In that case, I’d talk to the teacher to find out what is absolutely essential in her classroom, and what items aren’t. IME, lists are generated by the district, not by the teacher, so there are items that the teacher has no intention of actually using, but parents buy them because they’re on The List. In fact, my son’s first-grade teacher sent the list before school started because she had to, but said not to buy anything until the first day of school when she would hand out her list of things that the kids needed and that she would actually use. This turned out to be about a third of what the district said we were supposed to have.
In the case of school fees, I’d ask for a breakdown. Does that include fees for optional activities or materials, for example? Are materials available cheaper somewhere else, like Amazon? If the other parent doesn’t have a breakdown, she should absolutely ask for one, then negotiate from there.
I always thought the Kleenex thing was weird. We had that when I went to elementary school, and there would always be a huge cupboard stacked full of boxes of Kleenex, yet I don’t think I ever used any in my entire elementary school career. I thought the school must have a big warehouse somewhere that they are shipping all these Kleenex boxes, and it’s ultimately all part of their plans to build an evil galactic empire. Somehow.
My (high school) kids go through an amazing amount of tissue. And not having tissue is terrible, because they just snort the snot back up everytime it starts to drip, and that sound all day will drive me insane.
For the past few years, I’ve noticed that Target had lists of recommended school supplies for each grade. This is the first year I haven’t seen any there. I will probably end up waiting till the week before school starts and then running around like a madwoman scrambling to get the necessary supplies together the first week of school. Except for the Princess’ backpack - she just has to go pick it out herself. Also her lunch bag, which will probably be lost by mid-October or so. I’m pretty sure I will buy tissues for the classroom and hand sanitizer as well, since she gets colds easily and will go through a box of tissues quickly as a result.
As for deodorant, it really is needed by the time fourth grade rolls around; since kids are starting to go through puberty earlier, they tend to need deodorant sooner. My niece started using deodorant in 5th grade, and earlier this year the Princess decided she needed some as well. So I bought her a tube of teen-girl deodorant, which she doesn’t really need, but still makes her feel all grown up having a deodorant of her own.
My daughter’s secondary school’s only ‘must haves’ are pen, pencil, rubber, ruler, calculator, school uniform and PE kit. How weird to hear about kids sending in twenty glue sticks and bin bags - though I guess us having uniform is different to your schools, too.
I recall an article I read online somewhere where a British teacher came to an American school (I think that was the case, I may be misremembering) and told the students they needed to bring rubbers to class. Got a lot of calls from outraged parents.
Our younger son goes to a private elementary school. He needs to have his personal items, which means a pair of shoes or slippers for indoor use, a pair of gym sneakers, a backpack, a lunchbox, and a water bottle.
Older son attends a public junior high school. He needs the indoor shoes, the gym sneakers, the backpack, the lunchbox and the water bottle, plus whatever pens and pencils he uses, a ruler, a protractor, a compass, and a calculator. He also has to cover his textbooks with some sort of paper cover. All his notebooks and such are provided by the school.
On the other hand, the younger boy will be sent outside for a one-hour recess in pretty much every kind of weather short of an actual blizzard, so he needs to have suitable outdoor clothing for every kind of weather. Plus both will have Ski Days when they are expected to bring a complete cross-country ski kit. And both have swimming sometimes during gym class. Also ice skating. And the elder may have to bring his bike to school to ride for a class field trip, which may involve spending the night in a cabin or tent so he has to bring a sleeping bag. And I’m sure I forgot something. The moral of the story is, in Troll Country the list is short, it’s what ain’t on the list you need to worry about. :rolleyes:
They also put them on the legs of the chairs, so there aren’t 25 kids all scraping their chairs at the same time when the bell rings. It’s really noisy and scratches the heck out of the floors.
The sock is so each kid has their own wiper for the dry erase board.
The 20 glue sticks? Yeah, that sounds about right. I teach preschool part-time, and we go through glue sticks like you wouldn’t believe. As LHoD said, they leave the caps off, or the cap rolls off the desk and under the shelf or heater - and then it’s gone forever. They twist up too much and mash it all up, twist it all the way up and the whole stick falls out of the tube… they just don’t last very long. Even if the kid takes care of it, they still don’t last long. There just isn’t that much glue in them. You use more than you’d think.
Same with crayons. They break, get stepped on, get lost.
Handkerchiefs and grade-schoolers don’t mix. They go missing until Mom goes through the backpack, then finds a nasty, moldy snotty rag. It’s much easier and more sanitary to use a disposable tissue that will end up right in the trash.
Then we’d be asked to supply toilet paper instead. (School doesn’t have money to use more than is already budgeted for the bathroom.) I suppose parents could go ahead and buy toilet paper instead of the requested Kleenex and say it’s good enough. Of course, the poor kid whose parents sent TP would probably get so much teasing from the other students that they would “just die”.
Strange how the Kleenex we brought in as kids was kept in our desks, whereas now it is more of a communal thing. Even the pencils are pooled together and doled out as necessary.
So much wasteful packaging, though, and expense. We do spend more than $75 a kid for required school supplies, in addition to special fees.
/geezer. In my day we didn’t bring in 20 glue sticks and 2 bottles of Elmers each. There was a giant tub of white paste that would get glopped on squares of scrap paper and shared out.
Yeah, in Spain it’s writing materials, books, PE clothes and (if applicable) drafting kit and uniform. For the little kids, stuff like glue is provided by the school; for older ones, you bring your own when needed but it belongs to you, not to the class or the school.
My daughter is starting pre-k this year. I hadn’t seen a list but all these supplies were on sale so I bought what I thought she might need. Crayons of every variety, markers, fat pencils, skinny pencils, folders with and without prongs, a pencil box, back pack, and a nap mat.
I got the list last week and the ONLY thing I got right was the nap mat. The backpack wasn’t clear, they wanted toilet paper, paper towels, tissue, sanitizer and liquid soap. I guess I’m happy the school provides the work supplies, but toilet paper? I KNOW school’s provide toilet paper…surely…?
Really? That must be a regional thing. My son uses his own pens and pencils and glue - there’s no communal pot for the basic supplies.
(The tissues, yeah, but not pencils.)
