School Supplies
TV ClubHouse: Archives: School Supplies
Twiggyish | Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 06:55 pm     I know we talk about this every year it seems..but it's that time a year again. I just received the LONG LONG supply list from the teacher. I swear this list keeps growing. We (child and I) head over to Wal-Mart to begin shopping for supplies. I glance at the list and see 16 ct crayons only. Oh no, we cannot buy 24 ct or 36 ct crayons..No, we have to buy 16 ct. I wonder what would happen if my child showed up with too many crayons? Then, it says wide ruled paper. Would you believe they don't have wide ruled at our Wal-Mart? Last year's teacher would mark her down for the wrong type of paper. Oh the pressure of this list!! Ok, I'm going to keep looking for that item. Then, I see markers and colored pencils. Why not just buy markers? I've been buying color pencils for 5 years. They never use them in class..yet this item keeps showing up on class supply lists. They also disappear each year. I buy them and never see them again. It's a mystery. Next, I see glue sticks and craft glue. Why? Why can't the kids use the craft glue (Elmer’s)? I can remember (many years ago) using horrible smelly stuff which came in a big white bottle. That glue worked every time. Oh for the good ole days!! Don't ya know I may complain, but I'll buy everything on the list. It's not about money..there's a principle somewhere.. I don't even want to think about school clothes!!
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Not1worry | Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 07:36 pm     I remember we had to buy a protractor every year and I still don't know what it was for. Do you have to buy classroom supplies too? When we lived in Louisiana, the kids had to buy paper towels and toilet paper for the classroom. I love buying school supplies. We homeschool, so I stock up on everything. I love getting folders for 6 cents and 3 composition books for a buck. I nearly swooned when I went in Walmart yesterday and they had binders for 50 cents. I got the kids new backpacks this year even though they rarely use them. I just couldn't help it. At least we don't have to buy school clothes. |
Wargod | Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 07:49 pm     8 pack of FAT crayons. Not the skinny ones, but the fat ones, lol. Dakota's school suppy list was a bottle of elmers glue, and 8 pack of crayons. Everyone sent those in first day of school and we get a note home saying they only want fat crayons from now on and empty elmer's glue bottles, lol. We started school three weeks ago, so got what we needed then. The list they need for daily stuff wasn't too bad, pencils, scizzors, crayons, markers, colored pencils, but the list of stuff they need for the class is huge! Not, in CA, we buy class supplies. Copy paper, construction paper, dry erase markers, dixie cups, klenex, paper towels, baby wipes (to wash hands!,) and shoot..I know I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff. Most of the time it's not a big deal, just pick up and extra whatever and take it to class. We tend to buy a case of something at a time though, lol, then don't have to worry the rest of the year. |
Twiggyish | Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 08:18 pm     Wargod, we buy some supplies for the classroom, too. That's another story. If the list made sense I wouldn't complain. But some of the items are never used! I saw one list for another school with at least 30 items on it! What about parents with multiple children in school?? sheesh. |
Ddr1135 | Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 03:46 am     My son went to a Catholic school from Kindergarten to 8th grade where we paid tuition. When he was in 5th or 6th grade, they started collecting money for school supplies rather then sending home a list. One year the fee for his grade was $38.00. All the parents were so upset over this because we could have bought the supplies ourselves for a lot less money! AND the 3 ring binder the school had purchased ripped at the seams in two weeks, so the parents had to end up dishing out more money to replace them. He'll be starting 9th grade at the public high school on Aug 14th. He'll receive a list from each class that day and then we'll have to fight the crowd that night to stock up. What fun! |
Rissa | Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 09:23 am     Well Twiggy, I was in sympathy with ya until you made the 30 item comment. LOL Does that mean 30 shocks you? That your list is shorter? Cause I just counted ONE of my daughters and it's 29. Just to compare: Grade 6 1000 sheets looseleaf paper 2 - 3 ring binders (3") 1 3 ring binder (1" and must be black) 1pkg graph paper 1pkg unlined paper 4 coil scribblers 5 duotangs 2 pkg dividers 10 blue pens 6 red pens 20 HB pencils 1 pkg pencil crayons (12 count) 1 pkg felt markers 4 white erasers 1 pencil case (must be zippered) 1 8-piece geometry set 1 30cm ruler 1 pencil sharpener 1 scissors 2 glue sticks 1 whiteout (the tape type) 1 pkg reinforcements 2 boxes kleenex 1 box bandaids 1pr of indoor only shoes (to be left at school) 1 calculator 1 dictionary 1 thesaurus 1 pkg labels (to label all above) That's Grade 6. If I was feeling particularly cruel, I would also list my Grade 2's. LOLOL It's mostly the same except that my 7 year old starts French this year so she needs cassettes for recording. Actually last year her teacher specified BRAND NAMES that she wanted which ticked me off (for example all notebooks had to be Hilroy and the erasers had to be Staedler). It wasn't that she was picking more expensive brands because she wasn't, it was that it stunk of #1 a payoff and #2 uniformity which I object to. Our school offers packages too but I prefer to buy my own because some items I want to pay more for quality and others it doesn't matter as much. Ddr, I have a daughter hitting grade 9 this fall too. Still waiting for THAT list which should arrive mid-August just in time to battle the growing crowds. {sigh} |
Squaredsc | Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 09:28 am     i hate buying school supplies, grrr. and i buy for 2, grrrr. the schools here provide absolutely nothing, you don't even get to take the textbooks home. |
Twiggyish | Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 09:46 am     Rissa, yup..our list has brand names,too. Your list looks a lot like ours..except for the extra pair of indoor shoes and calculator. (shaking head at shoes on the list!) Square, we also buy our books. That's another story altogether. |
Not1worry | Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 10:01 am     WHAT is a coil scribbler or a duotang?? I remember buying graph paper too, and never using it. |
Tabbyking | Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 10:06 am     what the hell are duotangs and coil scribblers? not one store in town has college-ruled paper. we have to have my husband pick it up in gilroy on his way home from work. oh wait, one store has college-ruled, but it's the smaller size, 8x10, or whatever it is. they want the college-ruled 8.5x11 paper for english comp classes. i can't believe that even our expensive stationery store doesn't have it. but right now, i am getting ready to go camping for 8 days, so i hope some of our schools are starting school as early as aug 14, so other campers have all headed home to buy school supplies ;>)...where we camp, it's first come, first serve, so i could get up there with a 32 foot motorhome and have nowhere to put it! we are spending 4 days at one lake, then moving to another lake about 60 miles from the first one, to meet my sister and some of her late husband's family for camping cousins. we had to buy my daughter's math book in the 8th grade--my husband spilled a bottle of red wine on it! it was a book they were discontinuing, but we couldn't send this purple-paged book that smelled like a winery back to them! even though they weren't using it the next year, and it was about 10 years old to start with, we had to pay $46.75 for it. i think my daughter said she spilled a grape soda on it! my son had one college course when he was a junior in high school. it was a music appreciation book. it cost 86 bucks. the good thing is it is still current and i sold it on eBay for 50 dollars. anyone up for bidding on a purple math book? LOL |
Rissa | Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 11:41 am     RFLOL! Well, that's a new one... I would never have guessed that anyone anywhere did NOT know what a duotang/coil scribbler was. A duotang is one of those very cheap paper sorta binders to keep 3 hole punched paper in ('bout 50 sheets max). Instead of three round snaps, it has three little fold back clips. Geez, explaining it is harder than I thought. LOL A coil scribbler is exactly that!!! A scribbler (book of lined paper) that is bound with a coil spine. Must be Canadianisms. LOL Twiggy, every year we have to buy dedicated indoor shoes (up to high school level). Kids enter the school and immediately have to remove their shoes/boots, etc... they then trudge to their classrooms in their socks where they put on their *indoor* shoes. My kids have been to about 7 schools in total from the East to the West and every one has had this same system. We are very clean up here in the frozen north. LOL |
Reader234 | Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 12:50 pm     Ahhh the start of school!! I work as the perm. sub in our school, and I'm always amazed at the lengthy discussions the teachers have at coming up with the list, wouldnt you know the super expects one list for all grades (1 for all 1st etc) and they have3 schools, and so 10 to 15 teachers per grade level!! Some one zip lock bags (they put classroom books in them to take them back and forth to home) while other teachers NEVER use them!! Then there are the teachers that require scotch tape, or glue... and then they collect ALL the scotch tape and glue, and keep it in a "general" pile. SO dont bother putting your child's name on supplies (and yes that goes for all those folders too - general pile and the teacher pulls them, marks them and hands them out!!) At the end of last year I gave one teacher credit, she wanted to hand back the leftover tape and glue, so she saw some kids brought in 3 rolls of tape, so she counted, and found just enough to give each kid back a roll of tape... (can you imagine? of course 9 people got back tape that was double sided with other kids name on it, no one would complain eh??!) Also, a company now sends home (via the teachers/school that is) an offer to supply the supplies for a nominal fee - $30!! I too thought I could purchase things cheaper!! Esp since we dont buy scissors every year *gasp we reuse items!! (an stuff they dont use goes in the bottome of the desk drawer, and thrown in next years pile of list of things needed for school!!) Here in the land near Chicago, our kids have indoor shoes too, but they are strictly for "gym". And for when kids forget to bring shoes when they wear boots. AND they are forever getting lost, out grown, but never do the wear out!! |
Cinder | Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 01:10 pm     SO Rissa- a duotang sounds like a folder with brads. A coil sounds like a "notebook"- or a "spiral"- depending on what part of the country you live in. I grew up calling it a notebook. $86 for a college text book is the norm. Some would say that was cheap. |
Whoami | Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 05:25 pm     I used to look forward to shopping for school supplies. It meant fresh supplies, and a fresh start on a new year. We got to personalize our stuff, and buy what we wanted. Several years later, I'm with a friend as she shops for her grandson. She also had one of those very specific lists. They were also informed they would not keep/use the stuff they bought. When they brought the supplies to school, the supplies would be dumped into a communtity box, for everyone to use. So of course each parent bought the very cheapest junk to get. And of course, some didn't bring in a thing, but got to use out of the community box anyway (since the supply list was always a bit more than each child could use, just for that reason). |
Tabbyking | Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 07:03 pm     wow, i even lived in quebec for a year and never heard of duotangs and coil scribblers! my husband guessed that the coil scribblers were like post-its! lol 'folders with brads' and 'spiral notebook' works for me! it's like the british book i had for creative activities for my preschool and they always talked about using 'sticky tape'...scotch tape to us, why not scotch tape over there?! ;>) |
Tabbyking | Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 07:15 pm     oh, and while i realize 86 bucks is considered 'cheap' for a college text book, it's still a lot of money. i can't wait to see what my son's engineering books cost...guess we'll find out next month! my guess is he'll be spending about $1,200 or more on books for one year. i saw where someone posted about a company that sells the school 'kits' for about 30 bucks. it made me think of mail i got the other day: we just got a catalog from a company and it says, "dear ohio state student" on it, as if were from ohio state (where my son was offered admission, but declined when he got into another school here). it talks about the extra long mattresses and the sheet sets it sells made specifically for that dorm mattress size...a few days later, we got an identical catalog from the company, only this said "dear cal poly student" on it. well, guess what? i am taking the top sheets from double or queen beds and my son can just tuck them in-- as most motels now do. no fitted sheets at 27 bucks, thank you! |
Cinder | Monday, July 28, 2003 - 05:57 am     I just wanted to prepare you Tabbyking. Depending on the number of classes he takes- he may very well spend $1,200 for textbooks. I know I spent $600 one semseter. You can check websites for the same textbooks on Ebay, Amazon, etc. (there are others but I do not know the names) Some do not charge shipping and handling. Some teachers are picky about it being the right edition- some are not. At the end of the year when you return them to the bookstore- you only get about 1/4 of it back- but they resale it for double that. Its a conspiracy. (just like the sheets) I have lived in England- but I did not pay attention to "tape" My guess is they call it sticky tape because Scotch is a brand of tape. HMM- wonder if there is a survey for that like the Coke survey. lol |
Lumbele | Monday, July 28, 2003 - 08:45 am     Tabby, at my ds's university they can often buy used books in rather good shape for much less than a new one. |
Not1worry | Monday, July 28, 2003 - 09:57 am     Tabby, I've seen extra long twin sheets for wayyyy less than that. I think domestications.com has them. Spiral notebooks and folders...it all makes sense. |
Rissa | Wednesday, September 03, 2003 - 03:49 pm     I am high-jacking this thread rather then start a new one. LOL I haven't seen anyone talk about the first day of school!!! Firstly, why do people keep telling me how happy I must be to be rid of my kids? GRRRR, drives me insane. I miss my girls when they are at school, not to mention that I have lost my hiking buddies, so I am back to walking residential streets by myself. LOL School supplies ended up costing me about $80 for each of my younger kids (not counting indoor shoes) and about $200 for my grade 9'er (needed a graphing calculator). Plus I shelled out $250 today for the rental of two flutes. In addition to this, the grade 9'er had $225 in school fees to be paid directly to the school and it will be just over $300 for the two younger ones for the same thing. That's the bad news, the good news is the year is off to a good start..... My little one (grade 2) has a girl with CP in her class who is unable to speak. The teacher is going to give the whole class sign language classes DURING HER OWN TIME for those who are interested!!! This will be during one of the two recesses 5 days a week and since my 14 year old taught herself a few years ago, she can help at home. My 14 year old has a new thing (well, in my experience anyway)... etextbooks. Starting in her science class this term, there will be no books. Instead each child will get a laptop with which to access an online textbook and assignments. They can print out whatever they want and access it at all hours from home. Assignments will be printed out and handed in. Seems to me that printing out hundreds of pages each week will cancel the savings in actual books and as long as your kid brings his book home, that's available 24/7 too......but it's a gimic that is sure to get the kids' attention (at least temporarily). All in all, a quiet first day and three girls all happy with their teachers (HAH, so far. LOL). How did it go for the rest of you? I saw quite a few crying mothers (more then the # of crying kids!! ), were you one of them? |
Monkeyboy | Wednesday, September 03, 2003 - 04:03 pm     Rissa, I am curious to why your kids need indoor shoes? If someone asked or you already explained it...you have permission to slap me. |
Squaredsc | Wednesday, September 03, 2003 - 04:11 pm     ok rissa i won't. and no ive never been one of those crying mothers or had a crying kid. but thats just me. |
Lizajane | Wednesday, September 03, 2003 - 04:29 pm     My little boy started first grade today. Kindergarten is taught at daycare here, so it was his first day of "real" school. He took it much better than I did. I didn't cry but I spent the entire day worrying. Did he know where to go when he got off the bus? Did he make it to the after-school programme? God, please don't let him have taken the bus home when no-one is going to be home for hours. Etc, etc, etc...Of course he was fine, had a great day and couldn't figure out what Mommy was so worried about My son needs indoor shoes too, I think its just to keep the floors (somewhat) clean. |
Monkeyboy | Wednesday, September 03, 2003 - 04:32 pm     oh thanks Liza, thats what I thought. Ive never heard that before. But i remember I used to love make the floors dirty at school. |
Cinder | Wednesday, September 03, 2003 - 06:23 pm     Are the indoor shoes just for the gymnasium? |
Rissa | Wednesday, September 03, 2003 - 06:35 pm     Monkey, no worries... not feeling particularly violent today. LOL Indoor shoes are just that. When the kids get to school, they enter through a mud room. They take off their shoes, boots, etc and trudge in socks down the halls to their classrooms. By the classroom door is a big box or bin or whatever in which they keep their *indoor shoes*. These are to worn only INSIDE the school and are for gym class as well (unless they go outside in which case they put their regular shoes back on). I think I mentioned before that my kids have been in 7 different schools now from the East to the West and every school had the same system. I guess we are just a very clean people up here in the frozen north. |
Halfunit | Wednesday, September 03, 2003 - 07:39 pm     OK, this isn't about school supplies, but it is about school... sorta. This smacked me in the face when I signed on to AOL a moment ago. It's something to think about, lol. (Sept. 3) -- Most students entering college this fall were born in 1985. To them: 1. Ricky Nelson, Richard Burton, Samantha Smith, Laura Ashley, Orson Welles, Karen Ann Quinlin, Benigno Aquino, and the U.S. Football League have always been dead. 2. They are not familiar with the source of that ``Giant Sucking Sound.'' 3. Iraq has always been a problem. 4. ``Ctrl Alt Del'' is as basic as ``ABC.'' 5. Paul Newman has always made salad dressing. 6. Pete Rose has always been a gambler. 7. Bert and Ernie are old enough to be their parents. 8. An automatic is a weapon, not a transmission. 9. Russian leaders have always looked like leaders everyplace else. 10. The snail darter has never been endangered. 11. There has always been a screening test for AIDS. 12. Gas has always been unleaded. 13. They never heard Howard Cosell call a game on ABC. 14. The United States has always had a poet laureate. 15. Garrison Keillor has always been live on public radio, and Lawrence Welk has always been dead on public television. 16. Their families drove SUVs without ``being fuelish.'' 17. There has always been some association between fried eggs and your brain. 18. They would never leave their calling card on someone's desk. 19. They have never been able to find the ``return'' key. 20. Computers have always fit in their backpacks. 21. Datsuns have never been made. 22. They have never gotten excited over a telegram, a long distance call or a fax. 23. The Osmonds are just talk show hosts. 24. College athletes have always been a part of the NBA and NFL draft. 25. They have always ``grazed'' for food. 26. Three-point shots from ``downtown'' have always been a part of basketball. 27. Test tube babies are now having their own babies. 28. Stores have always had scanners at the checkout. 29. The Army has always driven Humvees. 30. Adam and PC Junior computers had vanished from the market before this generation went online. 31. The Statue of Liberty has always had a gleaming torch. 32. They have always had a pin number. 33. Banana Republic has always been a store, not a puppet government in Latin America. 34. Car detailing has always been available. 35. Directory assistance has never been free. 36. The Jaycees have always welcomed women as members. 37. There has always been Lean Cuisine. 38. They have always been able to fly Virgin Atlantic. 39. There have never been dress codes in restaurants. 40. Doctors have always had to deal with ``reasonable and customary fees'' and patients have always had controls placed on the number of days they could stay in a hospital. 41. They have always been able to make photocopies at home. 42. Michael Eisner has always been in charge of Disney. 43. They have always been able to make phone calls from planes. 44. Yuppies are almost as old as hippies. 45. Rupert Murdoch has always been an American citizen. 46. Strawberry Fields has always been in New York. 47. Rock 'n' roll has always been a force for social good. 48. Killer bees have always been swarming in the United States. 49. They have never seen a first lady in a fur coat. 50. Don Imus has always been offending someone in his national audience. |
Tess | Wednesday, September 03, 2003 - 08:42 pm     Lizajane, my daughter started first grade on Tuesday and I spent nearly the entire day at school along with her. For that matter, so did dad! He's on the school staff as the computer tech (in addition to his regular job) and I was volunteering here and there all day. Our little kids don't need indoor gym shoes but they must wear tennis shoes of some sort and in winter must change from boots to indoor shoes. The upper level kids need 2 pairs of shoes with one being worn in the gym only. Half, that is a very thought-provoking list. |
Sia | Wednesday, September 03, 2003 - 08:56 pm     Interesting facts, Half; thanks for posting that! It is amazing when you realize how limited the frame of reference is for the younger generations. That's partly because they don't seem to pay attention to world events partly simply because they haven't been on the planet long enough to observe things like we older folks have. Rissa, the fees you're being charged for school seem ridiculously excessive to me. I enrolled my children in a private Christian elementary this year and their workbooks/supplies fees are $200 each (1st grade and Kindergarten). My daughter spent a week in the Pre-K class, but found the work too easy. Her fees for workbooks and supplies would have been only $100 for the half-day Pre-K program. All workbooks, paper, pencils, crayons, glue, etc. are provided by the school. The reason they don't want things sent from home is so that no one seems to have all the "cool" or more expensive gear. The school feels that competition is limited this way and the kids are on an equal footing. There are no uniforms for the school, but the subject has been discussed. |
Rissa | Thursday, September 04, 2003 - 06:12 am     Believe it or not Sia, I really don't mind. Last year when the entire province (of teachers) was striking, ours sneaked off and signed a contract for virtually no raises. They sent home a letter stating that they knew what the budget was and there was no sense pushing for money that would just put the district in debt or take funds from the classrooms. They got in HUGE!!!! trouble from the provincial union over this because they had demanded that all the districts stand together for a outrageous pay increase. Also at the same time, while the rest of the schools were working-to-rule... our schools went out and make arrangements with local private schools so the kids could keep playing the various sports and the teachers paid for the bussing out of their own pockets. It's also the first school where I am not battling the teachers out of the parking lot if I go pick up my kids at 3:15. You drive by our school at 4:30/5:00 and I swear to GOD that the teachers' parking lot is STILL over half full!!! Their school was ranked #2 in the entire province last year (out of 742 schools), the only school who beat us was a very exclusive private school (the one where those 7 kids died sking last year actually). |
Wargod | Thursday, September 04, 2003 - 10:05 am     Same here Rissa. We get a list from each teacher at the begining of the year with supplies they need and take something in every few weeks. After working in my sons class last year and seeing how much his teacher did and supplied out of her pocket I have no problem sending stuff in. My complaint isn't that I have to buy supplies for the class, but that the teachers have to ask. According to Caleb's teacher this year, they get $200 a year for supplies. That's absolutely ridiculous. The teachers are limited to 100 sheets of copy paper a month, if they need more, they have to buy it or we do. Construction paper, dry erase markers, tissues, dixie cups (we go to school in the middle of summer where it averages 100 degrees a day, kids need water,) paper towels, etc. Some of it is just shocking to me. How can you not supply elementary kids with tissues? You know young kids are constantly sniffling and wiping! Or copy paper? How are they supossed to learn if the teachers have no paper? LOL, I'm about to get on a rant about this, and I don't have time, but it ticks me off. Anyways, we started school back in July, then had August off, so Tuesday was our first day back. The kids were excited to be going back. Kota had a great day (she has done so well with kindergarten.) But Caleb had a rotten day. He got sick and had to come home early and go to the doctor for meds. So he had a lousy first day back. |
Strawberry | Thursday, September 04, 2003 - 10:20 am     I agree War. It's amazing that teachers have to worry about school supplies and that takes time away from them focusing on educating children. I've worked in some schools over the years and I knew teachers who would go out after school and buy school supplies for their students who couldn't afford all the things they need. Sad that teachers don't make very much money and then some spend what they do make for children in need! One teacher I knew would work all summer and part-time during the year so she could help get coats for the kids that didn't have any coats to wear in the winter time. It makes me wonder where all the tax money for education goes. It seems like taxes keep going up and education budgets around here keep getting slashed more and more! They have even closed 3 of the local schools...ok see now I'm on a rant too War! And I don't have any kidlets! |
Lizajane | Thursday, September 04, 2003 - 01:29 pm     Tess, you are so lucky. I wish I could do something like that, but my work situation wouldn't allow it, at least not without using up vacation days that I need for PD days. My son is in grade one; I paid $30.00 to the school for supplies. After this year we buy our own. I didn't realize how good I had it! |
Happymom | Wednesday, September 10, 2003 - 10:49 am     Costco donated backpacks (very decent ones too!) with one small binder, one notebook, one pkg. binder paper, one pencil, one bottle of glue, one glue stick, one pen and 3 snacks to every child in our elementary school. I do not know if they did this for the other elem. schools in our school district. Go Costco! My 4th grader needed colored pencils, markers, crayons, scissors, and a pencil box that we had to provide. My 2nd grader didn't need anything else! My middle schooler didn't need anything new because she didn't lose her PE lock and PE clothes and shoes still fit from last yr. and the yr. before. Whenever I go to Target, I look for very cheap pens and pencils, so we always have enough of these on hand for school supplies (and party favors!). The teachers have a wish list every year. Instead of buying stuff off the list (such as kleenex), I finally got smart and sent each of the 2 younger girls with a pkg. of computer paper (have it on hand always because we buy it in bulk at Costco) and a check made out to the Parent Teacher organization earmarked for instructional supplies. Wish I'd thought of that when my 8th grader started elem. school! |
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