Friday, August 18, 2006
We, the People, in order to form a more perfect union ... establish justice and ensure freedom of choice when school supply shopping
However, I lose my patience when I am restricted in my freedom of choice when it comes to arming my children with the best of the best in office and school supplies.
For example, here is Queen Bee's Second Grade School Supply List:
Two boxes of 24 regular color crayons Ok. Fine and Dandy until you get the Queen, standing by your side, saying "but I NEED to have the 64 pack with the built in sharpener ... because Courtney has SIX boxes of them!"
Three 4-oz. bottles of Elmer's white glue (not school glue) I think it took me until this morning to realize that there is, indeed, a difference between the types of glue offered. But do you know why it HAS to be the blue label kind? Because the teacher says the school glue is "too runny." While I believe this to be a legitimate excuse and complaint, she needs to TELL the parents this in her list; I learned this from my 7 1/2 year old who kept telling me "NO MOMMY! NOT THAT KIND!!!!!" and having what equated to a nuclear meltdown in the aisle.
Pencil eraser Pretty self-explanatory, but I don't recall seeing too many individual erasers for sale. It was always a two or three pack.
10-20 yellow # 2 pencils Ok fine. I have a box of 12.
Colored pencils (Crayola are the best, others break) Well, sure Crayola are the best. Crayola is ALWAYS the best. But if I want to buy Rose Art colored pencils because they are $ 1 cheaper, then too bad. Let them break.
Fiskar scissors Ummm... gonna get what we have, lady.
One bottom pocket folder As opposed to top pocket? Well, it all depends on how you hold the folder.
Paint shirt No problem. Really.
Large box of tissues Ok. This is where I start (and end) to have a problem. My child has a small nose. My child has not gone through a large box of tissues in her LIFE! I mean... seriously. WHY am I supplying tissues for those kids who have those nasty, runny noses about all school-year long? I guarantee you that that box of tissues does not remain at the Queen's table.
Gym shoes No problem on those, either. We always have the best of intentions in having one pair at school at all times, but Queen is a shoe geek, and she wants to wear them home.
Box of gallon freezer bags The teacher uses these to send home assignments in. But it baffles me that every child allegedly brings in a box of 10-20 of them. That makes about 200-400 bags for a class of about 20. Why, then, does she have the gnarliest looking bags? I throw them away and send a new one when it gets nasty looking.
This list pales in comparison to what the Door Man will have to supply. I guess I just have a hard time with that communal school supply mentality. If someone is going to be strapped for cash to supply their child, then the school needs to look into other alternatives ... like getting a church to make donations or something. Don't make the parents of the classmates pick up the slack.
posted by Knitting Maniac at 10:05 AM
I'm a mom of three peeps ... Queen Bee, The Door Man, and the Chandelier Monkey, and wife to Ace, the Helpful Hardware Man. I created this space to get away from the people known as my inlaws, and because life with three kids and a hubby is all Unexplored Territory.
The nine-year-old who seems to be growing older every minute, has an opinion and a comment for everything, and has a true servant's heart.
The seven-year-old who loves the organization of things, will someday be someone's therapist because of his kind soul, and will more than likely be living with us until he is 40 years old.
The five-year-old with the 13-year-old attitude, who has a dictator's personality, asks you to watch her all the time and say "hold on" to keep your attention, and will someday come home on the back of some dude's motorcycle with 10 tatts and a body piercing or two.
The man of the house, the fixer of things, the winner of prizes, and the only person in his family to escape the South.
TT # 6
My new tenant! Give her some love
A glimpse of the competition yet to come
Yesterday, the Door Man and the Chandelier Monkey ...
Some serious thoughts
A free tube in every bowl
The answers to the burning TT questions
TT # 5
The King of Beers
The votes are in .....
7 Comments:
Bitch away, I have done nothing but do that about our school system for the past...oooh, 10 years.
Our school, wonderful as they are *snicker*, doesn't send out a school list. Not until the kids go to school. Which is Sept 5 this year. School supplies have been in the stores and on sale since Valentine's Day, and are now dwindling in number and variety.
I suppose the upside is I always get stuff on clearance, the bad side is convincing my 9 yr old BOY that it is okay to have a dolphin folder.
LOL!
Well, not quite that bad, I'm so exaggerating here, but it's not far off.
I love buying school supplies...of coarse I don't have kids in school yet. LOL I love restocking Little Man's craft box
I swear I buy more stuff for me than them! I bought myself the cutest pencil case...but what the heck am I going to do with it?
I hear you on all of your points. I'm sure I'll feel the same way once Little Man and Bean hit school.
Isn't it funny how we all love to buy them? I think there is a 12-step program for people like us! LOL!
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Our school district is suppose to supply the students with everything. Teachers are allowed to send home a list of suggested donations if parents are interested. I wonder if all school districts are required to provide supplies through grade 8?
Those lists really are restrictive, aren't they? I can completely relate to the back-to-school shopping madness!
Yeah, try to find a box of 8 crayons. They come in all sizes, but the elusive 8 is difficult to find. And WTH do they need dry erase markers for at this age? Don't people realize they are 4 bucks a pack?
Oh school supplies..love them!
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