By September, the excitement of back-to-school shopping has usually been replaced by something much more useful: evidence.
Those carefully chosen notebooks, colorful pens, giant packs of pencils, folders, binders, highlighters, glue sticks, and elaborate organizers have now had several weeks to prove whether your child actually needs them. Some are already being used daily, while others may not have moved from the bottom of a backpack or bedroom desk since the first day of school.
