Sometimes the littlest things can be the biggest frustrations when it comes to homeschooling. A brand new box of pencils can quickly slip through my kids' fingers into some other dimension through an invisible In February, I decided that I needed to troubleshoot the pencil problem before I lost my sanity along with my temper, sadly. I started a pencil contest for my children and myself, giving each contestant one pencil labeled with his/her name.
"Keep it safe. Keep it sharp. Keep it free of bite-marks. Above all keep it. The person who keeps his/her pencil the longest wins!"
Believe it or not, our contest is still ongoing!
Evan and Matthew wore their first pencil down to an ergonomically incorrect nub and were issued a replacement pencil. Sophie writes with more of a delicate feminine touch and still has her first pencil. They all wore out the original erasers on their pencils, but Evan hot-glued cap erasers to the pencil ends (the only way to keep cap erasers from falling into the black hole).
I have decided that if all of the kids keep their pencil (or mom-authorized replacement) until the end of the school year, I will give each of them a prize.
Our first annual pencil contest is saving us some time, money, and sanity and is contributing to a more peaceful homeschooling atmosphere. It may seem like a little thing, but it works for me!
9 comments:
This is the best tip I've heard in a long time. Every morning, there is a long search to find pencils. Where did they all go? I am definitely going to use your pencil contest tip. And I also love the idea of gluing the eraser to the top of the pencil. How come I never thought of that?
Genius!
Our children have a trading game for little paper towns they make, lttle stubs of pencils become commodities. I have no idea how it works but somehow it means they value and look after their pencils very well.
Now, I wish I could say the same for scissors.
Simple and brilliant - I love it!
That is a brilliant idea! We waste alot of time on finding "the right" pencil too!
Michele B
That is a great idea! I think that black hole hovers over the entire Homeschool Community!! Thanks a lot! :)
In our homeschooling family it isn't pencils we have a hard time finding it is the scissors. Maybe I should do that with the scissors. It gets frustrating when you need a pair and you can't find one.
Thanks for the tip! My kids always like a challenge.
~Amy
Love it! I may be borrowing this one!
I love this! Our family must have access to the same black hole, because our pencils are also constantly disappearing. I just yesterday labeled pencils for my 3 kids, but I love the idea of having a contest. They'll love that!
Great idea! I need to do that with my daughter regarding her books, pens, notebooks, etc. She loses something almost every day. :)
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