First time K parent. When to start school supply shopping?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nice, 12:45.

OP, you should be working on college admissions essays by now.

"How I overcame my mother choosing all of my school supplies and learned to succeed and be happy in life."

it is i like watching vultures circling.
You girls are bullies.
What is so terribly wrong with a mom getting excited about shopping for school with her KG kid?
If you find it so offensive stop reading the thread. do you really need to be mean?
I bet all of these bullies looked up when is the penny sale at their local staples.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A little overwhelmed by the idea to begin with , but want to get my little guy prepared. What is the best time to start? What should I let him pick and what should I just get for less fuss factor? Best store ideas?

It really isn't that hard. get the list. It is basic supplies. I do all our shopping on line with Amazon. Better prices, no fighting the crowds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We usually go to Target in the first couple of weeks of August. Too early and the sales aren't going yet. Too late and the supplies are picked over.

Remember that many (most?) of kindergarten supplies are shared in the classroom by all the kids, at least at our MCPS school. In those cases, I wouldn't get him too invested in them item. Instead, he might want to help you pick out things that would be helpful at home and aren't on the school list (e.g. a pencil sharpener).

So if you don't buy everything the first week, nothing is left? Come on. Staples has supplies all year. Kids do run out of pencils and paper, binders rip.

Go for quality. Buying cheap means buying more. It all breaks or wears out.


I go on line to shop at Amazon. I get really good pricing and shipping is free with Amazon Prime. I do the same with textbooks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't understand the anxiety. Most of these items you probably already have in your home - pens, pencils, notebooks, binders. And it's not like your kid will get kicked out even if you don't buy the requisite supplies. Does this really warrant a whole topic on DCUM?

Be nice. I am a FTM with daughters starting K also, and the whole school supply thing is a mystery to me as well. It's not like you buy a Trapper Keeper and some pencils and are done with it. The K supply list for our FCPS ES from last year included, among many other items, 2 dozen glue sticks, 5 boxes of crayons, Magic Erasers, soap, disinfecting wipes, hand sanitizer, and headphones. I have twins, so that is 48 glue sticks! There also have been threads on DCUM about whether buying through the school PTA or during back-to-school sales is better, etc., so it's not surprising that some of us are looking for advice.

So do they expect each kid to go through all those glue sticks and crayons, or what's going on with this??

Just from making visit and supervising activities in my daughter's K classroom, I'd say yeah, they do. They use them all the time. Last year we brought in what our teacher asked, and in March or April she had to ask for more. She's got two dozen 6-year-olds to deal with every day, I'm happy to bring in whatever she needs.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you for everyone who actually gave good advice!
I have a list from school, but its very general with no quantities specified, etc. Also, didnt grow up in US or went through US school system so no clue what to expect.
And to the bullies, grow up. I am just anxious about my one and only starting school and there is no harm in asking questions, if you dont like them dont answer/read.

[Anonymous]

OP, I didn't read all the responses, but I wanted to add this. Sometimes it's best to buy some of the items on the list now and save some for later in the year. Sometimes teachers will want supplies as the year goes on and/or they cannot store all the supplies brought in on day one. I ended up getting my DC supplies she would need right away and saved the boxes of kleenex, hand sanitizer to take in after I asked the teacher when she thought she would need a supply refill.

[Anonymous]

You people understand you devalue the word bully if you use it every time someone hurts your feelings.

This is not an example of bullying, this is an example of a FTM asking a stupid question and getting snotty answers.

Bullying is a whole different thing.

[Anonymous]

Hey there OP. Right there with you. My kid is starting K and I'm so damned excited that I've already bought his backpack. Can't wait for the school supply list to come out. Filled out all the medical forms etc with a 24 hr turnaround.

Come sit by me and we can be over-eager together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't forget to double check your school's supply lists. Lots of schools now require you to buy certain things and then they are pooled for all the kids to share as opposed to your own child supplying only his own things. Lots of threads on this.

+1 I was so excited to get school supplies but when I saw the super specific list I just bought the kit. Check Edukitinc.com or your school's website to see the supply list.
I think the last day to order is in early August.

As PP mentioned the trend in K seems to be you buy the supplies but they are shared by the class. I think this is why they are so specific. This means no Frozen of Minecraft supplies.

Is t really that complicated to read trough the list of 10-15 items, even if they seems weird? Don't see a big difference with regular grocery shopping list.

Even in K my kids were allowed to get their own, personal supplies (Mincraft anyone?). We just had to label it.
We also brought all of the items required for class use.

Ours was brand and color specific. It doesn't say 5 pocket folders, it says one red, one yellow, one green, one blue, one purple. It don't see how I can get a mindcraft one unless I tried to pass it off as green.

I looked on staples.com and amazon.com. Neither had all the stuff so I just ponied up the dough and paid the man.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey there OP. Right there with you. My kid is starting K and I'm so damned excited that I've already bought his backpack. Can't wait for the school supply list to come out. Filled out all the medical forms etc with a 24 hr turnaround.

Come sit by me and we can be over-eager together.

The list is most likely posted on your school's website. Check it out and get shopping!

[Anonymous]

My Kindergartner needs crayons. What brand should I get? 32 or 64? with burnt sienna, or without? I am so confused. Please help.

[Anonymous]

It takes less than 1/2 hour to buy the school supplies your K student will need. You have about 7 weeks to fit that in. Only piece of advice is: don't go to the downtown Bethesda Staples the day before school starts. Otherwise, it's all pretty straightforward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I only send my kids to school on the first day with a backpack, lunchbox, pen/pencil and notebook to write things down with. We do school supply shopping the afternoon of the first day of school.

This. Unless the school specifically says students must come the first day with particular supplies (usually the shared stuff: hand sanitizer, box of tissues, etc.)

[Anonymous]

Oy, buy from Walmart, when they start advertizing!

[Anonymous]

As soon as you have the list unless you purchase online.