Seventy-Three Dollars Later...

So last night the kid finally brings home the school supply list from her 6th grade teacher. This is after, mind you, the special 6th grade orientation we went to the day before school started LAST week, and a week after school has started. This morning, after dropping the kid at school, off I go to buy the school supplies.

Needless to say, Office Depot looked as if the 7 year locusts had been through, the shelves were cleaned of nearly everything. They had 'out of stock' stickers everywhere. The employees just shrugged, laughed it off and said, 'Maybe next week we'll get more in stock.' Haha, how amusing for parents! Thanks guys, way to be prepared. I'd think, in this economy where businesses are struggling for their share of the customer pie, it'd behoove you to stock the freakin' shelves. I saw two other parents I knew from the school, also doing their shopping with similar bemused/angry/frustrated expressions, and they both stopped to chat about how they couldn't find everything. Pretty basic stuff too--binder dividers aren't exactly exotic items.

But anyway, here is what $73.00 in school supplies looks like. Not pictured are the package of glue sticks, Kleenex and Lysol wipes that the school requires.

Pens. Pens were ridiculously expensive for the little bits of cheap plastic and ink that they are. And you had to get JUST the right ones, too. Non-erasable (OK, that makes sense, cheatin' lil' buggers), a certain number in one color, and another in a different color, ball-point only (no gel, cartridge or markers).

It was like a scavenger hunt, minus the 'fun'.

The kid also had to sign an unbelievable number of 'classroom/school rules' agreement forms (we parents, too), wherein she promised never to put a toe out of line or muss the school grounds in any way. I could understand the one in the student handbook that covered ALL the rules, but the three others from two seperate teachers we got this week were a bit of overkill. She also had to sign a form for her textbooks, her locker lock, her PE clothes, one about bullying, another for permission to be photographed for the school website, one for electronic devices (school computers) and one about Internet useage while NOT at school when it regards schoolmates (Facebook bullying, I assume).

I agree that signing a form agreeing to follow the rules likely makes an impression and helps keep kids in line, but you can only shove so many pieces of paper under a 10 year old's nose for signing before it becomes meaningless.

Now to mark everything with her name to try and prevent loss/theft. She has already managed to lose the $5.00 school agenda thingy after only three days of school, it's gotta be some kind of record. Sheesh.