As "Back to school " fast approaches and I once again am sending one off to school I couldn't help but think about the differences there are not only from my childhood but even the differences since my now adult children have attended school. My oldest son turned 30 the same day my youngest turned 10 and then my only daughter is 27.
I smiled as we talked about school clothes shopping, and could have died as I looked at the supply list.
I recall so much excitement over shopping for new clothes. I am the youngest of 9 children and we did not get a lot of new things throughout the year or even at the beginning of the school year as our mother sewed a lot of our clothing. As we got older though and styles changed we needed to shop more and sew less.
I can vividly see my mother hand us an item of clothing or assist up when we were smaller in trying something on right in the middle of the store- no wasting time with the dressing rooms. I never really minded until the day came when in the middle of the store she held a bra and had us turn around so she could try it on us to see if it fit. Really mom? isn't this an undergarment?
Then the shoes which even though bought soon enough were not to be worn until the first day of school which was a good enough reason for me to attend school. Corny I know but I loved the sound of my souls hitting the pavement, almost like a tap shoe. That memory is still so vivid for me.
I am not sure we even got a supply list filled with required items we MUST have before the first day of school. I remember getting what we thought would be basic things we needed paper and pencils. No backpacks, we had those rubber book straps with a buckle that fit around our books. (mine was red). We had to cover our books with book covers and we always made ours out of paper grocery bags, after all then they could be custom made! We did not need markers, crayons and colored pencils. Red pens, well they were for the teachers to use to correct our papers. We did not need spiral notebooks (colors specified by the teacher), three ring binders, Glue sticks and bottles glue. Scissors were something we used in art supplied by, none other than the art teacher. This year we have graduated to 2 boxes if tissues instead of only one and yes zip lock baggies too. I am not sure but I think we are supplying these for all the teachers to pack their lunches in because I cannot recall more than a time or 2 that anything comes home in a baggie. Oh and the hand sanitizer is a must not only a must to have but a must to have the kind that is on the list- Are we not teaching our children that the number one way to fight infection is hand washing. Is my son going to a school where there is no water? I think I could actually build a rubber room with the must have "pink erasers" that come back home every year nearly untouched. Add all the must haves with the want to's and I need to cash in my 401k to send my son to 5th grade!
Cameron is so excited that this year he has to ride a bus to school, I do not get this enthusiasm at all as my daily 1 hour bus ride consisted of blowing chow from motion sickness or enlisting someone (usually my sister) to sing with me as this seemed to help. No kidding there were days when the bus driver just had me sit on the bus steps and ride. That stuff they would sprinkle over the mess was a common odor on my bus.
Homework was important for sure and if we lost ours we had to get it the next day and turn it in late, we could not go to our teachers web site and get it there. Styles of teaching have changed for sure and I was never more aware of it than when I had to go to the Internet to google math terms, that have changed. Even the way they do simple math has changed. I would sit at the table with Cameron with what I though could be fun and simple, however I soon began sweating and my heart began racing when I had to admit to my 4th grader that I do not have a clue how to do this math. I was then thankful for the Internet!
All that said and done, we have been very pleased with the school system it just does amaze me with all the changes that have taken place over the past few decades.
So this weekend Cameron and I will set out with our laundry list of supply must haves from the teacher, and Cameron's list of must haves.
We will get through it all and the memories we make will far outweigh the money we spent- after all a future genius needs a lot of stuff !
1 comment:
Those were the days my friend we thought would never end. JUst look at us now. When you keep getting older, time flys.
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