It's THAT time of the year again ....
... time to whine, moan and complain.
Summer holidays have begun here
. Nothing to whine about that, I love the summer holidays. Six blissful weeks without alarm clock!
But it's also the time to place your oders for the new school year. From next year on, I have three kids in school. I've just ordered school books for 331€. And there are still some more missing. Additionally, I bought my girls' bus tickets for next year (390€ each). Then there's the small stuff, from pencils to rulers, from crayons to watercolors, from regular excercise books to specific writing pads with ungodly prices. The small stuff also adds up with three kids.
I made a quick estimation and all together, I have to pay 1290€ for the new school year. That's approx 1800$.
And although I know it perfectly well meanwhile, it angers me every year anew that in other federal countries, the country (via the schools) provides the books, at no costs for the parents. My parents never had to buy a single school book for me.
And if my girls went to a school with a lower educational level, I wouldn't have to pay for the bus tickets at all. Because in Germany we have compulsory schooling, every child between 6 and 15 has to go to school. Therefore the transportation to and from school is free - except when your kids go to the Gymnasium, which is the highest level of school we have. This is viewed as "more than fulfilling the compulsory schooling" and therefore it's not free. Other federal countries have other rules, but this is the situation where I live. Arrrgh! It's so unfair!