Hosmerville's Youngest Scholar

Austin received a letter from his kindergarten teacher in the mail the other day and enclosed was a list of school supplies he's supposed to bring on the first day. He is so, so, SO excited about starting school! He went to sneak-a-peek last spring and loved it. He met his teacher and several of his new classroom buddies. There's a pet rabbit in the classroom and a b-ball hoop just his size on the playground. He was sold the moment I dropped him off.

Have you ever gone back to your elementary school? The thing that sticks out most to me every time I go back is that after 23 years, it still smells the same- a combination of book bags, school lunches, crayons, and cleaner.

Anyways, back to Austin's supply list. He needs all the basics- pencils, crayons, scissors, glue, etc. I think I am as excited as he is to go school shopping. I love the look and feel of fresh school supplies! One thing that wasn't on his list but I clearly remember being on mine is a nap mat. I remember some kids had really cool soft, comfortable rugs to lie on. For whatever reason, my mom got me one of those woven polyester, backdoor-shoe mat kind of things. I think that after my kindergarten year my nap mat did grace our mudroom floor. Hey, maybe my mom was just being practical and thinking ahead.

Austin will be attending for half days this fall, whereas I went for full days everyday but Wednesday, which were halves. Crazy how I can remember stuff like this. Fridays were the best days for lunch because our parents could order McD's for us and classroom moms would deliver it to the counter outside the classroom. I always got chicken McNuggets with honey to dip in or the fish sandwich. Austin is a bit bummed that he won't get the experience of lunchroom dining until he's in the 1st grade. And for some reason, the only snack I ever remember being served is graham crackers and little cartons of milk. To this day, I love to eat graham crackers with milk and I love the way milk tastes from those little cardboard cartons.

I come from a family of 13 grandchildren and my grandma took each of us out for a day of shopping and lunch before we started kindergarten. I'm the 7th in line so by the time my turn came around I could hardly wait. She took me to the west side Meijers and with a $50 budget, I'm sure I probably spent every single penny. I picked out a pink calculator (for those tough kindergarten math problems) and a green notepad that looked like a box of jell-o. I also got at least one outfit, a dress that I later wore for picture day. My clearest memory of my first day of school was sitting at my table and offering my new classmates some "jell-o", I guess that was my attempt to break the ice. Seriously, I can't remember how I spent my day yesterday but I can remember this stuff from 2 decades ago!?!? Crazy.

So with Austin being our first "baby" to start school we're hoping to start a tradition similar to my grandma's. Take just the new school kid out for shopping and lunch. The dress code at the elementary is pretty relaxed but all of his long sleeve shirts from last fall/winter are too short and he needs a couple of new pairs of jeans, plus some nice shoes and all of the essentials. New clothes, new crayons with sharp pointy tips, folders, and a pencil box... makes me wish I was the one starting school.