Back to school...

                There is a certain joy that hits you as a mom when your kids come home from the last day of school before summer vacation. No more homework, plays, studying for tests, class parties, reading logs, field trips, field days, school lunches, pick ups, drop offs, and especially...Fundraisers. Done and over for a couple months. Ahhhh... Sure the kids don't ACTUALLY sleep in like you would like or expect them to and on those "bored days", they always want to be going somewhere doing something until you actually GO then you hear "Can we go home now?". Swimming, lake trips, vacation, seeing family, cook outs, playing outside... Ahh.. Summer. Ok so that same little feeling joy some times ironically hits you when the first day of school is days away. Isn't that strange? To look forward to a quiet house for a few hours a day with the freedom to roam or shop without your walking, talking, sometimes dragging, whining accessories on your arms isn't that strange I guess. So you get this list in the middle of summer. It's a piece of paper that lists everything that each student needs to bring in on their first day... And yes, if you have two kids.. twice as much. There are things like: Two boxes of pencils with 24 or more, dry erase markers, colored pencils, four pack of pink pearl erasers, box of 24 or more crayons, hand sanitizer, fiskar scissors, six composition notebooks, two packs of wide ruled paper, one pack of washable markers, four glue sticks, one 3 ring binder, one pack of post its, six folders and one pair of ear buds.. Seriously, that was the list that I myself received for my soon to be third grader.. The other list has almost everything the same minus three notebooks for first grade! So the rounded total for BOTH sets of crap for my kids to take in to school equaled about $35-$40. That's just stuff they take in! That's not including back packs, lunch boxes and clothes... Ok.. I get it.. helping out the teachers and school... It sucks to buy for two but I couldn't imagine being a teacher and having to buy all of that for 18-20 kids! School starts Monday and last night we had the whole "Meet the teacher" thing. Being nice... I took the school supplies (EVERYTHING ON THE LIST..TWICE!) and gave them to both teachers. The kids met them, saw their rooms and listened to the same back to school speeches we hear every year. We had to stop in the gym to get our car passes and buy the girls' homework folders. We do both of those and then I see ANOTHER line saying "Fee's".. I went up to one and almost cried. This lady sitting at her little desk with her collection box looked at me and looked up my kids names and their teachers and THEN tried to tell me that I need to pay $18 PER STUDENT! I looked at her puzzled for a second then I said "So... this is IN ADDITION to everything that I've already purchased and turned in to the teachers..?" "Well yes ma'am. This is to cover their books and classroom materials." What?? It's not like the books are NEW.. and as far as classroom materials.. Uh.. I turned in TWO BAGS of materials already! It's not like one of my daughters is going to use all of the 48 pencils we bought for themselves... Even throughout the school year I get notices and requests for money or additional materials so WHAT AM I PAYING FOR? I kept looking at her a little puzzled and finally she says.. "Well, if you're not ready to pay today you can always do it later on.. It's not like they won't let the kids use the stuff if they don't pay today." Do you think I paid that day? NO. If they really send something home saying I need to pay.. I will. But seriously? If you have every parent with just one kid paying $20-$25 in materials and then another $20 in folders and fees, then a classroom with 18 kids is sitting pretty with between $360 and $450 in actual materials AND another $360 from fee's and folders.. For what? Parents pay for field trips, clothing, plays, sports, and whatever else so... what is left to buy..? It was just a question that nobody had an answer for. I mean books... teachers don't pay for their classroom books. So what? I really don't know. I do know that as of now, I'm tapped on school stuff! It's crazy how much things change over the years.. Am I the only one thinking that's a little crazy....? Anyway.. All I know is that Monday morning that alarm will go back to it's five day routine of buzzing at 7am, followed by breakfast requests, last minute bag stuffing, making lunches, fixing hair, helping find shoes, shuffling kids to the car, driving that same way to and from the school and then closing the door behind me as I step into a quiet kid free zone... For a few hours anyway... Bring it on! -Super Mom