It’s Thrifty Thursday! Today’s Thrifty Thursday topic here on the blog, since we’re headed into back to school time, is thrifted homeschool items. Here is where two of my passions collide: going to thrift stores to find deals on things I want and need, and homeschooling. When I say “homeschooling” I’m talking about the long haul to bless generations of my family with items that support a love of learning. My adult children, if they ever read my blog, and as far as I know, only one of them does sometimes, might look at this list and say, “I don’t remember using any of these items in our homeschool.” That’s because most of these I acquired after they left, except for the Great Illustrated Classics, the Bright and Early Beginner Books, and a few board games. I didn’t really hit my thrifting groove until my youngest was 8 or 9, when we lived in AZ, and the three oldest had flown the nest. Even though my youngest is 15 now, and I don’t have littles living here on a daily basis, I keep these items for when the grandchildren visit, which does happen weekly so far. As I get more and more grandchildren I hope to use more and more of these items with them for Grandma Homeschooling Culture Time, regardless of the time of day or year, and regardless of whether or not my grandchildren are homeschooled.

Without further ado, here are my top 15 favorite items. Some of them are actually categories because I can’t limit myself to one favorite book or one favorite educational board game. 🙂 Everything shown in the photo above came from a thrift store, except for the apples of course, and I’ll talk about them all below.

1. Xacto Pro Electric Pencil Sharpener

I couldn’t believe my great fortune when I found the sharpener above. There’s a little story behind it. When I lived in AZ I worked for a company where I was paid to school a handful of children in my home. Part of being a teacher involved receiving a kit of brand new educational supply and resource items sent from Amazon. One of the items was an Xacto pencil sharpener. Well, that was exciting as we had had a hand-cranked pencil sharpener, and then had been gifted an electric sharpener by an uncle, but which got broken. One of my rascally children stuck a crayon into it and ruined it. So it was so fun to get a new electric sharpener replacement, but then it was a dud! It wouldn’t turn off unless it was unplugged. So every time you went to use it you had to plug it in, and you would immediately hear the blades turning, you’d put your pencil in, sharpen it, and then when you pulled out the pencil, the blades kept turning. So to turn off the noise you had to unplug it. That’s just a bit cumbersome. I know, know, First World problem. I reported the issue to the people in charge but they said they couldn’t replace it. So we lived with it for years. Imagine my delight when I found a replacement at my local Deseret Industries thrift store (DI)! I think it was $5. Definitely a Magical Thrifting Moment (MTM) where I felt my thrifting angels singing for me in the heavens above as I pulled the item off the shelf and smiled. Alas, I didn’t have a pencil with me to test it at the electrical outlet testing area provided in the store. I just prayed it would work when I got home and it did! So now we can sharpen our pencils so easily, without stopping to plug in and then unplug the pencil sharpener! Such harmonious function that didn’t exist for years in this home now does! I didn’t go into the store with the intention of finding this, it just fell into my lap. I love these serendipitous moments that involve God winking at me, as if He’s saying, “Hey I know you could use a replacement electric pencil sharpener for just a few bucks, so here you go! You’re welcome!”

2. Great Illustrated Classics

These books are fun because they present the classics of Western civilization in a more digestible form. That’s because they are abridged with simplified language and illustrations on every other page. I have found a lot of these at thrift stores through the years. You can probably find one in the next few months when you go thrifting at least weekly if you keep your eyes open. If you want to expose yourself and your children to the classics, this is a very inexpensive and easy way to go. When you are familiar with the stories you can all go back and do the unabridged versions. I view reading these instead of the unabridged versions the way podcaster Sarah Mackenzie of readaloudrevival.com says about watching the movie before reading the book. She says it’s OK to watch the movie first because it gets you familiar with the plot of the story. Then when you read the book your mind is free to catch the details and enjoy the storyline better because you know what happens.

3. Dorling Kindersley (DK) Books

I just looovve these! As a visual person who loves nonfiction and trivia, I love high quality photographs and illustrations about real things with simple explanations. I have found all these books above for $1.50 to $3 at different Deseret Industries (DIs) and one Savers through the years. Then I got the atlas below at Savers back in June, for around $3.50, which tends to have higher prices than DI. These books are just so fun and appealing with their explanatory text and beautiful photos. And the homeopathy book! It is such a nice complement to the Paola Brown homeopathy curriculum that we used a few years ago. I review the DK homeopathy book here. What a treasure!

4. Big Fat Notebooks

These are great, easy to read summaries of basic topics, at the middle school level. I have found them one at a time at different thrift stores. They are designed to look like notes in a notebook, handwritten by an 11-14 year old, with colorful diagrams. Then each chapter has questions at the end. I’m thinking this coming year we’ll go through them one at a time in our Morning Basket.

5. Chronicles of Narnia CDs

These CDs are all of the Chronicles of Narnia books by C.S. Lewis in audio format. They are fully dramatized with different voice actors along with fully orchestrated music. I found the set brand new, still in the shrink-wrap, at a Goodwill in Phoenix, AZ. For only $7! The back of the package says it retails for $59.99. We listened to these in the car driving to and from our homeschooling co-op 90 minutes each way for a whole year. So, soo good! The inside of the package is so beautiful, with the artwork of the package lined up with the artwork of the CDs, as I show in the photos below.

Isn’t it all just so gorgeous? So amazing!!! C.S. Lewis’ stepson Douglas Gresham was in charge of the whole project. He got the best and brightest talent in London to help with it. This is probably my absolute favorite thrifting treasure of all time.

Then gradually through the years I have found all the hard copy Narnia books, as shown below. My children have loved these books.

6. Bright and Early/Dr. Seuss Beginner Books

I’ve been collecting these since all the kiddos lived at home. I like to keep these especially for my grandchildren. When I give the grandsons a bath, it’s fun for the older one to get one of these off the shelf and read aloud while I’m bathing his younger brother.

7. Coloring Books and Activity Books, Especially Dover Coloring Books, Crayons, and How to Draw Books

The ones above were all $1 to $2 at thrift stores, except the Antietam to Gettysburg one. I think I got that on amazon, to add to my collection, when I was teaching LEMI’s Sword of Freedom class.

The idea is to let children color in these as I read aloud. I was never consistent with offering it to the older ones, when I had one or two. I’ve collected so many more since they left. So far my youngest two haven’t embraced the idea of coloring while listening to audiobooks or me reading aloud so I’m keeping them for the grandchildren.

I found the above case of crayons, pencils, and markers at DI a few years ago for $2. When my grandson saw it, he said, “This is the best day ever of my whole life! I love this!” Below is what it looks like closed up. This is a great reminder for me to have it more often when he comes to visit because we haven’t used it in awhile.

Then here are some how to draw books. I am almost done with my Bruce McIntyre’s Drawing Textbook, having done one drawing a day, off and on (years ago it was mostly off, but now it’s mostly on) through the years, and then I’ll advance to the book below on the left. I did the one on the right with my son for a bit and then he lost interest but I bet I can get my oldest grandson interested in it after he turns 8.

8. Card Decks of Quizzes and Conversation Starters, and Tiny Toys and Games, All for Travel, Read Aloud Time, and Dinner Time

I love finding Professor Noggins quiz card games when thrifting. All of the above were priced from 75 cents to $3. I also look for flash cards and Pomegranate brand card decks.

I’ve seen the Pomegranate decks in the BYU Museum of Art Gift Shop for the full price, around $13. At thrift stores I’ve found them for $1-$2. Everything but the After Dinner Trivia tin and the Word a Round game in the photo just below are Pomegranate brand quiz decks.

I was so happy to find a Kanoodle set for only $1 a few years ago. It’s a super fun 3-D puzzle.

I keep these card decks and some of the tiny toys and games close by in baskets next to the dining room table. Then during mealtime I pull out the cards and quiz the family or ask the questions on the conversation starter cards. The tiny toys and games are for the grandsons to play with after Sunday dinner. I keep the rest of the tiny toys and games in my game room/office to rotate through to keep interest high for the grandboys.

9. Board Games

I love board games and I love thrifting so the fact that I can find board games at thrift stores just doubles the pleasure! I’m always on the lookout for unique board games. I pass up on common boring, chance-based ones like Aggravation and Sorry! to find unique ones, especially educational ones. I use these for gameschooling. Here is a sampling of what I’ve found. (If you want to learn all about gameschooling, go here.)

Gardening Scrabble is so much better than regular Scrabble. It has cards that give you special powers, like the ability to “fertilize” your word and triple the score, or “rototill” your garden and get rid of all your tiles and get new ones. The game below is when one of my adult sons played the game with me over Christmas break. He was such a great sport to play with me when everyone else wanted to play Catan, which is not my favorite but another son’s favorite. I got it for $4! The seed packet cards with special powers fit in the pockets of this adorable gardening tools basket. Then you draw the tiles from the inside of the basket. So fun! Now I want to find Cooking Scrabble when thrifting!

A Jane Austen themed board game to test your knowledge of the stories and characters of all the Jane books! This was the thrifting treasure of the year! I got it in June for only $2.90. Another MTM for sure!

I’ve found so many other fun games while thrifting, for $1 to $6 each. Some of my favorite educational ones are Call to Adventure (storytelling), Funglish, Huggermugger, Code Names (which I got for only $1.50, brand new in the shrink wrap, story is here), Taboo (also new in shrink wrap), Periodic, Into the Forest, Spontuneous, Encore, and lots of history and geography games.

10. Little Golden Books

I find these for 75 cents to $2 at thrift stores and read them to my grandsons when they visit. They know right where they are. I keep them on a low shelf within their reach and when we do stories together they often pick from my LGB collection.

11. Picture Books of Seasons and Holidays and Other Topics for Morning Basket Time and for the Grandchildren

Above and below you see my different seasonal and holiday collections. So far I only have one book I thrifted for Valentines’ Day, Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch, which I was thrilled to find since it’s one of those I used to check out every year from the public library, and now I don’t have to. I have a bunch more for Easter and the other holidays, and just one for Halloween. I read these aloud during our Morning Basket time and to the grandchildren when they visit.

Above and below are some of my picture books for Independence Day. (I just discovered this past summer that I can decorate my front room with books by using the ledges above my windows and doors!

You can see the photos over here.)

This is the only Halloween book I have, which I found thrifting. I’m not super into Halloween and this is the only one I’ve found that approximates my feelings about the holiday.

Then shown above is my Thanksgiving collection. Two of the books were given to me by homeschooling mama friends and the rest I found at thrift stores.

The latest finds for my Christmas picture book collection. I have a lot more.

12. Baskets

I love storing books and little games and toys in baskets in our dining room/homeschool room. I didn’t have a true basket for years for “Morning Basket” time but now I do, with my bright yellow basket above which I found at DI for $3. I also found the Linnea book at DI. It’s a great book for Morning Basket to read through the whole year as it talks about little details about the four seasons and how nature changes by the season.

Then this basket below is in my front room for people to browse through when just wanting to lounge on the couch.

Both baskets above were thrifted, and all the items in the white basket above were as well.

13. Mother Culture and Education Items for My Delighted Learning of American and World Culture, Homeschooling Encouragement, As Well as to Give Direction and Enrichment of my Home Culture

I love books like those above, all from the thrift store, where I can learn more about civilization, culture and history, as well as just fun stuff. So here we have a book from Dr. Schaeffer, holiday crafts to do from Martha Stewart with those in my family who like crafts (my married daughter, grandsons, mom, and nieces) and the history of holidays and other days. I sometimes pull the books on the upper left and right when we are eating dinner and share the information. The Teacher’s Almanack is particularly fun with a list for every month of the interesting historical events that happened that month and days like National Dog Day or Pie Day. A Book That Takes its Time is a fun guide to creativity with little decorative cutouts and doodads and tiny cards. It was only $2. Then the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, below, I found at DI for only $2! It’s over an inch think and has everything any American needs to know to be considered literate and cultural!

Then I love picking up books about how and why to homeschool from other homeschoolers, like the one below. I read the book below from the public library years ago, and then saw it for $2 recently so picked it up. My review of it is here.

Speaking of culture, I also love family traditions books regarding holidays, seasons, Sundays, and everyday. So here’s my collection for that. All of these books above and below were thrifted except the Christ-centered Easter one from Joe and Janet Hales and Gathering Home by Emily Belle Freeman. (Fun fact: Janet Hales is my husband’s cousin.)

All three of these Christmas-themed books above came from either DI or Savers. They are guides to creating a magical, family-themed Christmas. Two of them are religious and one isn’t.

It’s just so important for we as moms to delight and dazzle our hearts with little things so our bucket is full and we can continue giving. Things like those in the picture above and the songbooks below are such inexpensive ways to delight and dazzle my heart.

14. Songbooks/Piano Music Books

I used to play a song from the Dr. Seuss songbook every morning as a rallying song to signal the start of our homeschooling morning. After the kiddos gathered around the piano we’d sing it together. The LDS songbook was only 50 cents at an estate sale and has a few songs new to me that I really enjoy playing. The rest I already knew and have already played a lot. Then this book below just so delights my heart every morning. I reward myself after doing my exercise routine by playing a song from it. The book has popular music from movies, operas, ballets, plays, and then famous classical songs like from Beethoven and Mozart. Some of the songs I’ve never heard before but a lot of them I have, and just didn’t know the name, like the waltz from the Copelia ballet.

15. Books About the Bible and the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ, and my other Core Books

I just love books that help me understand the scriptures, my core books, and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. My son and I finally finished reading the Redeemer book which we read during Morning Basket time.

So there you go! I challenge you to go thrifting in August and/or September to see what you can find for your homeschooling. You’ll be surprised at what you find it you go at least weekly for a month. Here’s a fun video below of a cute married couple, the Knorpps, who show what great homeschooling things you can find at a thrift store. They talk about things I didn’t write about like chalkboards, notebooks, binders, a lap desk, even metal lockers! I like Mrs. Knorpp’s suggestion of how to make a chalkboard or white board from framed art at a thrift store. Great idea!

So go thrifting for homeschooling, have fun and let me know what you find in the comments below!