"We're homeschooling our daughter in high school, and the Community College is a great place to get those Science courses that require labs. It's almost impossible, as an individual, to get the kind of supplies that are sold to schools."
Hmmmm, sounds like a business opportunity to me.
Many of the chemicals and solutions are closely held, especially since 9/11 because of the concern of terrorism, I guess. They just flat won't sell them to individuals, homeschooling or not.