Puplic high school is costing me a fortune... - Page 5

[kijip]

Originally Posted by gool0005

The $100 calculator is a good investment that will take her through college and on. I still use my TI-85 regularly as does my oldest daughter for her schooling (although she prefers her dads HP). Anyway, I totally wouldnt' balk at the price of the calculator because they can do so much and when taken care of, can last a very long time.

Also, you should be able to get one used for not a lot. If she can use a TI- 82, they are cheap used.

[kijip]

Originally Posted by ChristaN

The problem we've run into with things like this is that we don't get the back at the end of the school year. They become the school's supplies. For instance, we had to get the kids $20 art smocks at the start of this year and a specific brand of dictionary. Neither was returned to us despite repeated requests. They are apparently now part of the school's supplies for the art room, classrooms, etc.

For a calculator, I am assuming it would stay with the student in their bag or locker or home. Label it. I have had the same calculator for 10 years.

[gloobella]

Well I am a former teacher and I can give some perspective ont he materials.

Unfortunately I had to have all the students provide their own pencils, pens, paper, etc. It didn't bother me so much about the pencils and pens but what really annoyed me was that the school did not provide me with any paper to give to my students. I would tell them to get paper from a friend. This was especially annoying because in my classroom I had a $3000 LCD projector installed that I occasionally used. Had they asked my opinion I would have said give me paper not a projector. SChools are so pressured to keep up with technology when books and paper are all that is necessary to learn.

I think there is horrible budget management in schools because they have to do so many things to make themselves look good in the public's eyes.

[sunflowers]

I think you can add to the list of crazy supplies requested:

In elementary school ds was requested to contribute:
*toilet paper for the rest room. Yes. The students were each asked to donate 2 rolls of TP for the lav in the classroom!
*shaving cream to clean the desks :
*tissues (I can almost see the reasoning in this because I'd guess the teacher would have to provide them if the parents didn't send any).

[enkmom]

Tissues have been on our school supply lists since I was in school, and I'm over 40. I know it was needed, but I didn't get over feeling grumpy about it until I helped out in my dd's first grade class and saw how fast those kids run through tissues. I don't think a teacher could afford to replace them on a regular basis.

At the high school, most of the teachers offer 10 pts extra credit for bringing in 2 boxes of tissues during the first week of school.

[nextcommercial]

Originally Posted by enkmom

Tissues have been on our school supply lists since I was in school, and I'm over 40. I know it was needed, but I didn't get over feeling grumpy about it until I helped out in my dd's first grade class and saw how fast those kids run through tissues. I don't think a teacher could afford to replace them on a regular basis.

At the high school, most of the teachers offer 10 pts extra credit for bringing in 2 boxes of tissues during the first week of school.

What bugs me about the tissues is the fact that they have to shlep the boxes to school on the bus. Then the bus driver gets grumpy about all the "bundle packs" that are taking up space.

My dd has REALLY bad allergies, and she herself can use a whole classroom supply of those things.

[Jillson66]

Our PTA tried something new last year that was fabulous. We talked to the local Office Max and Wal Mart and negotiated HUGE discounts (some items were less than cost) on each grade level's classroom lists. We made up individual packages of supplies and were able to sell them to parents at less than half the cost of what the supplies would have cost if everyone had bought them on their own (even after we added $1 for the PTA fund). And it was so easy -- on orientation night, you paid your $10 or whatever and picked up the bag of supplies. It was also very easy to subsidize packages for students whose family needed help; we just told parents that anyone who needed supplies should ask any PTA officer and we were able to give more than 50 kids packages of supplies (which is nearly 20% of the student body). I highly recommend it -- parents LOVED our PTA last year just because they didn't have to go shopping for supplies!

[mommy68]

My kids are in private school and talk about $$, it's tough.

I agree with getting her to get a part-time job. I think our children will do this as soon as they are old enough and then contribute towards the "extras" for school later on.

[Ruthe]

I haven't read through the thread so I might be repeating, but... YES school activities are expensive! But not NEARLY as expensive as comparable activities outside of school. in my experience. For instance, if you wanted to take advanced language classes OUTSIDE of school.... you'd be buying those two books PLUS ALL OTHER CLASS MATERIALS and paying for the class itself and taking time after work, in the evenings, to do it.
Band stuff... I don't think there are a lot of parallels to "marchng band" outside of school (maybe I'm wrong? ) but I bet a lot of the equipment required is school-owned or obtained through the school at a discounted rate. Ditto for school sports. WAAAAY cheaper than private sports leagues.
Bottom line... Childhood is a time to experience all that you can, try out everything that interests you, and darn it, it sure is expensive.
"Acceptable" clothes... we all want these. Looking inconspicuously normal is a goal for many teens; expressing their own style is a goal for others. The budget for school clothes and shoes needs to be realistic within your budget but also realistic in regard to what basic accoutrements are going to cost. It's great for kids to supplement their wardrobe with earned money but within your ability to do so, you the parent have to provide acceptable basic wardrobe. It's a lot harder when they are 14 and not 2, because they have a lot more opinion about what constitutes an acceptable wardrobe.

[KaraBoo]

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