Tell me good things about the Homeschool Store in Houston

[KRG]

5 years ago I started homeschooling. I went to the Homeschool Store in Houston. I guess I was a little overwhelmed. There were dogs in and out of the store. A young girl was at the front counter and I saw no one else in the store. I walked around for about 30 minutes waiting to find someone to talk to but no one ever came in. I really want to go back and give them another chance and after 5 years I have a better feel for what I am looking for.

 

Thanks for any input!

[Juniper]

The play area is still a bit chaotic, but I am glad they have it for when I need to sit down and really look at stuff. You will still find a pre-teen to teen running the counter, but I have found them to be very adept at their job.

 

I buy mostly from the used side of the store and have found them invaluable for literature selections. I have certain companies that I do not like to buy from on principal, but I can often get the item I need used at the store.

 

The biggest thing is they just have such a massive selection and I find that invaluable. There was once a very heated thread on here about a certain curriculum. It was a curriculum I had considered and was very pricey. I needed to see how "bad" the issue was or if it was something I could overlook. I went there hoping they would have it, but really not thinking they would. They did! It was so helpful.

 

Another time I just happened to be there when a dyslexia specialist was shopping for items to use with her special needs kids in PS. She quickly steered me to some items I never would have looked at.

 

Hope that helps!

[higginszoo]

This is the one on the northwest side of 610?

It's got some great bargains if you can find what you want. I got some great deals there a couple of years back ... a whole set of Alg I books -- student text, teacher guide plus all of the extra masters/tests, etc. for like $20. When I was there, there was a kid about 10 manning the counter, but when I had difficulty finding something, she got her dad out of the office.

 

My ds is a Shriners patient, and his clinic is usually on Mondays when that store is closed, so I end up going to HEP more often, since we're pretty far south by the time we are at the hospital and they're open on clinic days. It's a 3 hr. each way trip, but we can do it all in one day, so don't stay over unless he's having surgery -- I think that's when we went last time -- we got into town early enough before it was time to check in.

[Amy in TX]

I like the store. They have a huge selection of new and used stuff. They often have kids manning the register (it's family-owned), but they are helpful, and there is always someone older around. They buy used curriculum and give fair prices for it. (Once I brought in some stuff to sell, and the person responsible for buying wasn't in the store, so I had to bring my things back another time. But that's only happened once in the several years I've been going there.)

[elegantlion]

*sniff* I went there once, now we've moved.

 

I spent a few hours in there while my boys went shopping somewhere else. It can seriously be overwhelming, so make a list. I loved the used section and really got to look at some items I hadn't considered.

 

I sold some items and the prices were decent, so it was a nice discount on my purchases.

 

It was like a perfect-day day trip for us. Afterwards we went to IKEA. Beautiful day!