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I watch the sales and and make a master list for my 4 children in school, and cross off/highlight what i have as the weeks go by. before the end of the summer, there is rarely anything that I didn't get on sale. I am on a budget, and I also prefer to double the list for many of the items, glue sticks, crayons, pencils for example so when they run out midyear the kids can go to my supply , where i bought it . I'm with you NCYank,
not that you can do it now, but right after valentines day, when they do their clearance, i was able to pick up valentines with a dozen pencils in it for about 30 cents that are all character, princess, etc , the kids love those pencils
I watch the sales and and make a master list for my 4 children in school, and cross off/highlight what i have as the weeks go by. before the end of the summer, there is rarely anything that I didn't get on sale. I am on a budget, and I also prefer to double the list for many of the items, glue sticks, crayons, pencils for example so when they run out midyear the kids can go to my supply , where i bought it . I'm with you NCYank,
not that you can do it now, but right after valentines day, when they do their clearance, i was able to pick up valentines with a dozen pencils in it for about 30 cents that are all character, princess, etc , the kids love those pencils
This reminded me of what happened to a friend. She also was shopping for 4 kids and carried her list with her getting all the items over time. There were a few hard to find items one teacher requested for one child. Just in time, she found them and bought the last ones. The next morning she came downstairs to find her other daughter had ferreted out the school supply stash and written her name and subjects in sharpie all over the covers!
Thank for sharing even more great ideas about the pencils!
Many of you would have hated our last school system when it came time to supplies. We were on year round and did not get the lists until two or three days before school started. The stores did not have any selections and few specials. Many of the teachers would have some sort of punishment for students who did not have their supplies by the third day of school, so parents were under the gun.
As far as shopping over time by choice verses just knocking it out, I see your point, but that is not something that appeals to me. I am very much a complete-it-and-move-on kind of person. To each his own.
Anyone shopping for backpacks - we are going on the 3rd and 4th years of LL Bean packs with still no sign of wear. I also made sure these had laptop pockets for more use (they use them on vacations, etc. too). The padded pockets turned out to be useful for many things they have to carry home.
I was in Walmart today and there was a teacher in there buying up supplies for her students. Looked as if she taught elementary students given the type of stuff she was purchasing. (though these days, maybe large crayons are appropriate for high schoolers now) I suppose her students are getting a very nice offering from their teacher. I hope it is appreciated.
My 16yr old is holding her 2nd Annual "BACK TO SCHOOL SUPPLY DRIVE" in our neighborhood on August 14th. She is a student at Ardrey Kell.
She did this last year for "CLASSROOM CENTRAL" and will once again be taking the donations over there.
I was looking at the Office Depot, Walgrens, and CVS circulars for this week and there are quite a bit of items for pennies. I would suggest that you look around your house and car for loose change and you can purchase some of them and donate to your local school. If you have a card for CVS and Walgreens you may have bonus bucks that may kick in. I have a loose change jar (been around for years) that no one has touch because of the pennies so I am going to use that along with what I find in the house and the car to do the same. Just an idea and suggestion.
Oh, I hated those lists, too, and I was one of the people sending them out! LOL I taught on a middle school team that was pretty anal-retentive, and while a lot of what we did was very helpful in the long run for the kids (each subject had a different color), it was a pain in the neck for some parents and I felt horrible about it. IME, some kids are going to respond to organization skills and others aren't, even if you freaking color-code it for them.
Our school was in a very wealthy district in the DC Metro, but our particular school/population was definitely on the low end of the socioeconomic spectrum. We did a lot of supplying for the kids out of our own pockets, and we discreetly made sure each child had everything he/she needed. That said, once I made sure you were supplied with what you needed, I was pretty evil about not providing stuff like pencils or paper. Students were expected to come prepared, period. There's always one to be scrounged in the hallway. On the handful of occasions that I really had to lend something, it was marked as mine and I required a shoe as collateral. Kind of hard to forget to return it.
One thing I did was take the list sent out by our team up to the local Office Depot early in the summer and chat with the manager about making sure they were well-stocked in the specific items. If something was particularly hard to find, I'd grab a bunch and either give them or sell them below what it cost me just to make sure the kids had what they needed. We were sure to include the replacements for items they'd need through the school year, such as glue sticks, pens, second spiral notebook, etc.
During my last year in that school district, our supply budget was completely cut. The teachers finally rioted after several weeks of buying our own boxes of paper (each handout meant at least 150 sheets of our own paper, so you can imagine what that was like) and the principal found the money elsewhere, but everything else was cut--staples, paper clips, chalk, everything. So on behalf of all the teachers out there as well as the families who struggle to get their kids fully stocked for school, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH to all of you who contribute to school supply donation efforts. It is truly appreciated.
TeacherAmy brings up a great point about copy paper. That was the most expensive thing on our kids' list - we had to provide several reams of colored paper for each class. Definitely pick that up for teachers whenever you see a great deal!
I was hoping when we finally relocate-we'd find a school without those lists a mile long! Our district here in Upstate NY has teachers who think we are walking banks with some of the supplies they want. They have to have binder a particular size-1 inch or 1 1/2 inch-some 2. Color coded binders-finding some of the colors has proved to be a challenge if it's by size. We have between 6 high schools that are within a 15 mile radius over 6000 kids looking for items.
It does not make it easy when you don't get the lists til the day school starts(our teachers here don't believe in using websites-another pet peeve). I only have on left in school(the other two are in college). The Junior high she's going to has even harder to find items for the teams. Each team has different stuff-and we don't even have schedules yet to know what to buy(we don't start school til Sept.7th). Then, the dress code they have is SO strict. It's very hard to find clothes that she can wear to school. Shorts have to touch the knee. No tank tops, no spaghetti straps-only sleeveless shirts. Pants can not touch to floor. None of our schools have a/c either and that second floor gets steamy during hot weather. Cheerleaders can not wear their uniforms-field hockey girls can not wear their field hockey skirts. No flip flops or sandals without strapped backs. It's very one sided. Drives me bonkers. Do they have requirements like that at the schools the area here?
Don't forget the dollar stores when some of these sales are over.
That's exactly what I was going to say. Dollar General, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree are the first places I go when I buy stuff for my niece. I will say, though, you have to be careful with Family Dollar sometimes. I purchased two packs of college ruled paper there when I first began grad school and the holes were punched incorrectly. I had to punch additional holes just to make it fit in my binders. That was a very rare event though.
I also second waiting until after school starts to get the specifics that are needed. Kids don't really use many materials the first day besides the basics.
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School Supply
