Product Review – The Educational Thrift Store
I admit, I’ve been keeping this one to myself for a while. Not that I want to be stingy. But, I love a great deal, a great book and a great piece of educational gear. A combination of those three is so very welcome, I have trouble sharing.
The perfect storm came about six months ago when Katie Uppman from Sprout Classrooms and I connected over a mutual love of an educational bargain. She and her business partner launched this fantastic online second-hand business for teachers to be able to score inexpensive, quality educational tools for their classrooms, and they wanted me to know that it was for parents too.
Oh, love.
If you love thrifting, you will SOOOOO love Sprout Classrooms. They buy up used educational gear from teachers who are retiring, moving grades, doing a classroom purge, and then sell them at seriously low prices.
I recently scored an entire kindergarten curriculum ($5), two full seasons of Magic School Bus activity books ($7 per season) and a whole whack of learning tools that make my learning mama heart sing.
At those prices, you don’t even mind paying the shipping to Canada (which can be a bit) and, if you are just buying books they will send them Media Mail to make it a better deal.
Sprout Classrooms – much like any second-hand store – is one of those places that you need to return to over and over again to find what you are looking for. I go there sometimes and think “Sheesh, nothing for me today.” Then I go back a week later and score – well – entire seasons of Magic School Bus projects.
For homeschoolers, teachers or parents looking to supplement their kiddos education this is a fantastic way to save a whole lot of money on things that are often hard to find and your regular retailers wouldn’t necessarily carry.
They have everything from stickers, bulletin board decorations and organizers to books, science kits and art supplies.
What I love the most is that, while I’ll still be avidly scouring the local thrift stores for educational goodies, I know that I have a one-stop second hand stop for all things educational in Sprout Classrooms.
Check it out today at www.sproutclassrooms.com
Category: CREATE & LEARN, Product Reviews
About the Author (Author Profile)
Robin is Our Big Earth’s Executive Editor. A journalist with more than 20 years under her belt, she’s worked for newspapers and magazines across North America. Vancouver Island became her home in 2006 when she and her husband ditched big-city life to raise their daughters close to familySubscribe
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Thank you for introducing the Sprout Classrooms site, Robin. As a teacher getting myself organized for back-to-school at the moment and cleaning out some of my storage shelves in my basement and classroom, I’m thinking this might be a better option than the poor thrift store for all my teacher stuff!
Have you ever *sent* Sprout Classrooms anything? Or just *bought* from them? The site wasn’t totally clear on how to contribute your stuff… but I will email them.
Michelle,
I have never sold stuff to Sprout, but I have bought stuff from Sprout, and it was wonderful! Katie has made the prices super affordable to teachers and it was extremely fast shipping. In addition, the customer service communication was awesome. I definitely recommend this website!
Thanks for the wonderful review, Robin! We are so excited to be serving the teaching community. As a teacher/homeschooler myself, I know how much we pour into our learning environment, especially financially. Hopefully Sprout can help ease that burden. We have literally thousands of items waiting to be uploaded in the next month or two, so please feel free to sign up for our newsletter to get updates.
In regards to selling items to Sprout, simply contact me through e-mail and I will review the process with you.
Thanks again, and have a fantastic school year!
Katie