<p>I saw the thread on messenger bags (which I’d never heard of before) and thought I might ask about backpacks. My soon-to-be 8th grader carries very heavy books and multiple binders back and forth to school, and I’d like to get him a well-designed backpack to make it easier on his back. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Nymom:</p>
<p>This is a perennial problem in MS and HS. Some students addres the problem by having wheeled backpacks, though my S would not hear of getting one, and he would have had to lug it up four flights of stairs in school. In hs, one teacher gave out a copy of the textbook for kids to keep at home; it was a good thing because that textbook weighed 4-5lbs.
Having said that, we found that Land’s End and LLBeans bags worked well.</p>
<p>Thanks, Marite. I’ve already suggested a wheeled backpack to my son, who would not consider it. I did buy a copy of one of his textbooks to keep at home last year, and one of his teachers had the kids keep their texts at home. This still leaves a heavy load!</p>
<p>Rolling backpacks are superdorky, but not as superdorky as a damaged spine will be later on… I’m glad I had one in middle school.</p>
<p>One thing I found is that S never took out studd from his backpack. In February, he would still carry homework from September if I did not periodically ask him to put things away (but not throw away). </p>
<p>A fairly expensive way to cope with heavy textbooks (but less expensive than buying another copy) is to photocopy each chapter and have your child carry the relevant chapter. By the time the student is reading chapter 9, he is still carrying the weight of chs. 1-8.</p>
<p>I like the photocopying idea, Marite!</p>
<p>ebags is a great site, with some very good prices</p>
<p>something to think about, I was able to find some very cheao used versions on line of a couple of textbooks, so Ds didn’t have to carry them back and forth</p>
<p>For others, i did the photo copy thing, if you shop around, you can get cheap enough copies…but check on line for used books, i got a very heavy world history book for $22, worth every penny</p>
<p>For Ds, know in hs, i was able to find same textbook, but in paperback on line, and one book they did in two volumes, so I returned school book, and D used the two vollume one, even teacher was impressed</p>
<p>Just be sure it is the same edition</p>
<p>Thanks, citygirlsmom,</p>
<p>I will definitely look online. Not only will having books at home spare my son’s back, it will also reduce the chances of his missing the book he needs for homework (very disorganized!)</p>
<p>LL Bean is de rigeur around these parts. Sturdy and guaranteed. They last practically forever.</p>
<p>I can sympathize about the weight these kids lug around with them. I watch them get off the bus in the afternoon and walk down the street, stooped from the waist under the heavy load on their back, looking as though they’ve been toiling in the mines all day. Of course, that’s certainly what they want you to believe now, isn’t it? ;)</p>
<p>Funny what is cool in different regions. My S says at his h.s. only girls carry LL Bean. So that was ruled out as a “girly bag”. I think a lot of that perception had a lot to do with all the girls getting theirs monogrammed. Anyway, S got a North Face backpack last year and carried all his stuff around in it every day. Never used a locker as there wasn’t time between classes to get to it. The North Face version he bought has a waist strap that, if used helps to take some of the weight off of the shoulders and back. It has been very durable and will be going back to school with him this year.</p>
<p>Check with your school’s requirements first. Ours outlawed the wheeled backpacks (accidents in crowded hallways). You could ask the school to keep a set at the public library (longer operating hours) or ask the school to help coordinate homework loads. (It’s ‘the real world’ here so those suggestions never worked here; maybe they’ll work for you.)</p>
<p>My college freshman son is fine with his LL Bean backpack – of course, it’s in a nice, manly, dark green, and unmonogrammed. They do indeed last forever – I think we got this one at the beginning of high school.</p>
<p>My son’s LL Bean is going into its 8th year of use. Like above poster, it is black and he is fine with it in college.</p>
<p>Can I vent here? I have an 8th grader too…and I’m so sick of each teacher requiring a 2"-3" binder, dividers, separate spirals, etc… for their specific class. I wish they would get together and figure out a way to lighten the load for these kids. Some of these supplies are so unnecessary and I’m tired of seeing my guy coming out of the school literally hunched over from the weight of his pack.</p>
<p>Fortunately, our district does provide ‘at home’ and ‘in class’ copies of each textbook. But it is really hard to find a backpack big enough to handle all those binders! Btw…we opted for an REI pack this year, the padding is great.</p>
<p>Heh. My grade school didn’t allow binders (or blue pens, or pens in math class, or notebooks that weren’t the exact right kind…)</p>
<p>My children’s high school forbid backpacks in the halls or classrooms (post Columbine). They could carry everything into school in backpack, but purses and backpacks had to be left in locker, unless they carried see-through plastic packs. It was such a pain.</p>
<p>When I checked the web sites of textbook’s manufactures I found out that you can get access to all the textbooks online for free if these textbooks are oficially purchased by the school.
All you need to do is to contact the teacher whose subject you want to access online and ask about password (the teacher has to register to provide password but I don’t think it’s a problem).</p>
<p>Example: <a href=“http://glencoe.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0078695104/student_view0/[/url]”>http://glencoe.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0078695104/student_view0/</a></p>
<p>Backpacks on wheels don’t fit in the lockers.</p>
<p>North Face seems to be the favorite in our area. They are not cheap. Daughter in hs just got one; the other prefers Jansport. S, in college, has a very nice REI brand one that is now two years old and appears to be ready for one more year of college. </p>
<p>Lots of pockets and double large compartments seem to be necessary. (He had one of the largest LLBean ones for his last two years of high school, that also had a bottom compartment, and it worked great).</p>
<p>I too hate the overly heavy backpacks. I actually decided to buy each girl a home copy of the APUSH textbook–both so they wouldn’t have to lug it back and forth to school, and also because then they can highlight in it. This way they will just have two heavy texts–science and math–as English and foreign language are both just individual novels/etc.</p>
<p>I have either borrowed an extra book from the school or bought a used text book online to lighten the load a bit. I am referring mainly to math and foreign language books that they will need to carry every day. </p>
<p>I agree, the required binder & notebook list for each class is out of control. We even had one teacher that required the kids to insert a three hole punch into his 2 inch binder, as if there weren’t six other teacher with their own requirements. Don’t these teams of teachers actually talk to eachother?!?</p>
<p>Here’s a good system I used to lighten my load in middle school and high school to combat those teachers who require a separate binder / notebook for every class.</p>
<p>Get a separate binder for every class and think of it as the “archive” binder. Then get yourself a smaller binder, say 1" or 1.5", and put dividers in it, one section for every class, and one section for note paper. You carry this “active” binder to classes and back and forth to and from home. Every week or month or however often the “active” binder starts to get heavy or full, put old homework, notes, papers, etc in your “archive” binders. With looseleaf notebook paper, you never have to carry around more than 20 sheets of blank paper, and you can rearrange them as you like in your “archive” binders. This way, you only ever have to bring home “active” things, unless you’re studying for a big exam or something, in which case you can bring home the “archive” binder of whatever class you need it for.</p>
<p>Saved me a lot of time and effort. It takes some motivation to actually keep it organized, but then you never bring home the wrong binder/notebook, and you save your back a little bit, too.</p>