I come from a school where the school fee essentially covered the majority of material required by the students, and textbook requirements were clearly stated at the beginning of the school term.
My son has just entered Primary One in a Singapore school. This is just the 2nd month and already there have been 3 letters stating we need/should purchase certain items for our children. Those ranged from yogurt drinks to magazines, and activity books. The thing I find very perplexing is that some of the items, when I called/emailed to verify, were said to be compulsory purchases. If they are compulsory purchases why wasn't it stated so in the book list/etc in the beginning of the term why are they suddenly coming up with "compulsory" items I am required to purchase?
Money is not the concern here, I feel like I am being taken advantage of just because my son is in school spending nearly half his day there. If I don't purchase these "compulsory" items for my child, chances are he will be left out, but if I do buy them for him, I am allowing the school free reign to do as they please at my expense, which I feel really uncomfortable about.
Is my situation isolated or are all schools in Singapore run in such an unscrupulous way? And if things are really this bad, what options do I have? Should I home-school my boy or are there schools which are more open in the way things are run?

Thanks~!