A Mommy Story

We’re now less than a week away from school starting, which has everyone in this house excited. Yes, even the kids. Summer camps are over, and this week they’ve been tortured with having to entertain themselves most days while I work. At this point, going back to school is a welcome alternative to the boredom of being at home and occasionally having to be super quiet while I’m on a call.

They really do like school, though. We went to the school last night for a “welcome back” ice cream social, and Cordy and Mira were so excited to see their teachers and some of their classmates again. We also found out which teacher Mira will have for second grade – he’s the same teacher that Cordy had for most of second grade. Cordy had promoted him so much to Mira that now Mira thinks she has the perfect second grade teacher.

We already knew which class Cordy would be in for this year. She was eligible for the gifted class this year, so in the spring we applied for her to have a spot in the class at our school. We found out in June that she was accepted into the class – not a big surprise, since she met all three of possible criteria for inclusion.

Because the district tried to drastically slash the number of gifted ed classrooms last year, applications for our gifted classroom were down this year, most likely due to a fear of sending a child to a school for only a year and then having to be re-assigned again the next year. There are only 14 kids in the class instead of the typical 20. (Not complaining, since that’s actually good for Cordy.) I’m going to stay on top of the issue to try to ensure our school keeps their gifted ed classroom, as it’s the perfect resource for a twice-exceptional kid like Cordy.

We also received the school supply lists for the year. Have you gone shopping for school supplies yet? I started shopping a couple of weeks ago when we received Cordy’s supply list in the mail, and then finished last night with Mira’s list. I’ve learned something very important in the process: compare prices between stores.

We did most of Cordy’s supply shopping at Staples, when they were advertising a sale on school supplies. This is what we bought:

All of that cost about $60. I was a little shocked that school supplies cost so much.

And then last night, I went to Target to get Mira’s supplies and get the last few items we needed for Cordy. This is what I bought:

Dog paw not included.

That includes a handful of extra items to donate to district schools as well. Total cost? $31.

That’s almost half the cost of the Staples items. Wow, what a difference! Yes, I did buy more Target brand for crayons and colored pencils, but the price difference between those and Crayola was less than thirty cents per item. And the glue sticks were store brand in either case.

Had I known that supplies were that much cheaper at Target, I would have gone there at the start. I’m considering returning the Staples items and getting them all at Target instead. (This post isn’t sponsored by Target, but I’m learning I need to shop there more often!)

At this point the kids are ready for school to start. Of course, now I need to work on my parent back-to-school supply list. This includes:

• Coffee k-cups to get me moving for those earlier mornings
• Pajamas I don’t mind my neighbors seeing when I take the kids out to the bus
• Space on my memory card for first day of school photos
• Double-check that the Transportation Dept. phone # is programmed into my phone
• Afternoon snacks for hungry kids getting off the bus
• Lots of patience for helping out with homework

I’m hoping this will be a good school year for all of us!