The Horrors of "Back to School"

Never a more fitting title.

I hate shopping…. Despise it actually. School supply shopping is the worst of the worst in the shopping category. Sadly, a necessary evil, so I suck it up & get it done……True to my tendency to procrastinate, I wait just a mere weeks before school starts to tackle this task.

I swear every year the cost of this horrid trip escalates. This weekend I had plans to get it all done in one fell swoop, but after gathering the supply list, it seems I have to split this endeavor into two trips. So, this weekend we bought supplies and backpacks. The supply list was long….included things like 2 reams of copy paper per child, new headphones, ziplock bags, paper plates, 6 boxes of crayons per child & chlorox wipes to name a few.

This next weekend after we receive another paycheck, I will be tackling clothes shopping. This is by far the priciest bit of back to school shopping, but this is also the one time a year the kids are restocked in new clothes & shoes. Given both children’s growth spurts, new clothes & shoes are a necessity….I so wish they didn’t grow up so fast….

I’ve already purchased their new boots, so now it’s on to clothing & a new pair of tennis shoes each. In order to buy decent items that will hold up to my kid’s rough and tumble nature, I think were going to buy the first weeks worth of clothing this coming weekend to at least see them through the 1st week of school and then the weekend after the 1st week of school, I’ll shop again, and little by little with each paycheck stock their wardrobes up again. Last year I did it all in one big spree, this year, things are tighter so I’ll be forced to battle shopping crowds a bit more often than I’d prefer… So if you call and I happen to be cranky, do try to understand.

Did I mention I HATE shopping??

In other news, Shayla is excited to see her friends again. Clayton, true to his nature is grumbling about going back to school….he does this every year, and every year runs to tell me how great his first day back was, so I don’t worry too much. He tends to have a doomsdays outlook on everything… EVERYTHING will awful & dramatic… Where as Shayla is a bit more sunny in her disposition and looks forward to just about everything. At least in Clayton’s case he’s almost always wrong…things are never as bad as he thinks they’ll be, so his life is often full of pleasant surprises, lol.

Shayla is going into the 1st grade, Clayton into the 2nd . The 1st grade teacher from last year is not there this year, so I won’t know what to expect for Shayla’s class…. I know Clayton’s 2nd grade teacher and like her quite a bit so I hope it will be a great year.

Clayton, Shayla & one of Shayla's classmates at Shayla's 6th birthday party.

Last year, Clayton’s 1st grade teacher was a bit too heavy on the homework for my taste. We arrive home from school at 4:00pm, have a snack and then Clayton had to start on homework. EVERY DAY he had to write 12 spelling words 3x’s each, do one worksheet (typically math or science), read 15-20 pages in one book and 3 short stories (about 7 pages per story) in another book. This was EVERY DAY with the exception of Fridays….for a 1st grader!!! It got to be so bad that I would have him do the written work, and we would choose one story per night to read together before bed…otherwise every bit of his free time after being in school all day was devoted strictly to homework. So, as mean as it sounds, I’m happy Shayla has a different teacher than he did and hopefully this year will be an improvement upon last year.

Though I am very proud of the work my children did last year in school…both were honor roll students, and neither of them got into the slightest bit of trouble all year long.

What can I say? My kids are just awesome!