Lakeshore Learning, Office Chairs, and AP Score Calculators: Answers From a Teacher Who Made the Mistakes

I've been a history teacher for eight years, and somehow I also became the person who handles supply orders for my department. In that time, I've placed roughly 40 Lakeshore Learning orders, helped pick out ergonomic office chairs for our staff room, and used more AP score calculators than I'd like to admit. I've also made 16 documented mistakes that added up to about $2,800 in wasted budget. This FAQ is the checklist I wish I'd had on day one.

How do I contact Lakeshore Learning?

The easiest way is the contact page on lakeshorelearning.com. I've mostly used email, and responses typically come within one or two business days — sometimes faster during off-peak times. Phone works too if you like talking to a person, but here's what I learned the hard way: have your order number and item numbers ready before you call. In 2017, my first year doing this, I called without either and turned a 5-minute question into a 30-minute rabbit hole while I dug through old confirmation emails.

Another thing that surprised me: small orders have occasionally been handed to USPS for the final mile. One time, I saw "USPS" on the tracking and assumed my order had gone to the wrong place. It hadn't. That's just how the delivery process works for some packages. Also useful context — per USPS pricing (usps.com/stamps), First-Class Mail letter rates as of January 2025 are $0.73 for a one-ounce letter. Good to know if you're budgeting for school mailings. Not the kind of thing I ever expected to memorize, but here we are.

To be clear, my experience covers roughly 40 standard retail orders. If you're a district buyer working with volume pricing, your process is completely different from mine, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

Is the Lakeshore Learning tracing projector worth it?

Short answer: for my classrooms, yes. The tracing projector is one of those products kids understand without instructions. You put a picture underneath, they turn it on, and they're tracing shapes and letters. Our Pre-K kids use it during center time almost every day. It's been in use for two school years now and still runs like it did out of the box.

Long answer: "worth it" depends on the context. We're using it in Pre-K and early elementary. I genuinely can't tell you how it would perform in a middle school art room or a one-on-one intervention setting. It might be great there too — but I don't have that experience, so I'm not going to tell you it works everywhere.

The mistake I made: I ordered the projector at the end of our budget year without checking our remaining supply balance. It pushed our account negative by $80, and I spent a week explaining to our office manager why. The projector itself was a solid buy. The planning was not.

How does the teacher discount work at Lakeshore Learning?

The teacher discount exists, and it's pretty straightforward once you know the drill. You verify your teacher status on their website, and the discount applies when you're signed in. The reason I'm telling you this: I didn't know it existed for my first two orders. That's about $45 I overpaid before a coworker asked me, "did you apply your teacher discount?" — and I had to Google what she was talking about.

There's a catch: verification can expire. I assumed it was one-time. A colleague found out the hard way when her discount quietly stopped applying. Two orders went through at full price before she noticed.

One more honest note: Lakeshore isn't the only store with a teacher discount. It's a nice benefit, but it shouldn't be the reason you choose them. Their real value is product quality and having everything you need in one place — the discount is the cherry on top.

What actually matters in an ergonomic office chair?

Let me start with something that might surprise you: the word "ergonomic" on the box doesn't guarantee anything. Per FTC guidelines (ftc.gov), advertising claims need to be truthful and substantiated, but "ergonomic" is a broad marketing term with no single enforced standard. So ignore the label for a moment and look at what the chair actually does.

What I check now:

• Seat height range — does the seat go low enough for your feet to be flat on the floor? Does it go high enough for your desk?
• Adjustable lumbar support — it needs to move up and down. A fixed lumbar bump only fits a narrow range of body types.
• Armrests — ideally adjustable in height, but at minimum able to move out of the way.
• Seat depth — you want roughly two to three fingers of space between the back of your knees and the front of the seat.

None of these features matter if the chair doesn't fit you. I once bought a $400 chair because a review site raved about it. The specs looked ideal, the data was convincing, but my gut said the lumbar support sat too high. I ignored my gut. Two weeks of nagging back discomfort later, I gave the chair to a taller coworker who loved it. That chair wasn't bad. It just wasn't right for me.

And the price tag? I've seen good chairs under $300 and bad chairs over $800. The price doesn't decide. Fit decides.

How do I adjust an office chair for comfort?

Give yourself 10 minutes and go through these in order.

1. Seat height: Feet flat on the floor, knees at about 90 degrees. Your hips should sit slightly higher than your knees — that supports the natural curve of your spine. Sounds basic, but you'd be surprised how many chairs stay set for the previous user.
2. Lumbar support: Adjust it up or down so it presses into the inward curve of your lower back, around your belt line. Too high and it feels like a jab between your shoulder blades. Too low and you're leaning back just to use it.
3. Armrests: Set them so your elbows rest at about 90 degrees while typing. If they don't adjust and they're in the way, push them aside. An armrest that tilts your shoulders up is worse than none.
4. Seat depth: Sit back against the backrest and check for two or three fingers of space between your knees and the seat edge. If the seat digs into the back of your legs, it's too long.

Funny story: a coworker dealt with back pain for a month. She was sure her chair was broken. I walked over, and the lumbar support was upside down — the curve was pushing into her spine instead of hugging it. Five-second fix, after two years of use. I now include "check the lumbar support orientation" in our new-hire desk setup checklist. Apparently that's a thing.

Are AP score calculators accurate?

AP score calculators estimate a likely AP score based on raw points, using scoring curves from past exams. I use them with my students, and they're genuinely helpful. But "estimate" is the key word. These tools aren't official College Board products — they're built by third parties. Each exam has its own curve, and the curve changes from year to year.

I've seen calculators be impressively accurate, and I've seen them miss by an entire point. One student was projected to land right at the 4/5 boundary and got a 5. Another looked solidly in 5 range on every calculator we tried and came back with a 4. That's why I tell students: use the calculator to set a target, not to guarantee an outcome.

Because I teach history, I can speak to how these curves work for AP World History, APUSH, and AP European History. The scoring structures in AP Chemistry or AP Calculus are different enough that I won't give you false confidence about those.

Bottom line: these tools are great for planning — like showing a student how many multiple-choice points they need to make up for a weak essay — but they're not a crystal ball. Plan with them, don't panic or celebrate based on them.