Anonymous wrote:4 glue sticks is great. My kids need 8 and 12. Plus 3 boxes of Ticonderoga pencils each. They are expensive. Every year their supply list is outrageous, everything is brand specified, and we don’t get anything back except a couple highlighters.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what I've learned from this thread is that people will complain if they get back unused supplies (wasteful!) and complain if they don't get back the unused supplies (those are mine!). I don't believe there's anything the teachers could do that wouldn't lead to complaining, so I don't see the point in wondering why they don't do things differently.

This is kind of disingenuous. I’m not even sure it’s the teachers who make these lists. But if the kids are going to use 3 pages of a composition book, they don’t need one. They can use notebook paper. Or one composition book for all the subjects. The point is, just don’t ask for supplies that aren’t actually needed. But yes, if stuff is leftover, send it Back to the people who paid for it in the first place. Why is that hard?

It's not disingenuous at all, because I'm not trying to accurately describe your personal complaints. Everything I listed has been complained about in the thread by different people. You're just complaining from yet another angle - these lists are stupid, who makes them?! And I personally would prefer that they keep any leftovers rather than send it back to me, but I've never in life complained about it either way.

I don't envy teachers. I get the list, I buy the crap, I send it in. It's not particularly expensive, but I know that some families can't afford it so I buy extra or make a donation for that purpose. At this point I haven't even met the teacher yet but look at all these parents pissed off at her from the jump because of . . . everything and nothing! It's not like these teachers invented the concept of bringing in school supplies.

You're whining that other people think the process could be better? Ok. Your complaints are valid, others are not.

"Think the process could be better" by ::checks notes:: definitely sending back unused supplies, but also never sending back unused supplies. Yep. Great, valid input in this thread. Pointing out that you're all at cross purposes isn't whining, it's summarizing.

But just to be clear, I am saying you guys are whiners and I pity teachers. You're literally arguing that teachers are wrong and bad for not doing things the way you want them, even though the things you want are completely contradictory and mutually exclusive. But teachers are the problem, sure.

Where did everyone blame teachers? I don't think the teachers come up with the list, the issue is more that the list never gets updated. It's the same composition books, water colors, 600 pencils, safety scissors every year. We get the supplies back and it's hard not to notice that some never get used. So, the powers that be, probably not the teachers, might want to do an audit of the school supply lists at some point and update as needed. It places a financial burden on some families and it seems unnecessary. Other people may have different options. Your opinion is that everyone should just shut up and take it and never question authority.

At most schools, teachers do have input on the lists, but each teacher in the grade may run their classes differently and thus need slightly different supply lists. Parents get pissy when they don’t get the supply lists until three days before school starts along with the teacher assignments, though, so they create a master list for the grade that covers the teacher who asks for and uses four composition notebooks but hardly uses folders or looseleaf, and the teacher who uses looseleaf and folders but barely touches composition notebooks.

As a parent, I'm getting just as tired of being criticized as much as everyone says the teachers are being criticized. I really don't think it's 'pissy' to want sufficient notice and time to gather all the requested supplies. We're expected to have them on the first day of school and - believe it or not - there are a ton of empty shelves in the stores a few days before the first day of school. Not to mention, parents just might have a few other things to take care of in their lives and getting their families ready for the first day of school, and might even have multiple children with different supply lists to fill. I suspect that by the end of the school year, elementary teachers have a pretty good idea of what supplies they're gonna want and need for the following year. That's when they have to determine the EduKit lists. And I don't think it's unreasonable for a parent to be insulted or question having a brand new box of pencils returned to them and being asked to sharpen them and send them in again, or to ask why a teacher is demanding "new" supplies only and would slightly/barely used/somewhat used but still quite serviceable/ etc. be ok.

Anonymous wrote:This thread caused me to pull up my DC's back to school list for 1st grade. I'll see your 4, 8, 12 packs of glue and raise you "20 Large Glue Sticks."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4 glue sticks is great. My kids need 8 and 12. Plus 3 boxes of Ticonderoga pencils each. They are expensive. Every year their supply list is outrageous, everything is brand specified, and we don’t get anything back except a couple highlighters.

By mistake I bought unsharpened Ticonderoga pencils one year. Probably around 3 boxes. The teacher sent them home for us to sharpen all of them. I remember as a kid going to the back of the room to use the wall sharpener and sharpening as slow as I possibly could. I guess kids don't get the small freedom anymore.

Seriously? I would have never sent them back to school. Eff that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4 glue sticks is great. My kids need 8 and 12. Plus 3 boxes of Ticonderoga pencils each. They are expensive. Every year their supply list is outrageous, everything is brand specified, and we don’t get anything back except a couple highlighters.

By mistake I bought unsharpened Ticonderoga pencils one year. Probably around 3 boxes. The teacher sent them home for us to sharpen all of them. I remember as a kid going to the back of the room to use the wall sharpener and sharpening as slow as I possibly could. I guess kids don't get the small freedom anymore.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what I've learned from this thread is that people will complain if they get back unused supplies (wasteful!) and complain if they don't get back the unused supplies (those are mine!). I don't believe there's anything the teachers could do that wouldn't lead to complaining, so I don't see the point in wondering why they don't do things differently.

This is kind of disingenuous. I’m not even sure it’s the teachers who make these lists. But if the kids are going to use 3 pages of a composition book, they don’t need one. They can use notebook paper. Or one composition book for all the subjects. The point is, just don’t ask for supplies that aren’t actually needed. But yes, if stuff is leftover, send it Back to the people who paid for it in the first place. Why is that hard?

It's not disingenuous at all, because I'm not trying to accurately describe your personal complaints. Everything I listed has been complained about in the thread by different people. You're just complaining from yet another angle - these lists are stupid, who makes them?! And I personally would prefer that they keep any leftovers rather than send it back to me, but I've never in life complained about it either way.

I don't envy teachers. I get the list, I buy the crap, I send it in. It's not particularly expensive, but I know that some families can't afford it so I buy extra or make a donation for that purpose. At this point I haven't even met the teacher yet but look at all these parents pissed off at her from the jump because of . . . everything and nothing! It's not like these teachers invented the concept of bringing in school supplies.

You're whining that other people think the process could be better? Ok. Your complaints are valid, others are not.

"Think the process could be better" by ::checks notes:: definitely sending back unused supplies, but also never sending back unused supplies. Yep. Great, valid input in this thread. Pointing out that you're all at cross purposes isn't whining, it's summarizing.

But just to be clear, I am saying you guys are whiners and I pity teachers. You're literally arguing that teachers are wrong and bad for not doing things the way you want them, even though the things you want are completely contradictory and mutually exclusive. But teachers are the problem, sure.

Where did everyone blame teachers? I don't think the teachers come up with the list, the issue is more that the list never gets updated. It's the same composition books, water colors, 600 pencils, safety scissors every year. We get the supplies back and it's hard not to notice that some never get used. So, the powers that be, probably not the teachers, might want to do an audit of the school supply lists at some point and update as needed. It places a financial burden on some families and it seems unnecessary. Other people may have different options. Your opinion is that everyone should just shut up and take it and never question authority.

At most schools, teachers do have input on the lists, but each teacher in the grade may run their classes differently and thus need slightly different supply lists. Parents get pissy when they don’t get the supply lists until three days before school starts along with the teacher assignments, though, so they create a master list for the grade that covers the teacher who asks for and uses four composition notebooks but hardly uses folders or looseleaf, and the teacher who uses looseleaf and folders but barely touches composition notebooks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what I've learned from this thread is that people will complain if they get back unused supplies (wasteful!) and complain if they don't get back the unused supplies (those are mine!). I don't believe there's anything the teachers could do that wouldn't lead to complaining, so I don't see the point in wondering why they don't do things differently.

This is kind of disingenuous. I’m not even sure it’s the teachers who make these lists. But if the kids are going to use 3 pages of a composition book, they don’t need one. They can use notebook paper. Or one composition book for all the subjects. The point is, just don’t ask for supplies that aren’t actually needed. But yes, if stuff is leftover, send it Back to the people who paid for it in the first place. Why is that hard?

It's not disingenuous at all, because I'm not trying to accurately describe your personal complaints. Everything I listed has been complained about in the thread by different people. You're just complaining from yet another angle - these lists are stupid, who makes them?! And I personally would prefer that they keep any leftovers rather than send it back to me, but I've never in life complained about it either way.

I don't envy teachers. I get the list, I buy the crap, I send it in. It's not particularly expensive, but I know that some families can't afford it so I buy extra or make a donation for that purpose. At this point I haven't even met the teacher yet but look at all these parents pissed off at her from the jump because of . . . everything and nothing! It's not like these teachers invented the concept of bringing in school supplies.

You're whining that other people think the process could be better? Ok. Your complaints are valid, others are not.

"Think the process could be better" by ::checks notes:: definitely sending back unused supplies, but also never sending back unused supplies. Yep. Great, valid input in this thread. Pointing out that you're all at cross purposes isn't whining, it's summarizing.

But just to be clear, I am saying you guys are whiners and I pity teachers. You're literally arguing that teachers are wrong and bad for not doing things the way you want them, even though the things you want are completely contradictory and mutually exclusive. But teachers are the problem, sure.

Where did everyone blame teachers? I don't think the teachers come up with the list, the issue is more that the list never gets updated. It's the same composition books, water colors, 600 pencils, safety scissors every year. We get the supplies back and it's hard not to notice that some never get used. So, the powers that be, probably not the teachers, might want to do an audit of the school supply lists at some point and update as needed. It places a financial burden on some families and it seems unnecessary. Other people may have different options. Your opinion is that everyone should just shut up and take it and never question authority.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread caused me to pull up my DC's back to school list for 1st grade. I'll see your 4, 8, 12 packs of glue and raise you "20 Large Glue Sticks."

Last year my child's teacher sent home an email every week pleading for glue sticks. I finally caved around March/April and bought/sent in a box of 30 small glue sticks, even though my child said they weren't needed and there was already a box like that on the supplies shelf. I later talked to the room mom and another mom who'd also sent in boxes of 30 glue sticks earlier in the spring. No clue what happened to the dozens (if not 100) glue sticks the teacher amassed.

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP of this thread. This was my post, to get us back on track:

"Why? The fact that our children bring home tons of slightly used pencils/erasers/scissors/folders/etc is testament to the fact that they don't get fully used up during the school year and you don't NEED brand new supplies. What harm is it to you if we send those same items in for the coming school year?"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP of this thread. This was my post, to get us back on track:

"Why? The fact that our children bring home tons of slightly used pencils/erasers/scissors/folders/etc is testament to the fact that they don't get fully used up during the school year and you don't NEED brand new supplies. What harm is it to you if we send those same items in for the coming school year?"

I’m a teacher. I could care less. Why are you taking one idiot teacher’s post on social media so seriously?!

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP of this thread. This was my post, to get us back on track:

"Why? The fact that our children bring home tons of slightly used pencils/erasers/scissors/folders/etc is testament to the fact that they don't get fully used up during the school year and you don't NEED brand new supplies. What harm is it to you if we send those same items in for the coming school year?"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what I've learned from this thread is that people will complain if they get back unused supplies (wasteful!) and complain if they don't get back the unused supplies (those are mine!). I don't believe there's anything the teachers could do that wouldn't lead to complaining, so I don't see the point in wondering why they don't do things differently.

This is kind of disingenuous. I’m not even sure it’s the teachers who make these lists. But if the kids are going to use 3 pages of a composition book, they don’t need one. They can use notebook paper. Or one composition book for all the subjects. The point is, just don’t ask for supplies that aren’t actually needed. But yes, if stuff is leftover, send it Back to the people who paid for it in the first place. Why is that hard?

It's not disingenuous at all, because I'm not trying to accurately describe your personal complaints. Everything I listed has been complained about in the thread by different people. You're just complaining from yet another angle - these lists are stupid, who makes them?! And I personally would prefer that they keep any leftovers rather than send it back to me, but I've never in life complained about it either way.

I don't envy teachers. I get the list, I buy the crap, I send it in. It's not particularly expensive, but I know that some families can't afford it so I buy extra or make a donation for that purpose. At this point I haven't even met the teacher yet but look at all these parents pissed off at her from the jump because of . . . everything and nothing! It's not like these teachers invented the concept of bringing in school supplies.

You're whining that other people think the process could be better? Ok. Your complaints are valid, others are not.

"Think the process could be better" by ::checks notes:: definitely sending back unused supplies, but also never sending back unused supplies. Yep. Great, valid input in this thread. Pointing out that you're all at cross purposes isn't whining, it's summarizing.

But just to be clear, I am saying you guys are whiners and I pity teachers. You're literally arguing that teachers are wrong and bad for not doing things the way you want them, even though the things you want are completely contradictory and mutually exclusive. But teachers are the problem, sure.

Did anyone ever explain WHY teachers don't want us to bring lightly used supplies to school?