I am loving thrift stores! In fact, I have to limit my visits because I can’t seem to leave without a cart full of things we “need.” (When the sum of your personal belongings can fit in the back of a pick-up truck, it’s easy to get carried away with, “We don’t have this!” in the Bargain Barn or City Thrift.)
This fun acrylic photo display thingy was just too fun not to pick up. I knew I could repurpose it for homeschool uses. And sure enough, a use arose quickly. We now are using it to record vocabulary roots which we need to review periodically.
We simply leave the picture holder on the homeschool table and thumb through it every now and then. Sometimes I quiz Sprite, sometimes she quizzes me.
Just having it there reminds us to review.
How do you incorporate review into your schedule? Or maybe you ‘d like to share a great thrift store find and how you repurposed it for homeschool.
How cool. This is a great idea. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Love those thrift stores!! =) I haven’t used this idea yet, because I haven’t made the 40 mile trip to town since I heard about it, but I’m planning to make one (or more!). Here’s the gist: take an old picture frame, leave the glass in place, cover the cardboard backing with fabric and put it back into the frame. It is now a wipe off board!! =)) Practical but pretty, too!
I love your clever repurposing of the photo holder and really liked getting to see the visual cues you have made for vocab roots!
For reviewing, if it’s out-of-sight it’s out-of-mind for me so I either print out, frame and keep displayed on a book stand on our table or paste in a booklet that is kept in a basket by my chair for easy access.
Anytime you can add a visual component to review it is a good thing for many learners. One of mine scores high in ‘rhythm memory’ so for her we would makeup a rap or a song out of things she needed to commit to memory, such as the multiplication tables, a preposition list, etc. Also drawing a picture or other visual representation of something is helpful and tacking it up so it is seen often.
Love your thrift store repurposing idea, Jimmie!
Dana Wilson
Epi Kardia Home Education
http://www.epikardia.com
http://www.epikardia.com/blog
dana@epikardia.com
Great idea! We repurpose all the usual stuff, like shoe boxes and egg cartons. Someone gave us some fancy chocolates at Christmas and I’ve been saving the little boxes–I just know we can use them for something!
Our best way to review is to just orally quiz each other in the car or before we start a new lesson.
I live for thrift store finds. 😉 Mostly baskets or tin buckets that hold our pencils, markers, chapsticks, or anything else. We have them ranging from itty bitty to great big. Square, round.. I might have a small obsession..
Oh, and I gotta say.. I miss Goodwill and their .49 cent kid books. Can’t tell you how many OOP books for our unit studies I snagged that way. I have yet to find a good used book store here.. or a good bookstore in general.. alas, the downside of Island life. 😀
We just LOVE thrift stores. Our favourite finds are educational games(with all the pieces!). We have managed to pick up ones on geography, math, history, spelling, logic, and many more over the last 5 years. We also search for art supplies and books. Lots of books. At our local thrift store you must get there right when it opens as they put the new items out overnight and the good ones go fast!
Let us not forget the library for bargain books…this week I found a hard cover math book..a history book…both 50 cents…there is a home- school free-cycle group also..I have not tried them yet..