WFMW - The Laundry Room "Store"
Stock up on school supplies when they're on sale!
Here's some of what's in our cupboard right now:
- spare ink cartridges (this was last year's midnight trip to the store)
- copy paper
- colored cardstock
- looseleaf binder paper
- spiral notebooks
- binders in different widths
- composition books
- duo-tang folders (in several colors!)
- post-it notes
- highlighters
- markers
- crayons
- pens
- pencils
- colored pencils
- erasers (several types)
- glue and glue-sticks
- poster board (couple of colors)
- compass
- ruler
- paper clips
- tape
- scissors
- and a spare science fair project board!
Another thing I've learned is that you don't always have to have everything exactly as it's on the list. Of course, no one wants their child to be different and difficult, but I've learned that most teachers really are reasonable. Communicate with them! Find out their reasoning for orange and purple folders. Use last year's composition book (use a utility knife to cut out the 10 pages they wrote on in September before deciding to use something else) or crayons (if they're still in good shape). Let them know ahead of time that errand day is Tuesday, so if your child needs something particular on Friday, you as the parent need to know on Monday, not Thursday. And I've found that if you can volunteer in the classroom, the teachers are much more willing to be flexible!
It took a while to build up our supply, but this year I didn't have to do any school shopping between open house and the first day of school. Everything the kids needed was already available at home. And it's fortunately been a long while since I've had to drive around town looking for a project board the day before the science fair!
Have fun learning!
Comments
I used to sell janitorial supplies to several school districts in Florida and saw how they chose to spend their money. If schools really thought those items were necessary they would purchase them.
This year Kelly has about 50 boxes of tissues in her supply closet and about 20 packs of colored paper left over from last year.
On Austin's supply list this year was a request for each child to bring 12 packs of pencils. That works out to over 3300 pencils. Is that REALLY necessary? I think not.
The only thing I did need to buy this year was a 2" binder. I had 1" an 1 1/2", but I guess there are many papers to collect in this one class. Sometimes, teachers require certain colors for different things~~therefore, always buy a few colors.
Hope your kids are enjoying school!