Back-to-homeschool shopping

Yellow #2 pencils.  Pink erasers.  Crayola crayons and markers.  Marble composition books.  Dissection kit.
Hold up.  Dissection kit?  The Things are going into first grade and preschool, respectively.  Why on earth would I need to buy a dissection kit?
Well, we're dissecting seeds this year.  I would love it if Thing 1 came away from this school year knowing what a "cotyledon" is.
In many ways, I am a school supply traditionalist.  Why buy the notebooks and pencils with the crazy designs when the basics are much cheaper?  It's not like I'm dealing with peer pressure!  It's not like Thing 1 is sitting next to a little girl with a "My Little Pony" notebook. (Yet ANOTHER reason to homeschool--avoiding status purchases.)  My 4" 3-ring binder with the clear cover is just fine.  And, when the end of the year comes, I'll have all of Thing 1's papers in one place.  It should help with the evaluation.
But, yes, in other ways, I'm a little weird.  How many of my neighbors are buying their kids sketchpads?  Or magnifying glasses with a built-in compass?  Or timeline books?  Or folksong CD's?  Or butterfly kits?  Or artist's pastels?  And, yes, I'm getting the dissection kit.  In a few years, maybe we'll even get a frog to go with it.
However, homeschool shopping is not just supplies.  There is also the backbone of our program--books!  While about half of our books are public domain (and downloaded free on my Kindle), there are other books that require me to part with actual funds.  Workbooks for handwriting.  Hebrew language texts.  Chumash workbooks.  Math texts.  History spines (a one-time purchase, to be used for both kids over several years).  And, I want to get it all here before our first day back, August 6.