Just wait until high school.
At the high school where I used to work, every club or organization has fund raisers. The clubs got no money from the school, so if the kids wanted to do anything, they either agreed to pay out of pocket or sold just about anything you can imagine. THen, of course, there was the yearbook, the junior prom, the senior prom, the senior class trip . . .

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~Jeweled

It gets to be expensive with each passing year. I just figured out our educational expense that we are able to use for taxes and my dd who is in high school was $1800.00 and yes she is quite involved in school activities so it does add up especially when the schools don't get the funding like they use to. My ds on the other hand is cheaper he was around $175.00 for elementary school. These amounts don't even include the clothing that they need.

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I agree it is very difficult - the one that gets me the most is when they have an author speak to the students (great benefit), but the author hawks all of his books that you can buy in HARDCOPY only (to the tune of about $20). Granted, a good idea, but the author is double dipping becuase he is being PAID by the school for his appearance and gets ROYALTIES for what he sells. Sorry, nothing against writers, they need to eat too, but can't he/she just speak about the art of writing without sending home an order form for the kids to get his/her books? What happened to the soft sell? UGH! Sorry my rant for the day!

Well, i am usually el cheapo about what I buy for my kids for schools as far as pics, etc. I work there and I didn't even do the fall fundraiser which is like heresy. But now we have the spring fundraiser (cookie dough) and I feel obliged to do it. That $28 there for the cheapest, and DH would like my boys to share a yearbook order, that's another $23. Then DS1 got a field trip form to go to Miami Seaquarium for $35! He really wants to go and so I feel bad to say no, he is so excited. I need to tell DH no way now for the yearbook, because my kids don't care about that at all. DH is probably looking at a layoff by August, so we really can't spend.

School supplies, now, I don't mind at all. It's not fair for teachers to be buying supplies for other people's kids. After the sales I pick up all the clearance stuff at Target and put it in a box, so my kids ahve pencils and crayons all year. I also make them reuse stuff like backpacks, scissors, etc...whatever is still usable they keep for the next year.

I'm surprised at how upset/mad/peeved people get about these things. I'm not speaking about anyone particular. Or even anything said on this board - just this topic in general.

An author sending home an order form wouldn't bother me and seems logical. It's not like you're forced to buy a book via him/her. If my kids want a book, I'm happy to buy it for them in paperback from a cheaper source. They're perfectly find with that. They already know that hardcover books are more expensive and depending on where you buy a book - there can be great disparities in price. *shrug* I guess it's just how you perceive it, but an author is out to sell books. You certainly have the choice to just throw the flier away.

That's a great way to look at it. Dh & I now ask each other often if something is a want or need. We need to start teaching our children that also.

Our kids' school has workbook fees which are due in October.

The PTO does a fall fundraiser (a brochure type fundraiser), and a spring fundraiser. The spring fundraiser is almost always a Walk-A-Thon, as they're not comfortable asking kids/parents to sell/buy stuff again. The Walk-A-Thon also provides a way for ALL students to participate in the event whether they collect any money or not, whereas the fall fundraiser less than 1/3 of the students turned in order forms.

We only have school pictures in the fall, which I usually order. I don't like going to Wal-Mart, and Sears & Penney's can get too expensive.

They did sell t-shirts this year, and I bought each of the kids 1 shirt @ $10.00 each, for Christmas.

And last year the PTO put together a cookbook using recipes gathered from the students, parents, & staff, and are selling them for $10 each, and the funds are going strictly into a Playground Fund.

We just got the yearbook forms on Tuesday. They are $12 each this year. Normally, we'd just pay for them and be done. However, this year, we told our kids that if they really, really wanted a yearbook, then they would have to earn at least 3/4 of the money, doing "jobs" around the house. Even Brian was amazed that I came up with this idea on my own. If it's that important to them, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect them to earn some of the money.

I know they'll probably go to the Columbus Zoo this year (this is what the 2nd grade did last year), and I think it'll cost $5 to get in, plus any "spending" money parents want to send.

They do a canned food drive around the holidays, plus a "giving tree." This year, at each of the 3 elementary schools in our district, they've begun a spare change drive. An account has been set up, that this spare change goes into, and the money is used to help families within the district in times of need. For instance, last year, there were 2 families who lost their homes to fires, and the spare change would have been a Godsend then. I know some of that money was used to help families pay for heating costs, and groceries the last few couple of months. My kids throw in a couple of coins every now and then to help out.

I can't think of anything else that we're asked to spend money on, that comes from the school. We just signed the kids up for baseball & softball for the summer, and it cost $40 per child. But the ball league isn't affliated with the school. And of course, we'll have team pictures taken..but I might not order as big a package as I normally do this year.

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~*~ Angie~*~
Wife to Brian
SAHM to Sarah & Andy 2/11/2000

I am a first grade teacher and I am feeling like someone needs to stand up for the schools here. I work in a fairly well to do district, and we do send home lots of opportunities for our kids, but that is just what they are: OPPORTUNITIES. No one is required to buy a school shirt (in fact, even in such a wealthy area only 3-4 kids from an average class do buy the t-shirt), a yearbook, a fundraising packet or anything else. But how wonderful that there are so many opportunties out there that your child can choose from Math Mania, Art Club or Spanish Club to participate in and enrich their educational experience in the process. It is all about choosing what is important to your family.

As beginning of the year supplies, schools don't have much choice but to ask parents for these. This sounds harsh, but if you want your child to have the opportunity to experience painting with water colors, cutting with scissors or coloring with crayons and markers, then you will have to supply these things. If you don't then the teacher does it out of their own pocket, and I can tell you that we aren't exactly rolling in money either (hence my visits to this site!). Many schools have scholarships for these things as well as for field trips. Has anyone looked into that? Our PTSA also pays for any student that is on Free and Reduced lunch to have a school t-shirt and a book from the book fair.

I understand that it can be overwhelming to see all these things coming home, but I guess I am just trying to point out that no one expects every child to do ALL of them!

PS - When I was in high school (not too long ago), I played select soccer and on the school team, did honor's society, band, track, drove a car, owned a letterman's jacket, went on a senior trip, bought yearbooks every year and got senior pictures. All of which I payed for all or some of with my afternoon/weekend job at Safeway. I think it was very valuable for me to learn about the importance of saving for what really matters - plus it saved my parents at least some money along the way! Just a thought...

After reading through all of the comments, I can see where everyone is coming from and I can relate to both sides. My son is a second grader, and at least one but usually twice weekly , he brings home something that will involve me dolling out a little cash. the thing is, I just see this as a major setback. field trips typically range between 5 and 10 dollars, however we know about them well ahead of time that it is no suprise. I have always particpated in the fund raiser with one stipulation that I would buy 1-2 things I would normal buy at the store and encourage him to see to friends and family( example buying 2 x mas gifts that are about 5-10 dollars)hese are sponcered by pto, and without them alot of the end of year parties would cost instead of being free ( pizza partys etc) we often have a funraiser night through a pizza place which is once a month, my son see's this as being a great way to give money to his school even if it is only 20%! For the booksales, I let him pick out 5.00 in books- this is agreat opporunity for him to own readers for his level I couldnt go to barnes and noble for this price
Lastly, the main source of classroom "extra's" is dollar tree they always have bags and things for parties and I can get away with spending ten dollars on the whole class if that....

We just moved, again, and my kids started a new school last Monday. This is the 4th school my 1st Grader and the 3rd school for my Kindergartener since they started pre-school. If I were to buy every single schools' yearbook, pictures and do every single fund raiser I'd be broke. This school is very different than the last few as we had to pay a $30 book fee for each child when I enrolled them. I'm wondering if they charge the fee so they don't have to rely so much on fundraisers ?? Especially since this is a small school in a small community (last few schools have been very large)

Some things I don't mind paying for, the last school had a number of large field trips for the Kindergarteners that we really couldn't say no to. $40 for a day at the Atlanta Aquarium, half of the day "behind the scenes", I couldn't refuse that for my kids. Also if teachers need any supplies for the classroom I have no problem helping out there and I will buy books at the bookfair for the classroom.

After reading some of these posts I'm getting nervous about high school . There is no way we can afford all that stuff for 4 kids, they'll have to chip in money for some of those things.