Does your sixth-form child have to buy their own books?

[mamhaf]

DD1 has just begun sixth form. English is one of her A'level subjects.

When I was in school, and also studying English Lit for A'level, all the books - texts and exercise books were supplied.

But they now have to buy their own.

Are all schools the same?

Fortunately I've kept all my university English Lit books so spent a very dusty evening yesterday bringing them all down from the attic - so anything published up to the mid 1980s is ok, but sod's law is they have much more recent literature she needs to buy, and also some I don't have from earlier periods.

Oh, and what are your tips for getting musty smells out of books ?

[brummiemummie]

I have triplets just going into sixth form, and it has varied by subject and school (they're at 3 different sixth forms ).

Both of my DDs are doing English Lit - one had to buy the books, and the other had the choice of buying them or borrowing them from the school. We decided it was better for her to have her own copies so she could write notes etc in the books.

They all have to provide paper/exercise books for all their subjects though - I think most sixth forms do this now. I know the one at my school did even 30-odd years ago!

[Tortington]

yes and has to be specific publisher so the class is on the same page as the teacher (English Lit)

so even if there were cheaper versions availalbe i couldn't buy them

triplets at college eh! wow expensive, i have twins and its costing me a chuffing fortune

[ShrinkingViolet]

DD1 has her own books for Physics and Chemistry, but school supply the Maths ones (thankfully as she'll need about 8 ). Paper/exercise books provided though.

[optimisticmumma]

Yes! Ditto Custardo - specific edition etc etc!Plus trip to see Othello (another £21!!)...has got Lenny Henry in it though

[Tortington]

ooh dd might be going to see othella - nothing about lenny though!

lenny as othello? no! really?

[slug]

Are they eligible for EMA? This is supposed to support their educational expenses. (not pay for their mobile phone bills as is popularly believed amongst many 16 year lod's of my aquaintenance )

[optimisticmumma]

Custardo - apparently!!

[mamhaf]

No, not eligible for EMA.

Today I have spent:
£5 school lunches
£25 on books (dd1)
£40 on replacement strings for dd1's instrument
£23 on weekly music lesson for dd1
£132 on a term's sport coaching for dd2 (plus there'll be £20 a week for 1-to-1 coaching)

Ok, music and sport aren't essentials, but no wonder dh and I never have any money for ourselves!

[Tortington]

yesterday i forked out over £100 for a monthly train pass ( £50 each), on saturday we spent £20 on books for dd and ordered more.

we also spent £20 on folders pens pencil case etc for dd

£30 on steel toecap boots for ds ( apprenticeship)
£65 on course materials for ds

THEN they say to me - "can we have more than £2 each for dinner - we can't buy a lot with that"

piss orf

[KathH]

We have to buy DDs books - I think so far in the week she's been back we've spent about 75 pounds on books for 2 of the 4 subjects she's doing. We've also paid 50 pounds for a History trip and a cookery trip. 2 of the books we got off ebay for about 7 pounds each instead of the 20 pounds each the school wanted.

[mumeeee]

When DD2 ws at colleg they provided some books but she also bought some. We had to buy jazz shoes ( for her performing arts course). She had to buy all stationary.

[mumeeee]

DD3 is doing DoE at college and we will have to provide sleeping bag,waterproof mac( although her tutor says he can get them at a discounted price0,walking boots and some other stuff, We don't have to provide anything for her maths and english subjects and she does ger a free buss pass.

[dontyoudarequotemeDailyMail]

I had to buy all my own set texts (did English Lit AND Drama) so two lots of 3 set texts plus theatre practioner text to buy.

That was 20 years ago.

[Georgelassosthemoon]

Yes, DD has to buy her own books for Eng Lit and they have to come from the sixth form college as a set. Also had to pay a £45 registration fee which I was a bit annoyed at since I don't believe she'd have had to pay it if she'd stayed on at school in a 6th form.(Her school had no 6th form so no choice in that)