If you’re a serious homeschooling mommy who wants to go above and beyond mediocre curriculum, then a good printer is a necessity.
But which one is best?
There are so many choices out there that it is easy to become confused.
What I want to do today is to simplify things. We’re going to talk about:
- Printers—my experiences and the problem with ink
- Printers—what’s currently out there
- Printers—what homeschoolers need
- Printers—my suggestions
First, my experiences.
As the mom of 15 who’s been homeschooling for over 37 years, I’ve had a lot of experience with these machines!
When I started homeschooling, nobody had a printer at home. Inkjet printers for home use cost $365 in 1993, and that was a huge budget buster back then (that would be $834 dollars in today’s money).
Because of the high cost, we used to go to printing centers with CD’s and have our copies run off there for a nominal fee.
Eventually, costs did come down, and soon homeschoolers everywhere were printing out their own materials.
In the old days, the most cost-effective printer for homeschooling was a laser model made by Brother. The initial cost of the unit meant it was a major investment, but then the toner for the unit lasted a long time.
Still, the upfront cost was a little too steep, so this is when we started our acquaintance with inkjet printers (almost 30 years ago).
One of our latest units, which is still our workhorse, is the HP Officejet Pro 8710. This printer has all the goodies and is fast as lightning. Even though it is almost 10 years old, it connects with our new Windows 11 PC’s and prints like a charm. We have cut costs by using third-party ink, otherwise we would not have been able to afford all the printing we have done for our learning adventures (including whole books).
And the cost of ink is really a big problem, isn’t it?
Here are some interesting facts about printer ink:
- It is among the most expensive liquids on the planet. Brand name ink calculates out to $12000 a gallon!
- Printer companies have been using the “razor blade” model of sales; you buy the razor assembly for cheap, but the replacement heads are expensive. This is why companies can offer printers at an affordable price and then overcharge for the replacement cartridges.
- It is estimated printer companies make 49 billion on replacement printer cartridges annually.
- Printer companies receive 60-75% profit from replacement cartridges.
- Epson changed the market by introducing its “Ecotank” in 2010 which did not rely on cartridges.
- Since then HP has become more aggressive by making certain its printers only accept their high-priced ink cartridges via either retail or their Instant Ink subscription program. They do this by using firmware which requires a constant connection with the Internet so it can be updated against any possible third party cartridge use.
- Because of the aggressiveness of HP, people have been turning to the tank printers, such as the Epson Ecotank. This, in turn, has caused HP to lose customers, so they have had to come up with their own version; the Smart Tank.
I was sent a Smart Tank printer to review for Amazon last November (I have since opted out of the Amazon review program, and this is not a sponsored podcast).
I was dubious at first since I am still very happy with our old Officejet pro, but I wanted to give it a go.
The unit I am using, the HP Smart Tank Plus 570, came with a scanning bed, but it is a pretty stripped-down model. It does not have a large capacity front tray (it feeds from the back) and it does not include an ADF (and Auto Document Feeder). It also does not auto-duplex, which I believe is essential for homeschool printing needs.
Surprisingly, the replacement ink, even from HP itself, is pretty affordable. An HP 32XL ink bottle that supposedly will yield 6000 pages is only $24 as of this podcast. The color ink bundle is only $66 and is supposed to yield 8,000 pages. This means the replacement ink for another two years would cost only $90 total, which works out to under two cents a page (which is very cheap!).
In order to understand how cheap this is, we need to compare it with the Instant Ink cost, which is $28 dollars a month for only 700 pages. That price works out to four cents a page, and at the end of the year that would set a family back $336 a year!
After using this printer for a number of months, I can say that it really is pretty reliable and the printing quality is high.
Because of this new printer, and all of the questions I receive about printers from mommies, I decided to take a deep dive into the subject.
I learned all about the different types of printers and did price comparisons. I also read all kinds of customer reviews to get a feel for what is being offered. Here are some of my observations:
- Every single printer has some sort of connection hiccup. Even our old Officejet Pro gives us fits every so often. I think it’s just the nature of trying to connect things wirelessly, so this is one of those issues of life we have to put up with, no matter what make or model.
- Customer service varies greatly. Epson may have been the company that got the ball rolling towards reducing ink costs, but their service is lacking.
- Every printer company out there has its drawbacks. Epsons have trouble with paper feeding, and people complain about not having any remedy for jams. The other major companies, such as Brother and Canon do not seem to offer anything that is outstanding when compared to HP or Epson.
- Laser printers are “de best,” and the toner lasts a long time, but they cost more than most families can afford (although I have been seeing their prices coming down lately).
Now that we’ve dealt with the printing costs, let’s talk about features.
For me, besides affordability, here are the things I look for:
- Crisp and clean printing quality good enough for daily use. This is different from those who want to use their printer for crafts such as sublimation.
- Speed. This is an issue if you have a slow printer but are trying to print out multiple booklets to hand to your kids. You don’t want to have to nurse a slow printer all-day-long when you have noses to wipe and errands to run and dinner to fix.
- Scanning bed. So important for all of those notebooking projects and other nifty things we want to do!
- Auto Duplexing. This is a fancy name for a printer being able to automatically print on both sides of the paper. The alternative is having to take a stack of paper and figure out how to flip it over and stick it in the feed tray so that it also prints on the other side—a royal pain that can end up costing many wasted pages if one tiny mistake is made (ask me how I know!).
- A paper tray that holds more than 100 pages. This is great for those huge printing jobs so you don’t have to stand by to watch and replace paper.
- Good customer service. I think we all understand this one!
There is also something that most homeschoolers do NOT need:
An ADF.
What is an ADF? It stands for “Auto Document Feeder,” which is that weird, slanted plastic thingy on the top of the printer. It comes in pretty handy for offices where they are constantly copying multiple page documents, but it is rarely necessary for homeschool use, so it may save money to skip units with this capability.
Where to buy.
If you are looking to get the best bang for your buck, then I suggest you look to the warehouse stores. Why? Because these stores often sell units with goodie packages that other retailers can’t touch, and their out-of-the-box return support is better than the other outlets as well. For example, as of the writing of this script, the very printer I am going to recommend is $120 cheaper at both Costco and Sam’s Club, and the deal includes an extra bottle or two of black ink.
Having said all this, I am going to make a recommendation for the printer I would purchase, given the choices I have before me this day in June, 2026 (drumroll, please):
HP Smart Tank 7002 All-in-One Inkjet Printer from either Sam’s Club or Costco.
From what I can see, this printer meets all the basics, but at an affordable price.
However, I know there are some out there who may have found a better unit. Please, please share what you know with the rest of us, I know we could all benefit!
Next time I plan to be reviewing something I never thought I’d advocate as a vintage-leaning kind of gal; a tablet!
So, stay tuned!
If you would like to view and/or listen to this post as a podcast, here are the links:
iTunes Printers for Serious Homeschooling
Spotify Printers for Serious Homeschooling
Great article. I found it very helpful and practical.
Sherry, I found this very helpful!
So glad it was helpful!