Carrie12345 Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 I purchased a ton of pencils over the summer. In the fall, the kids came away with more than a dozen pencils from a community event. Their stockings all contained a nice assortment of pencils. So why in the world are there so few pencils in my house?!?!?!?!?!? Don't even get me started on erasers! :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blessedfamily Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Two words... Black Warrior. They last so long you're embarrassed you bought 5 packs for one child because you found them at Dollar Tree for a ridiculous price. We haven't worn one out yet (although dd sharpened a few), and we bought them in Sept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snickerdoodle Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Two words... Black Warrior. Three words: Pencil sharpener obsession. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 The answer to your question really is based on whether or not there is an 8yo boy in your house. There's one in my house, and I am amazed nearly every day at the uses to which he puts his pencils. Also the intricate carvings applied with a variety of "tools" (paper clips, pens, nails, butter knives, etc.). ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Call me crazy, but I have different pencils for different areas of the house. The school room has 2 different types of mechanical pencils. The kitchen/living area has yellow Dixon pencils. My husband uses Papermate Sharpwriter twist pencils, and these are in our bedroom. The boys have a mish-mash of the other leftover pencils that are kept in the playroom and on their desks in their rooms. This makes it easy to return wayward pencils to their correct homes. The boys know where they go and they put them back. They also rarely remove them from a room because they know they'll have access to a pencil in whatever room they are headed to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 It depends how well it looks after its health. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Before I even read the post (just the title) my thought was 1 day. maybe two. But I have this problem with pencils and scissors. It doesn't really matter how many you buy there are NONE in the house. My kids want to take new pencils every single day because they can't find the old ones. And really there are surprisingly few used pencils lying around. I don't know where they go, there must be a pencil eating machine like the one that eats one sock of every pair. It also eats my scissors but I have bought AT LEAST 20 kids scissors in the last 5 years. I have never thrown one away, we have never taken them out of the house, yet there is not a single kids scissors to be found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalypso Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Around here a pencil's life is only as long as the eraser's life. This could be a few hours or a few days. Of course, you can't use any eraser but the one that comes on top of the pencil. I hate dealing with pencils!!! (Let's not even mention the arguments over pencils.:glare:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crissy Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 It depends on the type of pencil. Our drawing pencils and quality colored pencils seem to be well cared for. Regular ol' #2s, however, get lost in no time at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Regular ol' #2s, however, get lost in no time at all.One of our cats is a pencil thief. We've caught her a couple times in the process, but have yet to find her stash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Depends on if the pencil lives with a dog. If it lives with a dog then the pencil must have special care by its owner, and be put away somewhere up high. Otherwise the dog will eat the pencil, ending its life rather quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Before I even read the post (just the title) my thought was 1 day. maybe two. But I have this problem with pencils and scissors. It doesn't really matter how many you buy there are NONE in the house. My kids want to take new pencils every single day because they can't find the old ones. And really there are surprisingly few used pencils lying around. I don't know where they go, there must be a pencil eating machine like the one that eats one sock of every pair. It also eats my scissors but I have bought AT LEAST 20 kids scissors in the last 5 years. I have never thrown one away, we have never taken them out of the house, yet there is not a single kids scissors to be found. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMc Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Around here a pencil's life is only as long as the eraser's life. This could be a few hours or a few days. Of course, you can't use any eraser but the one that comes on top of the pencil. It is a sad state of affairs when we find the box of beautiful #2s, (we got for a penny), that got stashed in NeverNeverLand many years ago and all the erasers have become stone. We have tried resurrecting the little things by taking off the outer layer of the eraser. But, that only results in crumbled smudges. Sad, sad, sad... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frontier Mom Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Depends on if the pencil lives with a dog. If it lives with a dog then the pencil must have special care by its owner, and be put away somewhere up high. Otherwise the dog will eat the pencil, ending its life rather quickly. I have that problem too!! My cat and dog are in this conspiracy together. The cat bats them around the desk until they fall on the floor. My lab says, "Oh, good!! A stick to chew on." The rest is history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mktkcb Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 in our house it's simple. The couches eat them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trixie Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 in our house it's simple. The couches eat them. In ours, they run off with the missing socks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 It depends on if you have an electric sharpener. If so then the lifespan is considerably shorter. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keptwoman Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 I buy 20 every 6 months. I have no idea where they go, they certainly don't get sharpened enough to disappear in that time but they are forever running out! Erasers, scissors and pencil sharpeners also disappear routinely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalicoKat Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 one week. unless you've got a pencil can and lock it up daily after class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenn- Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Surprisingly enough pencils last a while around here. Our problem comes when dd's "favorite" pencils goes MIA and she spends 30 minutes looking for it instead of grabbing another one. Now erasers on the end of pencils is a whole other ball game. She wears through the original one in about a week if she is also using the big pink eraser. I bought a pack of pencil top erasers back when school supplies were on special. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 In our house? One day. They get left out and the dogs chew them up. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Ha! In my house? a day or two. the boys are constantly breaking them, then they sharpen and sharpen and sharpen. Then... they fall on the floor and someone steps on them and breaks them. Then DS2 bites the eraser off and then breaks the whole thing in half (he's 5, btw), so then we actually have 2 pencils. Our pencil situation is a nightmare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linders Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 In our house, most pencils are toast with DSs age 9 and 6. It only starts with sharpener obsession. Then there is "how to pry Legos apart," "make a mast for the boat," and the good old "I was doing my work on the floor and, oops, someone stepped on it." Although I must say the "puppy pencil" owned by DS6 has shown remarkable longevity. Of course, it is only permitted to be used by stuffed puppies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Well, it depends on what kind of pencils it is. If it is a really good pencil like a Black Warrior or Ticonderoga then it doesn't last very long at all but I have some free pencils that are older than some of my children. They will get used in an emergency but they are not the pencil of choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PBnJ Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 The life expectancy of a pencil around my house depends on if my 2 yo son finds it or not. If he happens upon one, he may or may not eat the eraser off of it. It depends on if he wants to scribble on something first. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I buy it. I sharpen it. The kids or I use about 5% of the length with normal use. Then a kid eats the eraser off or a dog eats the whole thing. Either way, it ends up in the garbage. I think we go through a dozen a week. No joke. It's insane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MommaTED Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I actually still have pencils from when DS1 was in Kindergarten (he's 8 now). I have them in one large pencil cup and insist that they are put back every time. If they go through the eraser on the pencil, they have to use the big pink ones which also belong in the pencil cup. I used to insist on them using a pencil up completely before sharpening a new one but I've relaxed a little on that. I just make sure I don't put too many out at a time. :) BTW, I'm new! Hi!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 The more pencils (or pens) there are, the more likely they are lost. Seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Before I even read the post (just the title) my thought was 1 day. maybe two. But I have this problem with pencils and scissors. It doesn't really matter how many you buy there are NONE in the house. My kids want to take new pencils every single day because they can't find the old ones. And really there are surprisingly few used pencils lying around. I don't know where they go, there must be a pencil eating machine like the one that eats one sock of every pair. It also eats my scissors but I have bought AT LEAST 20 kids scissors in the last 5 years. I have never thrown one away, we have never taken them out of the house, yet there is not a single kids scissors to be found. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConnieB Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I purchased a ton of pencils over the summer. In the fall, the kids came away with more than a dozen pencils from a community event. Their stockings all contained a nice assortment of pencils. So why in the world are there so few pencils in my house?!?!?!?!?!? Don't even get me started on erasers! :glare: They are hiding inside the socks that are missing from the laundry....but the socks are hiding underneath the paperwork that you can't find...and we all know what happened to that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellyndria Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Umm.. years? I must be weird. (Although I do prefer pens usually.) I have two pencils that I've been using for over a year. I've recently been happy that they are starting to look like they've actually been used a little. When I was in school, I would buy one pack of 8 pencils for the year, and at the end of the year, I would still have a few of them that weren't even sharpened yet. As far as DS (4 years) goes, I silently groan when he gets a freebie pencil, because I know it will hang around forever, and I prefer him to use the little HWT pencils I gave him. I have tried to make a few of the freebie ones disappear myself, because I think that only one of his pencils has actually been lost. Of course, I do a lot of picking up of and reminding him to pick up his pencils and put them away... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arch at Home Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Pencils last for years at our house. When the eraser is gone, it have finally converted the kids to using pink erasers or white vinyl erasers. I think that what saves our pencils is the fact that we have a hand pencil sharpener. Sharpening pencils for any length of time takes effort and the sharpener does a real nice not too sharp, usuable length. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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