Saturday, August 18, 2012

School Supplies

I admit I was a little excited about the prospect of buying Evan some cute school supplies.  Um, WAS is the key word here!  I am writing this post because I am sure I am not the only parent out there who has been a little frustrated by the lengthy and expensive list of school supplies required for schools, both public and private.  I have a kindergartner and a preschooler, and I just spent over $150.00 on school supplies. What, you say?  Yes, you did read that right.  We saw our lists and decided to head to that lovely establishment, Wal-Mart, to attempt to get everything needed at the lowest possible cost.

This is what my kindergartner is expected to bring to school:

8 small glue sticks
2 packs of 8 jumbo crayons
2 packs of 16 pack crayons
1 pack of 8 washable markers
8 beginning fat/jumbo #2 pencils
24 regular #2 pencils
2 pink/white bar erasers
1 9X12 "red line" primary dry erase board
1 pack dry erase markers (round tip)
1 dry erase board eraser
1 pair of blunt tip scissors
1 1", 3-ring binder (solid color)
1 5-pack of plastic binder pockets
1 zippered pencil pouch with 3 ring binder holes
2 2-pocket folders with 3 ring binder holes
1 pack of Clorox wipes or baby wipes
2 boxes of tissues
1 box of ziplock bags

No this list was not fun to buy!

And here's my 1 year old preschooler's list:

1 big box of multiple refill baby wipes (They got store brand!)
4 packs of Clorox wipes
Stickers
1 pack of colored sharpies (Are they going to write on my one year old?)
4 boxes of tissues
2 containers of hand soap
1 16-pack of washable crayola markers
1 lunch container with divided compartments

Yep, the lunch box was the only "fun" purchase on this list.  If you count the lunch box and Evan's new backpack, that would be over 200 big ones out of my pocket!  And the boys will still need school clothes!  I now know why so many kids cannot afford school supplies.  If anyone else out there is experiencing some long and unusual school supply lists, I'd love to hear about it!

And this is how Brody felt after a long morning of back to school shopping...




Photobucket

13 comments:

  1. One year olds don't go to preschool. They go to day care.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know who this is, but he is going to Evan's old preschool and will be in the one year old room. He goes M, W, F from 9:00 to 12:30 so no this is not daycare. It is purely for "education" and "social development."

      Delete
  2. School supply lists are insane these days.

    I'm a new follower :) Nice to meet you.

    -Jackie
    http://thechroniclesofmomnia.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice to meet you too, Jackie! You had me with the name of your blog. I love C.S. Lewis, and my oldest and I have been reading the books aloud lately. We just started "The Silver Chair" (my fav).

      Delete
  3. School supply lists are insane!!! I can't belive they want you to buy a dry erase board for your son. crazy. My daughter's list was long (not as long as yours) but they wanted a 24 box of crayons and a box of 8 crayons. The 24 box was 50 cents adn the box of 8 was over a dollar! I was very tempted to buy two 24 boxes, take out the 8 primary colors and stick them in a ziploc. haha!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it is definitely insane! I totally understand about the crayons. I can't figure out what they need all those permanent sharpie markers for in the one year old class though, but if my son comes home with permanent marker all over his clothes and skin, I am going to be one irate mama! :-)

      Delete
  4. It's crazy these days. They have the kids bringing dry erase markers and print paper in their supplies. Isn't that what the school should supply? And it just outcasts you child to not bring this stuff. New follower from the Southern Bloggers list. Julie @ http://icreatepurtythangs.blogspot.com. I'm in Tennessee.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, I totally agree. I just wonder what less fortunate families will do to buy all these school supplies. :-(

      Delete
  5. That is a crazy amount of school supplies. Yikes :( I do wonder if the supplies are shared among everyone so that those kids whose families can't afford the supplies still get them. But then it would be nice if that was made clear somehow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, I am pretty sure all of these school supplies will be shared because I don't see them using 4 boxes of tissues and clorox wipes by themselves!

      Delete
  6. Forget about paying for college. Apparently we need financial aid to pay for kindergarten. Glad I know so I can start saviing up for next year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ugh, let's hope yours isn't that bad, Natalie!

      Delete
  7. You're not alone! :) I didn't even bother adding up all the costs. Of course, I try to stock up on good sales. But those are few and far between nowadays. :)

    ReplyDelete

Leave some love! Your comments make me happy!