The non-marking shoes are so they don't scuff the gym floor with black streaks. Most schools ask for those.

My kids' lists included pretty much everything from composition books to crayons, so you got lucky! I still think it's a small price to pay for free education. I usually pick up a few things during the year that the teach will have on his/her wishlist when supplies do get low on basics such as tissues, dry erase markers, etc.. Even if the teacher had left overs of that stuff from the previous year, I doubt she would throw them away. That seems so wasteful!

I'm actually surprised they didn't ask for hand sanitizer this year! Maybe they installed those wall units? less

For going back to school the supply list can be overwhelming, no?
This year my son's list was quite small, just tissues, glue sticks, some lose-leaf notebook paper and non-marking shoes. ??? huh. My daughter's was even smaller, shoes and pencils. At the orientation for school I asked the teacher about it, she proceeded to open a few drawers to show me all the supply's left over from last year.

To say I was shocked is a understatement!

Why don't other schools/teachers do this? With money being tight and a bad economy I wish all the schools/teachers would think ahead like this instead of just tossing all the old supply's out, like they seam to do.

So how about you, do you have a list from hell? Or does your kids school do this also? How about those that have to but theirs, AKA college students.

Please share. less

Here they send unused things home with the children who purchased them in the first place. Seems more fair to me actually. I'd hate to have bought items only for the next year's student to use them while the next year I go out and buy those same items again for my kid's next grade. A lot of the things the kids use every year..so it just makes sense to send leftovers that we bought home on the last day of school. less

Only trouble is that it's hard to convince my daughter that the school supplies she gets back aren't hers for her art projects all summer. They get put in a bag and they wait until I get the list in August. She doesn't think it's fair since they're "hers" but I have to remind her that while they are "hers" they were bought my me and therefore their use is decided by me. less