Yesterday I went to walmart for school supplies. WOW, the school supply isle was PACKED with people. I was so glad that I could by pass all the isles that were so packed to get our supplies.. Which was only Printer paper, large glue sticks, and cardstock. I'm DONE!!! I watched as the others scurried around looking to fill their baskets with all that were on their lists. It was so nice knowing that I was FINISHED! And it didn't cost me an arm and a leg. I remember when my kids were in public school. I HATED school shopping because it was nothing to spend $100 on supplies. I don't think I've spent that the whole 4 years we've been homeschooling.
I am super excited about HS this year! It is our first year but I learned early (in Pre-k) that PS just was not for us! I am excited to no have to spend that $$ on School supplies and clothes this year!
I'm exactly the same way! It's really fun to pick up this and that and be done. I replaced a couple of worn-out folders, bought MYSELF some pens, got some printer paper, and replaced a worn-out water color set. That's it. ... and I could've done without the water colors. I was just being generous. LOL!!
I know, right? I spent $70 at the beginning of the year on school supplies for my son last year in PS (K)- Plus spent money on restock through out the year last year here and there. I spent LESS this year for TWO kids-but I stocked up on some things cause they were on sale-printer paper (even though we don't need it yet) bought a box of colored file folders for lapbooking, got them both a dry erase board, clip board, tons of crayons and glue, etc
My Aunt when I told her I was homeschooling said 'won't the kids feel left out when others are doing the back to school thing?' Why?? I get them everything they need. They aren't without anything and if they are that desperate to get something we can talk it over. Funny how people equate education with the non academic things like summer vacation and school supplies.
Wow! I am simply amazed that all of you feel the same way I do! I actually felt a little bit guilty last year (both of my kids were in PS) when I got mad that I paid more money so my daughter could have the nicer folder that wouldn't break apart and she came home the first day of school with some cheap thing. I asked where was her sturdier folder that I bought her and she said the teacher just passed out all of them that kids brought in and she got this one! What??? I let it go, but it irritated me beyond belief. I spent almost $50.00 on school supplies last year for my daughters 4th grade year and around $70.00 for my sons 6th grade year (I didn't realize a 6th grader needed a $20.00 Staples binder, did you??)...ugh..makes me sick. Anyway, this year since we decided to start homeschooling, I spent a total of $9.55 for both of them!! I was shocked at how much "junk" they didn't need. I mean, don't get me wrong, I didn't mind buying extra tissues, sanitizer and filler paper for the class, but if I buy a sturdy folder for my daughter so it won't fall apart in a week, please don't send her home with a cheap one. I ended up going out and buying her another, better one since the cheap one fell apart after 2 days! Anyway, feels good to vent about this finally! LOL Sorry...I am just so happy to be homeschooling now!
I have to say, the kids and I went to Walmart and they had the school supplies out. I told them go ahead and pick out what you want to write with while I get some crayons. I am a sucker for a box of new crayons When they came back I think all they had where red pens. LOL They said, Oh Mom can we get these. I told them why not, now they can't wait to start school. The little things.
That's like years ago when I was working over this idea of starting a school, and thought maybe God had in mind for our church to have one, and anytime I mentioned it to ANYbody, the first thing out of their mouth was always, "What about lunch?? How you gonna feed 'em lunch?" LUNCH? Had these people never heard of a lunchbox or brown bag packed at home??? (that and a microwave is how we do lunch at my little school now) I shut up, and later God made it clear that the school was all mine, not the church's project.
Well, I guess I am different here. Not buying school supplies is the only thing about not going to ps that I miss. We always a had a great time buying them! It was the highlight of the year. Maybe partly because my dad always made it special for me when I was growing up and he usually bought my boys supplies too. Not now that I hs, however.
Lindina, you made me laugh. My mom actually told me that her biggest fear about me homeschooling wasn't the academic part because she knew I'd do a good job but she was upset that he'd miss LUNCH! I yelled "LUNCH! You're worried about lunch? We eat lunch here! You haven't seen a school lunch in a long time, have you?"
It's funny, because when I was a kid, school lunches were real food, but they were just things none of us kids liked much. When I was working in ps, the lunches had become pizza, tacos, burgers, "kid food" mostly, but when they made real food, it was really really good! The adults loved the school lunches, but the kids were still very indifferent to it. I figure why try to cook when kids don't want to eat that anyway? Why not pack what they'll eat? and it IS possible to pack nutritious lunches of "home food" that the kids will eat!
My mom and MIL buy the kids school stuff every August/September. They get new pencils, a folder, notebooks, and erasers....in neat colors and characters. I buy all the boring stuff.
kids are always indifferent to FOOD< lol doesn't matter if you slaved over it, or dropped it out of a bag, there are always those picky kids that haven't been taught to EAT food. There are a lot of kids at PS that only get to eat at school, I have 6 of them on my street right now. They do not eat regular at all, except for school meals. So a hot meal is a big deal to many kids, whose parents wouldn't even send a sack lunch. Around here the kids get a hot breakfast also, which used to be my favorite. I had to get up very early, walk a mile, and then ride the bus 45 mins to school. I didn't want to get up early enough to eat breakfast. But by the time lunch rolled around at 12:30, I was STARVED. Plus the breakfast they served was GOOD. It was the only time I ever got to drink orange juice or milk for that matter, was school. I remember several times I got tardy slips for eating breakfast after the bus was too late to drop me off in time to eat. I finally went to the principal and told him I was going to eat breakfast every day, even if it mean being late to class everyday, and he would just have to deal with it. Maybe the bus driver can drop us off on time for once. Most of the kids on my bus rode for a long time, like I did. I never got anymore tardy slips
I was one of the wierd kids who enjoyed school lunches...except for the green jello with melted, oozing whipped cream. I shop for school supplies with my boys each year, even homeschooling, because they enjoy picking out new supplies and it's the cheapest time of year to get most items!
Oh, I so hear ya, Peanutsweet! I was referring to my little school, and to those who responded to my suggestion of our church having a school by being most and first concerned with LUNCH, when I said why try to cook when the kids won't eat it, why not just pack what they'll eat. When I worked in ps, our office was right in between the lower-elementary school and the high school (middle was across town). One day (one of quite a few days when) there was an anonymous bomb threat called in, so they were calling in the buses, evacuating the schools, and there was this one little guy at the lower elementary school (900 kids, preK-3 to second grade), clinging to the fence and crying. They thought he was scared of the school exploding. Uh-uh. He was crying because they hadn't had lunch yet, and he knew he wouldn't get to eat again until breakfast (at school) the next morning...:cry:
school lunches are disgusting! I love the back to school sales. I always restock at that time. Restocking costs me maybe 10 bucks. It's definitely less expensive then what were required to buy for ps. Of course it all evens out because we buy curriculum, and that is quite costly.
You definitely "need" a lot of extra junk in PS. Now I'm one of those people who loves to get anything & everything I think DS will have fun with. He's got markers, crayons, paints, pencils, glue, playdoh, putty, 3d puzzles etc etc. I don't spend money on much of anything else except homeschooling stuff so I do go a bit overboard. That's just me tho. If I got down to the nitty gritty & only got what Travin really needed, I'd spend pennies =)
(They start them young, don't they? Teaching them that no one has a right to have something nicer than someone else and everything is "community" property.) We bought 2 packages of the "good" mechanical pencils and one pack of "good" pens. Oh, and 4 spiral notebooks. That's all we needed this year. I remember when the kids were younger I would buy more - like those darn glue sticks...but I still have glue sticks out the wazoo from like 5 years ago. For the past several years it has been the mechanical pencils and paper - so this year we splurged on pens...
I'm trying something new this year! They had 5 packs of mechanical pencils for like a quarter at Staples this year, limit of two. Each of my kids bought two, plus Carl and I. Well, they tend to leave them all around, and I'm FED UP with it!!! So they all have their two packs of pencils which they can keep in their own box/drawer. And guess what!!! When I find one lying around the house, it's going to get picked up and put into MY box, and when they run out of THEIR mechanical pencils, they have a choice. Either "buy" one from me for a quarter, or use a REGULAR pencil. As far as school lunches go, my kids pack every Tuesday because we have co-op. And this year, my girls will be taking an English class each. There's three hours between the classes, and no one at that church is providing lunch for the kids! (Though I AM told that occassionally the girls will plan a pot-luck sort of thing, and all the kids bring something!) When I was a kid, moms actually stayed home. My working mom was an exception. Kids were expected to GO HOME for lunch; you had to have special permission to pack your lunch and eat it at school.
My son will only use the Mechanical Pencils since using them last year in PS. He really likes them much better then the regular yellow pencils.
