Missing Pencils -- Am I the only one?

[knitgrl]

We have I don't know how many dozens of pencils in this house. Way too frequently, just as the school day is starting, I look at the pencil caddy and there are colored pencils, markers, glue sticks, etc., but no plain old number twos. Am I the only one who has to couch-dive for pencils at least every other week, if not weekly?

[vonfirmath]

It happens in public school too. Buy a 10 pk. Sharpen them all up and send several in a pencil caddy. A week later there is a standardized test and I'm checking pencil bags to make sure the kids are ready -- and where did all those pencils go? Then I'm ransacking my house trying to find more before they miss their bus!

 

There's a definite reasons school supply lists have SO MANY PENCILS on them.

Edited April 27, 2023 by vonfirmath

[Katy]

Haha, you are not alone. I buy ticonderoga in bulk in the fall, and no matter how many I buy and hide we still run out.

[Arcadia]

My kids keep their pencils and pens in a Kipling pencil case (https://www.amazon.com/Kipling-Organize-Accessories-Supplies-Polyester/dp/B09XTDRCFQ/). The common use pencils stay in company logo cups that no one wants to use. My kids are very picky about their stationery, they don’t share personal stationery. I do have to pick pencils up from the floor in the morning if the pencils rolled off their study table so as to not step on the pencils.

 

[wisdomandtreasures]

Pencils. The bane of my existence. I bought everyone a pencil pouch. Are there ever pencils in them? There are erasers, mini toy cars, pencil SHAVINGS, speech therapy cards... But never a pencil. 

[SKL]

The only time I can find a pencil is when I'm looking for a pen.

[marbel]

I don't even have any homeschooling kids at this point, but I remember going crazy trying to figure out where the pencils went. I guess they are with the missing socks. 

[Ting Tang]

Now that I homeschool, I don’t know how the schools could get by with so few pencils required on the school supply list. 😂

[Elizabeth86]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

The only time I can find a pencil is when I'm looking for a pen.

Yes!! Same to thing happens to me and happened just this morning.

[Brittany1116]

When I only had the older boy writing, we still had a full pack of pencils of varying length by the end of the year. Now that the second is in the mix, we have purchased 739571189 pencils in the last year and they fight over the same one each morning. 

[Brittany1116]

Just now, Brittany1116 said:

When I only had the older boy writing, we still had a full pack of pencils of varying length by the end of the year. Now that the second is in the mix, we have purchased 739571189 pencils in the last year and they fight over the same one each morning. 

I should have known based on how they were as babies. The first had 3 pacifiers total that we still had once he weaned. The second had 7 under his crib each weekend and lost every single one we left the house with, even if it was clipped to him. 

[Kidlit]

When I was teaching, my colleague in sixth grade would buy misprinted pencils from Amazon for our students.  No way could we afford Ticonderoga for them to use, abuse, and lose! 🤣

[prairiewindmomma]

I buy the 96 packs of Ticonderogas from Amazon when they hit $10. We have annual migrations when dozens of pencils turn up at once, but most of our pencils spend most of their time in an alternate dimension where they cannot be found. 
 

By contrast, I still have 4 of the 10 pencils I bought 24 years ago. I have used 6 up. They are in my pencil bag that my kids are not allowed to touch. 

[KungFuPanda]

I attach flowers to my pens and keep them in a vase. I’m like the bank but with nicer flowers. It works. I haven’t quite figured out a method this effective for pencils. 

[Arcadia]

5 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I attach flowers to my pens and keep them in a vase. I’m like the bank but with nicer flowers. It works. I haven’t quite figured out a method this effective for pencils. 

DIY? https://www.theartdream.com/felt-flower-pencil-topper.html

[Clarita]

On 4/27/2023 at 10:49 AM, Brittany1116 said:

When I only had the older boy writing, we still had a full pack of pencils of varying length by the end of the year. Now that the second is in the mix, we have purchased 739571189 pencils in the last year and they fight over the same one each morning. 

My kids are always asking me for more pencils, but in reality they will spend way too much time trying to find that one specific dinosaur (DS) and princess (DD) pencil. Even the other pencils in that same pack just won't do. 

[knitgrl]

4 hours ago, Arcadia said:

DIY? https://www.theartdream.com/felt-flower-pencil-topper.html

It's hard enough to get ds to write. I'm pretty flowers would not improve his attitude. Though pencils would certainly be easier to find. 😄

[Arcadia]

12 minutes ago, knitgrl said:

It's hard enough to get ds to write. I'm pretty flowers would not improve his attitude. Though pencils would certainly be easier to find. 😄

DS18 was the one who finds it painful to write (in terms of copy work because his wrist swell) and hard to write because of perfectionism. Had to bribe him with relatively expensive notebooks from Japanese bookstores like Kinokuniya that he chose. DS17 doesn’t have writing phobia and his wrist does not hurt. We let him pick relatively expensive mechanical pencils because he loves mechanical pencils. 

[Pippen]

On 4/27/2023 at 10:22 AM, vonfirmath said:

It happens in public school too. Buy a 10 pk. Sharpen them all up and send several in a pencil caddy. A week later there is a standardized test and I'm checking pencil bags to make sure the kids are ready -- and where did all those pencils go? Then I'm ransacking my house trying to find more before they miss their bus!

 

There's a definite reasons school supply lists have SO MANY PENCILS on them.

If we're talking middle school, the reason school supply lists have so many pencils on them is because so many boy like to deliberately break them. 🤬

[Ausmumof3]

Our cockatoo loves to chew the leads off ours if you don’t keep a close eye on him.