I always wait until I have an exact list of needed items from the teachers themselves before I buy. In the upper grades, some teachers can be very specific about what they prefer; down to the color of the ink pen or size of the notebook. (We've even had one specify Bic pens, not clickable ones.) When my oldest child started middle school, I had purchased everything in advance and wound up making another trip to buy "the right stuff". A very expensive lesson learned.
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I have found that buying the pre-packaged bags of stuff at the school's PTA fundraiser has turned out to be not quite what I expected.
Every year, I had to go back to the store and replace the cheap items (crayons that barely color, markers that dry out way too fast, tissues with a scratchy texture like wood, scissors that don't cut...). The person in charge of the sale told me that she had been given a budget and she filled it as best as she could with cheap stuff.
I know exactly what you mean. My daughter has decided that she will take a pen and a notebook the first day and find out what she needs. She is junior in high school, so she is about done. I am not looking forward to the shopping for school stuff again. $
Our area puts "lists" in places like Wal-Mart...etc.
My grand daughter always insists on getting eveything on it!! Only to get to orientation where the teachers then give you the "amended" list. This year our schools are suppose to "provide"...this should be good...in the past they never even had A SHEET of paper to spare if the kids forgot!!
I feel that the schools should provide like they
used to. I have no kids, but I see parents with
kids trying to get the correct items and I have
As a former teacher and current substitute, I have to respond to the comment about schools providing.
My first year teaching, I had to purchase my own: stapler, staples, pens, pencils, chalk, copy paper, etc.
If the school cannot provide basic supplies for the teachers to use, where are they going to get the money to provide for the students?
Not to mention, that as I did not give birth to ANY of my students, I'm not sure why my piddly little paycheck should go to provide paper, penclis, pens, erasers, notebooks, for all 125 of my students.
As a sub, I see upwards of 1200 kids a year. I am still expected to provide, pens, pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers, paper, etc. out of my own pocket. Silly me, I always thought that the parents were supposed to be responsible for their own offspring.
None of my teachers ever provided me with any of my school supplies when I was in school.
That said, Crayola 24 packs are .20 at Wal-Mart. one subject notebooks are .10. I already bought up pencils, erasers, and pens. Since I have to supply them. You can get Bic pens for .50. Staples is having their back-to-school sale until tomorrow. RoseArt 24 pack is .05. Folders are .02.
Parents, please take responsibility for you your own children. Teachers are already responsible for self-esteem, manners, and paying for lunch. The least you can do is send some paper and a pencil.
About teachers giving stuff to kids.
My mother used to be a teacher (of children 13-16 years old). She collected pencils and pencil stumps she found on the floor of the school. Then she sharpened each pencil, cut off the tip plus ca 10mm of the painted part, then sharpened it again, cut off the tip plus 10mm, etc, until she had a bunch of tiny, but sharp, pencils. Then she took a piece of paper and rolled it around the non-sharpened 10mm of each pencil and fastened it with a little tape (so that it formed a "handle" for the pencil).
School supplies are a major pet peeve for me! I have waited for the list because the teacher didn't have it done, only to miss the sales and have to spend a dollar for the notebook vs .10 cents. Then I have bought every item the teacher requests on the list only to have 1/2 returned to me at the end of the year unopened/unused.
I have also bought back up notebooks for my child, at the teachers request, for her to keep in her cabinet only to get a call when my sons current notebook needs replaced. I ask where the other two are and they say they don't know; did I bring them in? So I go in and bring in a new $10 dollar notebook only to look around and see two kids walking around with the notebooks I had already provided.
o this year I am done. I stocked up, during the sales, on the t hings I knew he would need, papers, pens, colored pencils,subject notebooks and anything else they will have to request in person. It may sound harsh but after 10 years of filling a teachers wish list only to have so much of it given away or wasted I refuse to do it again.
I'm not sure what grades make you take in "extra". I always bought on sale and kept the "extra" at home. There was one year I got caught. My kids used to always use the cheap spiral bound notebooks. Then the teachers wanted three ring binders. Thankfully, at the time the notebooks were about 13 cents each and it took years to use them up. :)
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