evilstevie @evilstevie@mastod1.ddns.net

Hello everyone,

Its August and to many that means school is going back into session soon.

My wife may be a teacher, and it may have been summer break, but she has been hard at work the entire summer preparing to go back to the classroom.

As a part of those preparations, my wife has put together an Amazon wish list of things she would like for her classroom to help keep the little ones educated, entertained, and fed. Yes, fed.:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/B3QZLK9VJRI5

Its an exhaustive list. My wife works in a title 1 school, and if you don't know what that means, it means that its a school that serves the predominantly less fortunate. Many of these children rely on whatever food and resources the school can provide for them.

And of course, the feds, the state, and the local school districts themselves don't provide very much.
pencils, erasers, pens, notebooks, pencil boxes, learning aids, toys, books, etc. If the kids don't have it, they aren't providing it, the teacher usually is. If it isn't a school lunch, and it isn't officially ordained curriculum, its not provided, and it comes out of the teachers pockets, more often than not. Technically, in every aspect except for debt collection, we really don't have department of education in this country currently. That state of affairs isn't lost on me, or my wife.

My wife strives to be the best 1st grade teacher these kids can have, and the data is suggesting that technology in the classroom isn't doing the children any cognitive favors, so her theme for this year has been moving away from reliance on technology.

That has involved a lot of preparation this year -- printing out of lessons, lesson plans, stories, visual learning aids, cutting, laminating, assembling craft project kits, and so on and so forth. Rest assured, the paper, ink and laminator have been working extra duty this summer.

The house of 667 does our best to provide, because we both have a love for learning, and in turn, teaching. Because knowledge is the strength to overturn adversity.

Of course, we don't do it all alone. For the past several years, we have requested aid, and for the past several years, the Fediverse has provided.

You see, I request aid from every social network I have a presence in -- Mastodon, Linkedin and Bluesky. And out of all of them... The Fediverse is by and far the most generous, and often times the only source of aid we get. I can't thank you all enough for your kindness and generosity over the years.

In fact, more than one of you have reached out to ask when I would be posting the list this year and it makes me proud to be a member of this community.

I say this every year, and I mean it every single time: any small amount of aid you can provide is deeply appreciated. We understand that times are, and have been rough for... well, a while now. And if you don't have the means to help, or you don't want to help for whatever reason, that's 100% reasonable. I only ask that If you could retoot this to give it a little wider reach, or barring that, consider supporting the teachers in your local community, all the better.

How do I help my local teachers? Ask them what they want or need. There's always a need for something. Always. Also, if you have any sort of sway in your company, in terms of charity, consider point them to donorschoose.org

Thank you for your time, and we wish you the best in this coming school year, and beyond.

-The Robinson Family/House of 667