Homeschooling from the Dollar Bin at Target

I shop at Target seasonally--after Halloween when the costumes are cheap, after Christmas when the twinkle lights are cheap, after Valentine's Day when the heart-themed crap is cheap, and during the back-to-school sales, during which this year I bought 60 Elmer's glue sticks for $10, each girl's very own choice of notebook for a quarter each, and a handful of boxes of crayons, also for a quarter each.

That, plus my big purchases in other places of all four volumes of the Story of the World activity books, both of the Minimus Latin books, and the balance scale, and my school shopping is done and done!

However, and y'all probably know this already, but Target? Right when you walk in the door they have all these bins of cheap-o junk that costs a buck! Mostly I zip on by the cheap-o junk, thoughtlessly repeating in a monotone, "No, no, no, no, no, no..." as my girlies ask for every single thing in every single bin as we walk by. But this time...this time!

Cheap-o educational junk!

And that's how my school shopping also apparently includes six different types of flashcards, everything from astronomy to the presidents (the girls enjoy looking through these on car trips), dice, dry erase boards (which, honestly, are of such low quality that I now regret having purchased them, but if they can stand the daily use that I'm subjecting them to through Christmas, I'll be happy again), playing cards (add hot glue to your mental picture of these cards--stand by for a post on that fun project!), and puzzles that diagram the Earth's make-up--

--and give the name and face of all the presidents of the United States:

Which has apparently locked me into a second trip to Target this season, since we now need to buy a set of playing cards to use as playing cards, not building materials.

Might as well buy some more crayons while we're there.