Don’t Judge a Book By Its Cover (My Thoughts on The Books I Purchased From the Bundle Sale)

The Build Your Bundle homeschool sale has ended; however, you can still purchase these products individually through their respective publisher's websites.

I got all of my products downloaded from the Build Your Own Bundle sale and took a look through them.

Let me just say – you can't judge a book by its cover!  Just to be helpful, I thought I'd go through what I bought and tell you what I thought in case it will help you make your final purchase decisions.  Obviously I didn't buy one of everything, but I'll tell you about all 30 of the items I got.

1. Frank Webster audio collection/Petticoat Warriors/Little Pioneers

I know my kids are going to like these.  I've just got to figure out some way to get them off the computer because my kids will not want to sit in front of the computer to listen.  Probably the best way to do that will be just to burn them to a CD

Found in: Boy's Bundle (Frank Webster collection), Girl's Bundle (Petticoat Warriors), 1st-3rd bundle #2 (Little Pioneers)

2. Considering God's Creation – Science curriculum

Love!  This is written out purposely for use with multiple ages, which is exactly what I was hoping to do this year (combine the kids into one class.) The lessons are laid out for the teacher to know exactly what to say (which is great since I never was the best at science.)  They are based on Scripture, which means there is a Scripture reading each day and a discussion of what the scripture says about the particular topics.  There are the basic lessons, along with student activities, plus a number of suggestions each day for “digging deeper” – like videos to watch, books to read, or experiments to perform.  Lots of learning styles are incorporated – hands-on, auditory, visual – with suggestions for activities to do that will involve all of the different learning methods.  I'm VERY happy with this purchase.

Found in: Charlotte Mason Bundle

3. Growing in Wisdom and Proverbs People

I loved these so much I did an entire post about them.  Read it here.  In short: they're going to be just the thing my young readers need for doing their daily devotions.  They make it easy for children to understand and apply the Scriptures without being watered down.

Found in: Character Bundle

4. American Wars Volume I

My kids are not old enough for it yet, but there is a WAR GAME in this package!  How fun is that?!

“You are the leader of a four-member reconnaissance team. You receive your orders at headquarters at the beginning of the game. The orders—make your way to the destination and collect all intel on enemy troop positions and troop movements that you can—then make it back to headquarters with that intel.”

 

Found in: Boy's Bundle

5. Delightful Planning – A Unit Study planner

I actually probably won't use the planning pages from this because I work best with my own (mad scientist type) methods.  But, the first half of the book is a great resource for learning about delight-directed learning, how to make it work, how to make sure you include everything you need for a well-rounded education, etc.  It's a good resource in that regard.

Found in: Unit Studies Bundle

6. Elementary Foundations – Parenting Wisdom for Ages 5-8
Home Improvement: The Parenting Book You Can Read to Your Kids

Since these are parenting books (which means lots of words and no quick skimming 🙂 ) I haven't looked at these in great detail.  I really felt I didn't need to because they are from the National Center for Biblical Parenting.  I've read their Motivate Your Child (review here) and Motivate Your Child Action Plan books and found them both to be top-notch.  I'm not expecting anything less from these books.

Found in: 1st-3rd Bundle #2

7. Human Body Detectives

I chose the “immunity” one, but I'm considering going back for another purchase.  These just look cool.  The .zip file was LOADED with files when I opened it up.  Enough to keep us busy for quite a while.  (And I don't really know when we'll even get to it since I'm planning on the other science curriculum for the school year – this would make a fun summer study maybe.)

Found in: 1st – 3rd #1

8. Character Collection

I'm really excited about getting ALL these good books for my kids to read.  My only problem is figuring out how to get them into a format where they can read them. I don't really want them sitting at the computer to read (and I doubt they want to either.)  I've gotta get a little techy and figure out how to send them to some kind of cloud so I can at least put them on the Kindle or iPad.

Found in: 1st -3rd #1 and Character Bundle

9. My Journey With Jesus Christ

This is a nice little book that teaches kids about God and their relationship with Him.  It helps them understand concepts like prayer, God's promises, and learning to let God speak to them through His word.  I would not use this for personal devotions, but I would not mind my kids going through it to grasp these concepts.  I think the strongest takeaway from the book is teaching how to pray by confessing sin, praising God for his blessings, and bringing their petitions to God.  I also wish they had a King James version of this since that is what our family uses.

Found in: Character Bundle

10. Warfare by Duct Tape – beginner

I want to love this, and I know there are tons of other people out there who do love it and their boys use it regulary — but I just have to be honest with myself.  As “cute” as it is (if I can use that term about little boys doing battle with swords and shields), I know that in our family we will probably never get around to getting the materials needed (PVC pipe and PVC foam — along with cardboard and duct tape of course!)  I think when my boys are older and able to take their own initiative to find what they need to craft their weapons they will love it, but right now I just know I will probably never help them with this (brutal honesty here!  Hey a mom can't do everything!)

Found in: Boy's Bundle and Secular Bundle

11. 28 Days to Timeliness

I actually got this because I needed a couple extra products to finish building my bundle.  It looks like a great book; I'm just not sure I will have time to read it (ha!)

Found in: Mom Bundle #1

12. Creation vs. Evoluation: Learning How Science Supports the Bible

This wasn't as in-depth as I was expecting.  It is scripture-based, which is good, but I was hoping for more detail than it included.

Found in: Middle School Bundle

13. Family Bible Bites

This contains a lot of fun hands-on activities to help make your family Bible time and scripture memorization more…well…memorable.  I'm not sure we'll use it as we already have a good system in place, but it has lots of good ideas.

Found in : Character Bundle

14. Princess Training

There are parts I like and parts I could easily skip.  If you are a mom in need of some direction with training your daughter to be a godly young lady, this could be a good resource.  I don't think I will personally end up using it, but it does have some creative ideas for moms of girls.

Found in: Girls' Bundle

15. Elementary Spelling Fun: 1-3

I couldn't believe this is 3 YEARS worth of spelling!  That's a great deal!

I like that the spelling words are based on scripture, and that it also contains handwriting practice with Scripture copywork. (Great for memorization too!)  The daily activities for practicing the spelling words are switched up every day to keep things exciting.  The only thing I'm not sure about is how well the spelling words are going to match up to the kids' phonics lessons.  I like to teach things “in order” (even though I know that's not always necessary or the best way, but it drives my brain crazy to skip around.)  If you're not terribly picky about the spelling words perfectly matching up with your phonics lessons, I think this is a great deal and a good curriculum.

Found in: 1st – 3rd Bundle #2

16. Your Business Math Pet Store

My kids aren't old enough for this yet, but this is going to be SO FUN!  Why settle for boring exercises to learn business math, when it can be so fun?!  It will probably help the kids solidify the concepts even better anyway since they are actually learning how to keep a start-up business afloat through a simulated pet store ownership.

Found in: Charlotte Mason Bundle

17. Lads and Ladies of Wisdom

This is a really good character training curriculum. It's better than I thought it would be, to be honest.  I think we'll get some good use out of it.

Found in: Character Bundle

18. Teaching Science and Having Fun

This one blew my expectations out of the water.  I almost didn't buy it, but I'm so glad I did!  It is so much more in-depth than I expected it to be.

It gives tons of suggestions for teaching based on what style best fits your family and helps you know what you should be teaching to what age chidlren.  If you like a unit study approach it gives suggestions for teaching phonics, grammar, spelling, etc. along with what you're currently studying in science.  So helpful!

Found in: Mom Bundle #1

19. People of the Bible Volume 1 and 2

I could live easily without this one.  If you've never done any sort of notebooking before and need some guidance, this could be helpful, but I didn't really find it necessary for us.

Found in: Notebooking Bundle and Character Bundle

20. WriteShop

This is another product that I feel like I got a really good value from! I never dreamed I could teach my 1st and 2nd grader creative writing!  I also love how this is going to integrate language arts as well as penmanship.  They're learning what I consider the absolute essentials (language and penmanship) as well as getting some great practice on the “extras” (creative writing.)  I plan to use this curriculum this coming school year.

Found in: 1st-3rd Bundle #2

Time is running out to make your final decisions!  I hope my thoughts on what I bought will help you out a little bit!

Purchase a Pre-made bundle here.

OR

Mix and Match to Build Your Own Bundle here.