Back to School

It's that time of year again, when everyone is getting geared up for back to school. Outfits are getting picked, mornings are being greeted, and the all important school supplies are being purchased.

So, with the million blogs detailing back to school what do I have to say. Today we are going to talk about school supply lists and teacher gifts. I have been on both sides of this spectrum, for multiple grades over the years, so I feel like I've got a bit of a reason to have an opinion.

My girls have attended 6 different schools in 2 different states, this year we start schools 7 & 8. One thing I have noticed is that there are a couple of different ways that schools do supply lists.

1. The district wide list - This list is the same for every student, at every school, in multiple grades. It is usually something pretty general, crayons, pencils, scissors, notebook, tissues and sanitizer. This is great for an overview but does not take into account the teachers opinions at all. Parents will feel like they are on top of things and pre buy this list only to find out that their child's teacher has extra needs, or doesn't want the students to bring or use one of the items. These lists can also be difficult in districts with schools that cross the socioeconomic spectrum. Things that some schools have the funding for, others may not, creating more need. 
2. The school wide list - This is similar to the district wide list, but generally is split up by grade and the teachers get some say in the process. Keep in mind again though that your childs teacher may have some changes just like the district wide list. 
3. The individual teacher list - While this is the hardest type of list to distribute, it really is my favorite kind. It allows each teacher to ask for the supplies they know they will need, and not the ones they won't. In the long run I think that it is a huge cost saver for the parents because they are not buying superfluous items and then having to send in supplemental items later in the year. 

If you childs school uses one of the first two kinds of lists I have some suggestions. First, don't open anything until after you talk to their teacher, and keep the receipts. If the supply list asks for 3 composition books, and 1 ream of writing paper, but your childs teacher won't use the composition books, you can return them.  Second be prepared for the childs teacher to have a classroom wish list at meet the teacher. Don't be angry that you bought all of these fabulous supplies off the list and they don't want them, remember they didn't get a say in what was on that list. And third, please buy the actual thing that the teacher asks for. Here is my personal example and the reason why. When I taught preschool we asked parents to buy a specific type of scissors that are perfect for little hands. Yes, they were more expensive than the normal preschool safety scissors by about $0.50. So frequently parents would save money by buying the cheaper scissors. The problem came when their child was unable to operate the cheaper scissors. When you are working on scissor skills with a large group of 3 and 4 year olds, they have to be able to operate their scissors independently. The teacher does not have the ability to hold each childs hand and help them cut like a parent does at home. As a result of parents refusing to spend the extra $0.50 I was unable to teach scissor skills to 60% of my students. Was it worth the savings? I think not. Teachers always have a very good reason when they ask for a specific item or brand of school supply. They know how expensive they can get, and know that you as a parent want to save money when possible. 

Sorry, I went off on a little tangent, school supply lists are one of my pet peeves, and before you say I just don't understand how frustrating it can be, let me tell you that my husband is one of the, "buy the exact district list buying the cheapest things rather than the correct thing and then complain when they teacher asks for more," kind of person. So every.single.year. we have a discussion about the list. Every.Single.Year. 

Teacher gifts. This is another hot button issue it seems. So let me tell you this once and for all. They are not required. Your childs teacher will not like them any more or less depending on how pinterest-tastic your start of the year gift is. They are always appreciated, but not required. For beginning of the year teacher gifts my favorite that I ever received were things off my wish list, but nicer. For example, I had hand sanitizer on the list so one parents sent in a gift with a large cheap sanitizer, a smaller high end moisturizing and sanitizer, and some good hand repair lotion. Fabulous. My hands were not cracked and bleeding within the first month of school. Useful, and caring. The best kind of gifts. Another parent bought me an adorable assortment of colored pens, markers, and dry erase markers. Trust me, no teacher ever has enough of these, and they are always helpful. The favorite teacher gift my girls ever gave was personalized stationary and matching pen. These were SO inexpensive, but so fun. I just picked up a pack of multi colored pens and had the girls pick a color for each teacher. (and yes we sent one to every teacher, specials teacher, and aide they had) Then we used that color to print a monogram of their last name at the top center of a half sheet of paper, printed them out, tied the pen and some envelopes to the stationary and off they went. We were able to give gifts to 12 teachers for less than $15.