SurvivingInfidelity.com^®

Kids start school the end of this month. Lets get to the school supplies before there is a mad rush in two weeks

So im in target with my list

Sharpened colored pencils. Check.

Sharpened no.2 pencils in snazzy designs. Check

Highighters. I need one but they come in a pack of 4. She can share. Check

Box of 24 crayons...washable markers...colored pencils (with eraers even)...pink erasers...4 glue sticks. .4oz glue...check. check. Check.

Then it begins to get hard

Red pencils. Uh, red pencils? Uh...okay. Found em. Check.

Folders with 2 front pockets? Uh...glorified PeeChees? Uhm. Maybe. Check.

Book sock.

Book sock? What the hey (kids were with me) is a book sock.

Uhm...ma'am...do you know what is a book sock.

I dont know. Let me ask them.

She yells around the corner: does anyone know what is a book sock?

From around the corner comes a man my age. He is very proud he knows what he is talking about "I put 4 kids through h s. And now college...this is a book sock. You will need this one" ( he did a good job of picking out a girlie one for dd7)

Its a book cover? I adked baffled. "Why not use a paper bag"

"Its not ecologically friendly".

I look at his so. She looks at me. I say "its biodegradible".

She says " and you can draw on it"

"Yeah" I agree.

He says. Dunno. They use this now

Okay now I have a sock for a book. Do I have to buy it shoes, too?

And 1/2 of that list will go into the communal supply closet for the teacher to use in the classroom.

I hated school supply shopping for DS when he was in elementary school... One year they actually asked for several reams of copy paper and red ink pens.

I mean, I guess if the teacher's making copies of worksheets for the kids and one is mine, copy paper makes sense... but...

One year I bought DS a bunch of those really sturdy poly pocket folders... the teacher gave them to someone else and gave DS crappy paper ones.

I was ticked.

Thank God in Middle School kids keep their own stuff.

Thankfully no book socks here

I get the whole, "everyone buy extra to help cover for the kids who don't have supplies," thing. BUT there have been years that I haven't been able to afford supplies and have still bought them (and one year I had TWO people from SI help me, without me asking). This year I planned ahead; we went to Kmart about six weeks ago, put the supplies in layaway...$290 later I picked up the supplies today and all I have to buy are three packs of loose leaf paper and sanitizer. Oh the joys of school supplies

I hate back to school shopping!!!

I've been hitting all the sales though so I am almost done.

When my son first started school I bought every damn thing on the list. This was before my XH walked out. Figured I could afford. I know the teachers pay for a lot out of their own pocket even though the district should be paying for it.

When he walked out I couldn't afford to buy all that stuff so I stopped. I get what I know they will need and use.

The kids always come back home with crap they never used during the year. Luckily, it's been stuff I can use at home. So it's not been a complete waste of money.

I was with DD at Walmart getting her what she needs for back to school. One of the things was construction paper. She is a college senior! She said she needs it sometimes for projects. I told her I felt like she was back in preschool.

It made us laugh .

Those book Sox can be reused over and over and over....

@scardycat: doesnt it get holes in the toes?

Come to find out we already had one at home...called a book cover. Its monster high....dont know how well thats going to go over in her school. Lol

I dont mind pitching in small stuff to help the teacher. I dont mind helping kids who dont have much. The only thing that bothers me is people who say they dont have much and then they are going on vacation or something

Houson has or had a cool way to handle school supplies. I was a nanny in southeast houston. The randalls would have the supplies wrapped up like an easter basket. You just picked up what basket had your childs grade and thats it

Our school division, parents pay the division $50 and the division buys school supplies for all of the elementary kids. The supplies might be basic, but the kids always have everything they need.

I'm a junior high teacher and this year I had a kid who had lost all of her pens and pencils in mid-May. Everyday she came to school and needed to borrow a pencil from me. I told her she needed to tell her mom she needed more pencils and this student replied that her mother refused to buy her any more pencils because it was so near the end of the school year. Now, this wasn't like a week or two. We had 6 weeks left until the end of the year. 6 weeks!!!

At the beginning of the year, I had purchased a box of 200 golf pencils for my students to use when they forgot theirs. I told them that when they were gone, they were gone, so to remember to put them back before they left. They were gone by Christmas. So, I bought a couple of packs of regular pencils that I guarded heavily. Wanted a pencil? Well, I want your backpack as collateral. That worked well until I was out sick one day and the kids convinced my sub to give out all my pencils. Only 3 came back.