Homeschooling Finds @ The Dollar Tree

As much as I spout off about simplifying and consuming less, there's one place I can't resist... The Dollar Tree. Or, as Sim calls it, "The-Leslie-Can't-Leave-Without-Spending-At-Least-$20 Store".

Oh, he is SO right.

I try to go only every few months because I always end up coming back with sacks full of cheap plastic things that made sense for me to buy them when I was in the store... but then sit collecting in a corner once I get home. However, I spent all of last night browsing through the Lakeshore Catalog (it's a teacher supply catalog), making this huge unattainable - and unaffordable - wish list... and realized that I could buy or make half the stuff myself. So off to the Dollar Tree...

In addition to buying essentials - like toothbrushes (I have a thing about toothbrushes. I feel I have to replace the kids' brushes every month - and it's soooo much cheaper to buy 2 for a $1 this way), I bought some really cool things. Well, I think they're pretty cool.

Sim thinks it's junk.

But I'm the teacher. And the teacher is always right. Or, I like to think she is...

Okay. She is SO right all of the time. A Brilliant teacher. Fabulous actually. Knows EVERYTHING. It's a wonder she hasn't been on Oprah yet.

Snicker. Snicker.

Here's what I bought (all for 99 cents each -unless noted otherwise):

Lesson Plan Book

I never actually do a lesson plan, but jot down what I did for the day AFTER I did it. That's how I keep track.

Math Poster for Noah. He loves math. LOVES it. Clearly, he's adopted.

Number poster for Nandi & Eli - came with the ABC poster below. 2 for a $1.

Parts of a Flower poster that came with the Life Cycle of a Butterfly - 2 for a $1. We plan on growing our own flowers in the fall - in one of those thin see through containers that you can hang on your window so that the kids can see the flowers grow every step of the way. We're also going to order one of the grow-your-own-butterfly kits. So these posters will come in handy.

Pooh Number Match Game. I'm not sure it's going to be a big hit, but they love the Pooh "Things that Go Together" cards that we bought at Dollar Tree a few weeks ago, so we'll try it out. (Anything to get Eli working on his math skills).

I also bought a plastic "bug collector" that came with a net and some tweezers. Then I bought some plastic bugs (about 8 for a $1) and plastic frogs and now Eli & Nandi can work on their fine motor skills with the tweezers, their colors, counting, etc... "Pick up all the yellow bugs", "If you pick up 3 frogs and 5 bugs, how many do you have all together?".. things like that.

Have you ever seen those "Be Your Own Paleontologist" eggs at Target? They come with a hard egg and you have to chip away at it and uncover dinosaur bones. Then you have to put the bones together to figure out what kind of dinosaur you have. They have them at the Dollar Tree for $1!!!

Note: It's not as easy as it looks. That egg is rock hard! Plus, it's from the Dollar Tree.. so you can't guarantee that all the bones found will make up a certain dinosaur. But, hey, it occupied the kids for a good 30 minutes and provided them with quite the arm workout.

I think these would make really cool party favors for a dinosaur themed birthday party. (Speaking of which, they also have all the supplies you need to throw a Dinosaur Party - plates, napkins, goody bags, drink, signs - the works).

And last but not least... to add to the ever growing collection of dress-up clothes that we've seemed to accumulate... I present you with a foam knight's helmet, foam sword, and foam shield.

The kids decided to dress up and play "Chronicles of Narnia". They had a blast. Eli really enjoyed pretending to stab Nandini with a sword. Nandini enjoyed pretending to stab Eli with a sword. I enjoyed the fact that neither one of them thought it would be great to stab Mommy with the pretend sword (ahhh, progress!).

And then they realized that they couldn't fully play "Chronicles of Narnia" without having Aslan.. so they somehow convinced Noah to let them dress him up.

Awwwww, too cute!

And those are our Dollar Tree finds for the week!