6 Cutest Back-to-School Photos Hoda Kotb Has Shared of Her Daughters

Hoda Kotb and Joel Schiffman co-parent daughters Haley Joy and Hope Catherine

NEED TO KNOW

• Hoda Kotb is a proud mother to two daughters, Haley Joy and Hope Catherine
• The former Today anchor shares her children with her ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman
• Kotb has often shared pictures from dropping their daughters off for their first day of school

Hoda Kotb has marked several milestones with her two young daughters.

The former Today host became a mother in 2017 when she announced that she had welcomed daughter Haley Joy through adoption. Two years later, she expanded her family with the addition of daughter Hope Catherine in 2019.

Kotb shares her two daughters with her ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman, whom she frequently praises for being the “best father.” The couple were previously together for nearly a decade and got engaged in 2019 before splitting in 2022.

In 2024, Kotb and her children moved from her apartment in New York City to the suburbs. Shortly after, she announced that she’d be stepping back from her post at Today to be more available to her family.

“I‘ve had yearnings, and you know when something’s pulling you?” she told PEOPLE in October 2024 of her decision. “I’ve been watching my kids and I was thinking to myself, I wonder what I’m missing?”

The Joy 101 founder has since enjoyed posting sweet moments she’s shared with her kids, including annual back-to-school drop-off photos.

Here are some of the cutest photos of Hoda Kotb’s daughters heading back to school.

01 of 06

A mid-‘Today’ drop-off

Prior to her Today show departure, Kotb ensured her parenting duties came first by leaving the morning news program early to take Haley, then 6, and Hope, then 4, to their first day of school in September 2023.

“I was so excited,” she told co-host Jenna Bush Hager on Today with Hoda and Jenna. “So, I left the set at 7:30 and I live about 20 minutes from 30 Rock. So, I zipped home, got my kids their backpacks. They were all ready. They were busting. Haley’s going into first [grade] and Hopey’s going into pre-K and they go to the same school, for the first time together.”

Kotb said that it was “such a fun day,” and even though the “first day of school can be scary,” both of her little ones fully embraced it head-on.

“Haley just went sprinting off with her friends. It was like, ‘Bye.’ And we’re like, ‘OK. Have a great day.’ She was gone, just dust,” she joked. “And Hopey’s first day in a new school and she was great. She just kind of started playing with some people and then they do a phase-in, so she stayed for about an hour.”

02 of 06

New school, new home, new “everything”

In mid-2024, Kotb and her two daughters moved out of N.Y.C. and into a home in the suburbs. By September of that year, Kotb sent Haley and Hope off to their first days at their new school in second grade and kindergarten, respectively.

“Everything changed like that,” Kotb said on Today with Hoda and Jenna in September 2024. “I have a whole new town and a whole new school, and all the new things.”

Kotb added that she felt like she and her family finally looked like “normal people” walking with all the other neighborhood kids to school.

“I carried coffee and I had sneakers and I walked with my kids to school like normal people! It was awesome!” she said, adding, “I just loved doing it because I haven’t been able to do that, and it was so fun to walk my kids to school.”

Kotb related the experience to her own childhood, growing up in the suburbs of West Virginia.

“I was thinking to myself, ‘This kind of, this is kind of how we grew up — how you and I grew up,’ ” she recalled, adding, “I called my sister right after and was like, ‘It’s like Morgantown, West Virginia, where we grew up on Dogwood Avenue.’ I said, ‘Do you remember the kids, and everybody’s outside.’ Someone will knock on the door!”

03 of 06

Smiling sisters

The former Dateline correspondent kept the 2024 first day of school celebrations going by posting a few moments from the big day on Instagram.

Kotb shared a sweet snap of her beaming while Haley and Hope smiled next to her. The second slide showed Haley and Hope excitedly hugging each other after making their way to their new school.

04 of 06

3rd and 1st

Kotb didn’t shy away from showing her excitement when she dropped her kids off for their first day of school in September 2025. The occasion also marked the first time she had done so since officially leaving Today earlier that year.

The Making Space podcast host posed a series of photos on Instagram that showed Haley and Hope smiling in their driveway before making their way to school. Kotb smiled proudly as she stood behind both of her girls.

Kotb also included solo portraits of each girl before school, as well as a snap of all three of them walking to school. A final picture showed the two girls joking around and posing with some friends on the soccer field.

“First day!!! 3rd and 1st ❤️❤️,” Kotb captioned the post.

05 of 06

Slower pace of life

Just one month before snapping the back-to-school pics, Kotb told the Wall Street Journal that she had “slowed everything down” in her life since leaving Today.

“I go on bike rides with my kids, we play tennis. Things that I never thought of,” she said. “When I’m driving them around they’re telling me stories that I wasn’t in the car to [hear] before. Haley came with me to the gym and she sat on the sled and I pushed it.”

Kotb also lived out more of her “dream” when she got a minivan in the fall of 2024.

“Me in a minivan is a dream,” Hoda said on Today with Hoda and Jenna in November 2024. “I’ve wanted it and I haven’t had it and also, I am sometimes a ‘Carpool Mom.’ I can only take three kids because there is no other room — not anymore! … I cannot wait for it.”

06 of 06

Co-parenting dropoff

Kotb reunited with Schiffman to tag-team the first day of school in September 2026.

Kotb posted a series of photos on Instagram of the family of four walking down the street while each parent held one of the daughter’s hands. Another sweet picture featured Schiffman and Kotb smiling as they sandwiched between their daughters.

“It’s here! First day of school💥. 4th and 2nd grade! Whaaaatttt?” Kotb wrote in her caption.

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