Pens and Pencils (and other Writing Utensils): My Favorites of These Basics

Pens and pencils may be some of the most basic school supplies. They are found in almost every home in the country, rolling around the floor of your car, and cluttering up your desk, but most people don’t think about them. However, sometimes having the right ones can make a big difference.

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Pencils seem to be a great source of mystery in our home. I buy new ones at the beginning of each school year, and somehow they vanish. Does that happen in your home? I have decided they must run away with the missing socks and plastic lids. I could buy any variety of pencils and certainly most of them will write just fine.

What Do We Love?

However, we have found that Ticondaroga pencils hold up really well to being sharpened, don’t tend to break as easily and write very smoothly. They can be a bit more expensive, but if you grab them at an office supply store or on Amazon during the back to school sales they can still be very reasonably priced. They even offer them pre-sharpened, much to the satisfaction of my husband whole routinely reaches for a pencil only to find it has never been sharpened

Color Pencils

I have a confession to make about color pencils. Each year I buy my children new color pencils because, inevitably, some of them have been lost during the year. I buy the Crayola ones when they are on sale for less than a $1 a pack. They color much better than the cheaper off brands.

However, for myself, I splurged a couple of years ago to get better color pencils. Since I don’t tend to lose mine, I didn’t feel as bad about spending more money. These also work much better than even the Crayola for coloring and drawing in my coloring Bible. The smaller size of the Colore pencils that I purchased are out of stock right now but this larger size is a great price for quality color pencils. I have been using them for about three years now, and they are still doing great.

Chalk Pastel Pencils

Finally, I need to tell you about these chalk pastel pencils. My children love doing chalk pastel lessons with Nana at You Are an Artist. However, my oldest son really did not like the chalk dust and mess that chalk pastels can sometimes create. These chalk pastel pencils were the perfect solution. They allowed him to do the lessons and blend the colors like a pastel but without the mess.  They don’t blend quite as well as regular pastels but for him the trade off is worth it!

Do you like to start your new school year with new pencils or pens? Do you pick up whatever is on sale, or do you have a favorite that you enjoy? I would love to hear what writing utensils you like to buy for your homeschool so be sure to share in the comments. Also, check out all of the other posts about pencils and pens this week from the Review Crew.

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always, I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in, and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

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