Back-To-School: Which Pencils and Sharpeners Are Best?

As kids all over the country get ready to go back to school, families are descending upon stores everywhere to shop for back to school supplies. Retailers have stocked shelves and merchandisers chock full of pencils, folders, markers, and notebook paper. But as you shop for your back to school supplies, do you ponder all the different choices, wondering if there really is any difference in quality between what seems to be an endless array of options?

Pencils have been a particular problem for our family. For the last few years, it seems no matter which pencil brand we purchase, from Paper-Mate to Ticonderoga, every pencil seems to get exceedingly chewed up in the pencil sharpener. Either that, or the leads repeatedly break off, so that by the time the pencil is actually usable, it's half gone. If you are having the same problem with all of your pencils, consider the following information as you shop for back to school supplies this year.

The problem may not be your pencils at all - It did occur to us before long that the problem may lie in the sharpener, and not in the pencil. We purchased a countless variety of handheld pencil sharpeners over the years in an attempt to find a solution. There appeared to be very little difference in the way of results with handheld pencil sharpeners. We also tried a small, handheld, battery-operated electric sharpener, made by Xacto, which retailed for about $5. Despite brand new batteries, this sharpener didn't have enough power to actually sharpen a pencil.

The only handheld pencil sharpener that seemed to sharpen pencils without destroying them, was made by Maped. We found this brand at Target stores during the back to school season. So, if a handheld sharpener is what your student needs, you might want to try the Maped brand. Otherwise, consider checking an actual art store for a more professional grade handheld sharpener.

Avoid pencils made from recycled material - Even though purchasing products made from recycled materials may be good for the environment, pencils made from recycled materials seem to be particularly useless. We have never successfully sharpened even one. Granted, we stopped trying after the first half dozen or so, but honestly, these pencils seem to be a complete waste of money.

Try to send kids to school with several sharpened pencils each day - If you still cannot find a reliable handheld pencil sharpener for your child to use at school, and if your child has teachers who get irritable when students make repeated trips to the classroom pencil sharpener (our son's 3rd Grade teacher was a real bear about this), consider purchasing a good electric or wall/table mounted manual pencil sharpener so that you can simply send your child to school with several sharp pencils each day.

If you would rather not spend $30 to $50 on a heavy-duty sharpener, Xacto has one available this year for less. We purchased an Xacto vacuum mount pencil sharpener for $13 at Wal-Mart. It does not come with instructions, but is relatively easy to use. Simply set the base on any table, desk, or counter, and flip the lever from one side all the way to the other. The Xacto vacuum mount pencil sharpener base does tend to come loose after a few pencils have been sharpened, but it's easy enough to re-secure. As seen in the photo above, this Xacto model successfully sharpens all major pencil brands, including Paper-Mate, Dixon, Rose Art, and Ticonderoga. The handheld sharpener pictured is the Maped brand previously referred to.

Additionally, it was obvious to me this year while shopping for school supplies that mechanical pencils are moving to the mainstream of the back-to-school product offerings. In fact, I found several more merchandisers filled with bags of mechanical pencils than I did traditional wood pencils. If your child can handle changing leads and keeping track of the extra cases of lead and erasers, perhaps mechanical pencils are a better choice. While a bit more expensive, mechanical pencils were plentiful this year at Wal-Mart for $2.50 per bag of 10 pencils.

So, when shopping for school pencils this year, shop around for a good sharpener and it likely won't matter what brand of pencils you purchase. And, if you find yourself opening a sharpener that does nothing but chew up your pencils from the word go, don't be afraid to return it to the retailer for a refund. If all of this feels like way too much hassle for you, then grab some mechanical pencils and leads, and shun sharpeners altogether. Happy back-to-school!