Supply List for K?

[frugalmama]

What are your must-have things for K for school supplies?

I've been going off the lists put out by the local public schools, but it doesn't seem like enough to last a year - I've like to buy the entire year's supplies while they are on sale now rather than at full price later in the year.

We have coloring projects at least 3 days a week, FWIW and DD likes free coloring on top of that. Mostly DD only uses crayons right now.

How much of the following did/do you use in a year?
Crayons
Pencils
markers
70 sheet notebooks
construction paper
watercolor paint {the 8 color case ones}

What else do I need?

[elus0814]

We've been homeschooling our two oldest, one who is now almost six and one who is now four and a half. I've kept very close track of what they have used, partly because that's just how I am and partly because DH began the year assuming homeschooling would be astronomically expensive and I wanted to prove him wrong.

Here's the supplies (not books) we went through, for both kids (I may be missing a few things):
-crayons; one 102 pack, two 64 packs, and fourteen 24 packs (they color a lot, crayons get dropped and broken frequently, and many of these crayons are still in the 'in use' bucket), we use crayola brand
-writing pencils; five dozen, about eight of which are still in use, we use ticonderoga brand because I think they sharpen more nicely than others, I sharpen them by hand instead of using the electric sharpener so they will last longer, only a couple of these were lost or broken and I was very surprised by how many pencils they went through, we use little cap erasers to extend the use of the pencil to after the original eraser has been used
-colored pencils, four 12 packs and one 50 pack, crayola brand, many are still in use
-markers, sixteen (yes, 16) 10 packs, eight 'skinny' and eight 'broad', crayola washable brand, almost none are left and I'm waiting for a sale to buy more, my kids use these all the time and like to do things like cover paper grocery bags with designs which uses them up really fast
-70 sheet notebooks, none, we haven't use them but we have used about 100 sheets of writing paper as well as a primary composition notebook for each in addition to their handwriting workbooks, I began the year with a few on hand and the kids used them to draw in but I prefer using three prong folders with plain white paper in them for them to make little books out of
-construction paper, eight 96-sheet assorted packs, target sells these for 88¢ in the back to school sales so I let the kids go nuts with them if they wanted
-watercolor paint, four 8 color crayola strips, I bought lots of these when they were $1 but they lasted much longer than I thought they would
-glue, forty (yes, 40) small elmers glue sticks and four 4 oz. bottles of white elmers school glue, we really could have used more white glue as I found myself rationing it and it's so inexpensive on sale, the kids really enjoy projects where they glue stuff all over something (like an old kleenex box)
-erasers, about ten cap erasers and two larger pink pearl erasers, the two large ones are still being used, these last a lot longer than I remember from school (I think because they are not being lost or loaned out to kids who break them apart)
-plain white copy paper, three full reams (500 sheets each), the kids really like drawing so paper is used fast around here, we don't have a working printer right now (we can print for free at our library) so it's been all the kids
-tempera paint, a dozen 16 oz. bottles in assorted colors, these have lasted all year by using a few little dollops at a time on a painter's palette
-roll paper, three 200' rolls, these go on our easel for art time, the last one is not completely used
-scissors, two pairs of westcott round tip, these are still in great shape and we'll likely use them for the next couple years until the kids need larger ones
-manila folders, about 40, for lapbooks, storing/organizing work, and other projects
-rulers, two clear plastic, still looking good to be used next year
-dry erase markers, two 10 packs, expo brand one pack is still in use, partly for drawing some for lessons
-chalk, four 12 count crayola boxes, mostly for the kids to draw with but some was used for lessons

*please note I'm not including all the random art, music, phys. ed, etc. items we used since those would make the list three times as long; I only included items typical of a school supply list

**please excuse me for being a school supply nerd, these sales are my favorite time of the year and I'm so excited to go through my lists to see what needs to be purchase for the upcoming year

[sbgrace]

Wow, the pp--I'm impressed with your recordkeeping! If I only I could be so disciplined my husband would be thrilled.

We've went through tons of loose drawing paper, crayons, colored pencils, and markers here. Especially markers. They prefer them for drawing type stuff and they run out with such heavy use! We've gone through paint too. I guess I think you stock up within budget you have it for next year?

[ambersrose]

For Kindergarten supplies for one child we used paint (water colors and acrylic one pack each), color pencils (2 12 packs), markers (one large pack of 24 colors), construction paper (2 packs), ruler, pencils (2 packs), lined paper for hand writing practice (one large pad), scissors (1 pair), glue sticks (6 sticks or so), one bottle of white glue. This includes only the items you buy, we also use a lot of recycled items in our projects. For example, a cereal box turns into a book cover for a made up story.

[Lisa1970]

Our local schools will have children bring in way way too much stuff. I am talking 7 boxes and crayons and such.

I would get 1 24 box of crayons. I would get a second one and put it up for later. You have years to get to it and probably won't need it any time soon. Just make sure it is up and away so the children do not get it out for the fun of something new.

I skip the markers. Those are just trouble. Plus, once they use markers, they never want to use crayons again.

I get a rule, scissors, paper, art supplies (i.e. construction paper, manilla paper, and so on) water paints, water paint paper, pencils, pencil sharpener, Those are the main things. You can get colored pencils too if you like.

[elus0814]

Originally Posted by sbgrace

Wow, the pp--I'm impressed with your recordkeeping! If I only I could be so disciplined my husband would be thrilled.

We've went through tons of loose drawing paper, crayons, colored pencils, and markers here. Especially markers. They prefer them for drawing type stuff and they run out with such heavy use! We've gone through paint too. I guess I think you stock up within budget you have it for next year?

Thank you! It's so easy to keep track of supplies, just make a list of what is in the box of extra supplies then add to the list when the box is added to and at the end of the year compare what is written on the list to what remains in the box then buy replacements for what was used plus a couple extras of things that the kids seem to be using more of at that time.

In response to the pp. One single small box of crayons plus one extra just in case is not a lot of crayons for a five year old. I'm guessing your kids are super careful with their supplies but most children will go through several boxes of crayons in a given year and it's much less expensive to buy extras when they are 20¢ a box than have to pay full price of over $1 in the middle of the year. We've ended up with some extras that were purchased last summer and won't even be used up this year but it's no big deal to donate them to school supply drives or to homeless shelters where, I assume, in January crayons and pencils are scarce. Plus, the back to school sales change each year so something like watercolors may be only $1 now but can not be had for under $2 next summer. Unless someone is on a very tight budget or has next to no storage space stocking up over the summer makes sense. It's also nice to be able to let the kids make all the crayon/glue/construction paper type crafts they want without having to worry about the cost of the supplies. Most school supplies, including glue sticks, will last for several years if left unopened.

I can see where a parent might be concerned that kids will use supplies simply because the supplies are there to use or will be wasteful. Our solution to this is keeping the box of extra supplies where the kids never see it (the top shelf of the closet in the spare bedroom) in a opaque container. They have never asked where the new supplies come from and I guess they must assume I either purchase them individually or magically come up with more, although they might think I have a stash somewhere. To keep there from being excessive waste I give them one item at a time when the previous item has been used up. If they are not careful with something I don't replace it until some time has passed and we have talked about using supplies wisely.

The kids still happily color with crayons even when markers are available, it's never been an issue. When one color marker is used up I give them a replacement of that color to keep in their personal box, this way they're not using up a new box when they only need a new red. The only drawback is running low on a particular color but simple encouragement to use more yellow and less red for a few weeks solves it easily.

[MrsJewelsRae]

To add to all the rest, I would keep my eye out for sales on play-doh and modeling clay, my kids love the stuff! I've actually found some good modeling clay at the $ store. Other things I like to have on hand that we use is a stapler, hole puncher, tape, double sided tape, glue gun, and if you can at all afford it a good electric pencil sharpener!