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I'm happy you got your job and medical insurance back! It is so stressful to be without.
My kids start school tomorrow - one new thing on the school supply list? Each kid is to bring in a ream of copy paper! The list gets longer each year; last year they added kleenex and hand sanitizer, and if your child is in a portable, you will soon be flooded with teacher requests for dixie cups and paper towels. All this on top of all the standard stuff. At this rate, next year they will be adding toilet paper. I spent nearly $300 for my 2 kids (reusing a lot from last year) and I'm still not done. I think in CA the shool districts still provide everything at the elementary school level, but my sister does have to purchase buss passes for her kids each trimester.
At my son's school last year, the parents contributed $25 each and the teacher went shopping for all the kid's supplies in bulk. They shared everything. THis year in JH, we had to buy everything and they want the "expensive" supplies. Not the 10c note books, they required the kids to buy the 150 page note books with the pockets. $3.75. What ever for? $3.75 vs 10c...It is so heavy too.
Pretty soon the busses will not be free...but I'm ok with paying for that service. Heck, lunch and sports aint free either.
I hear you - they specify the brands of pencils and scissors and stuff. At the elementary school, the students turn in everything but the scissors and ruler in to the teacher who re-ditributes. Most teachers have a box of sharpened pencils and another for the kids to put the dull ones in and then a parent takes them to the workroom for sharpening. I can tell you that the bulk of the pencils that parents buy, the really cheap mega packs, the lead is so badly centered that I will often have to sharpen the pencil to half its size before I get a tip, and about 20% will get ground all the way down before the tip shows. The school requests Ticonderoga's, but even they are not as good as they used to be. I'm glad at the Middle School, the students get to keep their own supply. I order Musgrave and a couple other brands of pencils made here in the USA, they sharpen nicely. They cost more to buy but last so much longer it is worth the extra expense. (Musgrave is mostly known for their pencils with information on them like times tables, the preamble to the constitution, chemical symbols, etc. I bought the ones with the states and capitals on them for my kids, and they passively learned them! Olivia got 80% on her pre-test before they learned them, and she did not cheat by using the pencil with the answers.) There are a couple of other good brands too - surprisingly one of the Roseart pencils (not all - need the green barrel). I found these while sharpening pencils for second graders. Most Roseart stuff stuff is made in China, but they bought out a small pencil manufacturer in New Jersey, and the good pencils are produced there and sold at Target stores.
What cracks me up with both schools is they have this huge list of required items (pencils, pens, erasers, glue sticks, scissors, highlighters in 4 colors, dry-erase markers in 3 colors, 2 boxes of 24 count colored pencils ....) and one SMALL pencil box so that they can fit the stuff in their desks! For Alex's small items alone, I filled 4 pencil cases and a 1 gallon zip-lock bag!
I'm happy you got your job and medical insurance back! It is so stressful to be without.
My kids start school tomorrow - one new thing on the school supply list? Each kid is to bring in a ream of copy paper! The list gets longer each year; last year they added kleenex and hand sanitizer, and if your child is in a portable, you will soon be flooded with teacher requests for dixie cups and paper towels. All this on top of all the standard stuff. At this rate, next year they will be adding toilet paper. I spent nearly $300 for my 2 kids (reusing a lot from last year) and I'm still not done. I think in CA the shool districts still provide everything at the elementary school level, but my sister does have to purchase buss passes for her kids each trimester.
At my son's school last year, the parents contributed $25 each and the teacher went shopping for all the kid's supplies in bulk. They shared everything. THis year in JH, we had to buy everything and they want the "expensive" supplies. Not the 10c note books, they required the kids to buy the 150 page note books with the pockets. $3.75. What ever for? $3.75 vs 10c...It is so heavy too.
Pretty soon the busses will not be free...but I'm ok with paying for that service. Heck, lunch and sports aint free either.
I hear you - they specify the brands of pencils and scissors and stuff. At the elementary school, the students turn in everything but the scissors and ruler in to the teacher who re-ditributes. Most teachers have a box of sharpened pencils and another for the kids to put the dull ones in and then a parent takes them to the workroom for sharpening. I can tell you that the bulk of the pencils that parents buy, the really cheap mega packs, the lead is so badly centered that I will often have to sharpen the pencil to half its size before I get a tip, and about 20% will get ground all the way down before the tip shows. The school requests Ticonderoga's, but even they are not as good as they used to be. I'm glad at the Middle School, the students get to keep their own supply. I order Musgrave and a couple other brands of pencils made here in the USA, they sharpen nicely. They cost more to buy but last so much longer it is worth the extra expense. (Musgrave is mostly known for their pencils with information on them like times tables, the preamble to the constitution, chemical symbols, etc. I bought the ones with the states and capitals on them for my kids, and they passively learned them! Olivia got 80% on her pre-test before they learned them, and she did not cheat by using the pencil with the answers.) There are a couple of other good brands too - surprisingly one of the Roseart pencils (not all - need the green barrel). I found these while sharpening pencils for second graders. Most Roseart stuff stuff is made in China, but they bought out a small pencil manufacturer in New Jersey, and the good pencils are produced there and sold at Target stores.
What cracks me up with both schools is they have this huge list of required items (pencils, pens, erasers, glue sticks, scissors, highlighters in 4 colors, dry-erase markers in 3 colors, 2 boxes of 24 count colored pencils ....) and one SMALL pencil box so that they can fit the stuff in their desks! For Alex's small items alone, I filled 4 pencil cases and a 1 gallon zip-lock bag!
