. We’ve had a couple impromptu violin concerts out front which draws the old, retired folks out.
Kris says:
You say there’s a rental house down the street? 😉
This was awesome, Shaun. LOVED it.
Kristin says:
I’m totally stealing this idea. I may change the occasion because I’ll be a little late to the back-to-school celebration, but I can come up with an excuse for a party.
Although I steer clear of Pinterest, so I may just let my boy pretend he’s shooting things with a stick, like he does any other time he’s outside.
Steve says:
Hey Shaun, We host a neighborhood party each year… Would you mind me using your photo ideas for photo ops?
Shaun Groves says:
Use away, Steve!
Steve says:
Thank you!
thomas says:
I know that it is probably me, but I was shocked when you said “Our cul-de-sac has a lot of turnover. Every house but ours has been foreclosed on in the last two years.”
It is so sad for someone to work so hard to get ahead and buy a house just to lose it all in the end.
Thomas
Lisa @stretchmarkmama says:
Love the cardboard art pieces–who does those? Is it the same person who decorates the cakes in your family?
Michelle Dunkle says:
Well Shaun, Amber and I have been so homesick for Tennesse and here is just one more reason!! We hear our house is still sporting a for-sale sign out front too in the next cul-de-sac over. And Noah mentioned the other day how much he would love to run over to rendezvous at the creek with Gresham after it rained here. We came across the pictures of the mud fight just the other day. Noah sent it to his Compassion Child, there has to be irony in that somewhere?
Thanks for the great memories, you and Becky are amazing! We may have to try something like this around here to reconnect with our neighbors.
Rebecca says:
Wow! Way to kick the back to school party up a notch. Looks like a blast and some seriously intentional neighboring.
Alva Lee Harley says:
I’ve read/stalked your blog for a long time, but never commented. Today, though, I have to defend us old retired people. We are 69, 71. We retired to a small farm outside a large city. Two college girls moved into the house across the street from us and invited us to a cook-out for family and friends. We had such fun and the parents were reassured their kids weren’t living near ax-murderers. Our neighbors had a Louisiana shrimp boil with a local band and invited us. We had a great time and were welcomed by all even though our neighbor was the only person in attendance that we knew. We hosted a pig roast and invited church friends and neighbors. Built great relationships. Last summer we invited church children to our house for a picnic on our porch, games, and tractor rides. They still call my husband “Tractor Man.” We no longer have children at home but we do own lawn chairs and regularly play bocce ball and cornhole. Please don’t automatically put us on a shelf before checking to see if we’d like to be involved in your lives and the lives of your children. You might be surprised at what we old people can offer you. And thanks for all you do for the children of the world. I truly appreciate you and your blog.
Shaun Groves says:
You’re absolutely right, Alva. And I wish you lived next door.
But if you read what I wrote again I hope you’ll see that I wasn’t generalizing at all. Or that wasn’t my intent. In our experience, retired neighbors have kept to themselves, not accepted our invitations, not been interested in community with us. Perhaps they already have great community elsewhere!
Good for you for being a different kind of neighbor!
Crystal @ Serving Joyfully says:
Awesome! We moved to the other side of our state at the beginning of this month, so a back-to-school-bash was not even on my radar this summer. This is an awesome idea for next year…when we have our first year of homeschooling under our belt, and hopefully haven’t spent most of the summer packing and unpacking from a surprise move across the state 🙂 Blessings to you and your family!
Stephanie says:
LOVE this.
Tell us more about those photo backdrops. Did you make them or did you order them from somewhere? I particularly like the rock band one.
The Guessing Box game is a great idea too.
Thinking about how we might be able to pull this off in our neighborhood…(we don’t live in a cul-de-sac).
Shaun Groves says:
I paint them. The kids come up with the ideas and I do my best to make it happen. Results vary ; )
Inkling says:
Sounds like a really cool tradition! I’ve been trying to dream up a way to do something like that so I can meet our neighbors. We live in a rented suite at the back of a house in our neighborhood, but I’ve slowly been able to meet a few families and begin to build relationships.
I just wanted to pop in and tell you that it turns out my brother apparently has been the Latin teacher for at least one of your kiddos at some point. In a blog post you wrote just a bit ago, you featured a picture with a building in the background that just looked super familiar. So I asked my brother (Dave) if he knew you. Sure enough. It’s a small world. One of my favorite moms from my teaching days in the same town at a little classical school works there too. I have to say that moments like that make being a couple thousand miles away in another country and often feeling homesick not so painful. It’s oddly comforting to find out that my world is smaller than I imagined, and that the person who wrote the music that God has used to help me meet with Him, occasionally walks the same halls that my brother does.