Summer really only lasts until August 1st in Indiana. Then the shift from the pool to school is forced upon us by the rows of school supply bins at Target, the avalanche of notes from the schools, and the “back to school” clothing sales at every corner. Well, this year I made every attempt to keep our focus on our carefree days at home. This was the first year we did NOT buy a cart load of markers, crayons, erasers, kleenex boxes etc. I did not obsess over getting every last item on every kids’ list.
Honestly, I did not even look at the lists that the school sent out (GASP.) No teacher REALLY wants 44 boxes of Kleenex and 22 bottles of hand sanitizer coming in on the first day of school anyway. Instead, a few days before school started, each of the four boys scavenged through our school supply drawer and “shopped” for what they needed. This is the drawer that includes supplies from May that are actually still useable EVEN THOUGH they were from “last year.” Binders, notebooks, dry erase markers, scissors, glue sticks that a child in a third world nation would consider brand new. There were also still a few stacks of .10 loose leaf paper, .10 notebooks, and .99 markers from earlier years of extreme sale shopping.
So this year I took a stand against the allure of the sale bins and the pressure of the culture to be a “good” mom and get every last supply on everyone’s list for the first day of school. I sent them to school with some pencils and paper and a rested soul from a long summer vacation. I found eleven extra days of summer this year.
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