Graphing Calculator...school supplies are killing me(rant)

[MrsPooh]

My problem with the school system where my kids live is the sports are pretty much funded 100%, while the other programs are given nothing. DD is in marching band/color guard and we pay $900/year for that, half of which goes to transportation because the boosters for the music program has to pay for the busses. Sports pay nothing, and the county provides their transportation. My son is in football and that is a drastic difference- not only do we pay nothing, but they have multiple coaches on staff, a designated athletic trainer, multiple uniforms, helmets, turf field, brand new stadium lights, etc. Some of this comes from sports boosters fundraisers of course, but the bulk from the school system.

Other than that, class dues (pays for graduation and part of prom) are $60, parking pass is $35, and yearbook I believe was $115 this past year. There will be nominal $5-$10 optional lab fees and requests for materials in certain classes, and of course both kids need the graphing calculator. They both had to buy gym uniforms at some point as well- I think those were $40 each. We also have block scheduling but DD is taking "AP Seminar" along with AP Calculus, which means she has the class every day.

That is very similar to our situation. My daughter was also involved in color guard with the marching band program. To participate year-round her fees to the booster club were about $800. Boosters did a large amount of fundraising to support the band. Sports were much more subsidized and their booster clubs were given priority with any fundraising opportunities. That didn't include our family costs to see her perform at games or to travel to competitions where the entry fees often cost our family another $30.

That said the only fees we really had were for optional things. Parking was about $100 year. We did have to purchase a calculator but the school had some for use for kids that didn't have them and kids that didn't take advanced math courses didn't need them. Yearbooks were $60. Grad night lock-in was $100 and could be paid $25/year or all at one time during senior year. School shirts, pj pants, etc were just something some kids had but not required. I think we did pay a few small "lab" fees along the way but I'm not sure if they were required or just requested. We also paid for AP credits if we wanted them and for the ACT or SAT tests. Bus service was free and picked dd up at the top of our street so basically door to door service. We also choose to pay an activity fee so she could go get into any athletic events within the school district for free - I think that was like $17 per semester.

Even better, with the A+ program qualifying students may get two years free at the community college.

However, we do pay significant taxes for our schools and state lottery funds are directed to education.

 

[Arielle22]

My DDs went to 2 different high schools but both needed that calculator. They are a year apart so each had their own.

Voc Tech had no additional fees for bus (since it was 10 miles from home) and DD1 didn't participate in after school sports.

Local high school had fees for after school activities. It was so much per activity with a family cap and student cap. It didn't matter if it was 3 sports or 2 sports and choir, the cost was the same.

There was a $125 parking pass or $200 bus pass for DD2.

 

[MrsPete]

Please, please someone tell me that this calculator will take this child through trig and calculus and whatever his crazy mathmatical mind will take him for the rest of high school and college?

Yes, I bought that calculator for each of my daughters when they started high school, and my junior-year college daughter is still using it. In a science-heavy major. Before I bought the first one, I asked the math teachers at my school if this would be a "forever purchase", and they assured me it was. I didn't mind buying it, but I didn't want to buy it this year and find out I needed a slightly more expensive one two years later.

Two comments on the purchase:

- They've been out a while and are super-easy to find on ebay, though this probably isn't the best time of year to bid on them.
- Most kids have the very same calculator -- a very few have the cool colors. Personalize your kids' calculator in some way: Stickers, paint pens, colored cover, whatever. I suggest putting the kid's name on the calculator itself (not the sliding cover) AND inside the battery cover. Stealing these calculators is fairly rare, but (because almost everyone has the black or grey case) taking a friend's calculator by accident is rampant.

On the calculator... my kids' school allows technology (smart phones, iPod touch, etc...)

We are an upcoming 9th grader (geometry), and for now am sending her with a $1.99 graphing calculator app for her smartphone.

The school is recommending a Ti-Inspire. I have no idea if that equates to a Ti-84 or not. So until I figure it out, a $1.99 app it is!

And that's totally cool . . . until your kid goes to take the SAT (or similar) and tablets /phones aren't allowed. So your kid borrows a friend's calculator and takes a high-stakes test with a piece of technology she's used for ten minutes. Or she goes to college and the same thing happens in Chemistry class. So while this sounds super-practical, you're likely to end up buying the calculator anyway.

Another issue is that tablets and phones always seem to be "out of battery" at the wrong moments, while AA batteries in the calculator last a year or two.

Renting for 3 years would be more expensive than buying one.

Renting makes perfect sense in the early stages when a kid is "trying out" an instrument to see whether it's right for him, but you're right -- you can definitely buy cheaper than renting for three years, especially if you buy used.

My problem with the school system where my kids live is the sports are pretty much funded 100%, while the other programs are given nothing. DD is in marching band/color guard and we pay $900/year for that, half of which goes to transportation because the boosters for the music program has to pay for the busses. Sports pay nothing, and the county provides their transportation. My son is in football and that is a drastic difference- not only do we pay nothing, but they have multiple coaches on staff, a designated athletic trainer, multiple uniforms, helmets, turf field, brand new stadium lights, etc. Some of this comes from sports boosters fundraisers of course, but the bulk from the school system.

But you're overlooking a rather large detail: Football is not only self-supporting -- it actually carries the smaller sports like tennis. People, even people who don't have kids at the school, are very willing to pay to come watch high school football on Friday nights. At my school all teachers are required to work X number of football games every year, and sometimes we'll have 8-10K in ticket sales for a single Friday night! Basketball does its share of the heavy lifting too, but it doesn't bring in as much money as football.

Fair? No, but most people won't pay to watch the band and color guard.

 

[crisi]

Then it certainly doesn't make sense where you live. A sax that sells for $3,000 here rents for $45 a month, $1,620 over 3 years, about half what buying it would cost.

We bought a sax used - I want to say about $600 plus $100 in repairs (I know the clarinet was $350). When my kids were done with band we donated them to the school, and I'll take off a $1000 write off on the used sax and clarinet.

 

[crisi]

But you're overlooking a rather large detail: Football is not only self-supporting -- it actually carries the smaller sports like tennis. People, even people who don't have kids at the school, are very willing to pay to come watch high school football on Friday nights. At my school all teachers are required to work X number of football games every year, and sometimes we'll have 8-10K in ticket sales for a single Friday night! Basketball does its share of the heavy lifting too, but it doesn't bring in as much money as football.

Fair? No, but most people won't pay to watch the band and color guard.

Not around here, they don't charge for the games. It costs about $200 to play football, and all football parents are expected to be boosters - and sell another $500 in coupons and such. With that it carries itself.

 

[crisi]

And that's totally cool . . . until your kid goes to take the SAT (or similar) and tablets /phones aren't allowed. So your kid borrows a friend's calculator and takes a high-stakes test with a piece of technology she's used for ten minutes. Or she goes to college and the same thing happens in Chemistry class. So while this sounds super-practical, you're likely to end up buying the calculator anyway.

Sorry for the double post, but to this point.

Your kid needs to really really KNOW their calculator for the SAT or ACT. Knowing how to do things quickly on the calculator is the difference between getting through all the questions or just filling in half the dots because time is running out. And these calculators aren't easy to use - familiarity with them is a critical part of using them well.

These things are powerful (hence them not being allowed in some coursework) - and you can get answers very quickly by graphing or creating a stat table that might take four times as long on an ordinary calculator.

 

[aprilgail2]

But you're overlooking a rather large detail: Football is not only self-supporting -- it actually carries the smaller sports like tennis. People, even people who don't have kids at the school, are very willing to pay to come watch high school football on Friday nights. At my school all teachers are required to work X number of football games every year, and sometimes we'll have 8-10K in ticket sales for a single Friday night! Basketball does its share of the heavy lifting too, but it doesn't bring in as much money as football. Fair? No, but most people won't pay to watch the band and color guard.

Lol-wow that is so not how it is here-there is no charge for football games and you are lucky if the players own families go to the games never mind other people! It only high school ball, no big deal.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

What are auto tags??

License plates.

 

[StitchBuddy]

I didn't read through all the posts, but I FEEL YOUR PAIN!! I had to buy one for DD two years ago. My question is, what do students who don't have the money to buy one do??? Thankfully here in Texas we don't have all the other fees for books etc... But, when we lived in Colorado, I couldn't believe how many fees etc we had to pay!

 

[tvguy]

What are auto tags??

The stickers you put on on the corners of your license plate to show your car is currently registered.

 

[MOpGrad2013]

I didn't read through all the posts, but I FEEL YOUR PAIN!! I had to buy one for DD two years ago. My question is, what do students who don't have the money to buy one do??? Thankfully here in Texas we don't have all the other fees for books etc... But, when we lived in Colorado, I couldn't believe how many fees etc we had to pay!

The districts we have lived in for the kids' middle and high school years (Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky) had lending/rental programs in place. Unfortunately the items would end up stolen or broken so eventually it was in class sets and if child needs the laptop/internet/calculator, the child stays after or goes in early to use the technology.

There were a few really bad cases in Louisiana that the student was encouraged to drop the course because they were too poor to afford the items or couldn't stay after. Some of the students organized a calculator penny drive. The money raised was enough for 45 students to have a brand new calculator! Surprised us as more than 70% of the students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The kids said they asked people at business for 3-5 pennies and most gave more. They also walked parking lots picking up coins.

 

[pls5286]

I feel your pain! My kids have been back in school since 8-4. The boys are in high school and DD is in middle school. DS1 had to have a TI-Nspire at $150 for AP Statistics and dual enrolment Trig. DS2 had to have a TI-84+ at $100 for Geometry. He has a different Geometry teacher than DS1 had and this one does not allow the use of the app that my son used.

DD just started middle school and now her fees are rolling in.

This is not counting the 14 notebooks that my 3 kids had to have for school in addition to other supplies.

 

[SEA333]

As a high school math teacher, here's the policy in my school:

Our Juniors need a graphing calculator for SAT class. The feeling is that they'll need it for Senior year-- Calc anc Precalc, and for college. So we teach them in SAT class, so as not to take the time from the other math classes.

Up until now, the policy in my (Catholic, college prep) school has been no calculators for Algebra, and none until they hit the Trig chapter in Geometry. At that point, they pretty much need the calcuator. Trig tables, and the interpolation they used, have gone the way of approximating square roots by hand. At that point, they've used a $10 scientific calculator.

But this year our freshmen will be using Ipads, so they'll have calculator access. To keep things a bit more even, our Geometry kids will be using those standard scientific calculators from day 1 instead of waiting for the Trig chapter. (Of course, that means I can give them problems that don't work out as nicely as I have in the past... an angle of a triangle can now measure 28 degrees 35 minutes, as opposed to 29 degrees.)

I agree absolutely with what you're saying. Knowing how to push the keys on a calculator to graph a parabola is a very different matter from understanding why it does what it does.

Hint: WHite-out is a pretty easy way to do it on a dark colored calculator. Make sure the name is not only on the cover, but on the calculator itself.

In regard to needing the calculator for 9th grade algebra, DS14 is in Honors Algebra Advanced, so the teacher works at the pace of the students. They fully expect to go as far as what the kids can handle, hence the need for the graphing calculator.

(And for the record, DS14 did NOT get his math abilities from his mother!!!

 

[crisi]

There were a few really bad cases in Louisiana that the student was encouraged to drop the course because they were too poor to afford the items or couldn't stay after. Some of the students organized a calculator penny drive. The money raised was enough for 45 students to have a brand new calculator! Surprised us as more than 70% of the students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The kids said they asked people at business for 3-5 pennies and most gave more. They also walked parking lots picking up coins.

That is a great idea.

 

[Aliceacc]

In regard to needing the calculator for 9th grade algebra, DS14 is in Honors Algebra Advanced, so the teacher works at the pace of the students. They fully expect to go as far as what the kids can handle, hence the need for the graphing calculator.

I've taken, and taught, Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra I & Trig, SAT prep courses, PreCalculus and Calc I without the help of a graphing calculator.

 

[NotUrsula]

The Calculator buy is a tricky thing. When DS was in 8th grade we were told to buy a Scientific calculator (TI-3X series, about $30), and I wish I'd just bought the graphing model at that point, because I had to buy it this year anyway. DS has taken the ACT twice now and has done not-so-great on the math, and I'm curious to see whether his performance drastically improves this next round with the graphing calculator, as presumably he will be able to work more quickly with it once he learns the key sequences.

WARNING: If your school tells you to buy one of the NSpire series; make sure that it is the one WITHOUT "CAS". Those are banned for the ACT/SAT, as are the TI-89 and TI-92. (According to the College Board, the most common reason for being dismissed from the test room is trying to use a TI-89 on the test.) There are some models from other brands banned as well; the list is here: http://www.actstudent.org/faq/calculator.html

Also, buy the brand that the school wants you to buy, not another one that seems to have the same functions but is cheaper. The kids are instructed on the key sequences to be used for certain types of calculations, and they won't be able to keep up properly if the keys are arranged and/or labeled differently.

 

[lauradis]

I have bought two of those darn things so far. lol one more to buy.

As far as fees go

$60.00 chrome lease
$25.00 year book
$5.00 pta
$95.00 after-school activities, which is yrly fee, great program, optional
$69.53 school supplies for one kid and had a ton of the stuff already
$25.00 band book
$26.00 a month for violin
$25.00 football season pass
$25.00 basketball pass in jan
$300.00 6th grade vacation camp next march

next month I have to take trumpet we already bought for check up $$$

Im sure I forgot something.

The thing that got me this year on the holy supply list op was 600 post it notes. Really!!

And before anyone gets there panties all out of wack I email all 7 teachers a week before school starts to see if they need anything. I also do this in jan and march.

 

[Styx Fan]

We have been having a calculator battle for the past couple of weeks in my house.

DS will be a senior this year. When he was a freshman we offered to buy him a new calculator as suggested by his school. (Ds attends 1/2 the day at a special high school heavy in science and math). He said he didn't need it as the school had them in class to use and he could use an app when at home. Each year we asked him again and he said no. At this point I figured we would just be waiting until he started college and would buy what was needed then.

But no....DS announced a couple of weeks ago he needed a calculator this year. Some of his friends had been using a certain one and were able to finish their work but DS was not able to affecting his grade. Really, never mentioned that when it happened?

Just so happens I still had the info from freshman year which suggested the TI-Nspire CX. At Target I found the TI-84 on sale last week for $85ish...a great deal since it was normally $130. They didn't carry the Nspire. I read the back of the package and there was only one slight difference between the 2. I knew the Nspire hadn't been advertised anywhere and it was bound to be even more expensive. Brought home the 84 and DS refused to even consider it. Said he had been using that kind and he needed the other. Of course he never even really looked at it, so who knows if it was the one he was using in school.

DH went out on Ebay and found a reconditioned Inspire CX for under $90 and ordered it. I have a message out to one of his math teachers to question the differences and see it he really does need the Inspire or if DS is once again thinking he needs top of the line when the difference it small. Guess at this point it's a moot point since DH ordered the Inspire, but I still want to know. Especially with all the comments here that the 84 got many folks all through college.

FYO...the Inspire was on sale for $139 today at Office Max, down from $159.00. Egads!

 

[disneylove69]

The districts we have lived in for the kids' middle and high school years (Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky) had lending/rental programs in place. Unfortunately the items would end up stolen or broken so eventually it was in class sets and if child needs the laptop/internet/calculator, the child stays after or goes in early to use the technology.

There were a few really bad cases in Louisiana that the student was encouraged to drop the course because they were too poor to afford the items or couldn't stay after. Some of the students organized a calculator penny drive. The money raised was enough for 45 students to have a brand new calculator! Surprised us as more than 70% of the students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The kids said they asked people at business for 3-5 pennies and most gave more. They also walked parking lots picking up coins.

I don't have kids but reading this post I have two issues. The first I think it is awful that kids have to beg for pennies for an education. They should be spending their time studying and being kids. This type of activity should only be if they are saving for something fun like a bike, school trip, etc. Second, I have ran a backpack/ school supply drive the last 2 years and an tell you where to go for any school supply and who has the cheapest prices. This year I can say school supply costs were up. Though I can fill a backpack with supplies for less than $25 it's way too much. The charity we collected for wanted us to even add flash drives and what I call teacher supplies (sanitizer, tissue, etc). I told the charity we supply for the child not the district administrators. For the price of a flash driver a first grader gets all the supplies they need to write, write-on, color, etc.

 

[Southernmiss]

I don't have kids but reading this post I have two issues. The first I think it is awful that kids have to beg for pennies for an education. They should be spending their time studying and being kids. This type of activity should only be if they are saving for something fun like a bike, school trip, etc. Second, I have ran a backpack/ school supply drive the last 2 years and an tell you where to go for any school supply and who has the cheapest prices. This year I can say school supply costs were up. Though I can fill a backpack with supplies for less than $25 it's way too much. The charity we collected for wanted us to even add flash drives and what I call teacher supplies (sanitizer, tissue, etc). I told the charity we supply for the child not the district administrators. For the price of a flash driver a first grader gets all the supplies they need to write, write-on, color, etc.

It's kind of you to donate supplies and especially fun to buy for the early years of school. Having older kids they actually have flash drives and ear phones (for computer work) on their school supply lists in about 5th grade and up. I have come to a place where I feel stronger about helping the older kids. Their lists can be more expensive than younger levels. . And their class rooms will need copy paper, tissues, hand sanitizer and dry erase markers as much if not more than early elementary schools. It's not the kid's fault that the district's money doesn't go far enough for basic supplies.

I have also found that some of the neediest kids are in older grades. Parents that were in tact early on have more often broken up by middle school. It's more expensive all around to have tweens and teens than early elementary age kids.

It's hard enough to be a teen today without worrying about how to get your own school supplies. My two cents.