I was required to have a graphing calculator for math class in high school (8 yrs ago). I was too cheap to buy one, so I borrowed a friend’s calculator during class. Even back then, graphing calculators were a great tool. Ever try drawing a 3-D graphs that overlap? The visual aspect helped me learn what the retard equations look like, and then I would copying the drawing onto my homework. We were allowed to use graphing calculators, but all calculators were checked for stored equations before each test.
I never bought my school supplies ahead of time. I usually acquired them on a as-need basis, and since I knew someone that had taken the class before me, I would find out what EXACTLY I needed. If it was anything unusual I could acquire it from someone who didn’t need it anymore.
Make your high school kids do some of the leg work. If they know anyone in their class they can share a calculator, and rent it or sell it when the class is over.
We had to buy a dissection kit for my anatomy class in high school. It went with me to college and I put the locking forceps to great use (“Hey, man, pass that roach over here.”)
LilMiss’s list for public school 4th grade:
2 spiral bound note-books, wide ruled (1 each blue, red & yellow) (TWO, but 1 blue, 1 red, 1 yellow. Great math skills!)
1 pkg loose leaf notebook paper- wide lined
8 pocket folders, solid colors to include red, green, blue, purple, and yellow #2 pencils (box of 24)
Scissors
Ruler - 12", with metric and English markings
Erasers
1 highlighter
Set of magic markers (thick or thin)
Glue
1 fine line black felt tip marker
2 red correcting markers
Paint shirt (with name on front)
Colored pencils
Gym shoes
1 lg box of Kleenex for classroom supply
Pencil Pouch (or a large Ziploc may be used)
Pencil sharpener with cap- no battery operated
1 pkg Post-Its
Calculator
$8.00 (check made to school for daily planner, Scholastic News, Weekly Reader, or Time for Kids)
Much of this she used last year or I bought in bulk last year. I ended up buying her a new pair of scissors and a ruler, as they “disappeared” last year. Total school supply cost, including “NEW” cool backpack: $25.00.
Weird thing though- no crayons. This seems to be the only grade where no crayons will be used.
Now I’m with y’all on the ridiculousness of some of this, but just to play Teachers’ Advocate here, some of it might make more sense than you’re allowing.
The color-coordinated stuff (blue, red, yellow, whatever) can make it easier to tell kids what to take out next. You know, like maybe all the yellow stuff is for math – “Get out your yellow set,” the teacher could say.
My company makes textbooks, and sometimes we have excercises that require sticky notes (can’t call 'em Post-Its® or we get accused of prduct placement) and various colors of highlighter, etc., for revising papers or organizing information. (Actually, I wish we didn’t do this, but apparently some influential teachers and school boards out there want us to.)
I agree that kids should figure out what organization or note-taking system works best for themselves, but many kids resist giving a particular system a decent try if not required to do so for a while.
Different states and school districts have different rules about what supplies they can ask for – sometimes this is because of actual laws, but often not. Sometimes these rules change after budget cuts. Sometimes asking for certain supplies to be supplied by parents is certain school officials’ passive-aggressive way of making parents aware of budget cuts… or “sharing the joy” in a district where requisitions of everything down to toilet paper gets cut back. Then again, sometimes it’s just plain necessary.
And sometimes having a community-pot-type situation is the only way teachers think of to cope with having big economic disparities in their area – some parents just can’t buy supplies for their kids, and some just won’t, and is it really an inmprtant learning experience for your kids to point these things out in class every day? It’s not the supply-less kids’ fault. There are surely other ways your kids will be learning to be good little responsible capitalist consumers with preferences, etc.
I think that it’s probably partly to make sure everyone gets stuff even if they don’t chip in, actually. It bothered me the first year, but then I realized there wasn’t shit I could do about it and so I adapted.
Get this, though… last year in first grade the teacher said she was getting every kid a subscription to some Scholastic something or other magazine. Not a big magazine–it’s like 6 pages or something. She was paying for it but asked the parents to chip in $2 each toward it. TWO DOLLARS.
I was one of two parents who actually sent it in. What the fuck? I live in Fairfax County which is a pretty wealthy area (which sucks for us because it means everything is way over our range lol!) so I know these parents could afford it. Grrr.
Yep. If I was in a better place financially I’d just do Crayola across the board no problem… but when I see $1.49 for Crayola crayons versus 33 cents for Wal-Mart brand… and I know they’re just going into “the pot”… well I go for the Wal-Mart brand. If I knew that Dominic was going to be using them, I’d be getting better stuff for sure. It sounds bad, I know.
Oh as if! We’re talking about public schools! You don’t get to make choices like that, silly! It is always very specific that you buy WIDE RULE. In fact, in the dark ages when I was in school, even though we had no official supply lists, if you came to school with anything but wide rule paper, it was sent home and you were told to come back with wide rule. (Which I hated, because I have small handwriting and feel like I’m swimming in wide rule.) I also remember at least one high school English class where we were only allowed to use blue ink. That annoyed the hell out of me since I can’t stand blue ink. It’s gotta be black, baby. Unless the pen was free. Heh. Mmm… freeeee pens…
My main problem with buying school supplies is that I have something of an office-supply fetish. I just love all that shit and I want to buy ALL OF IT! Hell I look at the swirly colored erasers and I want to buy them even though A) I don’t use erasers and B) they aren’t on the list. It’s sad, really.
My son gets something… I’m drawing a blank all of a sudden… Time for Kids maybe? I think it’s free to the schools. I certainly didn’t pay for it. Not Scholastic, though.
He does need $3 for an assignment book. It’s a required item and the school supplies it. They write down homework assignments in it. It’s like a date book or Day Runner-type thing. It really helps cut down on the “BUt I don’t have any homework!” arguements.
I went to Target for school supplies. I bought Crayola stuff. I think the 8-pack of crayons (which was on the list…very specific, they only want 8, not the 12-pack) was something like .88¢. I bought 3 packs since they go through them so quickly. I also bought the nice Fiskars scissors. My son needs lefty scissors, and since I spent more, I want to make sure he’s using what I bought. I put his name on everything with a Sharpie, as the teacher requested on the list.
I have no problem donating some supplies if the school asked that could be doled out to needy students. But don’t send out a supply list for my child, expect me to fill it, then turn around and confiscate those supplies for communal use. She gets to decide when and if to share her supplies, not the school.
No, my daughter’s school doesn’t have a community pot. But I heard about it on the news and it infuriated me, so I’ve told my children that if anyone asks for their supplies to share with the class they are to refuse and have the teacher call me. Some people may shrug it off, but I think this trend is very dangerous…the idea that it’s bad to own something for yourself. Forced sharing, IMO, does not foster a sense of compassion among children. It merely teaches them that nothing belongs to them. And OpalCat demonstrates a very real trend…when parents are forced to buy supplies for the group, the quality of those supplies goes down, so all the children have to make do with the cheap stuff.
YMMV, of course. I have no problem with my daughter sharing her supplies if it is her choice.
Well, if you’re successful, let us know if the box contains regular, large, or large unlabelled crayons. There’s even a pack of 16 multicultural Crayola crayons in realistic skin tones and hues!
I don’t remember anyone mentioning the dreaded oil cloth – when the art teacher asked students to “take out your oil cloth, scissors, and glue”, an audible groan or two would always fill the classroom.
When I was in elementary school (i started kindergarten in 1964), one of the supplies we were asked to bring in was a “cigar box” for storing pencils, ruler, etc. Imagine making such an implied endorsement of smoking today…
With respect, I’m really confused about why this is such a hot button issue for you. I mean, wouldn’t these supplies be about the only thing in their lives that don’t belong to them? Don’t most American kids have quite a lot of personal belongings? And how does having one category of shared items foster the idea that it’s bad to own things?
Again, I really don’t get it and I’m hoping you can help me out to understand. Are you honestly saying that you think generic pencils or folders or whatever cause your children to suffer in some way?
Yeah - what’s an oil cloth and why did kids groan when they had to get them out?
IIRC, oil cloth is a funny way of saying “square foot or so of Naugahyde or similar material” If memory serves, it was something we’d lay on the desk or table before bringing out the oily clay. Of course, that was 30 years ago, so I may be totally wrong.
I LOVE this thread. I’m father of three children, my youngest now in 8th grade. Unfortunately, my 13 y/o daughter is the pushiest of them all! She knows EXACTLY WHAT SHE WANTS, AND WON’T GIVE UP UNTIL SHE GETS IT. It comes from being the 3rd child I guess. She’s also the luckiest. Why you ask? Because I used to spend hours at the office supply stores and Wal-Mart or Target stores getting the list just right. It drove me insane every year. Last year, I had enough. I told my daughter I was going to look around at the cool computer stuff. Her job was to get everything she needed for school. I am alive today because of that theory. She’s pretty good about not buying unnecessary things, thank God!
Now, more to the point of the OP. It’s insane. Since school has started I have had to make three more trips to the supply store to buy ‘special items’ that the teacher wanted. One wanted a 1/2" binder and a 1" binder that is to be turned in at the end of the class. Of course this means that It will be nearly impossible to get the binder back. They probably end up throwing them away. Bastards!
The next thing that gets me is the urgency that they want things. Hello! I have three kids, and a life. You need to give me a few days lag time. Preferably a weekend!
Oilcloth was originally a fabric (cotton or hemp, before hemp was illegal) impregnated with oil, thus rendering it waterproof to some extent. (Wax was also used, but was less durable than oil.)
It was used for sailors and fishermen’s clothes, as tablecovering, and as floorcovering when made of heavier cloth that the usual 14 oz. (or thereabouts) cotton duck.
My grandmother had several oilcloth tablecloth and kitchen curtain sets that she’d had since the 30’s.
Linoleum replaced oilcloth floorcoverings, and vinyl did in the oilcloth tablecloth. I grew up in a fishing and shrimping town, so oilcloth was still available when I was a child (in the 50’s and early 60’s).
Yes, I am a compendium of totally useless knowledge.
Stupidest school supply?
Small wisk broom and dustpan, required by my little brother’s second grade teacher, so that the children wouldn’t leave eraser rubbisgs on the floor. Each child had to tidy up their own area. (Teacher’s ex-con brother was a janitor.)
