What Ever Happened...

to a FREE education?? Between schools that insist on certain brands of school supplies OR make you buy certain supplies from the school at twice the price, to the weekly expenses that the school has I am going to go BROKE!! I am going to have to get a job just to pay for my children to go to PUBLIC schools!!

Every week since school has started it seems as though the kids have come home with a note saying they need money for something! This year they are raising money for various charities by allowing the kids to pay $1 to be able to wear a hat to school. This is not mandatory, but the pressure on the kids from the teachers is outrageous! Then you have book fairs that don't just sell books. They sell toys and of course that is what the kids want! I have to tell Caleb every time the book fair comes around that I WILL NOT buy toys at a BOOK FAIR!! I have two kids upset with me this morning because I would not go to the bookfair with three other kids and I won't send cash with them to school.

Then, there is the needs of the class. For instance, I had to send an apple to school with Isaac for their apple unit. I have to go buy apple jelly for the class. They have Cowboy Day October 26th in which I have to pay $2 per person to eat lunch. Figure that I will have Isaac, me and two other kids that would need to eat! We haven't even gotten into all of the class parties. And this is JUST Isaac's immediate list!

Now, let's talk about fund raisers real quick. They send home permission slips at the beginning of the year asking if your child can participate in fund raisers. I do not let them, because our town is not big enough for all of the schools to fund raise at the same time! Everyone has their own kids, grandkids, etc to buy from. I don't work, so I can't take them to work. Paul is not in town enough to try and sell them at his office. And, to make it even more encouraging for people to agree to fund raise, now if you take home a box of 40 or 50 candy bars (which is the only way you can get them) you are responsible for paying for the entire box once it is opened, whether you sell them or you have to pay for them out of your pocket. I am not going to try to come up with $50 to pay for a box of chocolate! This is another instance where the school REALLY pressures the students. If you sell the most, you get to go out to eat during school, in a limo or you can win cash or you can win an IPOD. It is ridiculous!

I won't even get into the fact that the school has allowed Isaac to already rack up over $5 in lunch charges! Nevermind the fact that I did not register his thumb-print or that I send his lunch EVERYDAY!

I am always the bad guy because I don't allow them to fund raise or this one time we didn't do book fair! I am used to being the bad guy - that is what Mom's normally are. My problem is that I don't think it is fair for teachers to PEER PRESSURE the students into things like this. PTSO money, they did a contest to see which class could have the most students join PTSO. Why do I have to pay to join PTSO? I thought the fact that I was a PARENT of a STUDENT with a TEACHER was enough for me to be a member of the Parent Teacher Student Organization, but no, you have to PAY for each student you have attending the school to be a part of it! The school did a contest to see which class could have the most memberships. The class that had the most memberships wins an ice cream party. Caleb's class was winning, but he was told that if he did not join PTSO, he could not participate in the ice cream party. PEER PRESSURE!!! NOT FAIR!!!

Sorry for the rant, but if I get one more letter home saying "we need money for..."
I could possibly scream!! We are not even a full nine weeks into the school year and I have already had enough! I do let the kids do most of the things that the school offers. I must say, I don't pay $2 every week for the two of them to wear a hat to school (excpet for last week. They were donating to an organization that gives hats to kids with cancer. Caleb felt very strongly about donating to this because of his cousin that battled with cancer at a VERY YOUNG age!). With two kids in school and knowing next year there will be three, on top of being a one income family, I will not be dishing out money every time they ask for it anymore. If that makes me a bad (or mean) Mom - the school will have to live with that fact!