I planned very carefully so that I could manage to get my parents to say yes to letting me get something. Though, as good as the day walking through all the stuff was? Delivery day way so much better.
Do I remember these Scholastic sales? Not quite. Homeschoolers do it a little differently.
I looked forward to the Scholastic catalogues, arriving in our mailbox every month or three. Better still, though, were the warehouse sales. Twice a year (though most years we only went once), the Scholastic warehouses opened their doors to homeschoolers (also teachers and their families). As if that weren’t enough, most of the items were half price.
We drove for…I remember it as being a bit over an hour, but I also remember it as being located in Cinnaminson, and Google Maps says that’s only about 15 – 20 minutes away from my childhood home…anyway, we drove to the nearest warehouse and spent a couple of hours wandering the concrete aisles, looking at the books and occasional PC games on the warehouse shelves and some metal racks on wheels (like those shown above), spotting books to patch the holes in series we’d partially read (often out of order), buying things we’d never heard of because they looked interesting. (Every year there was always one book that turned out to be disappointing, but it was worth it to get all the ones that turned out well.)
The checkout line was almost always extremely long, but I didn’t mind, because I could read the books while I waited.
Tags:
#Scholastic #my childhood #nostalgia #(mixed with some pity) #(oh it was joyful at the time) #(but in hindsight it’s kind of sad that little-me’s access to reading material was so limited and luck-dependant relative to me now) #the more you know
Brinens and Things 