A Bouquet of Freshly Sharpened Number Two Pencils

4 low-odor dry erase markers, fine tip.

I pushed my shopping cart through my neighborhood discount store, kids in tow. We paused at the edge of the battle zone, the school supply aisle. Packed with parents and kids fighting for precious Hannah Montana spirals and Twistables, the tight space resembled a Discovery Channel Shark Week feeding frenzy.

I took a deep breath, consulted the list one more time. We were going in.

3 Mead Five Star three-subject college-ruled spirals.

Am I getting crankier or are the school supply lists getting longer and insanely specific?

10 glue sticks.

Ten? Really? You expect my kid to go through ten glue sticks?

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind outfitting my kids with what they need for school, but the days of number two pencils, a pack of crayons, notebook paper, and a box of tissues are gone.

1 pack large grid graph paper (1/2 inch/1 cm).

Valiantly, we fought our way through the fray, snatching up pocket folders (no brads) in the specified colors, along with hand held pencil sharpeners, highlighters, and liquid glue (no gel glue).

1 package googly eyes.

We emerged on the other side, relatively unscathed, except for a minor skirmish over the last few composition books. On to the backpack aisle!

So…I’m wondering, what’s the weirdest thing you’ve had to buy for school or work?

5 Responses to “A Bouquet of Freshly Sharpened Number Two Pencils”

1. Hi, folks. Just dropping in early to say that I haven’t disappeared, I’m just out of computer range for most of today. Have a great day and good luck to anyone who’s shopping for pencils or paper or…googly eyes.

   by Sara on August 27th, 2008 at 6:31 am
   
   

2. I love the school supply sales! I missed the 5 cent notebooks this year. Glad I still have a few stockpiled from last year.

   by Lynn on August 27th, 2008 at 6:43 am
   
   

3. Googly eyes…? Haven’t had that one yet.

   Ours were the usual. 10 folders (no brads, but no specific colors, either), binders, loose leaf paper, glue sticks, glue bottles, five single subject notebooks, Kleenex, paper towels, markers, crayons, colored pencils (and why all three, I wonder?), small dry erase board, small bulletin board, etc. School started two weeks ago here, though, so we got it done a little while back. The Shark Week feeding frenzy is a very apt description, btw. You must be a writer…

   by JennieB on August 27th, 2008 at 7:46 am
   
   

4. Here’s a brief story showing the state of our schools.

   My youngest daughter, a sophmore in high school last year, was told that students with a 95% or above in a certain class did not have to take the final. My daughter had a 94.6%. The teacher told her that if she could bring in dry erase markers (I think that’s right) it would PROBABLY bump her grade to 95%.

   My very resourceful daughter, illegally pulled out her cell phone in a secret location and called my middle daughter who was home from college. She told her to go to Walmart, buy the markers and deliver them. Late that afternoon, with markers in hand, she re-visited the teacher and handed over the markers. The teacher did some ciphering and low and behold, now she was at 94.8%, sorry, she had to take the final.

   Talk about extortion! I REALLY wanted to call the school and report it, but for various and obvious reasons, I did not. She wound up acing the final.

   Sorry for the long-winded story.

   by Will Bereswill on August 27th, 2008 at 10:01 am
   
   

5. My 6th grader needs a disposable camera.

   by Lisamm on August 29th, 2008 at 1:17 am
   
   

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