in the meantime...

We seem to have settled in to vegging out during kindergarten. Picking up a little knowledge here and there...and waiting to hear something about the gifted program.
I've recently renewed an old friendship with a girl who happens to be in gifted education. You bet I'll be picking her brain about all of this.

In the meantime, I'm just busy making the cutest little fire-breathing dragon and knight costumes!

Left Turn...Kindergarten!

I've missed blogging this year, but I didn't have a topic. I said what I needed to say about Free Public Education, right?
Well, now I have a second kiddo in school - in kindergarten. If I didn't dread everything about home schooling, I would home school this guy. He is seriously bright. Gifted, I think. I've spent the past hour scouring the internet for clues and suggestions about how to educate him and his brother.
We are one month into the little guy's 13-year public education, and I fear we are losing him. He spends time at home in the mornings before school reading the cereal box or playing math games. Then he goes to school and "learns" shapes and colors. I've got nothing against the teacher or the school. They are doing what they have to do. I just have a special child. He is becoming less and less excited about going every day. If he decides now that he doesn't like school we're all in BIG trouble! It will be a long 12-13 years...
The problem is, after an hour of internet research I got nothing. Lots of philosophical babble, but nothing I can really and practically apply to his education in our district. HELP!

Now What??

It's Memorial Day. No school. No requests for money. I did just spend $10 on a gift card for the teacher as an end-of-year thank you. It has been a good year. My son has learned so much. And I have learned so much, too. And I've kept a blog. This was completely foreign territory to me in August. And now, not only do I know how to "do" a blog, I also know how much money I've spent on incidentals for my son's Free Public Education! Perhaps at the end of next week I'll retire this mundane record and keep a new more interesting blog of the goings-on in our lives. For posterity. We'll see...

But this one's not over yet. AD just mentioned that he would like us to order a yearbook for him. On March 3, I listed the yearbook as $12 rejected. That was the price for a personalized yearbook. I said then that I might regret that decision. If we can still get one, I'll have to move $10 of that to the accepted column of the spreadsheet now. We'll leave the $2 personalization fee under "rejected books."

And I miscalculated how many school lunches he would buy for the rest of the year, so I've got to add another $2 to the lunch column for Domino's Pizza day this week!

I'll be out all week, but look for one more post to close out our school year.

Into the Home Stretch...

We are just about ready to find out our grand total for an entire school year. I have done my best to keep track of every request for $, as well as every penny I have actually donated or spent. Here are the latest:


$20 more for lunch money to get us through the rest of the year. AD is taking his lunch about 3/5 of the time, and I never did account for the cost of a home-packed lunch. I guess I would have to make him lunch even if he were not at school, so the lunch money column is only for school lunches.

$30 for basket raffle tickets. We did not win any of the baskets. Bummer. We were hoping for the Wii basket. Or the Birthday Party basket. Or, of course, the Need for Speed basket that I had helped put together.

$5 for Spring Carnival tickets. This event is where the baskets were actually raffled. The carnival tickets covered games, food and inflatable rides.

"Good" News: since we had several snow days this past winter, our school year was lengthened to May 30. This allows us to add one more Market Day pick up to our schedule! Aren't you excited?! I'll add another $75 to the 'Free Public Education Expenses' spreadsheet for that - in the 'rejected' column. (At the $75 order level, customers will be entered into an incentive prize drawing.)

Also, parents are being strongly encouraged to order the "Ready, Set, Summer!" family curriculum package for $19. Note home from the principal even kind of implies that your student will fall behind, plus miss out on a recognition ceremony next fall if they do not participate. Manipulative! Hmmm. Not sure what we'll do. I'm not even sure which grade level to order if we do it. Our student consistently performs above grade level, so I don't think the suggested materials would be right for him anyway.

Hangin' in there for one more week...

A Couple of LOUSY Weeks

Been busy...lots to report. I'm just going to include a list today. But hey - I've successfully kept track of (nearly) an entire year of public school expenses and requests for money. Just a couple more weeks and we'll have a total! If I remember last year accurately, these will be a busy couple of weeks. So here goes:

We spent $13.69-ish on our basket raffle donation/decorations, not counting gasoline to run all over town for "stuff." But check out our completed "Need for Speed" basket.

Green Tree Spring Carnival: 6 Raffle Tickets for $5 (We'll probably buy two sets of tickets.)

Teacher appreciation week: Have your child write a thank you card to all teachers, principals and counselors. We will spend about $5 on this.

Summer Dance Camp: $40 - NO

Wentzville Parks and Rec Programs: $1093 - NO to most though we might do BBall or Science.

(Wentzville Idol $5; Tennis Clinic/Lessons $92; Theatre Camp $93; Circus Skills Camp $99; Dance Camp $60; Abra-Kid-Abra Magic Camp $99; Youth Lacrosse Camp $85; Football Camp $65; Baseball Camp $75; Basketball Camp $70; Soccer Camp $35 for goalkeeper, $85 for soccer; Golf Clinic $20; Hapkido $55; Young Rembrandts $50; Flip Flop Class $15; Sticky Fingers $15; Little Wizards Science Experiments $15; Little Chefs Cooking Class $15; Ballet Dancing $45)

Camp Gators 2008: $585 - NO
(This is a weekly summer camp at $65 per week for 9 weeks. We might consider one of the weeks, but for the most part the kids are participating in a free public school program and/or staying with grandparents this summer!)

Summer Reading Programs: $299 - NO

Wentzville Rotary & Schools Foundation 5K Run & Walk: $15 Adults, $10 Kids - NO

Holt High DECA Spring Fling: 5 tickets for $1 - NO

See spreadsheet for updated totals.

Fund Raisers - 3; Mommy - 0

Last week, Velveeta cheese wasn't enough. It turned out that several parents didn't send anything in for the Fiesta, so a last-minute plea came home to please empty your pantry of anything Rotel or corn chip, etc! We sent in a $1 can of Rotel, but also dropped by the classroom for any last-minute, last-minute requests. They also needed paper plates, and for $1.89, we delivered!!!! It's nice to feel like a hero sometimes :-).

Remember the Basket Raffle? It's getting cranked up, now. I've still only spent $1 in actual cash, but much, much more in time! Maybe I'll post a photo of the completed basket in a few weeks!

So I'm 0 for 3 on Pinching Pennies this week. But worthwhile expenditures one and all! Spreadsheet is updated with the entire $3.89.

Help - I'm buried under a sea of paper!

Velveeta cheese: classroom request. (They're studying Mexico...still haven't made the connection? It's time to make some queso.) $3.99 plus tax.

Family Trivia Night: second try. The last one was canceled due to lack of interest. I personally am still not interested. $10 rejected fund raisers.

Camp Invention: now this sounds cool! But we just can't afford to do everything that sounds cool. $130 for a one-week day camp if you are among the first 50 to register. After that $205. It really sounds great - teaching kids to think creatively by inventing new ways to play old games, etc.

That's all for tonight. I've got to get my head above water, no, paper!!

No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

Two items in yesterday's backpack: One was the pink slip that says, "Hey you moron, your kid didn't have any money left in his lunch account today, so we fed him anyway and you had better pay up or else!" So I sent them $30. I guess I'm supposed to keep track of how many lunches he buys so that he doesn't run out of cash. I personally think a "Hey just wanted to remind you that your child only has $2 left in his account" note would be nicer, but whatever.

Second item was the computer class educational software order form. I'm going to put $19.95 into the spreadsheet as rejected, because I honestly don't see anything in there that we can't live without. And I really did look this time, for a change!

I'm Soooooo Tired

More money. This one isn't asking US for money. It's asking us to submit seven addresses so that our friends and family can be approached directly by Time, Inc. for money. So if you get a card from AD with magazine offers, PLEASE do not feel obligated! However, maybe you'll find a good deal in there for a subscription you want, who knows?

A couple of re-scheduled fund raisers have been appearing in the backpack this week. McTeacher's night at McDonald's was previously snowed out. We already showed that as $10 rejected in the spreadsheet, I think. Also rescheduled due to snow was the $5 movie night at the school. We already accepted and recorded that one last month. So while we are being bombarded with fund-raiser-ish propaganda, there really isn't too much to add to the totals for tonight.

Just for the record, I've added $24 to the rejected fundraisers column for the cookie dough that we are not buying. And I recorded the $14 that we did spend on Silver Graphics art items. The current running total in the spreadsheet is $719.35 accepted / $1718.55 rejected for a potential total of $2437.90 that we could have spent on our son's free public education so far this school year.

Spring Break Backpack

It's spring break! The take-homes for the break included a fundraiser: cookie dough sales! I think we already sold some of this earlier in the year, but I guess overpriced cookie dough is one of those things people use up and run out of. I hate to be a non-participant, but...

I'm also the classroom liaison for the PTO basket raffle, and that instruction folder came home this week, too. I'm afraid that will keep me busy enough. (That and the fact that AD is in two sports right now. I can't even think about going door-to-door with cookie dough, too.)

Speaking of sports, there was a flier about spring soccer in the backpack, too. But we're already enrolled in another organization for soccer. Whew! Saved me $95!!

Oh, and the ubiquitous Market Day food order form came out again this week. Are we sure we only get that once a month?

Out of Town Backpack Catch-Up

So while I was on vacation, the backpack fairies were busy:
1. Market Day "Please Buy Brunch Items" was due. Three separate fliers came home about this one, but I previously recorded all of the monthly Market Day fund raisers in the spreadsheet.
2. Tomorrow night is McTeacher's night at McDonald's. This is where we go spend $10 at McDonald's so that the school can get 20 cents. We have always done this one in the past, but I don't know if we will this time or not. Watch the spreadsheet for details.
3. It's yearbook time. We can order a plain one for $10 or a personalized one for $12. This is one I may regret someday, but we're going to decline. We will subsist with just the class photo.
4. Wednesday is "Reading is Fun Night." This event is actually free, but it is accompanied by both...
5. ...A Used Book Sale and...
6. ...A Bookfair. Stay posted to see how much we spend.
7. Wentzville Parks and Recreation has sent two fliers including such scintillating options as: Butterfly Biology - $15; Young Rembrandts - $50; Hapkido - $55; Easter EGGstravaganza - $2 per child; Egg Decorating - $15; Super Saturday - $30; and even a Bone Hunt for the dog - $10. I won't count the $90 spring break camp option. Hopefully Grandma will come through for me on that one!

That's all for now. That will teach me to take a vacation!

Cleaning out Papers

Well, I was cleaning out the big stack of paper that had accumulated over the past couple of months, and I found a few items I had forgotten to record in the spreadsheet.

We are not doing any of these this year:
1. Wentzville parks and recreation activities, including self-defense/hapkido $55, little wizards $15, little chefs $15 and Wentzville Readers' Theatre $80.
2. St. Louis Soccer Club - $140. (We are playing soccer, but for about half that price.)
3. The Green Tree Science Fair - $5 per project board.

Wow - I just saved $310!

From Basket Raffles to Laundry Baskets

Not much to tell yet about the upcoming basket raffle...but I have a feeling it's going to cost me something! Especially since one of my neighbors is the co-chair of the fundraiser!

Next Friday night is movie night. AD wants to go, so I suppose I'll shell out $5 for that. It's for a good cause, right? I hope so, because it's a movie he's already seen and grandma is watching him that night anyway, so I won't even get a "night out" out of this deal.

We'll not be signing up for youth football for $65. (We've already signed up for soccer and baseball, which were not included in the spreadsheet, since they were not sent to us in the backpack.)

Oh, and it's Valentine's week. We've picked up a $2.50 box of Valentines, donated all of our old shoeboxes and purchased two bottles of chocolate syrup and a bag of Oreo's for the ice-cream sundae party toppings.

What do you think? Should I include the $15 I spent on jeans this weekend? On one hand, he could have made it without them, but on the other, he barely had enough pants for a whole week, and I suppose I wanted laundry reprieve! I won't include them in the spreadsheet yet...

Snow Day!

Today is a snow day - no school - fun sledding to abound...

Yesterday in the backpack there was a note for Junior Basketball. Wentzville Parks & Rec. $55 for us. It begins on January 28. Yes...yesterday was January 31. So I guess that means if we sign up we'll have to pay the $10 late fee. If they are sending this home to us just now, I have to assume it is because they didn't have enough interest on Monday. If that is the case, why don't they waive the late registration fee? We'll show them - we just won't sign up! And I had high hopes for Junior's Basketball abilities. *sigh*

It's also time for the PTO fundraiser for Art Supplies. We loved this one last year. They take a piece of your student's artwork and sell all kinds of items emblazoned with the art. Last year we bought two t-shirts, a tote bag, a quilt square, a mug and a notebook. Maybe we won't go quite so crazy this year. But you'll definitely see something in the spreadsheet for this one.

Trivial "Expenses"

Saturday night is Trivia Night. Admission is $5 per person...I'm not sure if that's adults only or if kids are supposed to come along. I'll not be making it to that fund-raiser. $20 into the R column of the spreadsheet. Not sure where the anticipated funds are going. The latest email sounded kind of desperate, though. Chance of cancellation, etc. Fund-Raiser Fatigue, maybe?
It's time for another "Market Day" order. But I think I already posted my whole year's worth of non-participation in that to the spreadsheet. Side note: in the Market Day note there is a heartfelt diatribe on how we need to cook our meals at home instead of eating out all of the time. We are then encouraged to order this "restaurant quality" prepared food from Market Day...I'm confused. So is it cooking at home or not?????

Just Paper Towels

I bought three rolls of paper towels - another school supply that had been exhausted in AD's classroom. I got them on clearance because they were "holiday" towels. I found three rolls that had snowmen on them. That'll do.

I'm also sending in a pair of scissors. How, pray tell, does one lose scissors?

I'm not putting those into the spreadsheet, though, because they are just a pair we had lying around the house and I have no idea of a dollar amount. The paper towels are in there, though. At a grand total of $2.25.

Thankfully, not much to report!

Or maybe I'm just getting complacent. I'm sure there has been some form that I have just ignored and tossed into the recycling bin...
I've contributed a few school supplies because the classroom was running low. A couple of dollars for glue, paper towels and some extra pencils out of our pencil drawer at home!
I also had to send in a new coloring book. AD's book had been stolen by a classmate who didn't do a great job of scratching out our name in the book. At any rate, I ended up promising the kid a book of his own if he would please not steal from us. So both kiddos started January with new coloring books. That was a total of $4.
We also ran out of lunch money, so that account was re-stocked with $70 to hopefully get us through the rest of the year!
Oh - and it's time to sign up for baseball. That will be $70 plus the mandatory $25 fundraising ticket to a Cardinal's game. That's not through the school, it's through the city. But the note came home in the backpack, so it's fair game and part of the clutter.
That's all for now. I'm sure the requests for money will pick up in the springtime.

I'll put all of these into the spreadsheet.