Navigating Back-to-School Shopping: Elementary to Middle School Guide

The back-to-school season brings challenges for parents navigating lengthy supply lists and deciding between self-shopping versus purchasing pre-packaged kits from schools.

• Elementary school supply lists grow longer each year with each teacher requiring different items
• Self-shopping allows budget control with many supplies costing under a dollar during sales
• Pre-packaged elementary supply kits cost $100-167 but save valuable time for busy parents
• Middle school supplies are more specialized with specific color-coding requirements by subject
• Middle school students are notoriously hard on folders and supplies, making extras essential
• Community supplies like tissues, paper towels, and dry erase markers help teachers who often pay out-of-pocket
• Never send all supplies at once – keep extras at home for replacements and homework
• Label all elementary school supplies with your child's name to prevent loss
• Keep spare clothes for younger students to handle accidents without parent intervention
• Shop early for best deals – prices increase as the school year approaches

If you have not already, please make sure you are liking, subscribing, commenting, and rating so we can get the show out there even more. Follow us on IG at The Gag Is Pod for new clips and snippets of each episode.

Chapters

• 1:09 Welcome to The Gag Is Pod
• 2:45 Back-to-School Series Introduction
• 4:01 Elementary School Supplies Breakdown
• 8:19 Self-Shopping vs Supply Packs
• 13:39 Middle School Supply Strategies
• 18:34 Community Supplies: Why They Matter
• 25:25 Essential Tips for Parents
• 31:19 Wrapping Up and Next Week's Preview

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:35

Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the Gag Is Pot. I am your girl, charlie Shantae. Thank you for joining me on another episode and, like I always say, if you are listening to this new episode, then it must be Friday. And this microphone about to give me the blues already. I don't know what's going on, so bear with me for just one momento. I don't know what's going on, so bear with me for just one moment though. Okay. So if you listen to this episode, it must be Friday, but even if you're listening to it and it's not a Friday, that is perfectly okay. I'm just glad that you're listening. If you have not already, please make sure you are liking and subscribing. Follow us on IG, at the Gag is Pod, and it's on YouTube as well, and my schedule has allowed, so I have started editing and putting up the full video for you to watch, and just make sure you're subscribing. Wherever you're listening to this episode at, whether that be on apple, spotify or any other streaming platform, make sure that you hit the little x question mark, check mark, whatever's up there that say do you want to subscribe to this? Make sure you go ahead and hit that so that anytime a new episode is released, you are the first to know. These are released on fridays at 5 am. So by the time you get in your car and it's time to go to work guess what? You can just listen to it on your way to work. If you don't want to listen to the radio, so go ahead and grab your drink, grab your snack or whatever it is you grab when you listen to this, so we can jump right in.

Speaker 1: 2:11

Y'all know that we are in the middle of the back to school series. Last year I did just one episode on back to school and I got so many comments like, can you just make it into a whole little thing? And I'm like, yeah, I can do that. So I've taken some time, done some research on some different topics for back to school. We talked about sports, physicals, we have talked about paperwork in general, and so this week I'm going to start getting into the nitty gritty, start talking about school supplies, and you know it's such a broad topic. You know I felt like it's not a one size fits all. So this week we're going to talk about elementary and middle school. Next week we're going to talk about high school and college and then the week after that we're going to talk about back to school shopping and then by that time, school is going to be done, started here in the great state of Florida.

Speaker 1: 3:07

So, when it comes to elementary school supplies, I feel like buying school supplies for elementary kids has got to be one of the hardest One of the hardest things to do because it's not clear cut. I feel like this microphone is going to give me the blues for this entire episode. It's not clear cut and you would think okay, my child's in kindergarten, my child is in first grade, they all going to need the same thing. But no, each teacher requires something different and it seems like every year the list is getting longer and longer. I went today and just verified, did my check while I was writing out the episodes and I was like all right, let me take a look at some stuff. I've been in the stores, I've seen the list in the stores and I'm like, my goodness, this list is long. However, once I started looking at the list, I was like, okay, cool, I get it, I understand what's going on here. So I got my notes up over here. I got them all. Good today, my notes over here, so that I can make sure you are getting some accurate information. And, like I said, this is where I live, locally. So where you live, the prices may be different. So always check to make sure that the price because I don't want you to be like well, she said it was this Just bear with me and make sure you, wherever you're listening from, make sure you check into the things that are in your area. These are things that are specific to my area here in the state of florida. So the first thing is making sure you obtain the list.

Speaker 1: 4:47

Now, um, many different ways you can obtain the list. I know back in the day you used to get go in the store. They had this big old thing with all these papers in and whatever school your child went to, you get the list for that school and then you will walk around and do your shopping. Well, now you can just go. Now you can just go to the school's website and nine times out of 10, they're going to have the individualized list on there. They'll probably have it by um grade, not so much the teacher, but if you're getting closer into school starting and you already have your child's teacher name and different things like that, then it may be specific. I know here I'm not sure if they do it anymore when New Face was in elementary we actually got postcards a couple of days I'm not a couple of days a couple of weeks prior to school starting and you know, introducing their sales. I'm such and such. You know I'm going to be New Face's teacher for the upcoming school year.

Speaker 1: 5:55

Here's a little code. You can scan this, tell you all the supplies that I have and tell you how I run my classroom the whole nine yards. So those are just a few of the ways that you can obtain your child's school supply list, and I always say the sooner the better, and I think this is one of my bullet points at the end, so I won't go into it too much. But those are two ways and you want to be careful because I live in a big city, I live in Tampa, so Tampa is big, there are over 100 schools, so I know sometimes we go shopping on different sides of town and not every side of town has the school supply list of town and not every side of town has the school supply list. Oh, my goodness, every side of town does not have the school supply list for the other parts of town. So make sure, if you're going to go shop on like a different side of town, make sure you have make sure that store encompasses the area that you live in, and if not, they may not have school supply list that you are looking for. So just always just make sure that you check with that as well.

Speaker 1: 7:09

So the next thing I want to talk about is you know, back in the day, you know, like when I went to school, you know, even when Marco Polo was in school to school, you know, even when, uh, marco Polo was in school, we went to, I went to the store and I bought, like I got the list and I was like, okay, he need crowns, he need markers, he need colored pencils. Um, we used to do that, but now there are options. Okay, now there are options that you can, um, that you can do different stuff with. My notes is over here and I'm trying to read them at the same time. So you have to determine whether you go shop for yourself or buy a, a package. So they have these packages now and I want to say I want to say when New Face was going to the elementary school by our house, I want to say they had like supply packs where, if you didn't want to do the shopping, each teacher or each grade tailored a specific supply pack for you to just purchase and they would just get it on the first day of school. And you know, I was like, oh okay, like this is cool. And so I remember when I went to look at it, like that particular year, I want to say it was like 80 something dollars and I was like 80 something dollars and I'm like, do I really spend that when I go shopping for him? And I'm like ain't no way, because if you catch it early enough, stores they have stuff, most of the supplies, with the exception of markers, colored pencils. Yeah, markers and colored pencils are gonna be less than dollar, less than 50 cent, if you catch it on the right weekend or you catch it at the right store. So I feel like the difference is the shelf.

Speaker 1: 9:08

Self-shopping allows you to go in and purchase the things that you feel you need, because you may look at the school pack list and be like, well, they have this in here and that in there. School pack list and be like, well, they have this in here and that in there, and I don't really think. You know my child needs that. Or if you go to the store and you self shop, then you can determine what brand, because in those packs it may all be just name brand stuff. And would it be in just name brand stuff? It's going to cost you a little bit more money. But if you go to the store then you know you don't need a name. They don't need a name brand of scissors. You know they don't need a name brand of paper or crowns or what have you that stuff not going to last through the year. Anyways, I pay $4 for a box of crowns when you can pay $0.99 for a box of crowns. They may have a different brand. That's going to do the same thing. You know, if you are budget conscious and you don't have quite a lot of money to spend, then you know you may want to go self-shop for yourself. But if you're a working parent and you just don't have that kind of time, you know the alternative is a supply pack. Just understand it's going to cost you a little bit more.

Speaker 1: 10:23

If I haven't said it, we're talking about elementary first. We'll get into middle school second. So when I was looking, the school supply packs are typically available to purchase from a third party vendor, but it's through the school, so they'll like that. The school, on the website they'll be like click this link If you want to buy the supply pack, we'll have it delivered to the school, and what have you? And you can do it like that and it may take a couple of weeks, so you may have to do a couple of weeks in advance. It may come in before the first day of school, it may not. And so for elementary, when I was looking, I just randomly went on there and I just clicked one I think I did first grade and the range for the prices of the pack, cause you can get a pack with, like a small pack, a medium pack or a large pack, just depending on what size stuff you want, and it can range anywhere from $100 to $167.

Speaker 1: 11:21

This is on just the lower end compared to the higher end of the packages that they have. And I don't per se, when I go shopping I don't keep my receipts and be like, okay, well, I paid this for this, how much are they charging? I don't really price match it. I just prefer to self-shop. I feel like I have more control that way compared to. If I'm buying a school supply pack, because you have to remember if you're ordering through the school it's going to get shipped directly to the school you kind of don't have, even though it comes wrapped up and everything. I feel like you kind of don't have any say so in that you know, because you may have paid for a pack, and what if people in 30 other states are ordering the same pack and they run out of stuff? But you've already paid all of this money and stuff. So now your kid has to start the beginning of the year without that stuff and in turn you still got to go to the store to buy it. And I just don't think if it works for you I know I've had a couple of coworkers that said that they do that If it works for you, I'm not mad at it. You know it's just very pricey compared to taking time and, like I said, I understand everybody doesn't have time to go to the store and get their kids school supplies. I just always make it a point to go out and do it.

Speaker 1: 13:05

Middle school Middle school supplies are in another lane of their own. When it comes to middle schools, you get between six and seven classes. I know some have all six of those classes in a day. I know some places have block scheduling. I know some places have block scheduling so they have three classes this day or they, you know, like they don't A schedule or B schedule. And so, although you don't need as many supplies as you did your child in elementary, the supplies that they need from middle school just happen to be a little bit more complex. Because one of the things, unless your child has an elective, your child's not going to need scissors, they're not going to need crayons, they're not going to need color pencils, they're not going to need markers. They may need a ruler. They're not going to need glue sticks unless they're taking art or they're taking AVID or something like that. They're not going to utilize a majority of that stuff. And then I know from being in middle, teaching in middle school, that if we do something that needs that, something that needs that, then typically I would have those supplies on hand because, look, we're already expecting these middle schools to walk around and keep up with their stuff, with their basic stuff, and that's a little minute stuff that you know they just shouldn't have to keep up with.

Speaker 1: 14:35

For middle school I did prefer to get new faces stuff myself. Um, because you would. I would always start, and typically school starts here on a Thursday or Friday. This year it starts on a Monday, which is really weird. So I had to adjust, like my school supply shopping um, which I have not done yet. Um, I'm going to have to adjust. I'm going to have to do that this week, now that I think about it. I have to adjust because All right Side track squirrel type of moment for middle school, each teacher wants something different.

Speaker 1: 15:20

So you may have a red folder for language arts, a blue folder for math, a green folder for science. They get very specific and very particular about it, very particular about it. One thing I have learned kids in middle school oh my God, they, I don't know what they do to these folders. I don't know if they eat these folders. I don't know, I don't know what they do with these folders. Buy extras, okay, cause these, these folders go to war um on a daily Um.

Speaker 1: 15:58

But back to what I was saying, cause I re, I just remembered y'all, school typically starts on a Thursday or Friday here, but this year starting on a Monday. So what I would normally do is send new face to school with a spiral, some pencils, ink, pen paper and something to write with, because on the first day you're trying to learn how to get to your class, you're trying to learn what your teacher expects and different stuff like that. It's not too much work going on on those first and second days. So by the time the first and second day is out the way, on that weekend I can go to the store and I can get any specialized items that they require, whether it be like a five-subject notebook or a three-subject green notebook or something like that. This year I'm assuming that me and the teacher are going to be the week before and so I'll have the weekend to kind of to kind of get his supplies, but nonetheless he going to rock with them basics anyway. But we'll talk more about high school stuff next week in the high school and college episode.

Speaker 1: 17:06

Now, just like with elementary, middle school does offer a supply pack. I thought it was pretty weird because I'm like it's middle school, I don't know. So I just clicked on a random middle school far area seeing what they had and their supply pack lists are very, very, very cheaper than elementary. So those range between 42 and 100 because, like I said, it's pretty clear cut with middle school. They just need something right with some paper, some folders. They don't need all the specialized stuff unless they're, um, they have an art elective or design elective or something, something as such.

Speaker 1: 17:53

Now we're talking about school supplies. Elementary and middle school, I think, are the two biggest areas where I feel like this is an issue. I'm talking about community supplies and so let me read to you. I pulled up a school supply list just to see so it had it broke down into the needed items and then some of the items that they are asking for, and so, on the middle school list, some of the things that they're asking for are paper towels, and you say, well, paper towels, like why they just can't go. You know, get paper towels, you know, like why we can't get them from the janitor or something like that. Like, no, it doesn't always work like that. There are budget issues that you know just don't allow, and I don't think we realize how messy our kids can be. And even in the classroom you would just think, oh, we just called a janitor to come clean it up. Well, what if the janitor is busy and the janitor cannot, the custodian cannot come clean it up. Teacher can't just let it be there because that's a hazard. Somebody might get hurt or something like that.

Speaker 1: 19:18

Some of the other things that are on here and this is for elementary list, some of the things that I see on here small toys for prizes, a lot of smaller grades I would say K through third have like little treasure boxes. You know, so when the kids do good on their stuff, you know, or they had a good week, they didn't have to move their clip, or they got all green stars, they can go get a prize at the prize box, kind of like a little reward system. Lysol disinfectant spray because kids get sick, kids get germs. Boxes of band-aids get germs, boxes of band-aids. I felt like this is an interesting one because every school has a nurse. However, kids don't always get the opportunity to go to the nurse. And then, you know, going down to the nurse for a band-aid, for like a little paper cut, of course, if it's serious, the teacher's going to send them down there, not saying that. But you know, if a's serious, the teacher's going to sit them down, or not saying that. But you know, if a kid just has just a small, inconspicuous boo-boo, you know it's too easy to give them a little, a little band-aid so that they can go on their way, so I didn't feel like it was too far fetched.

Speaker 1: 20:31

Another thing that I've seen on their dry erase markers I've seen copier paper on there. Yeah, just random little stuff. And you say I'm not buying all that stuff. Tissue tissue is the big thing. I don't know if these kids think they should eat the tissue or what, but those are some big items that are on there and I at first I, until I got into the school system I was like why am I going to go in here and buy this stuff? Like, this is the school they should have it. Not only until I got into the school that I realized that that stuff, dude, we, we ain't got that kind of stuff. And you know, if a teacher, if a parent help us out, cool, um, especially dry erase markers for us to write on the board, write the assignments and different stuff like that, um. So I always say, if you have the finances, you have a couple extra dollars and you look on the bottom of your child's school supply list or you go and look at their syllabus for middle school or what have you, and a teacher asks for extra pencils or extra some tissue, dry erase markers and stuff like that. If you can afford it, I would encourage you to give this to them, because they don't always have it and with the budget cuts going on and stuff like that, in the school districts and through the Department of Education as a whole, a lot of funding is getting ready to be lost and teachers don't make enough. As is, One thing I always do and I always did in elementary and in middle school and I still do it now is when we go to open house, I always just ask the teacher well, is there something that I can bring to give you, you know, or something like that, something that I can help you with?

Speaker 1: 22:18

And they're always just so delighted like, oh my gosh, like, yes. And they're always just so delighted Like, oh my gosh, like, yes, like, could you buy pencils or different stuff. Like that Kids will be holding a pencil one minute and lose a pencil the next minute. Ok, like it's like a magic trick or something. I always try to make sure that I donate is something, and when I say donate, you don't have to go out and buy this massive kind of stuff. You know, it's little simple stuff pencils. They have boxes 24 boxes of pencils for a dollar. I get a couple of them, give them to the teachers and then we good to go to be and I and I guarantee you that goes a long way. I do it for the first quarter and I do it for the first semester and I do it for the second semester as well.

Speaker 1: 23:04

When he was in elementary I always bought extra markers, crayons and different stuff like that, because I do understand that there are some parents who may not be able to afford everything their child needs. And then you also have parents who just refuse to buy school supplies all the way around, for whatever reason and no fault of the kids, you know. So I always make sure I donate um for kids to for them to have extra in case a kid come in, you know, and they have that need, I know. Do know sometimes that kids come in from shelter and foster care and they come in with nothing. So if I can take foster care and they come in with nothing, so if I can take, you know, I go to Starbucks and spend $30, $40 at Starbucks in a week, you know, and I can take the $30, $40, get some supplies so that a child can have some supplies. You know, because, whatever the situation is, you know who am I to judge. But I always give um because I've been in there, I've been in those teacher shoes before and I know what it's like to not have, you know, supplies and I know what it's like to have a student come in who doesn't have supplies, either because their family is on a hardship or their parents just don't care um about them having uh supplies. Um, be nice to the teachers. A lot of this stuff comes out of there, but, like I said, it comes out of there, um out of their, out of their pockets. So, you know, try to just, if you can, just try to help Um.

Speaker 1: 24:38

The thing that I always say this elementary, middle school parents do not send all the supplies to school with your child on the first day or leave them there at open house. Okay, because in two weeks little Johnny going to come home and tell you that their crayons is broke up or they got three pencils left. Even with new face, he like mechanical pencils. He get two mechanical pencils at a time. If he lose them, he the don't have to ask somebody for one or he gonna have to come ask me for some. Get them a pencil pouch or something like that so they can keep their stuff up with it. That way it's not just free in their um, just free enrollment in their backpack. One thing that new face do that pisses me off to the court is he will write in a marker or he do his math in pen. Do not do that. Do not send all the supplies to the school at one time. That way, if little Johnny needs some more, you ain't got to go back to the store.

Speaker 1: 25:38

One thing I always say is well, get extra supplies while you're at the store. Keep them from the house, make that your house set, because I know in elementary they send home homework assignments and different stuff like that, and sometimes you're going to need a crown, you're going to need a marker or a pencil or something like that. And just make sure you have extra supplies at home so that you can help the kids with their homework and you don't have to be. Well, little johnny, can you bring your crown box home, you know, so we can do this assignment, you know, make sure you have an extra pair of scissors. Um, I used to have a caboodle for new face that had all the stuff in it index cards, different stuff like that just so we had it at home, so he wouldn't have to bring his stuff from school to the house and lug it back and forth and then potentially risk losing it. Make sure that if your kids are in elementary, make sure you're writing their name or you're tagging their stuff. Little kids got sticky fingers and stuff like that and if they lose their stuff they'll take somebody else and be like no, it wasn't theirs, it was mine. Whether it be putting initials on the pencils or you know what have you? Label your kids stuff. It's not to be malicious, but just to help them keep up with their stuff.

Speaker 1: 26:57

And my last tidbit is for kids, and I would say this would be for parents of kids pre-K through third grade Either keep a spare change of clothes and undergarments in your child's backpack or ask the teacher you know sometimes they have cubbies and stuff If they can keep a spare change of clothes in their cubby, in their desk or if there's space in the classroom for that, simply because you know they're still young and you know they may have an accident or something. They may spill food on themselves and you know, or might have a bathroom accident or something like that and they need to change clothes. I always just say it's a good idea just for them to have a change of clothes and it will prevent you as a parent from having to take off from work and go to the school and take your child clothes because they had an incident and they had to sit in wet clothes or dirty clothes or what have you, and you just always have it there. It's kind of similar to daycare, where you had to bring extra clothes and stuff for them. I suggest doing that as well, just because and even when New Face was in middle school, I told them just take your extra shirt with you or something Just because you spill something on yourself.

Speaker 1: 28:11

You know it never hurts. Even myself, my big grown self I keep a bag in the car that got a whole new outfit in it just in case I spill something on myself at work. You know I spill coffee or something like that. But those and, last but not least, shop as soon as possible. Like I said, I am behind the power curve and I found that, um, some of the better deals occur right after the 4th of july when they're putting the stuff out compared to closer to school. So I'm going to have to get it together and go get these skills blasts. But, like I said, new faces in high school, so I'm really not pressed for it. I ain't got to go out there and fight for scissors and scissors, whiteout markers and crowns. You know everything's going to be good. So that's the end of this episode.

Speaker 1: 29:05

Like I said, next week I'll jump into high school and college because we're going to get a little bit more in depth in that, because we're not dealing with what I consider the littles anymore. You know we're trying to is high school leading into college, and it's a little bit more complex. High school leading into college, and it's a little bit more complex. So their supplies are a little bit more complex than what you would have for elementary and middle school. So before we go, y'all know I have my song lyric of the week and you know this week you know I was going to do something to keep it simple. So I'm going to go with all the small things about Blink-182.

Speaker 1: 29:50

All right, if you have not already, please make sure you are liking, subscribing, commenting and rating um so that we can get the show out there even more Um, apple, spotify, youtube, wherever you listen to this at or wherever you watch this at as well. Make sure you hit the little notification thing. That way, when a new episode is released, you are the first to know. Also, make sure you follow us on IG at. The gag is pot, new clips, snippets of each episode for the week, is shot out, so you'll get little snippets and then you can enjoy the full episode on Friday. If you would like, you can follow my personal page at SmartFit. I always get it wrong because I don't just put it out. I think it's SmartFit underscore Ogie, or, yes, smartfit Ogie. Smartfit underscore Oki on IG or something like that. I don't know y'all. But we come to the end. Thank you for joining me on another episode and until next week. Bye, guys.