Date Published: 07/10/2008

High school students will be heading back to school soon, and although they may not need as many supplies as grade school and college students, there are still some items that will make their lives and studies easier. Whether your teen is just entering high school or is a returning student, make sure he or she has the right gear to get through the year.


Book Bags

Teenagers have a wide variety of book bags from which to choose. Messenger bags have become quite trendy; the sling-style makes them easily accessible while wearing, so students can dig through them while talking or standing around. Totes are similarly fashionable for girls, but they do not necessarily hold as much. A small duffel bag can be useful if your high school student is an athlete; these have wider openings and store bulkier items, such as sport equipment. But an old-fashioned backpack is still great for hauling supplies around school, day in and day out. A good backpack is designed to withstand the weight of several books, and their many pockets make it easier for a teen to carry his or her world everywhere.

Back packs hold up to the weight of school books.

Locker Storage

A locker is a student's personal space away from home. It is there that he or she stores not only books and schoolwork, but also personal possessions. It goes without saying that an organized locker space is easier to use, so consider giving your student a locker divider; it can help a student sort books, notebooks and projects. And a Case Logic Organizer, with its many pockets, makes it easy to find pens, pencils, notes and other supplies.

Students also use their lockers as message centers, so to make communication easier, consider getting your high schooler a message board that he or she can place on a locker door. Quartet's Dry Erase Magnets stick right to the door, without the mess of tape. These 3x3-inch magnets are the perfect size for small messages, and they leave room on the door for other locker flair. If your students' friends are a little more verbose or artistic, however, consider getting him or her a larger board. The Sanford Magnetic Dry Erase board is 8-1/2x11 inches, which is the size of one sheet of notebook paper and is more than large enough to display almost any quickly jotted message. Your student may also find this board useful for writing down reminders and class schedules.


Trekking to School

High school students generally cannot get their drivers' license until at least their junior year, and even after that, not all will have a car to drive. Not everyone has the option of riding the school bus, so unless he or she can bum rides from friends or family, your student might need to figure out how to get to and from school. Fear not -- there are still several options, including walking and cycling. For students who choose to pedal to school, a cargo rack can be useful. A cargo rack attaches to the back of the bike, above the rear wheel; using a bungee cord, a student can strap down his or her school gear to make transporting necessities easier.

Students cycling to school should also invest in a tough bike lock. There are a couple of options in this regard. A U-lock is shaped like a U for quick use; merely open the lock, hook it around the bike and post, and close it. These locks usually use keys to lock and unlock. The other option is a cable lock; this consists of a cable and either a padlock or a combination lock. A cable can be looped around a bike and post several times; once the cable is positioned, a lock is attached to the ends of the cable. Students should be aware that many bikes have detachable front wheels that can be stolen if they are not locked properly, so when locking a bike, it is best to loop the lock, the frame and the front wheel together to the post.

TI-83 Plus Graphic Calculator

Study Aids

It never hurts to make some extra help available to your student in the form of study aids. Merriam-Webster has been publishing reference tools -- such as dictionaries and thesauruses -- for ages; one of each can be stowed away in your student's locker or on a bedroom desk to give them a little vocabulary boost when doing homework. And if your student is enrolled in a foreign language course, a dictionary for that language will certainly help him or her to better comprehend lessons outside of the classroom.

If your student is a budding mathematician, consider that calculations in advanced math classes -- such as algebra, geometry and trigonometry -- can be very difficult without a decent calculator. In fact, many high schools require a specific graphing calculator for math and some science classes. Texas Instruments' TI-83 Plus Graphic Calculator is a popular choice for high schools across the nation. It comes with preloaded applications to assist in learning, and its operating system and software can be updated when need be. Students can store formulas and functions in the TI-83 Plus's memory, and as a bonus, it even allows users to play a small selection of games.