It Starts Early! Holy Smokes...

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ditzyscrap

New member
I remember this from when I was a kid, but I didn't remember it starting the first week back, lmao! I'm not sure if you have this in the US or other countries, but here in Canada, each month the school sends out a little flyer "catalog" from Scholastic Books, with a few different books to choose from and you can choose to buy some - I think it raises money for the school at the same time as giving you books to read with your kids.

ANYHOW, lol...Mason comes home today with not just 1 (which was all I ever took home) but 3 of them. I can't really tell the difference between 2 of them, but the 3rd (and who knew?) is all GAMES - for Wii, Nintendo DS, PS3, XBox 360...and I think some movies. I'm like...WHAT?! Since when!?! Aren't they supposed to be promoting reading, not mind-numbing video games and movies?! LOL!

Yeah, so I'd barely even pulled the flyers out of his backpack and he was already begging me for a game. Um, no. I may buy you a book or 2 (they're actually pretty cheap, compared to going to Chapters)...but NOT a $40 game. :p

Now I'm off to look a few of these books up on GoodReads and see if there are reviews on them...
 
Thats crazy... isn't SCHOLASTIC supposed to be, well I don't know... SCHOLARLY?? The sad thing is, how many parents will buy their kids a game over books... you know its going to be lots. Perhaps that's why they did it - it makes them more money than books ever will!
 
I loved those flyers as a kid. I'd always pick the ones I wanted on the bus on the way home. By the time I gave it to my mom there were usually at least a dozen circled books. I usually didn't get them all, but she always let me get a couple. Lately I've been wondering if they still did those. I'm bummed about the video games and movies.
 
Misty Cato said:
I loved those flyers as a kid. I'd always pick the ones I wanted on the bus on the way home. By the time I gave it to my mom there were usually at least a dozen circled books. I usually didn't get them all, but she always let me get a couple. Lately I've been wondering if they still did those. I'm bummed about the video games.
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Yeah, I'd like to always be able to do this for my kids...my parents weren't able to afford it for us, and I would like to encourage reading for both of my kids because I *love* reading myself. They both like playing video games and watching movies (neither of them know how to read yet, though they do like me reading to them, which I try to do every night).
 
Misty Cato said:
I loved those flyers as a kid. I'd always pick the ones I wanted on the bus on the way home. By the time I gave it to my mom there were usually at least a dozen circled books. I usually didn't get them all, but she always let me get a couple. Lately I've been wondering if they still did those. I'm bummed about the video games and movies.
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yep! they do it online now too...so you don't have to send in a check and all that hullabaloo. :)
 
Thats freakin nuts, I cant believe they send you video game flyers where you are at. I would have to watch my husband LOL He would be sneaking in money with Lilys book list!
 
That's ridiculous! The last thing I want is my kids MORE interested in video games because of school... they are obsessed enough already! LOL
 
We got the book flyers the second day of school. No video games though, just the books. They neighboring counties only got book flyers as well. We still have to turn in checks. Our school system hasn't entered the 21st century as far as paperwork goes. :(

But, we also got our fundraising pack and if a child sells 100 units they get 'a 1gb mp4 player' (mp4??? seriously??) if they sell 200 they get a gaming system that looks identical to a Wii but is actually a knock off that can only play 12 preprogrammed games & from what I have heard from other moms, breaks within a week.
 
Um yeah, my DS2 brought home 3 at a time and they pretty much end up in the recycle bin each time !!!! I wait till the second book fair that the school has cause it is BOGOF...YES I am CHEAP!!!!!
 
Oh, I totally loved those as a kid! I can't believe they have video games in there tho now, that is crazy! My sister's boy is in 3rd grade this year, I'm sure he'll be going crazy over that - shoot, the boy has more video game systems than my husband has!!! (lol, but don't get me started on that!)
 
oh I loved those book order forms as a kid. it's probably the thing I miss most as a homeschool parent LOL.

For the online thing, that might be up to the teacher. I remember talking to DS's kindy teacher about it and she said that she herself didn't want to do it online for some reason.

If they had games for the Leapster I might be interested. My kids are very unaware of things like PS, xbox. etc. so they wouldn't be tempted by the games.

Possibly I have the only 7yo boy in the US who does not want a Wii, Game Boy, Nintendo DS, etc. :blink:
 
Yeah, those flyers are still going strong!
It's kinda crazy all the crap they offer in them, but they are still really good for books and stuff.

Also, you child's teacher gets points for every $$ in their order, which they can turn around and use to buy more books for the classroom. So really, the $$ you spend work in two ways. When i was teaching fourth grade, that was the best thing...and the teacher points are a great bonus!
 
I hear ya! Or how about all the little kits (spy, babysitting, etc) that are on the back of those puppies? what happened to the little $2 books??? :blink: Video games on there are ridiculous if you ask me!!!
 
I thought it was just my daughters school. She got 3 in English and 1 in Spanish.

I'm glad she got them this year because last year in 2nd grade she got none, but 4 at once that's ridiculous!

I seen the games and CD's and thought.... Times are changing.
 
Oh my gosh!! I can't believe they send out the video game flyers now!!

I loved getting those when I was in school!! I always found lots of books that I just had to have!!
 
I LOVED those things as a kid! lol. I taught 5th grade for a few years, and they have new ones each month. Sometimes they would send us 3 or 4! I tried to limit them to 2 at a time, and some months we just didn't do it.

ETA: I never sent home the video game ones, just the books. :)
 
my kids go nuts over the Scholastic books. I try to buy a few .97 books every few months. It gives mony to the school and donates books too. What the heck. I let the kid each pick a book around $4. They are cool!
 
Teachers also earn points for their class's purchases, which they can use to get books and supplies for their classroom. It's actually a pretty neat little system.
 
That makes me SO SAD! I used to love those catalogues too... my parents would let me get one each time - we did have a lot of books anyway and were avid library users. I don't know if I'll be able to buy a lot of them for my daughter, but hope she's more interested in the books than video games. BLECH!
Does your school have a parent-teacher or home association? Someone had to approve those catalogues being sent home. I know it's to raise money for school... but.. you can't be the ONLY parent who doesn't like how the games are marketed to your child...or like what they DO to your child!
 
Yep! Landon brought home the game one on the first day of school...I'm like WTH? He brough home a book one on Friday, and I happily ordered some of those. There don't seem to be as many "guy" books as girl ones when my daughter was that age. And we practically bought out the entire scholastic store when she went through grade school...we have hundreds and hundreds of books in the playroom.
 
Well, I showed it to DH last night...and he thought it was a GOOD idea, lol. So...I dunno. If we were to buy the games anyway, and the money we paid for them (it's the same price as buying it at a store) would allow the teacher to get more books for the classroom, then maybe it's not SO bad, kwim.

On a second look through it, there was a lot of games that didn't really teach much, but there were also CD-ROM games that taught phonics and math, etc...and some of the DS games were educational as well (I am considering purchasing it for Natalie, because it's aimed at pre-K, I think...and there aren't that many games out there that she can do).

Anyhow, so I guess...if you're going to buy the games anyway, why not use your purchases to raise money for the school. Last year they had a cool thing, but I didn't do it the first month and they never sent anything home again - buy GC's to stores you usually go to, and a percentage gets given back to the school. So if you normally get your groceries at Safeway, you get a $100 Safeway GC and go buy your groceries with it, and the school got like $10 or something. We didn't have they money the first month, but considered doing it - we just didn't get any info after that first month. :(
 
LOL Yep, we get those too. My daughter brought them home from preschool on the third day I think. Ours have games & videos spread throughout them but there isn't one specifically for games. That's kind of defeating the purpose isn't it? Hm.
 
Teachers get points to spend based on what the kids order - they can buy the kids books for Christmas, get stuff for their classroom, etc.

I'm okay with the games catalog. (Although I don't think we've ever ordered from it). There are a lot of 'fun' games which are great for Christmas presents, and more educational computer games like the Mavis Beacon? typing series.

I dunno, I don't think it detracts from the book catalogs, and let's face it, parents that aren't interested in fostering a love of reading in their children probably aren't affected by what catalogs are sent home.

:) Michele
 
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