First Day of First Grade

Last year, when my son was in kindergarten, I was amazed by many things.
First, and most importantly, was how quickly he learned to read, even though I had spent the previous five years unsuccessfully trying to teach him this at home!
The second amazing thing was how much paper he brought home on a nightly basis: notes about sports teams he could join, school menus and information about how the district was going to change the high school schedule. (Why was it necessary to send this home with the kindergarteners? However, I dutifully read the entire dreary document.)
The third thing that amazed me is related to the second, but deserves a distinct and separate category.

Almost EVERY day AT LEAST one of those pieces of paper that my baby toted home from his half-day of kindergarten involved the opportunity for me to spend money on him!

Sometimes the notes were accompanied by arm-twisting, guilt inducing notes, and sometimes I supplied my own guilt, "but if we don't buy him a class shirt, will he have a gift to open during the Winter party? And if everyone else does get a shirt...oh, I don't want him to feel left out."

So, toward the end of that year I decided to keep track of the potential and actual money I spend on my child's free public education for one year. Today was the first day of school, but I am already way behind on the blog.