I'm having trouble looking at the white board in school any suggestions?

About $100—$400 total depending on the quality of the frames and lenses, and whether or not they’re running any discounts or ‘deals’.

Because I opt for every possibly feature available such as anti-scratch, extra thin, etc., my lenses cost me about $200. My frames are name brand and go for about $100–150. Exams are roughly $75, so I expect to pay a total of $400 more or less when I need new glasses.

Often establishments like Lenscrafters will have package deals consisting of a selection of low-end frames, basic plastic lenses and the exam for a relatively low price…say about $125 or $150?

edit: Since my vision has stabilized I only need new glasses every 5–7 years, so I’m willing to pay much more than I did when I needed new glasses annually.

I got some glasses for about 40€ at my local optometrist. Sight test was 10€.
But I live in Germany.

When you say you have difficulties getting the writing to focus, what do you mean? Do you mean it takes you a while but it eventually focuses? And do you have the same thing going back to your page? Takes a few seconds but then it focuses? Or do you mean that you can just focus on your book but you can’t focus on the board at all no matter how long you look? Because I had the first problem- it took me some time but I’d eventually focus, but it was annoying. I went to the eye doctor and got an eye test covered by health insurance (though I’m in Australia) and everything was fine- he just said that my muscles were a bit weak and I had to practice a bit every day of changing focus from near to far and back again until I got faster at it.

Wear sunglasses and sit up close to the front. This may take care of it for you.

Storefront eyeglass stores are a scam. They can gouge extortionate amounts of money because many chains are owned by the same companies, meaning there’s very little real competition. If you go to get your eyes checked by one of these operations, they will often refuse to give you your PD (pupillary distance) as a matter of policy. This is so you can’t take the prescription and use it to buy glasses online at a tiny fraction of the cost. Assuming you’re not getting designer glasses (and why would you?), they cost the store no more than $5 at most to make, but they’ll charge you $200+ for even basic frames.

Go to a storefront which offers free eye exams. Take your prescription (minus the PD), go online, and find a reputable eyeglass seller. They will usually have a file you can download and print out which is essentially just an image of a ruler. Hold it below your eyes in a mirror, and you can get your PD. Then you’ll be able to order your glasses from anywhere you like. The same glasses which will cost you $200—$500 in a storefront will cost you $100 or less online.

If you’ve never had your eyes tested for glasses before, I would recommend taking your time when the optometrist is figuring out your prescription. There’s a lot of “Is this better? Or this?” That process is tedious, but you don’t want to rush through it – make him do the comparisons again if you’re unsure. You’ll be stuck with those lenses for a long while, and as you say, they’re expensive.

Also, you might want to consider saving a little more for features like “anti-scratch” treatment, which will extend the life of your glasses. It’s the sort of thing that doesn’t feel like it’s worth it in the moment, but later you wish you had done it.

Sit closer to the board. Explain your problem to the teacher. He or she may be able to steer you to the right place. If you are in public school, the school system may have eye specialists. Eye problems are often discovered first, in school.

Are you under 18? I would think the state has insurance available for you? If not there is probably some sort of organization that can help you get glasses. In the mean time I agree with those who recommended you tell your teacher the problem so you can sit up front for now.

Wal-mart sells prescription glasses and gives eye exams without insurance. You have to pay out of pocket but the exams are from 40 to 80 dollars and I know the glasses cost around $180 for 2 pair of the best glasses that would suit you. You can actually add stuff that would bump the price up to the 300’s but all you really need is anti-glare, anti-scratch, and particle resistant. I found it almost hard to believe that they wanted to charge an extra 100 for the auto tint, so I opted out.

I’m 24 in college, last eye exam was over 4 years ago by the military entrance program station. I did really well on it. @shrubbery The thing is in the past I used to be able to shift focus from my writing to the board easily. Now the delay of the board focusing is about 15 seconds and that’s with one eye closed tight so I can focus more on the control.

@whitecarnations well that’s pretty much what I was like for a while. I went to get the eye test because I didn’t have to pay out of pocket so it was easy enough for me, and that’s what they told me. Practice practice practice to strengthen your muscles. But I did also get some reading glasses, my vision was absolutely fine but because I’m reading a lot of text in huge engineering text books and most of my assignments are online so I’m on the computer a lot, the reading glasses just take 50% of the workload off your eyes. I felt the difference straight away- my eyes were definitely less tired, sore and itchy after using the reading glasses and even though I couldn’t actually use them in class because they made reading off the board worse, in general because my eyes weren’t working as hard when I was doing other stuff I guess my muscles were able to change focus from near to far easier when I was in class because they were less run down. If that makes sense. Maybe you could just pick up some cheapo generic reading glasses and just see if that takes some load off your eyes at home and then perhaps your eyes will get better at shifting focus in class.

My husband has the same problem for many years. His glasses are up to date, but his eyes simply don’t focus quickly from short to long distance and back again. He’s never figured it out, except to avoid the looking up/looking down bit (this means he doesn’t take notes). Of course, he’s out of school, so he doesn’t have to take notes anymore, but there are still times when he struggles. You could also get the teacher to find someone who takes good notes and is willing to share. This would be easier with an IEP, but you can ask.

I don’t know if you are still following this question but I have a potential solution for you.
Order a pair of glasses with The prescription of -0.5 -0.5 from Zenni Optical Buy the cheapest frames you can get $6.75. Bend the nose pieces closer together so the glasses ride up high on your face. When you do close work you should look below the glasses. To see the board look through the glasses.