[Sabrina]

Good grief. The school has said that I-Pads for the kids this year is compulsory. We were sort of expecting it but didn't think that they would "lay down the law". If the kids don't have it, they miss out on work and will obviously feel pretty left out. We simply do not have the money to buy two I-Pads! So we are forced to take two out on a two-year contract. (If we're approved). It is not a bad contract, or incredibly expensive (every month) but I do feel sorry for the parents that truly can't afford this. I love technology but in my days, text books and libraries seemed a whole lot easier.

[nicoleb2]

Crazy. If it's compulsory the school should provide them!

[Raindropvampire]

Originally Posted by nicoleb2

Crazy. If it's compulsory the school should provide them!

I agree. We have some schools here that are making it compulsory but it's included in the book rental fees and depending on income they will lower the cost. However; they still have problems like the kids not having internet access when they get home. As hard as it is to believe there are still those of us with no internet access in our homes

I remember my mom getting a teacher fired because he went off about my brother's spelling. The teacher told her my brother was a horrible speller because we didn't have a home computer. Spellcheck made knowing how to spell obsolete and if we were so poor that we couldn't afford a computer so he could do his homework right then she shouldn't have had so many kids. Oh yeah I thought she was going to unhinge her jaw and swallow him whole But basically I don't understand why his teacher thought we HAD to have a computer and I don't understand why tablets are becoming a requirement. What's so wrong with textbooks and knowing how to look things up in books instead of online?

[Sabrina]

My word Raindrop, that would have totally upset me! Fortunately, my kids didn't rely on the computer (quite so much) when they were in lower grades. My son is now in his final year of school and I am gobsmacked at how different the education levels are to when I finished high school.

And to top it off, the school, without any forewarning, re-designed their sports T-shirt (uniform is also compulsory at our own cost) and we have to buy, by tomorrow, 3 new sports shirts. They are not cheap!

Here in South Africa, our school fees are exorbitant and do not cover any extras like school books, text books, stationery and uniform. We have to pay for that too. Not to mention the after school activities that the kids want to do - those also have to be paid for. My stepdaughter does flute and piano (thankfully, her Gran pays for that) and my son wanted to do professional tug-of-war but the kit was just too expensive for us, so he found something else.

[Epichelper]

But you are sober for 6 months I believe. Now you can do anything;-D
You will find a way.

I teach in a district in Texas where the kids have iPads, but they simply pay an insurance fee each year of $40 (which can be reduced for kids in need or even scholarshipped in some cases). They aren't mandatory but highly advised and I'd say about 80% have them. They keep the same iPad until graduation. Down the road it may even be possible for the seniors to buy their iPads for a very reduced price and keep them. Sounds like your schools are pretty expensive.

[Sabrina]

And we just found out yesterday that we have to pay R480 per child for E-textbooks. That's almost R1000 (which is about $570). That is going to take a chunk out of our monthly budget. We have no choice but to pay it otherwise the kids don't get the "app" or whatever and can't do their work. We've had no notification from the school whatsoever, but my son did mention there was some meeting last year that we didn't attend (that we didn't know about) that explained everything.

[Raindropvampire]

How do they expect regular folks to afford educating their kids I'm sorry it's so expensive I know how stressful it gets when things come up.

[Sabrina]

We can't afford it but we are able to make a plan. I feel sorry for lower income parents in South Africa. Our kids go to a very good school and we are happy with the education they are receiving but it is sad that things are so expensive. It also makes me sad that some young parents-to-be would have to think twice about having a child, for fear of not being able to educate them.

We already won't be able to send our kids to university. That is way beyond our means. And I doubt they would qualify for student loans or scholarships / bursaries.

It is ludicrous.

[Sabrina]

The kids got their tablets last night. We had no problem getting the contracts approved through hubby's business. It is relatively inexpensive by South African standards. The tablets came with keyboards and covers. I'm going to be adding the tablets to our household insurance as neither kid as a good track record with "gadgets". Told my son not to lose it and told my stepdaughter it's not a selfie machine.

But they were delighted and totally engrossed in setting up their profiles and whatnot for hours.

Now we have to find the money to pay for their e-textbooks or they won't even be able to use them at school, as was the intention.