"Try buying some school clothes like jeans during the summer time. Usualy clothes out of season are on sale. Just make sure you buy them a size bigger!"

"helped me alot. i get my supplies when i get out of school so it is not sold out. thanks. "

"This helps me alot thank you"

"School supply shopping is the BEST time of year!!! I LOVE IT!! (Don't ask....my BFF and I always have a blast spending the afternoon at Target and the rest of the day organising binders and stuff!!) hehe"

"You don't need all of this! I am in high school, and certainly do not need more than 16 crayons.. Or any even.."

"Most elementary schools don't require you to buy supplies, usually only in the fifth grade."

"Ya, thats pretty much everything u need for school."

"I think some of the requested items are too much. Especially when it becomes community property not just my child's. One year we were asked to buy folders. I never saw those folders again because the folders that came home with my son everyday were not the ones I bought. So, at this point I buy what I want from the list."

"As a graduate of the Duval County School system, I have reservations about certain items that parents are asked to supply. For instance, a stapler? Computer paper? Hand sanitizer? I mean some things should be standard at a school. What happened to regular soap in the restroom before lunch and after play? I will supply basic items and nothing more. (Not evan zip-lock sandwich bags that I was asked to bring). I mean come on! "

"yea. i agree with soo much stuff, soooo little time... i am in middle school and sometimes the techers can go overboard!! the principles need to dicpline better. as well as the teachers. kids have been doing drugs and all that. also, it won't hurt to tell on people. :)"

"Many elementary school districts are not allowed to require any child to bring in their school supplies. The school district supplies everything in this case. Adding your own extra pencils, glue and crayons is handy as the year goes by and supplies run low. Big 3 ring binders are often way too big for a desk and back pack and are not needed. Check first."

"I think that why teachers are requesting so many things is that, the teachers would have to supply all of those items with money from their own pockets. (at least in my school district)Most of the time the school won't even pay for dry erase markers or simple, everyday things like that. I think its sad that some great educators are getting such little money for all their hard work."

"One item that I cannot stress the importance of enough is INDEX CARDS! I use so many it is ridiculous. I use them for study tools for tests, they help a lot to organize thoughts, main ideas, vocabulary, and important facts. "

"I love middle school it rocks!!"

"school rocks so much I am going to it. "

"God so much stuff so little time!"

"Kids should bring any pencil they want to school because we have freedom of speech and rights here so children any age could bring anything to school.It's a free country."

"This is a great page I can even use it to check off the things I have so I know what to ask my mom to buy me."

"Here are some basic guidelines for a high school student: 1 notebook per subject 1 folder per subject graph paper pens and pencils highlighters planner/agenda (if the school doesn't provide one) index cards binders and dividers (check with your teacher if you need one for their class, get one only if you need it) looseleaf graph paper calculator Other tips: Don't bring all your supplies on the first day! Label everything with your name, grade, homeroom, and what subject it is for. Write down all assignments and reminders in your planner! I hope this helps!"

"As a student, these types of articles are very helpful."

"I am a current freshman in high school. Last year in the months leading up to summer, the admissions director met with every incoming freshman. She told me about my classes, my schedule, and a lot of information. She also touched upon the subject of school supplies. She said, 'Don't buy everything now- the teachers give you their list the first day.' I, of course, always have to be prepared so I bought a binder and notebooks. On the first day, I got my course syllabuses and of course I had my mom run to Staples to get the specific type of notebooks. I also needed to buy folders. I really like going school supply shopping in the middle of the summer so I can relax on the first day. This year, when I am going into my sophomore year, we meet with the President of Academic Affairs and all of the department heads to select our courses for next year. Once I know, I can go to the teacher eBoards which is where they post their homework assignments and course syllabuses. I can look a! t the course syllabuses from previous years to figure out what supplies I need. If I need anything else, I can just stop by at Staples or CVS."

"My younger brother is in sixth grade. In his school (Catholic K-8) they have strict rules about what types of PENS you can use. On his last day of school lasr year, as he does every year, he got a list of what supplies he needed to purchase. Normally from Grades 5-8 you can use nonerasable or permanent pens if you want. On his supply list, in bold print and capital letters, stated that only erasable pens are acceptable. Not only are erasable pens expensive, they smudge and they don't last very long. They are never on sale and the most you can get in 1 pack is 4. I think that is a little ridiculous. I attend an all girls Catholic academy high school and my teachers don't care what type of pens we use except for math and latin we have to use pencil."

"A really helpful thing when purchasing school supplies is that you don't have to wait until the summer to buy them. If a store is having a sale on binders, or notebooks, or pens, buy a few. I did that this school year and I have enough notebooks and pens for next year. Although some think it is not necessary, a pencil case is helpful in case classmates need to borrow a pen or pencil, or your pencil breaks or you pen runs out of ink. Personally, I like having a supply of pens in my bag during the day. Also a small magnetic basket for your locker is helpful. These normally are only sold during 'back to school' but you can put it on your locker door. I have one with a few pens and pencils in it in case I forget my pencil case at home."

"My father and I (Classes of 1939 and 1968) remember the schools providing virtually all materials in elementary school. For Jr High and High School we paid for notebooks and pens/pencils. That was it. When did this change?? (We both attended excellent public schools, followed by top-rated colleges -- Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie-Mellon)and William and Mary.)"

"I'm a parent of two 7 th graders. The problem in my school that the children were not given any list of what to buy until school started. The problem with this is that by that time all the stores that had school supplies were all sold out. Now you have to go to office supply stores to get any items thatyou may need. Why can't the teachers get together before the end of the year and make some kind of list of what the students coming into their classes for the next year will need. This way when the department stores have school supplies in August you could buy supplies at good prices."

"I'm a senior in high school and thought that it would be nice if I told some the concerned underclassmen what the most important items for school are. Pencils, pencils and more pencils. I lose pencils all the time, even with a pencil cases. If you like mechanical, extra lead because everyone will be asking you for it. Don't waste money on super-nice pens, the 15 pack of the cheap ones works fine. Red or green pens for correcting. Erasable pens are horrible. A 4 or 5 pack of highlighters. A lot of times you'll be asked to color-code stuff in-class and teachers don't have supplies. A basic 5 pack of markers works well too. Colored pencils. Important in science class when drawing or making graphs. All my lab graphs and table had to be done in pencil and the colors made it better-looking and also easier to read. A mini-stapler: Honestly the best investment, I'm always needing to staple papers together and it takes awhile when everyone is lined up at the teachers desk. A binder, ! duh:! Need to keep your stuff together! After my sophomore year, a backpack wasn't really necessary since everything was either in my binder or locker. A graphing calculator if you're taking any math above Geometry-level. Or physics. Either a multi-subject notebook, or a couple separate ones for each subject: An English class might require you to have a journal, daily Math assignments, Science lab notebook, etc. A PAD OR 3 OF GRAPHING PAPER!!!! I used SOOOO much graphing paper between Math and Science it was ridiculous. Teachers don't really provide this anymore. Scissors, glue, rulers are generally provided and no one wants to be carrying this stuff around all day. And a box of Kleenex, your most valuable extra credit item! Hope I managed to help a couple people! When you get older they still put a bunch of items on the supply list you don't need, and neglect the ones you do."

"My daughter is in 7th grade this year. The list of supplies she was required to have was unbelievable. Teachers have gone overboard with the 'special' requiremnets on supplies. One class requires a plastic pocket folder, another wants 2 pocket folders with the pockets in the bottom of the folder, and still another she is not allowed to use pocket folders but must have a 3-ring binder with devider tabs. Some of her classes require wide-ruled notebook paper and others want college-ruled. I feel that schools forget that people can't always afford to buy all these different items. I live in a small town where many of our families are loosing their jobs and don't hardly have money to put food on the table. Yet they are asked to spend excess amount of money on school supplies. Then the school say each child must provide a bottle of hand sanitizer and a box of kleenex for each class. What happen to the days when the school provided things like that."

"I just entered 6th grade and I go to Emerson Middle School in the city of Pomona in California. I have 2 combination locks one for the hall locker & the other one for the gym locker. So far I think I will have a cool school year here at Emerson. Emerson is a VERY GREAT school. I don't REALLY care about being popular no more, in 5th grade (Last year) I always wished I would become popular someday because alot of people picked on me and anyways I just wanted to be part of the''IN CROWD'' But now I learned you don't have to become popular to stop people from picking on you and I just started to think it really isn't important to be the most popular girl in school and it's WAY BETTER hanging out with my friends and to just be normal and be yourself!!!!"

"hey im going into sixth grade and im so nervous cause its me and my brothers first year there [we just moved here in this summer!!]"

"If you're in high school you may not have your schedule yet, wait for it. My first year I went out and got a whole bunch of stuff that was impractical. Once you figure out which teachers want their own binders, between which classes you can squeezein time to get to your locker, and how big your locker actually is you can figure out which subjects you can condense into which binders. What a lot of us end up doing is having either one binder for the whole day or one for before lunch and one for after that way you cant forget anything and you just empty it every marking period. For the first two days you really only need a folder with a couple pieces of paper in it and a pen or pencil."