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SeaStar
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| Posted: Aug 25 2011 at 5:22pm | IP Logged
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Does anyone else feel giddy walking into the stores this time of year and looking at all the school supplies? I always loved buying them as a kid, and that has never gone away!
I was always so happy if my mom would splurge for one of the Trapper Keeper notebook things (are they still called that?) with all the pockets and dividers.
This is such a hard call for me... I love it all! 
But I do have a special place in my heart for blank notebooks, especially if they have pretty covers. All those empty pages, waiting to be filled....
A close second is a "good" pen (you know what I mean  ). Why are there so many crummy pens on the market? I think the plain black and white papermates are my favorites *if* they have that good ink flow.
I'm such a nerd  . That's OK. Target needs me.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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JennGM
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I love them all, Melinda! Too hard to pick!
My mother never bought a Trapper Keeper -- and I always wanted one. She also didn't buy new notebooks if she found old ones that had plenty of pages left. I LOVED getting the new pens and pencils and new pages begging for writing!
I'm always in search of a good pen, too. I prefer ballpoint, which seems to be on the way out, much to my chagrin. Right now we really like a Staples brand called Xeno -- just bought my 3rd pack this week!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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jawgee
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| Posted: Aug 25 2011 at 5:30pm | IP Logged
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I love new binders and organizational items!! Eeek! Makes me giddy. Today we got a binder and some cardstock for our Book of Centuries.
I've held myself back from buying the newer version of the Trapper Keeper because they are between $10 and $12 each. I'm anxiously awaiting the sales after school starts, though.
(Oh, and I agree about pens. WHAT are these rollerball gel pens that write way too thick and seem to bleed through any paper they are used on? Ugh. Give me a nice ballpoint any day!)
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Monica
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lapazfarm
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Well, we don't get a whole lot of that sort of thing, but I do love freshening up and adding to our art supplies each year, plus adding a few new sciencey things. This year we are getting a light table, and some supplies for electronics projects. Plus it seems there is always hardware needed for some project or other. I'm sure I spend way more at Ace Hardware than I do on office supplies!LOL!
So, uh, I put "other."
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Theresa
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lapazfarm
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Oh, and scissors. Somehow they always seem to get lost, so, yeah, new scissors every year.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Mackfam
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Oh, Melinda! You do know how to sweet talk a girl!!!! 
 School supplies
TRAPPER KEEPERS!!!!!! Remember them - the ORIGINALS????!!!! In a choice of blue, red, and green??!! With that AMAZING little velcro tab and the plastic slidey 3 ring binder???? Oh my - I was swooning! I got a shiny red one, with the three matching folders inside. sigh. No more denim covered 70's 3 ring binder for me - no sir!! I was movin' up!! Someone cue Barbara Streisand.....Memories.....light the corners of my mind....misty-watercolor-Trapper-Keeper-filled-memories.......... And let's not EVEN talk about the just invented brand new blue swoosh canvas NIKES!!!!! I mean - come on! They replaced my ZIPS! I am COMPLETELY dating myself, but I DON'T CARE....I'm still singin'....Memories....of the school supplies we loved......
Ok...done tripping down memory lane.
Favorite school supplies? I'm a simple gal!
:: BOUQUET OF FRESHLY SHARPENED TICONDEROGA PENCILS
:: FRESH NEW NOTEBOOK (see....it's still really all about the pretty notebook!)
:: SHINY NEW BOX OF Zebra Z-Grip ball point pens in black, blue and red, please. My favorite all purpose get-the-job-done-always-write-smooth ink pen.
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Jen Mackintosh
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joann10
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Crayola crayons......a giant, Great smelling box of crayons!! That's all we need. 
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organiclilac
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Gel pens.
They don't last as long as ballpoint, and you have to get GOOD ones, but I could happily copy the phone book with a beautifully gliding gel pen.
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Tracy, wife to Shawn, mama to Samuel (4/01) and Joseph (11/11), and Thomas (2/15)
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juliana147
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Jen!!! And Joanne, I am a crayon fan, too!!! I used to beg for the box of 64 with the sharpener on the back!!!
But, I'm a secret post-it fanatic now. All those blocks, the flags, the page markers... oooh, and now the ones in the fun shapes...
Yeah, Target loves me, too, Melinda!!! Thanks for the fun thread!
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Mimip
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| Posted: Aug 26 2011 at 6:47am | IP Logged
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Mackfam wrote:
:: BOUQUET OF FRESHLY SHARPENED TICONDEROGA PENCILS
:: FRESH NEW NOTEBOOK (see....it's still really all about the pretty notebook!)
:: SHINY NEW BOX OF Zebra Z-Grip ball point pens in black, blue and red, please. My favorite all purpose get-the-job-done-always-write-smooth ink pen.
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I continue to think that Jen and I would REALLY get along IRL!!!
I love those pencils and they sharpen so well!!!!
My husband and I swear by those Zebra pens as well. He makes his recruits (he is a police instructor) buy them too!!!
LOVE SCHOOL SUPPLIES!!!!
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Mimi
Wife of 16 years to Tom, Mom of DD'00, DD'02, '04(in heaven) DS'05, DS'08 and DS '12
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Servant2theKing
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Love this thread!  
We bought most of our supplies online this year, as part of our homeschool orders ~ it's just not the same as drooling over all the choices in stores! 
We have Trapper Keepers that have lasted about ten years! Love those zippers and all the pockets ~ I've seriously considered buying new ones, to inspire renewed enthusiasm ~ but, practicality, along with the fact that they still look and function good as new, always wins out! 
On the subject of pens, is anyone else a lefty? I have loads of trouble finding decent pens that work well for writing left-handed ~ for myself and one ds. The angle with ball points doesn't work well for me, most gel pens smear, certain brands I've gotten in the past always bend at the tip. You can't try them out before purchasing, so it's a real challenge to find the right pen!    
Writing that last little bit about not being able to try pens out beforehand gave me a flashback ~ bringing back fond, fond memories of walking to a small downtown office supply store, before the beginning of a new school year ~ having the owner help us make decisions about how to spend hard earned babysitting money for precious supplies. I think my favorite purchase there was a fountain pen! Funny, I don't recall having the smearing problem with fountain pens or older ink pens, when I was much younger. Does anyone else know whether the ink in pens has changed through the years? It's so disconcerting to find smears all over a freshly written page! 
ETA: Still interested in any input on pens from fellow lefties! I did a quick search online. Apparently, the reason lefties have difficulty with pens (and handwriting) is that they push the pen across the paper (with their hand also sliding along on top of what they write) as opposed to pulling pen and hand behind their writing, the way righties do. I thought I was just particularly hard on pens or that I was being fussy. A forum I found said that ball points and many other pens are designed to flow as the pen is pulled across the paper ~ with left-handed writing paper fibers are actually being picked up by the pen, due to the pushing action, clogging the pen. If any of you have left-handed children, you may want to look into this interesting subject for them. No wonder I prefer to type so much the older I get!
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hylabrook1
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I love,love, love Mirado pencils! They seem to hold the point longer than other kinds and smell so beautifully pencil-like. Last year I bought a box of 72 from Amazon. Also a big fan of highlighters, but I MUST have a set that includes a purple one!
Peace,
Nancy
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juliana147
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Servant, almost all calligraphy texts have a section especially for left-handed calligraphers, so it is definitely not just you! I'm not a left handed writer, but we use the Italic system, and it's in that teacher's manual, too. They have drawings of different ways to place the paper, and tips for how to grip the pen.
I also know that ink formulations do change. There are a lot of variables that a manufacturer could play with to get the consistency of ink that would best flow through the type of pen they are selling. Do you still have a fountain pen? Maybe you could load your old fountain pen, using a converter, with one of the newer fountain pen inks. There are a lot of new inks coming out, and there's sure to be one that would work (and not smear!).
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juliana147
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Nancy, I'll trade you the purple highlighter that came in my set, with a blue one!!! I feel the same about blue ones.
Must have blue!
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- Juliana
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amyable
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If you had asked me 20 years ago, I would have said notebooks and gel pens. But now, hands down it's a tie between those softer WHITE erasers and working pencil sharpeners. We never have enough of either. So I love them to pieces when we have them.
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leanne maree
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I am a real sucker for new folders, binders etc.
We have so many supplies, we don't need to visit any stationary supplies for a very long time, but dh needed envelopes and paper a4, for our business. oh no....
....we were in a stationary supply place yesterday getting fun things to complete a project, but dd and I both loved the new designs for the folders and orgainsers, and just had to have a pencil container and a note container. 
But my dd loves new pens. she has her own special pens she uses for copywork.
God Bless
leanne
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Leanne
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Grace&Chaos
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I had to laugh when I finally got around to voting and reading the comments. This was our biggest problem during our first week of school.
So around here, it's PRETTY NOTEBOOKS too
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Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
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juliana147
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Jenny, those are so pretty!!!
Dh wants to change my vote to clipboards. He's upset that we can only vote once.
I had to get back on here today and say that I found BLUE highlighters with post-it flags inside!!!
What a fun thread. Thanks again!!!
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- Juliana
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Pilgrim
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One of our best and favorite investments had been a heavy-duty pencil sharpener, and then a close second is the white polymer erasers that Amy mentioned. I LOVE those erasers, I guard them carefully from being lost by youngsters!
I love this thread, it is bringing out great ideas for school supplies to keep things happy and cheerful . I love the ideas for pretty notebooks in your blog posts Jenny and Jen!
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SeaStar
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LOVE those white erasers.
And it's so funny- I was telling my mom about this thread... how much we love school supplies. and she laughingly said that buying school supplies for 6 kids was always a big nightmare for her. There was always one thing on each school list the store was out of...
I think it would be interesting to see a homeschoolers school supply list.
I don't know about you, but good chocolate is a requirement for the school in my house
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: What is your favorite school supply?
