I have one homeschooled and two still in school. While choosing a curriculum is a headache, and of course you need to get some school supplies at home, it is no where close to the headache I go through with my two public school kids.
This is not a criticism of the need for school supplies--nor criticism of the teachers or school for asking for stuff. I totally get that what they ask for are reasonable things to ask in exchange for educating my children, and I know the teacher's own shopping list is just as long (I once taught in public school...so I get it). But like many other necessary things, it's still a pain in the butt
10 Things I Hate About Back to School Shopping
- Spending an hour+ searching for things on the list. It's like a scavenger hunt, only less fun.
- Cryptic descriptions of school supplies I've never heard of.
- Having to go to 3 stores to find that ONE required color folder that always seems to run out.
- Finding the exact brand the teacher asked for, specifically, and right next to it finding a seemingly identical product by another brand for half the price.
- Accidentally mixing up some of one child's school supplies with another's.
- Clothes shopping with a picky child.
- Getting your kids new clothes and shoes, just to have them walk through the mud in their new shoes the day before school. (Mental note...next time I will not let my child use their new shoes early, no matter how worn the old ones are, or how much they beg me).
- Not being able to find all the things you actually can re-use from last year (like scissors and earbuds), buying another, then finding the one's from last year 2 days after school starts.
- Realizing after the first day of school that after all that time and effort you STILL managed to miss some things.
- Having to repeat all this hullabalu a week later when your high schoolers and middle schoolers bring home the lists for their classes.
If you are exclusively homeschooling, take a moment to stop and reflect on the blessing of getting to skip all this! I remember how relieved I was when I went "back to homeschool shopping" for my youngest for the first time...dry erase markers, a notebook, some paper, a dinosaur book and sweat pants. THAT WAS IT. (Ok, ok...maybe that's not accurate. I guess I wasn't counting the months I spent searching for the right curriculum.).
Whether you are homeschooling or traditional schooling or a little bit of both, hope you and your children have a great school year!
I am so glad I don't have to deal with buying from a list. We can shop when we want, for what we want, and when we find the best sales.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I do the "can't find something, buy a new one, find the old one" thing ALL the time.
Thanks for sharing on Throwback Thursday Blog-Style. Your post will be featured this week. I hope you can stop by for a visit and to join in again soon.
Thanks a bunch. It's been a busy summer (I think for a lot of people).
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