The Hundredth Day of School is entirely a millennial fabrication as far as I can tell, but a much needed one. Because after the climax of the Christmas Season (and, for us, two birthdays), the rest of the winter feels like drudgery – both in school and in weather.
So although I am not, on most days, one of those homeschool Moms who tries to make everything spectacular and jubilescent (I know that’s not a word but it should be), I do attempt to be that Mom on the Hundredth Day of School.
Because we all need it.
This year, we started our morning out with a “100” breakfast.
The kids were so shocked that I was actually cooking something for breakfast that they both forgot me telling them the day before what we’d be celebrating.
Ali was rather grumpy about the whole thing, and extra annoyed that I kept trying to get her to figure out why it was a special day by looking at her breakfast.
(I swear. My juice was just sparkling grape juice. Somebody had to drink it since the kids wouldn’t – Noah said it tasted like soap and Ali said it was awful spicy.)
The longer I tried to make her figure it out, the grumpier she got.
“But what does your sausage LOOK LIKE? A …. one, right?”
“NO. It looks like a sausage.”
“Okay. Well, what about your pancakes? What do they look like? Don’t they look like zeroes?”
“They look like circles and pancakes. Nothing else. NOTHING ELSE!!”
Noah was too busy enjoying his fancy glass of apple juice to care what day it was.
Finally I spelled it out for her, and she was relieved to be sprung from a wretched existence of guessing.
Next came Hundredth Day of School Presents.
Before you say to yourself “now isn’t she just ridiculous!”, I promise I’m not. We had first day of school presents whose chief goal was to keep Noah semi-satisfied during school hours, and I had random gifts hanging around in my closet for refreshes on this purpose (it’s cheaper than Mother’s Day Out), so I just pulled some stuff out and stuck it in a bag.
I didn’t even put tissue paper in those bags.
Ali got a Search and Find book and some Gel Markers,
And Noah got a holiday-appropriate “Learn to Count” Lego train.
And then we had to actually start school.
I printed out the exact same writing prompt sheet that I gave Ali last year – half because I was lazy, and half because I wanted to see what changed from Kindergarten to First Grade.
I was more surprised by what didn’t change.
stuf anamls / stufft anaml’sIs (eyes) / satan’s
ckrafts / dot’s
jele bens / switish fish (Swedish Fish are a favorite candy right now)
petsas (Pizzas) / Jient Fish
Dogs / Dog’s
Si ol my frins (see all my friends) / go to heven
thro them / buy a lot
While she worked on that, I used her brand new Gel Markers (okay they were for me not her) to make her a Factor sheet, also copying what I did last year.
The great thing about this year, though, is that she was able to come up with most of them herself, with just a few ideas from me.
Meanwhile, Noah was across the table, blissfully happy with his numbers train. And I was trying my best not to cringe from his out-of-order numbers.
I managed to pry him away to participate in crown-making – the idea was to put 100 stickers on each crown.
He placed five.
I placed ninety-five.
This fact did not make him at all reticent about admiring himself in my iPhone camera.
(In case you’re wondering, he lost his shirt at breakfast thanks to that fancy cup.)
Meanwhile, Ali was placing two stickers, writing down what number she was at, drawing auxiliary art, getting distracted, placing two more stickers….I was ready to go to heaven, too, before she finally finished.
But she did. And they posed. And we moved on to other schoolwork.
The final thing I did was show them what they would look like as old people, thanks to the AgingBooth app.. Technically not a hundred years old, but I’m the teacher and I told them so.
Either way, they were amused.
Ali,
Noah,
(At least he gets to keep his dimples,)
And yes, I even aged myself. I think the program was especially unkind to my jowls.
And this is why you shouldn’t have front facing, clear photos of yourself lying around on my phone. Because lucky Chris – he got off without being aged.
At the end of the day, I received the ultimate compliment from Ali – one that I don’t expect to ever receive again.
“Going to Gramamma’s house is fun, but the Hundredth Day of School was even more fun.”
I guess this means that I should attempt to be one of those homeschool Moms more often.
But don’t worry – I won’t.
You did a great job! I love the crowns, and Ali’s attention to details as she placed 100 stickers. But what else can you expect from an Artist?!?!
Thanks! Yes, some of her artwork was rather gruesome, though – I forgot to show it. It included car stickers torn in pieces and sinking under water…a happy celebration indeed.
I would not want a 100 Satans either. One is enough! You are doing such a great job. Noah reminds me a lot of James. I would be happy if he got five stickers on his crown. He is highly distracted, unless it is a screen and then he is highly undistractable.
Yup, Noah is definitely a different student than Ali. We’ll see how I do with that one!
I love the little peeks inside Ali’s mind when you show her writing–it’s always so much fun to know what kids are thinking about. And who couldn’t eat 100 Swedish Fish? Those things are incredibly addictive.
Ew, I couldn’t. Too sweet for me! Now other kinds of gummies, I definitely could.
What great ideas! And I love your humorous honesty about the whole thing — you placed 95 stickers. Sounds accurate. Haha! Also, those gel markers. Want! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! At least Ali placed all her own stickers. She wouldn’t have trusted me to get it right.
Uh-oh… Sounds like Ali and I would get along well!
Looks like fun! As a side note, the 100th day of school isn’t a millennial fabrication. I distinctly remember celebrating it when I was in elementary school (1990-1996).
Good to know!! I’d never heard of it until I had kids. Then again, I didn’t go to school. ;-) Maybe it just hadn’t made it to homeschool communities when I was a kid.
Maybe it is something new to our area? I do not remember celebrating the 100th day of school and I did start out in regular school.. Or it could just be something that started in the 90’s and we finally have kids in the right age range to hear about it ourselves.?
We have that train. We actually have two. He prefers to build a tower with the numbers and they are always out if order!!!! But he’s 2 so what can I do? (Oh, and does it big you that 10 isn’t part of the train, only a mere tree??)
Yes, I was curious about that. And where’s the zero?? How can you build other numbers without a zero?
I am endlessly impressed with your homeschool ways! Way to go Mom/teacher!
Thanks! I promise I’m not nearly this cool on 99% of days. It takes a lot to force me into it.
OMG – your breakfast discussion cracked me up. Nice to know I’m not the only one with an ‘unimpressed preschooler! :) And ACK! I won’t be aging myself, those are creepy!!
OH! I love this so much! Every year I think it would be fun to do a 100 days celebration, but I never remember to keep track! Good job mom!
Your activities look awesome too. I really liked your factor sheet!