Stationery {Homeschooling Essentials}

Welcome to day one of this weeks 5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials posts brought to you by the Homeschool Review Crew.  We have 89 homeschool Mom's like you sharing their top homeschool essential lists with you.  Today I would like to share about my essential stationery list for homeschooling.  For me they are Pencils, eraser, scissors and glue.

Pencils
One of my pet hates is sharpening a pencil and the lead is broken inside.  Grrrr it frustrates me endlessly.  When my teens were younger this drove me to Warehouse Stationery NZ where I spent a while reading the backs of all the coloured pencil boxes in an effort to find a better pencil that I did not need to sharpen and sharpen and sharpen again!

I discovered that Faber-Castell had a new type of pencil on the market and were advertising SV bonding.

Faber-Castell Tri Grip Colour Pencils

What is SV Bonding ?
SV stands for the German word "Sekuralverfahren" meaning secural bonding or (secure-all bonding). The SV Bonding is a process of gluing the lead to the wood on both sides and the full length of the pencil. This results in strengthening the lead to prevent breakage, provides for better sharpening, which produces a fine point. All Faber-Castell pencils are SV Bonded. SV Bonding is a Faber-Castell trademark.

Faber-Castell Jumbo Colour Pencils

I ended up buying a set of Faber-Castell Jumbo Colour Pencils and have never looked back.  They have lasted for over 10 years of almost daily use in our house.  I highly recommend these pencils.

This is what three of my daughters pencils look like after 12 years of use.  Miss used to colour in every day!

They hardly ever need sharpening and when they are dropped the leads do NOT break inside. They are more expensive to purchase than other brands but well worth the price as you do not sharpen them very often and the leads do not break.  In fact I have had a set for Sir N which he uses often and I sharpened them for the first time yesterday.

Links for more information:

• Faber-Castell Australian History Time Line
• Fun Pencil Facts
• How are pencils made ?

Eraser
Although the children like fancy erasers and the ones that come on the backs of pencils I find it frustrating when I use them and they leave a dirty great big smear across the page!  I finally bit the bullet and purchased a couple of good erasers.  My two favourites are the Faber-Castell PVC free eraser and the Staedtler Plastic Eraser Holder.

Scissors
Cheap scissors are a waste of time and your finances.  They don't cut the paper well and end of being a frustration to you and your student.  Go to the store and try out the types they have their.  See if fingers fit the grips and whether they are comfortable.  Next check the blades. Are they sharp ? Straight ? Even ? Well made ?  Spend more than 99 cents and you will get years of happy tidy cutting from your students.

Glue
Years ago I was introduced to the UHU line of glues by a friend and I have never looked back.  We had tried all sorts of glue sticks and were getting really frustrated.  Some would dry before you even had a chance to adhere it to the page and others would simply peel off a couple of weeks later.  This is no longer a problem since we now use UHU Stic Glue.  I look for this and stock up when it's on special.  We use UHU glue sticks for most of our notebooking and timeline glue needs.



What is on your must have homeschool stationary list ?

Blessings
Chareen

Don't forget to check out and see what my fellow Homeschool Review Crew mates are sharing this week. Here are some to get you started. Some of these links will not be live until tomorrow due to time zone differences as these bloggers are from across the globe.  Here are some from the crew to get you started

• Amanda @  Hopkins Homeschool  Daily Planners
• Jennifer @  Royal Little Lambs Planning
• Sarah @  My Joy-Filled Life Our 2013-2014 Homeschool Curriculum Choices
• Debbie @ Debbie’s Homeschool Corner A Plan!
• Lisa Marie @The Canadian Homeschooler Know the Reason Why
• Laura @ Four Little Pengins Seeing Your Vision
• Dinah @ The Traveling Classroom Ten reasons why food is important in our homeschooling
• Dawn @ Guiding Light HomeschoolThe *MOST IMPORTANT* Thing in Our Homeschool
• Erin @ Water on the Floor New Year, New Curriculum

Note: The pencil part of this articile is part of a reprint from my post in 2011