Summer is quickly coming to an end, which means that school is just around the corner. Now is the time that students and parents take a look at the required school supplies list and search for the best deals. For some reason, I always had a ton of high school supplies on the first day to fill up the top shelf of my locker. On the last day of school, many of those school supplies from the first day were still on that shelf or buried on the bottom of my backpack. Newsflash parents and students: not everything on the list is actually essential. In order to save money, only grab the essentials, not the whole school supply aisle in Walgreens.
1. Dry Erase Markers
Unless teachers have 30 personal dry erase boards for students to use, there is no need for a pack of five different colored dry erase markers. The only reason students might use them is for a small dry erase board on the inside door of their locker.
2. Post-Its
Post-Its work great for an office or business, but not in a class where your notes each day will be at least a page. In my sophomore year of high school, my English teacher suggested to use them to mark important passages in books we read for class, but that became too messy. And isn't that what highlighters or pens are for?
3. Loose Leaf Paper
My parents always insisted I do my homework on loose leaf paper and not on my notebook paper, so my folders were always full of loose leaf. However, all my high school teachers accepted notebook paper (as long as it was perforated), and buying a whole pack of loose leaf paper quickly became unnecessary.
4. Dictionary and Thesaurus
Almost every one of my English teachers required or highly recommended having both of these books and of course I packed them in my book bag on the first day of school. Unfortunately, I don't even think I ever opened them. With the internet being easily accessible and the fact that my high school encouraged the use of iPads in class, having a dictionary and thesaurus was not essential.
5. #2 Pencils
Arguably the most essential school supply, until the rise of mechanical pencils. Mechanical pencils don't require sharpening and are acceptable to use on standardized tests. Honestly, I can't remeber the last time I used a regular yellow Ticonderoga pencil.
6. White Out
Every year I buy this, usually the coorection tape form, and every year I never use it at all. The only way I've ever seen my classmates use the fluid white out was to draw pictures on their folders.
7. 3-Hole Punch
I think I've had the same 3-hole punch in my backpack since sophomore year of high school and I never used it until my freshman year at college. I only used a binder in science class and the handouts were already hole punched. Also the small bits of paper fly everywhere and make a terrible mess.
8. Glue Stick
Unless you're enrolled in an art class, this supply will certainly sit in your pencil case unused all year. To make matters worse, my junior year biology teacher hated glue and only allowed students to use rubber cememt. So basically I bought glue that year for no reason.
9. Scissors
I can guarantee you that this school supply is on every required school supply list for every grade level. However, in high school I seldom used it in class, maybe art, but that was one semester. I mostly used the scissors in my drawer at home for the occassional creative homework project. But certainly not a school supply to spend all year in your locker or backpack.
10. Ruler
Honestly, I don't remeber ever measuring anything in any of my high school math classes, but I always had a ruler in my backpack. And to make matters worse, on standardized tests a small paper ruler was always provided. Maybe the only reason I used a ruler during school was to create a staright edge, but the edge of a folder worked just as well.
