now I am blubbering too

Got Saige's pre-K pack. She will go mornings, and there is no home visit.
Her school supply list.....well..... some of you will hate this consists of

1 backpack
1 potholder
1 pringles can (plastic preferred to carry important papers back and forth from school to home)


that's it, the whole list. We must have one huge budget if they are supplying the crayons ad glue.

A pot holder? That one's odd. Not expensive, just odd...

Can we trade schools?? lol

See that is more like it. I really believe in FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education). When you have to pay a fortune in fees or buy a ton of supplies, then it's not really free. And education pays off in a big way because the more educated you are, the more money you can earn and the more taxes you'll pay in the long run. It's a good investment for a society, both morally and economically.

Wow, our school supply lists are horrible! Tell me why each child in the first grade needs 8 LARGE gluesticks!!! Even with the sales you are still paying $16 just for glue!!!

OMFG!! a pringles can.. that is SOOO damn smart. I cant belive I have never seen that before.

I am LOVING your list! LOL

Watch the sales...i have bought lots of stuff over the past two weeks for 9 cents, 22 cents, 39 cents etc..so far I have oodles of crayons, glue sticks, pens, pencils, erasers, rulers, etc. Walmart and walgreens have been my biggest sources.


Sniff snif...tear...my baby will be starting 1st grade.

I hit those too honcho. never be afraid to stock up when those sales come through. You will need the stuff later!

I wish I had gotten more posterboard when it was 5 cents.. now I am watching the sales papers. cause I am going to use a few of them for posteres that I have to make for the 1st day of school!

I have ob\ver 200 Spiral notebooks, because walmart has them for %cents each.....limit of 10...per trip

ours never got enough in to keep them on the shelves. and since I only get to go to town once a week I never managed to get ANY.

I have a few more years before my 2nd starts and I'm dreading it. I already went through that school once with my oldest (thank goodness she is out of there now). It is bad enough that I'm considering home schooling unless things drastically change in 4 years - I don't see that happening!!

The townspeople here are so angry at said school that they shot the new budget down 3 times. The school finally got a budget, but took a 250,000 hit.

chelle wrote:OMFG!! a pringles can.. that is SOOO damn smart. I cant belive I have never seen that before.

I am LOVING your list! LOL

Agreed! That can is the coolest idea!

absolutely! No need to worry she lost any papers or permission slips. No getting crushed and lost in the backpack. It is a damn good idea.

How big of a freak do you think they will think I am when I go to the bus garage next week to see about a car seat for her. She is only 4, she should be in a car seat and I don;t see why the bus is any different. I will kind of feel bad if I am the ONLY one insisting but I plan to insist anyway. Now I just have to find out if they provide them or I have to. Makes no sense to me what so ever that car seats are required until 7 yeras old but they don't even have to buckle on the school bus.

As an EMT I can answer that question Tara!! (woo hoo, finally a contribution)

When a bus is involved in a crash, it is so big that it has a lot of deferred energy resulting in less injuries. The seats are padded to help cushion any "flying" bodies. Most injuries during a bus crash are minor injuries.

Combine that fact with the fact that there is only one adult on the bus - the driver- and he/she is most susceptible to injury because the drivers seat is the most dangerous. If the crash is bad enough to knock the driver out or start a fire, there is more likelihood of death to young passengers who are buckled in and may panic and not unbuckle themselves or not strong enough to push the release button. Even if the driver is conscious they may be trapped, and even if they can move - there is only one of them to unbuckle all of the passengers then help steer the kids out the emergency exit door. Unbuckling all the kids wastes precious time during a fire or even flood/sinking incident.

Weighing all the facts and evidence, it has been found that it is safer to keep children unbuckled in a bus. It is better to sustain a minor injury than risk death.

I thought that the law for car seats was age 4 or 40 pounds?

no, at least not here. It's 7 or (a height and weight limit that I can't remember).

Thanks wormbutt, good answer. My dad is a school bus driver, my FIL fixes them and neither one had an answer for me, they both said quite a few have booster seats in their districts. Although I am not convinced that she wouldn't be safest in her own booster seat (she is still and will stay in, a 5 pt harness in the car) amongst all the other kids Pre-K -12. Of course I would probably feel best if we just called the whole thing off all together, lol.

TX Carseat law is 8, ( 48inches and 80 lbs)
Tara, she would be safer on a school bus out of a 5pt harness. They probably don't have seatbelts anyway.

no, it wouldn't be a harness. They offer booster seats with a lap belt option, it's just not clear if they supply the seat or not. I don't really want to pay for one that will be left on the bus.....