Got Supplies?

Got Supplies?

I am not an elementary school teacher…I may be the daughter of a former first grade teacher…but for this post, I am simply a parent. Ok, I teach high school…but it really doesn’t count here. I have to bring up: The School Supply List.

Let’s just call it: The List. I hate The List. Until my son went to school, I didn’t realize how my life would become driven by a list each August. I am not sure how each list is created. I am sure there are two billion elementary teachers who will be happy to tell me. I know elementary teachers have an incredibly difficult job and I wouldn’t want it. I do not mean to demean what you do or question The List…but I just have to bring it up for discussion.

1. Do we have to have so many different lists?

Depending on the store, printed lists get put into different organizing creations in one area. Invariably, I will have to hang out at the organizing creation to scan for my son’s school list. Sure, you may have sent the list out the previous June, but that list probably isn’t in my purse when I need it. If our community has more than 20 elementary schools, does each school really need a different list?

2. (Some of these are paraphrased from Facebook posts I have seen 47 times already this year.) You do realize we don’t all spend hours in an elementary classroom, right?

When you write FISKAR SCISSORS ONLY!!, we think you are a crazed Kardashian who wants a brand, “just cuz”. We don’t know that almost every other brand of scissors will crack by November and leave the cutout handprint turkeys in terrible molting. We don’t know that buying another brand will insure we have to send more scissors by December. The same applies when you type NO MARKERS!!! We don’t all realize what other children might do with markers and clothing or desks. We just know that our little girl really wants the new glittery markers from Pinkalicious.

3. Why do you want 144 pencils?

This is our first impression of our baby’s new teacher. We don’t know that you keep a happy classroom by grouping all school supplies together to dole out as needed. We see 144 pencils and imagine strange new math techniques or enormous games of Pick Up Pencils. If a list can’t come to life, or contain adorable picture links to show us the real story of your classroom, we are left to our own school experiences and vivid imaginations. We also are often buying the most expensive or perceived “best” brand of pencil for our babies and get irritated thinking other parents might just buy the cheapies. I am imagining here…I have never personally thought someone might buy the RoseArts over Crayolas.

4. Doesn’t the school give you supplies? We pay taxes.

Hey, hey…I am typing as a parent. What? Most schools have already had supply budgets slashed and either parents have to send supplies or you have to buy them yourself? Oh, you get just a class set of supplies…to last until June? And are still expected to send home all of the beautiful refrigerator art, holiday gifts, etc? And pass a million tests? Or your evaluation gets slashed and you might lose your job? No, the list didn’t tell me that.

5. So what should a parent do?

Pick up standard supplies in July and August at the lowest prices…Staples offers weekly penny deals with a minimum purchase. (Often you can break up transactions between various family members to get maximum savings. For example: Take a family of five to Staples during loose leaf notebook paper week. Add $25 worth of other sale merchandise (pens, crayons, dry erase markers) to cart…divide in $5 increments to each person and give them the maximum number of the penny deal. If it is an excellent deal, you can visit the store more than once during the sale week. Just a little bit of homework or picking up the local Sunday paper of flyers, will pay off in great deals. This week is single subject notebooks in wide rule…up to six for a penny each. Staples also offers a discount card for $10 for the entire school supply season. Teachers can also get additional savings. Target, Walmart, Office Depot are also other key places for deals.

Organize with other parents on Facebook, Mommy Groups, neighborhoods to swap sale information or participate in bulk sales (facial tissues, Ziploc bags, baby wipes). It might even be a fun event to organize shopping days throughout the summer months and have a big supply swap at a culminating cookout. We know we all deal with “The List”, so why not make it fun?

If you aren’t buying for your own child this year, why not just pick up some great bargains to donate to a school or community outreach program?

Once I battle The List each year for my son, I always buy up the best deals for my own high school classroom. Rarely, if ever, do you see a high school list in stores…we are just happy when kids remember a pen, pencil, or paper. If you think I am being sarcastic, ask a friend with a teenage or tween son…they will tell you all about it!

Heart you elementary teachers everywhere…really, I couldn’t come close to doing what you do each day with a smile!