What will you spend forschool supplies?

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Many of our area schools begin classes today and kids are returning with boxes of classroom supplies.

Some lists of supplies the kids are given to purchase include things such as 4 boxes dry erase markers (aren't those expensive?), a pack of disinfecting wipes, a pack of baby wipes, a bottle of Windex (?!), a bottle of alcohol gel hand disinfectant, 4 boxes of kleenex, a package of plastic spoons, 6 rolls of paper towels (Is that one of those giant packages I see? Where could the school possibly store 6 rolls X the number of complying students?), 4 packs of pencils, 4 packs of pens, 2 boxes of markers, 2 boxes colored pencils, 12 spiral notebooks, 12 paper pocket folders,....One person had to buy 30 gluesticks, though it was for four kids. Wow.

One year I bought the supplies for the son of a friend who just did not have the money. In addition to some of the things above, I remember buying plastic forks & spoons, and paper plates.

What are you having to spend on classroom supplies for your children this year?

[wincrasher]

My sister (who teaches middle school) tells me that their money for supplies was diverted to save teacher jobs - about 20 in her district.

So they are sending a much longer list out this year. The hope is that 20-30% will comply. There are so many hardship cases that they don't expect everyone to send in stuff.

So if you can, please do. If you can't, they understand.

Sis usually spends her own money too. She says that this year she is not. They have more kids, longer hours and less pay. Plus her husband isn't working much. So she says if they run out of paper, then so be it.

This year I plan to ask her, after a month, where she is coming up short, and then getting that for her classes. Probably $250 worth.

[creditcardfree]

I think I spent between $30 and $40 for school supplies for my two kids. Four 3-ring binders at @ $2 each adds up! Plus they each needed a set of dividers.

[MonkeyMama]

The public school requests $25 per child. They can buy in bulk, and I like this approach (EASY), but clearly we subsidize a lot of people who can't/won't pay it.

[kork13]

My mother teaches Kindergarten, and every year she provides hundreds of dollars worth of school supplies for her kids. When she goes back to the states (they live in Guam), she's always on the lookout for inexpensive supplies on sale, particularly crayons, glue sticks, pencils, and stuff like that. Even working for a government (DoD) school, they're constantly short on supplies, and she knows that some families (particularly the kids of young enlisted airmen) can't afford to be constantly buying bunches of school supplies. In times of budget cutbacks all over schools, supplies are generally some of the first things to go. It kills me to see that they're asking families to provide white board markers, windex, and toilet paper... I can understand kids providing the stuff that they'll use on their own (gluesticks, markers, and so on), but stocking the school itself? Really?

[PrincessPerky]

This year I spent...lesse crayons, pencils, pens,

A grand total of... nothing

Let me double check my math....

nothing plus nothin carry the nothin.... (only funny if read in Jane Cobb's voice, though he was multiplying)

I donated all of it, drug store deals. So tecnically a small cost, taxes and such.

I have no need of new supplies. Well printer paper maybe, and we just got a case of it for sorta nothing.

I do cheat in that my mother bought the Latin program, and the math one. Other than that we find homeschooling to be far cheaper than sending a kid to school. (thank goodness with 5 of them I could never afford the public schools!)

[PrincessPerky]

forgot about the highlighters..those were free too