Back to School 2024

Back to School 2024

Come prepared to be successful, and enjoy the learning

By Christina Reed
The Hired Pen

“The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.”—B. B. King

Eastern Sierra, CA—Going back to school is an exciting time, but also somewhat intimidating, even if you’re a life-long learner. With just days into the new school year, students up and down the eastern Sierra are getting acquainted with their school, teachers, and classes, and now’s the time to do the last thoughtful shopping around town for local school supplies.

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”—Benjamin Franklin

ABC Basics

These go for all students in life and are universal to students around the world. Pencils, pens, paper (lined and unlined), folders, colored pencils, erasers, a ruler, a calculator, a stapler, a pair of scissors, glue, a clipboard, a notebook, and a pocket dictionary. Most, if not all, of these school / work / home / business basics can be used without batteries, or the internet. They are available at most markets, or art stores, or book stores, and they can be carried along on your learning experiences. Find a safe and clean space to save these school-time staples, and think of a place that is like your “school-time pantry,” for learning supplies.

“Everyone who remembers his own education remembers teachers, not methods and techniques. The teacher is the heart of the educational system.”—Sidney Hook

Starting any new adventure in learning is so much better, more enjoyable, when you come prepared to be successful. This means getting ahead of the “first week,” a week or more ahead. Expectations can be explored. Goals can be discussed, or advanced, while shopping, and school basics are tools for later developments, like creativity. Mistakes can be made with school basics, whereas, playing with computers and your cell phones or tablets, well, those aren’t so forgiving of experimentations. And, again, most of these school basics are what educators call “manipulatives,” and they require humans to be called “tools” in the first place.