100th day of the year

Public and private schools celebrate the 100th day of school with a big hoopla. Did they do this when I was in school? I don't member a big fuss about the 100th day, and it seems a little silly to me... But, still... If I can make a fun day for the boys without too much hassle for myself, I'm in!

I first got excited about "100th day" last year on the First Grade Parade blog. I knew I would not be able to do this exactly, as I couldn't predict when our 100th day of school would fall. Isn't flexibility one of the joys of homeschooling?

Instead I came up with a more dependable plan: we will instead celebrate the 100th day of the year. This year it's April 10th, which happens to be a week day! My plan is to stick to the basics for school (just math and a little Tapestry of Grace) then add in some 100th day learning activities and some fun 100th day snacks on Thursday.

Go over to First Grade Parade to see what she did this year, or do a Pinterest or Google search for some inspiration! New York Times also has a list of ideas, many that could be used for middle or high school. Many of these ideas are easily adaptable for the 100th day of the year.

Baseball unit study: chalk pastels

I wish I could take credit for this one, but all the instructions came from Chalk Pastels through the Seasons.



A baseball unit study can touch all curriculum areas, including art!

I helped draw the outline for A3 but the big boys worked on their own. A3 decided to scribble red all over his art when he was done, and I just stood back and let him. It's his art, after all! 

Wrapping up the week: Big brother activities

Each week the big boys are assigned a chore and learning activity of their choosing to do with little A3. This week, little A3 had his first "big brother activity" with our new baby. Oh he was so proud!

Since St Patrick's Day is approaching, the big boys each did a shamrock craft with A3. My favorite craft activities are the kind you can eat or send as cards to loved ones. We mailed two sets of shamrock cards this week. Grandparents - keep an eye out for your mail carrier!

C16 chose this toilet paper tube shamrock stamp activity. They made four hearts then taped them together. After it tried A3 cut out the shamrocks for cards. The idea came from this blog. I'm always grateful for ideas from other blogs!

The activity N16 chose came from our MathArt book. They made pop up cards which introduced symmetry, and involved cutting, folding and gluing. 

Faberge egg craft

When I first started pulling together Russia-inspired craft ideas for our Olympics unit study, I initially thought we could do something related to Matryoshka dolls. Then I decided that was way to ambitious!

Faberge eggs came to mind next, and a quick Google search revealed an all-inclusive kit perfect for our study: Art In History's Faberge-style Egg kit. Woohoo! I usually would attempt to create these activities from scratch, but sometimes it's best not to reinvent the wheel and I chose the easy way! The kit came with all two of each paint, a brush and sponge, the plaster egg and full instructions online.

The downloadable 13-page lesson plan also included a history of Nicholas II, the geography of the Russian Revolution, a history Faberge and the love story behind the particular egg we would attempt to recreate, the Rosebud Egg.



My two official homeschool students completed the art activity with great care, and A3 did it in his own way!

The first day we used sponges to paint the egg red. Here's A3's egg...

The paint dries quickly enough to complete in one session, but sledding and snowball fights were calling my boys outside!

The second day we added the gold band and painted the base gold...

Then added the details...

I ordered three other history-infused art projects from the website, and I'll share those another day! I'm not an affiliate of Art In History; I just enjoyed their product and thought you might, too!

Olympic art, to eat and to display

My favorite arts and crafts projects are the kind you can eat! We created Olympix flag cookies, adapted from a suggested activity in the Amanda Bennett Winter Olympics unit study.

Please don't judge our artistic abilities! ;) I never try to impress anyone on Pinterest with our art; we simply use art for fun and learning.

Today we started