With $300 budget you should be able to buy a very nice telescope.

Take a look this page for Meade starter scopes.

http://www.shopatron.com/products/category/Starter+Scopes/1323.0.1.1.28926.45510.0.0.0

I brought a pretty large scope from Costco for my daughters when they were still in elementary school. We set it up once or twice to look at the Moon, and may be Jupiter. Kids were not that interested. One day it fell down and broke something. Now, it is in the garage.