I read an article in our local paper this past weekend that made me thankful (again) of our choice to homeschool. The article was talking about the price of supply lists for schools these days. Huntington Bank created, for the second year in a row, a Backpack Index. The Elementary School (Gr. K-4) backpack added up to $102.67. And what does that total consist of besides the regular crayons, glue, pencils, etc.? Well, a $25 backpack, $10.99 for headphones (why?), $2.99 for sanitizing wipes, $3.38 for 2 boxes of tissues, among other things. Some schools are now asking parents to provide teacher supplies like Ziploc bags, Lysol wipes, & liquid hand soap. I'm sorry, but shouldn't that be up to the school district to pay for classroom items? I know my MIL spent a lot of her own money on books & supplies for her classroom. Where does all the money go that schools continue to ask for every election? (But that's another rant in itself...)
I was talking to one of the parents from The Prophet's T-ball team shortly after she had gotten her daughter's supply list for 1st grade. Their school even says that particular brands of crayons (Crayola), pencils, etc. be bought. Why should that matter? What if someone prefers RoseArt crayons over Crayola?
Anyway, this is just another of the many reasons I'm happy with our choice to homeschool. There are many reasons, & perhaps another day I'll elaborate on them, but for now I'm off to relax a bit before bed.
Peace, munchesmom
Thursday, August 9, 2007
A Reason to Homeschool
Posted by Maria at 8:25 PM
Labels: Homeschooling
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3 comments:
Not a lot has changed, dear daughter. You might recall that when you went to high school, your mom and I could never figure why the math teachers in each successive grade demanded a different calculator. And those things weren't cheap back then. Everything you used them for could have been done on the first calculator we bought.
Exactly! Your dear daughters were just talking about that on the phone last night. Why couldn't the school provide the calculators along w/ the massive textbooks each year? Again, I think a lot of it goes back to where the money goes each year - administration???
Also, DD #2 mentioned that she saw a total of over $300 predicted for school supplies on one of the morning shows. About $125 of that was for a - get this - BACKPACK!?!?
(Insert scream here!)
The money goes to the top administrators (of whom there are several too many), and to school construction that is a lot fancier than it needs to be. What was wrong with simple, rectangular buildings that were a lot easier to heat and air condition? And why do sports programs seem to be more important than academia?That's why I never vote for school bonds anymore. The money is just wasted.
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