(Last Updated on March 9, 2024)
Melting Hearts of Homeschool Moms Everywhere
One of the first memories I have of my early homeschool research is reading a handful of homeschooler’s blogs and noticing the deep affection they all had for their laminators.
I recall thinking this was strange.
Yet now, here I am years later, adding my voice to the chorus of homeschool moms singing an Ode to My Laminator.
Depending on the cost of your laminator and laminating pouches, and the cost of laminating services at your local copy center, your payback period may vary. Do some quick math to decide if it’s worth the investment for you.
At full price, my Scotch Thermal Laminator (my model is no longer available but this one looks very similar) plus a pack of 100 generic 3 mil. laminating sheets (like these, which work well for us) would’ve paid for themselves after only 17 pages! But since I bought my laminator on sale, my breakeven point was even less than that!
Quick Tip: Look for back-to-school sales and deals around Christmastime to get super-low prices on laminators!
For younger kids, you can laminate tracing pages, letter practice pages, and other pre-writing sheets that they can use over and over again with dry erase markers. Keep in mind that laminated pages are a little harder to wipe clean than a true whiteboard, especially for your younger kiddos. But we’ve found it’s not too bad as long as you erase sooner rather than later.
At first I thought of laminated pages for tracing practice only. But really any time you need to reuse a page or make paper more long-lasting it can be helpful to laminate.
We’ve printed and laminated place value templates for working math problems, printable game boards like these from Math Geek Mama (*FREE*), homemade books, daily chore charts, and other checklists. Also, tags and labels for bins or shelving can be made more durable by laminating.
If you already own a laminator, brainstorm ways you might use laminated pages with other toys or manipulatives you already have. For example, my daughter loves using laminated blank face outline mats to make silly faces with Play-Doh.
You can also preserve special (flat) art pieces that are especially messy (I’m glaring looking at you, glitter) by laminating them. Award certificates, bookmarks, paper play money…. really anything that we’ve laminated has lasted so much longer than their flimsy paper counterparts.
Even if traditional worksheets or tracing practice sheets aren’t your thing, there are many ways a laminator can help make your homeschool job easier.
Add one to your Christmas list and you, too, will soon be singing the praises of your laminator!
Check out the first post in this series here and follow the links there to find out more about the other supplies that made the Top 5 Homeschool Supplies list!
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