SUPPLY AND DEMAND....

On The Smart One's last day of first grade, he came home with a stack of photos his teacher had taken of him throughout the year. I was touched and impressed that she had taken photos of each child and then made sure the parents had a stack of memories of their student doing all the great things in the classroom that parents don't usually get to see.

So, when we got the school supply lists for the following year, I did not mind a bit supplying the "one roll of 35 mm film - 36 exposures" because I knew these teachers were taking time to preserve memories for the parents of all 20+ students in their classes.

Those were the days when we had to supply, not only crayons, glue sticks (oh my the countless glue sticks) and safety scissors; but also paper towels, two large boxes of kleenex, and antibacterial hand cleanser.

I tried never to complain about the HUGE pile of supplies we had to buy or the HUGE check I had to write for all of those supplies. I learned very early to ADORE teachers. I love teachers. I fall at their feet in admiration. I learned very early that elementary teachers spend not only lots of time, but also lots of their own money to keep their classrooms fun and exciting. In our little school district, we honestly loved all the teachers that taught our children all through elementary school. LOVED them. And junior high and high school teachers? Well, when you have teenagers, you will also adore those who spend their day with DOZENS of them. Willingly. I mean, they CHOOSE to spend their days with our teenagers. So that we don't have to.
I'm just KIDDING! I love my teenagers. But I can love them just as much while they are at school.

But this is not about teachers, as much as they deserve a whole post just for them.

This is about students, and what it takes to get them ready for that first day of school. This is about supply and demand. Or the demand for supplies.
I have an 8th grader and a sophomore. The Princess (my 8th grader) and I went shopping for school supplies yesterday. She still has a list of required items. Things like post-it notes, index cards, markers, looseleaf paper....and twelve red ink pens. TWELVE! One. Dozen. Red. Ink. Pens.

I am incredulous.

I tried to keep it to myself but every now and then a comment would slip out like "I'm still not clear why you need TWELVE red ink pens." I mean I know they grade each other's papers and all, but TWELVE?

I will also admit to getting a little grumpy about the cost of things yesterday.
We got a few things at Staples and after the third very nice employee asked me "Can I help you find anything?" I answered with "Yes, do you have any valium...?"

No, I didn't really say that, but I thought it.
Because I could not find a one-subject notebook for less than $5.00!! FIVE DOLLARS!! For a notebook. One hundred sheets of paper.

So we moved on to the other stores, hoping to find lower prices. And we ended up getting everything we needed except 4x6 ruled index cards - white; and the liquid glue pen. Not glue STICKS, of which I have a thousand, but a liquid glue pen. We also managed to splurge on a really nifty binder for The Princess. It was not on the list, but it has zippers and velcro, and all sorts of pockets and TWO built in accordian files. It also cost more than our lunch at Panera.

Not that I'm complaining. Because to SOME mothers (not me of course) back-to-school time truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

And really, I don't mean me.....