Homeschool Track and Field Day 2017

I had the privilege to organize homeschool track and field day this morning for local homeschool families.  What a beautiful morning!  Seriously!  The children were in good moods, the weather was beautiful and we all had such a grand time together.  I'm so thankful that my children have grandparents who choose and are able to be involved and come to their events like these (and help with the little guy!).  I'm also grateful we had so many children and families willing and able to participate this morning.  It makes for good, healthy competition for the children when there are several in each age group!

A few pictures from the morning - I walked around a lot but we had such great volunteers that I wasn't "busy" beyond just basic needs.  Zayden stuck with Grandma Num, and after Ameliya's two little events were over she hung with Granny so I made out quite nicely! :)

The preschoolers had two events - a 25 yard dash and a bean bag toss.  They are simply adorable. 

Ameliya feels the same way her mother does about running.  Ha Ha. 

Next year if the preschool group is this large, I'll probably go ahead and break it down to boys and girls, just so more children "ribbon."  Janel was actually able to mark the bean bag toss into boys and girls for me so more got ribbons - thankful for her help!  The darlings had fun, for the most part, I think!  Did I mention they were adorable?

All of the other children had 3 events:  softball throw, standing long jump, and 50 yard dash.  They were divided into 3 age groups: 5-6 yr old girls, 7-9 yr old girls, 10+ girls and 5-7 yr old boys, 8-10 yr old boys, 11+ boys.  Each group had at least 3 participants, which was nice!  If you notice the age group divisions aren't quite the same in boys and girls and that was because I was trying to catch a "group" of children for each age category!  One of the challenges AND blessings of homeschooling activities such as these is that you usually need to do a varied age group.  A public school has 15 six year old 1st graders to participate against each other.  Today some of our children had a span of 3 years to participate against...a 5 yr old versus a 7 yr old.  It's fun to see this variety and diversity in ages and it will be fun to watch the children at the younger end of the age groups rise to be the older next year! 

I found out last night that my in-laws have a big tote of gunny sacks, so next year we might add that as a competitive event.  This year we got them out and let the kids do them for fun when they had down time.

After the events, we did presentation of ribbons,  Then those who were able, went to the park for picnic lunch and to play.  These times are important to my kids - Xavier especially thrives on making new friends and connections.  He's so personable, always thinking to ask someone's name, what they like to do, etc.  He's an easy buddy to make!  I noticed him hugging this new friend, Hudson, before we left today and made them stop for a picture - much to their sighs of a mom being so mom-like. ;)

It's nice for me, as a gal who hangs out with young people all day, to get to sit and visit with some other adults, too.  I had a nice visit with the moms who stayed while the kids ate and played. 

Then there's these two cuties...

Our ribbon holders...

Natalee, 3rd place in softball throw, 50 yard dash, and standing long jump for 7-9 year old girls.

Xavier, 1st place in softball throw and 50 yard dash, 2nd place in standing long jump for 5-7 year old boys

Ameliya, 3rd place in preschool girls bean bag toss

Zayden, the cutie bug baby brother award

I count this morning as pure joy - it went so well, was so enjoyable, and I had a blast.  My children are on the floor resting (Zayden in bed), plum worn out, so it must have been a win in "fun" for them, too!  We're so thankful for the friendships our homeschool co-op and families bring to our lives.

{Tips:  I looked online for tips on planning a homeschool track and field day and didn't find much.  So in case anyone else is looking for ideas...
We got permission to use our local little league baseball field.  All 3 events fit nicely on one large field (using the sand and outfield) and parents could see all their children even if they were in different age categories.  Since it was a "borrowed" field, I couldn't chalk or spray paint lines for running, etc.  Duct tape worked fantastically!  I measured out the 50 yard dash and used long duct tape to mark the preschool 25 yard spot and the start and finish lines.  Orange cones at the ends of the lines helped give the children a visual.
For the standing long jump, I had sidewalk chalk to mark the jumps.  Initially I gave the volunteers flags but the ground was too hard.  This had crossed my mind, so I'd thrown bright red sidewalk chalk in my bag just in case.  It was perfect.  She marked the jump lines with chalk and then erased it by shuffling her feet to prepare for the next child.  She also used duct tape to mark her line to stand behind.  Simple.
I used different colored sharpies to prepare a name tag for each child.  All the children in a specific age/gender group were the same color (all the 5-7 year old boys were blue, etc).  When it was time to begin the children were able to sort themselves by color.  
Save your largest group to do the softball throw last.  Yes, you'll end up "waiting" on them, but they won't hold up the rest of the groups so you won't be too far behind.
Prepare record sheets for your volunteers so they can easily mark event results.  For the running race, I had a sheet prepared where they wrote the children's names in the order they came across finish.  For the softball/beanbag throw and long jump I had them write the child's name and longest distance jumped/thrown so we could easily distinguish place holders.  
Be joyful, know that nothing will be perfect, and have a wonderful time.  Participation ribbons for everyone will also go a long ways towards minimizing tears at the end, especially if you include preschoolers.}