School supplies -- buy the best or is it just pooled for the whole class?

[Anonymous]

get the brand. If the stuff is pooled, your kid is still using it. Do you want your kid to have scratchy Kleenex? or less than functional hand sanitizer? Read the NYT on Sunday -- most happiness comes from GIVING TO OTHERS. Buy the brands the teacher wants - s/he will be happy, the kids will be happy, you won't feel like a cheapskate.

[Anonymous]

Teacher here. I mostly care about the brand of pencils b/c they are used so frequently. Buy the Ticonderoga brand since they sharpen the best. We've had to throw away so many cheaper brand pencils. Crayola is better than Rose Art but the rest of the supplies can be the cheap stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG, OP. Really? Just buy why the f*ck the teacher asks for---half the time they are buying stuff for their class out of their own pocket throughout the year. They have been doing it long enough to know which supplies are better worth the brand.

+1. GOD FORBID you buy a fancy folder and a POOR CHILD gets to use it while your special snowflake has to make do with a flimsy inferior product. (Sorry to use "special snowflake," but sometimes there's no better word.). In any case--as a former teacher I can assure you that most parents do buy the recommended brands. So even if they are pooled your child has a good chance of not getting screwed with crappy rose art crayons (the horror!). For the $15 total you will save by buying cheaper brands, it's not worth starting on the wrong foot with the teacher. If money is that tight for you, contact the PTA as they have funds to assist needy children.

[Anonymous]

This of it this way. If you buy the cheap stuff, your special snowflake will have greater odds of using cheap stuff because there will be more of it, even if pooled. If you spend $10-15 extra, your child has a better chance to get the good stuff. And you win in the karma pool. I truly believe that those who do stupid stuff like this in the end will get what they deserve. Karma bites back.

[Anonymous]

To the OP: you should buy what works best for you and your family. If you don't feel ok with following the list, than do your own thing.

From my experience, our school does try to use the supplies the child brings, but I'm sure stuff gets mixed up and commingled. I buy through the PTA and most of the other parents at our school do the same thing. Honestly I've never worried if another kid ends up with our crayola crayons. I figure it all balances itself in the end.

[Anonymous]

OP, in my experience, some supplies are shared and some are commingled. For example, last year my early elementary kids kept their own pencil boxes, poly pocket folders, scissors, and crayon boxes while the rest of the supplies (pencils, markers, glue sticks, erasers, kleenex, wipes) were put in big plastic bins in a supply cabinet in the classroom. Each kid stocked his/her pencil box with supplies from his/her own stuff (a glue stick, an eraser, a few pencils) and then the rest went into the shared supplies. When a kid ran out of a glue stick, the teacher would get another one out of the bin. I'm guessing this varies by school and teacher, but I think this is a common approach.

[Anonymous]

I buy brand names but I only have one kid, so it's not that much money anyway.

In the beginning of last school year, my daughter told me that her classmate asked her if they could swap notebooks! The other kid's mom bought a crappy one and she kept asking others if they want to trade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG, OP. Really? Just buy why the f*ck the teacher asks for---half the time they are buying stuff for their class out of their own pocket throughout the year. They have been doing it long enough to know which supplies are better worth the brand.

+1. GOD FORBID you buy a fancy folder and a POOR CHILD gets to use it while your special snowflake has to make do with a flimsy inferior product. (Sorry to use "special snowflake," but sometimes there's no better word.). In any case--as a former teacher I can assure you that most parents do buy the recommended brands. So even if they are pooled your child has a good chance of not getting screwed with crappy rose art crayons (the horror!). For the $15 total you will save by buying cheaper brands, it's not worth starting on the wrong foot with the teacher. If money is that tight for you, contact the PTA as they have funds to assist needy children.

OR the kids could just use the supplies THEY BROUGHT IN themselves. Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your subject implies you will only buy the best if your princess/prince gets to solely use them. If what you buy is going into the communal pool- then you'll buy the crap. Righto.

You are also the one that puts in the paltry amount into the Group Gift since nobody will know how much each contributed---and god forbid you put in more than everyone else, correct?

You don't know me, so don't make assumptions. You are wrong. I'm the one organizing the class gift. I'm the one bringing ALL the treats for the school party. I'm the one who leads the girl scout troop. I'm teh one who wants to know if everyone really IS sending in the expensive stuff (some of the "preferred" items cost 4 times as much as the store brand and I'm not sure there is a significant difference). If everyone IS complying, then I will too. If the general opinion is "I'm just buying what I think is a good deal regardless of the "preferred" status," then I'm down for being value conscious as well.... especially if items are pooled.

We know that you would buy the preferred brand if you could ensure that it was for your children but that you wouldn't if you thought it might go to others. That is plenty enough to know that your issue is not one of thrift, but of selfishness.

[Anonymous]

When we sent our sons to college, we bought the crappy brands because we had no idea who he might share things with so why buy the good stuff?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your subject implies you will only buy the best if your princess/prince gets to solely use them. If what you buy is going into the communal pool- then you'll buy the crap. Righto.

You are also the one that puts in the paltry amount into the Group Gift since nobody will know how much each contributed---and god forbid you put in more than everyone else, correct?

You don't know me, so don't make assumptions. You are wrong. I'm the one organizing the class gift. I'm the one bringing ALL the treats for the school party. I'm the one who leads the girl scout troop. I'm teh one who wants to know if everyone really IS sending in the expensive stuff (some of the "preferred" items cost 4 times as much as the store brand and I'm not sure there is a significant difference). If everyone IS complying, then I will too. If the general opinion is "I'm just buying what I think is a good deal regardless of the "preferred" status," then I'm down for being value conscious as well.... especially if items are pooled.

I haven't been reading all the comments but I just wanted to add that you are presuming that the parents that aren't sending the expensive stuff either don't care or don't want to spend the money. But you fail to consider people that would want to spend the money but don't have it.

P.S. I think you are a very selfish person to be more concerned with what other people are bringing rather than worrying about what is best for your child's class and by extension what is best for your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your subject implies you will only buy the best if your princess/prince gets to solely use them. If what you buy is going into the communal pool- then you'll buy the crap. Righto.

You are also the one that puts in the paltry amount into the Group Gift since nobody will know how much each contributed---and god forbid you put in more than everyone else, correct?

You don't know me, so don't make assumptions. You are wrong. I'm the one organizing the class gift. I'm the one bringing ALL the treats for the school party. I'm the one who leads the girl scout troop. I'm teh one who wants to know if everyone really IS sending in the expensive stuff (some of the "preferred" items cost 4 times as much as the store brand and I'm not sure there is a significant difference). If everyone IS complying, then I will too. If the general opinion is "I'm just buying what I think is a good deal regardless of the "preferred" status," then I'm down for being value conscious as well.... especially if items are pooled.

I note that these "generous" acts are all things you get public credit for.

[Anonymous]

OR the kids could just use the supplies THEY BROUGHT IN themselves. Problem solved.

Yes, that would solve the problem! That's the way it was when I was a kid. We weren't wealthy by any stretch of the imagination and people were generally thrifty... but we brought our own and kept it our own. No one expected that other people would give their supplies to the general community. I give when I want to give... I don't like forced giving.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous
I note that these "generous" acts are all things you get public credit for.

Seriously???? You think I'm making snacks for 30 kids so I can get "credit" for it? You think I'm the troop leader so I can get "credit" for it? You live in a fantasy world. I do them ONLY because no one else will step up and my child gets a fraction of the benefit from my effort to satisfy the whole. Yeah... there's SO much adulation coming my way that I have to keep doing it for the rush it gives me.... yeah... that's it.

But, you go ahead with your snide judgmental comments... I'm sure it's a lovely life you lead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two kids -- first grade and third grade FCPS.

Some of the supplies on the list indicate a preferred brand... do I buy the brand b/c my kid should have the best? Or are the items just going to be pooled and used by the whole class (not talking about kleenex here -- I know that is pooled)?

Do you send all three dozen pencils in on the first day? What do they do with that many pencils in the class room? Where do they store all the supplies? Is there a certain grade where the kid keeps what they bring?

Only the best for your snowflakes, OP. Otherwise, how else are they going to get into AAP?