Runaway pencils?

[stephanie]

Does anyone else have the problem of pencils just disappearing? I buy pencils in bulk and there are never any when we need them. How do y'all keep up with them?

[Snickerdoodle]

Exact same problem here.

[JudoMom]

Does anyone else have the problem of pencils just disappearing? I buy pencils in bulk and there are never any when we need them. How do y'all keep up with them?

this year I bought Black Warrior pencils for our school work. They aren't supposed to leave the school room unless I send a boy to another room to work. If I find a Black Warrior outside of the school room I know where it belongs.

Now, the pencils in the kitchen are another story....those disappear. I can never find a pencil up there when I need one.

[WTMindy]

ran away with the missing socks!

[Canada_Mom]

This is SO the story of my life!! DD will be working in her math workbook, put the pencil down to erase and "poof" the pencil is GONE! Drives me absolutely crazy!! Then we have to spend the next few minutes finding the pencil and getting everyone settled down again. Then the eraser goes missing....

All this makes me want to be the one who gets to run away.... why should the pencils get all the fun?

I'd LOVE to hear if someone has a solution to this!

[CalicoKat]

ran away with the missing socks!
We have a pencil box, but that's MIA today too. Buy in bulk. Then buy stock in the company. :)

[JanOH]

was to buy each kidlet a .9 mm mechanical pencil and it's been working out well. No one wants to go back to using the yellow pencils so it's been great motivation for them to keep track of their pencil. I also bought cheap pencil bags for each one from Walmart so now they keep their pencil and their big pink eraser in their bag.

Janet

[RoughCollie]

We don't and it irks me. I frequently have experiences like Canada Mom's.

I find pencils stuffed down in the back and sides of the couch and chairs where they migrated when left on the furniture.

I've taken to hiding a few boxes so that when they have all gone to live elsewhere, I have some in reserve. That's because every other great idea I've come up with to keep track of pencils has not worked.

All I know is that pencils are the one thing the dog doesn't eat.

Does anyone else have the problem of pencils just disappearing? I buy pencils in bulk and there are never any when we need them. How do y'all keep up with them?

[momo4]

We do mechanical pencils too, but the first time I bought the big huge cheap pack, but once the erasers are gone they aren't as useful. Trying to keep track of erasers and pencils is too much.:( This time I bought mechanicals that have a twist up eraser that I can replace when it runs out. Every room in our house has a place for pens and pencils, even the bathrooms! That way if I find one wandering it goes in the pencil holder or drawer. That helps.

[K&Rs Mom]

I keep a handful in a pencil case in our school box (with the day's books & stuff). I keep more in a drawer for the kids to use whenever, and any strays are put back in there.

My MIL has been known to glue a small strip of magnet to the side, to stick them on the fridge. My dad has frequently tied them to the phone with string (pre-cordless era). :)

[Ferdie]

YES!!!! Last year we went through 48 pencils. I only have three children and we don't do that much writing. LOL!

When I cleaned up the game room over the summer I found a lot of them.

This year we are hanging on to them better but the erasers are gone. Drives me nuts!

[Andie]

YES!!!! Last year we went through 48 pencils. I only have three children and we don't do that much writing. LOL!

When I cleaned up the game room over the summer I found a lot of them.

This year we are hanging on to them better but the erasers are gone. Drives me nuts!

I finally have the big kids (13, 11 and 9 for petessake!) trained pretty well, so the pencil cubby on the Desk Apprentice stays full. But the erasers... Oy. We can never find them...they get lost, eaten, vaporize... who knows!? And they're so territorial with them; wars have erupted in this house over accusation of Pink Pearl thefts! "Mine had the broken corner and the squiggly line on it! She's got my eraser!"

Sorry. We had a rough morning, complete with two Eraser Incidents.

[lovemyboys]

They're in the bottom of my tote bag with all the other pencils I'm searching for! lol

[stephanie]

I keep a handful in a pencil case in our school box (with the day's books & stuff). I keep more in a drawer for the kids to use whenever, and any strays are put back in there.

My MIL has been known to glue a small strip of magnet to the side, to stick them on the fridge. My dad has frequently tied them to the phone with string (pre-cordless era). :)

Hmmm...now that's an idea. Maybe we could invent a pencil that you can put on a string that can go around the neck, like a necklace. We can make it like a 5' long string so they don't even have to take it off to do their school work!:p I've always wanted to invent something- maybe this is it! My dh always laughs at my ideas for inventions, but this one may be worth mentioning! Any ideas?

[OnTheBrink]

I have the same problem. I bought 50 mechanical pencils and a large box (I don't remember how many) of the Ticonderoga black ones and we can't find any of them! I'm about to string pencils to all of dd's notebooks.

[Meliss]

All of our stash of Black Warrior pencils disappeared recently to my great vexation (Austen brain). A few weeks ago, I bought four more. One for me and one for each of my older kids. I told them that we are having a contest. The one who has his/her pencil ready each time it is needed and keeps it bite-mark free will win a prize. I labeled each pencil with the owner's name. It is working so far. Notice that I said this started a few weeks ago? :) My ten year old did step on his pencil and snap it in half, but he taped it up right away and is still using it. My oldest son's eraser has worn out, but he hot-glued a cap eraser to the top which should keep for awhile.

[Adrianne]

I am a pencil and pen stealer. I come home with pens from the store, bank etc. I feel so bad! I just forget and put them in my purse or pocket.

Now at home, I am always laying them around everywhere. The are never where I remember them to be! I do not do this on purpose - I just forget to put them back. When I straighten up the house, I usually find them and put them back.

I suspect someone in your home is a pencil "thief" like me. I think it is a personality trait. My ds9 seems to be following in my foot steps, he can never find his pencils either!

Adrianne :D

[TCoppock]

We have 6 pencils sharpened each morning ready for DS to use for the day (more than enough) On many days we use more than this because he cant find one. :eek: I gave up and just buy in bulk.

[Mrs Mungo]

Does anyone else have the problem of pencils just disappearing? I buy pencils in bulk and there are never any when we need them. How do y'all keep up with them?

Yes, GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, it drives me crazy! I buy a big thing of pencils every 2 or 3 months. I keep them up in the school cabinet and slowly but surely they vanish.

[WTMindy]

a pencil snob. He likes the "good" mechanical pencils (I wonder who he takes after.) So, I buy a few special ones for me.....poof!!! Gone!!! I actually put pencils in his stocking this Christmas and he was happy. I think most are MIA now. Sigh!

[umarider]

We've had problems w/ missing pencils for years. At least I know the reason. We have a cat that can't resist pencils. If they are on the table, he's gotta knock them off! And once they're on the floor he starts skittering them around until he gets the stuck someplace he can't get to! Once I lifted up my ds's portable dance floor and found about 20 pencils under there!:rolleyes: (No wonder the floor was wobbly!)

[Laura Corin]

Once every single room had as many pencils as it could hold, the ones in the homeschooling room stayed put.

Laura

[Karin]

:D Are they supposed to be able to find them more than twice? We've tried many things, but while we have a few old ones, they seem to lose many.

[jail warden]

he either loses it. OR he breaks off the eraser or lead or ..... It's sooooo frustrating. We are down to just a few erasers because they either break them or lose them too!!!!!!!!!! I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem. I did try mechanical and they don't care, in fact my ds has broken those too.

[Quiver0f10]

I am so glad it's not just us! I am so sick of searching for pencils :mad:

[Mamagistra]

Every room in our house has a place for pens and pencils, even the bathrooms!

SO glad we aren't the only ones! ;)

[KidsHappen]

I never buy pencils and we have a ton of them. I don't know where they come from. On the other hand, we lose pens. I have my own designated pens which the children are forbidden from touching.

[Chris in VA]

We are currently reading thru the Borrower's series--have you checked your house for small holes in the wainscotting? LOL

Ours disappear, too, and we even have a schoolroom. I just buy tons and scatter them around.

[Karin]

he breaks off the eraser or lead or ..... It's sooooo frustrating.

Wow, I'd never heard of anyone else's kis breaking off the eraser. Well, I know erasers break, but when I first saw your post I was picturing your ds breaking off the entire eraser along with the metal holder like one of my dc does. Is that what you meant? As I see your quote now I realize it's more likely he just breaks the eraser part...

[clane]

Ours either disappear, or I find them without the eraser and bite marks where there was once an eraser.

[JFS in IL]

You do know about the Borrowers, right?:)

[*anj*]

At the beginning of this year I gave each child a brand new box of Ticonderogas. Each pencil in the box was labeled. One child has a little notepaper reinforcer stuck just underneath the eraser. One child has a ring of navy blue, made with a Sharpie. One child has red nail polish, and another has a ring of green (from a Sharpie.) So now if I find a pencil in the living room, or under the dining room table, or on a dresser or in the car, we immediately know whose pencil it is.
Also, I told them that the first box of pencils was free. Once they go through that box (especially if they lost the pencils rather than used them up) they could buy a new pencil from the "school store" for 50 cents.

They really are doing a better job of keeping up with pencils this year! http://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/winking/winking0071.gif (http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/%5Burl=http://www.squidoo.com/wymondham-college%5D%5Bimg%5Dhttp://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/winking/winking0071.gif%5B/img%5D%5B/url%5D)

[K&Rs Mom]

At the beginning of this year I gave each child a brand new box of Ticonderogas. Each pencil in the box was labeled. One child has a little notepaper reinforcer stuck just underneath the eraser. One child has a ring of navy blue, made with a Sharpie. One child has red nail polish, and another has a ring of green (from a Sharpie.) So now if I find a pencil in the living room, or under the dining room table, or on a dresser or in the car, we immediately know whose pencil it is.
Also, I told them that the first box of pencils was free. Once they go through that box (especially if they lost the pencils rather than used them up) they could buy a new pencil from the "school store" for 50 cents.


Great ideas! K was so excited to get a box of pencils with her name on them for her last birthday. You can get them from Current or Oriental Trading at a decent price (I think it was about $3 for 2 dozen of asst'd colors).

[imeverywoman]

Humph! What can I possibly say to her? :confused:

[*anj*]

Humph! What can I possibly say to her? :confused:
First I want to say that it's nice to see you!! :D

As for the Pencil Pilfering Piano Prof: tie a piece of string around the pencil and then attach the other end to a notebook or a clipboard, or a brick, or your ds, or whatever it takes! :p

[imeverywoman]

What a lovely welcome, and to such kind words! :)

I love the idea and am trying it next week. Part of me does feel badly for her. After all, she is a struggling college student. Maybe I should give her a box of 'em. :p

[Plaid Dad]

We've had problems w/ missing pencils for years. At least I know the reason. We have a cat that can't resist pencils.

That's part of the problem in our house. I was sweeping today and found four pencils under the couch and another couple under the hutch - cat toys all. My dd discovered a couple wedged under the couch cushions (ouch!). That's at least half a package of Black Warriors right there.

[Mrs Mungo]

At the beginning of this year I gave each child a brand new box of Ticonderogas. Each pencil in the box was labeled. One child has a little notepaper reinforcer stuck just underneath the eraser. One child has a ring of navy blue, made with a Sharpie. One child has red nail polish, and another has a ring of green (from a Sharpie.) So now if I find a pencil in the living room, or under the dining room table, or on a dresser or in the car, we immediately know whose pencil it is.
Also, I told them that the first box of pencils was free. Once they go through that box (especially if they lost the pencils rather than used them up) they could buy a new pencil from the "school store" for 50 cents.

They really are doing a better job of keeping up with pencils this year! http://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/winking/winking0071.gif (http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/%5Burl=http://www.squidoo.com/wymondham-college%5D%5Bimg%5Dhttp://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/winking/winking0071.gif%5B/img%5D%5B/url%5D)

Oh my gosh!! This is SUCH a great idea! I'm implementing it next week!

[mcconnellboys]

They're all under your car seats.....

Regena