What's with these back to school supplies?

The days of some pee-chees, paper and pens are over. My 6th grader needs composition notebooks, a zip up binder to hold them, and about 15 other things. Seriously going to cost at least $200 dollars for the three and that's if I skimp on some things. This is insane.

Now you know why the chinese sell their spawn

I feel for you Nazgul. Our school has this massive list each child must bring. We notice that the teachers end up with tons of leftovers each year, so we send what we want. It is getting ridiculous what they request.

Tell me about it. I have 2 girls going into 7th grade in a couple weeks. Oh, the horror of it all!

Being a young person coming out of the public school thing, I will say that out of all the stuff the schools have for supplies requirements on those lists....like a quarter of it is actually used for school stuff..........the rest, various missiles etc.

My kids are still a few years off before I need to take out a 2nd mortage to pay for school supplies, but I do get bummed out when I see the back-to-school stuff showing up the day after Independence Day.

I hate that retailers rush the seasons/holidays. By my count, we should start seeing Halloween decorations in about another week or so.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I hate that retailers rush the seasons/holidays. By my count, we should start seeing Halloween decorations in about another week or so.

The A&P near me already has a display of Halloween candy out on the shelves. Who the hell buys their Halloween candy in August?

I know what you mean - my son starts first grade this fall and the kindergarden supplies where $$$!!!!! I had to find a single dry erase market and NO ONE HAD ONE - they were ALLL SOLD OUT because every parent in count bought them for their kids!!!!! I ended up buying a box of them and gave them to the teacher in case other kids had the same issue I did....

I guess that shows me for waiting for the last minute to buy supplies!

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I hate that retailers rush the seasons/holidays. By my count, we should start seeing Halloween decorations in about another week or so.

No kidding, Wal-Mart started getting in Back-To-School supplies before school was even out (they were displayed a month into the Summer break).

Stuff like this is getting way out of hand.

One class wants 10 red ball point pens. I don't think i've used 10 in my whole life.

My school buys a pack for each kid, and the cost is rolled into the
tuition. You're still paying for it, but I don't have to go to the
store. Big plus, in my book.

I don't have to worry this year, the school my daughter attends is buying the whol student body's school supplies.

Nice.

my oldest stepson starts 6th grade next week

The teachers requesting these odd duck supplies are lame. A notebook, #2 pencil, black pen and backpack is all you should need...

Remember when we had to make bookcovers as kids?

Addy wrote:

Remember when we had to make bookcovers as kids?

Yep, out of brown paper grocery bags or the Sunday comics. Nowadays if your kid went to school sporting those covers on his books, the other kids would think your family is on welfare.

Addy wrote:

Remember when we had to make bookcovers as kids?

I remember when Burger King used to give out really cool bookcovers.

I remember those

Fat Freddy wrote:

Addy wrote:

Remember when we had to make bookcovers as kids?

Yep, out of brown paper grocery bags or the Sunday comics. Nowadays if your kid went to school sporting those covers on his books, the other kids would think your family is on welfare.

My wife & I were just talking about that the other night when we went grocery shopping. Those brown paper bags are getting scarce. Everything is in plastic bags now. I said to her "Good thing we don't need 'em to cover text books"

Quote :

Remember when we had to make bookcovers as kids?

Yes!! Great memory. You would use grocery bags turned inside out and then decorate it yourself. That was a highlight and a ritual of starting a new school year.

And covered in Metal bands using there style of writing? Ahhhh, the good ol' days.

I never had to use half the stuff that my parents "had" to buy for school and when I got to junior high school all I used was 1 notebook, 1 folder and a pen that's it. I feel bad that my parents had to spend all that money. I loved using paper bags as book covers, because as stated earlier you could write your favorite band names and logos all over the front and back. It's the little things that made school tolerable.

Some of my current students still make their own out of paper bags! As a teacher, I never really understood the need for a supply list as long as your arm, either.