A Fantastic Resource for Homeschooling Materials: A Review of Library and Educational Services LLC

One of the joys of being a newer homeschooler is that I am still discovering great resources on a regular basis such as Library and Educational Services LLC. Our homeschooling family loves books and other educational resources (audio books, DVDs, etc.) and we recently discovered a new place that markets to libraries, schools (including homeschoolers!), churches, and other locations – Library and Educational Services LLC. We were provided with the opportunity to select a number of resources to review including one Who Was...? book, a Lifehouse Theater CD, and several other non-fiction books from the Reinforced Hardcover Library Binding Nonfiction books category that totaled $73.88.

This new-to-me company has been around for 40 years. This wholesale distributor hails from Southwest Michigan and sells to libraries, schools, churches, etc.—and ships worldwide. The materials for sale through Library and Educational Services LLC are chosen to "ensure they are not contradictory to Biblical standards and values."

I found our experience ordering to be quite simple and easy. There were no problems with our order and everything arrived in very good condition. Our kids were very excited to open the box and see all of the books.

How Did We Choose Our Books?

There is a great selection of tomes available on Library and Educational Services LLC's site. To make our selections, I perused through the options and wrote down about a dozen ideas to talk over with the rest of the family. I did, however, select an audio book on my own. I chose Rikki-Tikki-Tavi from the selection of Lifehouse Teacher CDs because I thought it would be a good choice for our younger children.

Ordering was so easy for us. Because I had a code to purchase our items to review, I was a little worried the process would be cumbersome but I found it quite simple to order the review books and the extra DVDs I wished to purchase for our homeschooling family.

Who Was... Series

Are you a fan of the popular Who Was...series? Library and Educational Services LLC has a huge selection of the books very reasonably priced. I went through the selection and narrowed it down to three books for our six-year-old to choose from, for our review: Who Was Ernest Shackleton?, Who Was Edgar Allan Poe? and Who Was Jules Verne? He picked Who Was Ernest Shackleton? to review.

We read Who Was Ernest Shackleton? as a read-aloud book over a few weeks. Having a background knowledge of Shackleton and his famous trip on the Endurance, I found the book to be a great introduction to the life of this great leader. The black-and-white illustrations in the book helped bring the story to life as did the intermittent facts pages that provide information on Robert F. Scott, the clothing worn by Antarctic explorers, and the Southern Lights.

Reinforced Hardcover Library Binding Nonfiction Books 

There are between 200-300 choices in the reinforced hardcover library binding category of nonfiction books that are perfect for homeschoolers. They are arranged by grade level and topic level which makes it easy to look through all of the great options and choices. We picked several sets and one single book for this review. 

Farmyard Friends Series

This series of six books introduces early readers to animals that live on farms. We purchased a set of three (Chickens, Cows, and Ducks) at the request of our four-year-old daughter. Because they are hardcovers, they are perfect for our children to read and carry around the house as they decide in which room they wish to read. The size of the books is also perfect for preschoolers' hands. One page of text is accompanied by one photograph of the animal that is the focus of the book. The text pages have one or two sentences which make them quite easy for an early reader to read and navigate on their own. Our daughter really likes these books.

Timelines of American History Series

This series contains 12 titles. We purchased a set of six including:

• A Timeline of the Life of George Washington 
• A Timeline of the Continental Army
• A Timeline of the Life of Thomas Jefferson
• A Timeline of Congress 
• A Timeline of the Supreme Court 
• A Timeline of the War of 1812 

Our younger children have been studying the early history of America so these are perfect books to learn a bit more about famous Americans and our history in a relaxed way. The books contain illustrations, photographs, maps, and diagrams that help explain the lives and events discussed in each book. 

All About American Symbols Series 

We have also been studying American Symbols in our homeschool, so both of our younger children were excited to select a set of the books about American Symbols. They both eagerly read: 

• The Liberty Bell
• The Statue of Liberty 
• The Bald Eagle 
• Mount Rushmore 

I really like that we are able to have so many awesome history-related books in our homeschool library for our children to learn about America. These books have one or two sentences on a page with beautiful full-color photographs and illustrations. 

How Did We Use the Resources in Our Homeschool? 

I let our children look through all of the books whenever they wanted, once they arrived. The Timeline of American History series are a great fit for us and our social studies lessons. The three Farmyard Friends books are fun and fit in well as we like to visit a nearby farm during the summer and fall months. We also purchased one more book in addition to the others mentioned previously – The Battle of Saratoga by Wendy Vierow from The Atlas of Famous Battles of the American Revolution series. Our son has really enjoyed looking at the maps in this hardcover book.

I previewed the LifeHouse Theater CD before we listened to it at lunch time. The kids were enthralled with the production and wanted to know what was happening as the story of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi progressed. The cast of storytellers helped bring to life the courageous mongoose as he saved his family from cobras in the 33-minute audio adventure.

There are more LifeHouse Theater On-The-Air productions available that will entertain and educate your family. Favorite stories from classic literature, history, and the Bible are brought to life with acting, special effects, and music. 

Other Resources 

In addition to the items we selected for the review, I was also very excited to see that Library and Educational Services LLC sold Drive Thru History DVDs. We have several of them in our collection already but not the older series. We ordered Drive Thru History: Holy Land and in the future, I hope to purchase the other DVDs. I was very happy to see the Drive Thru History DVDs at such a reasonable price. 

There is a 28-page catalog available for download that offers a varied selection of books, CDs, DVDs, devotionals, fiction and non-fiction books for kids, teens, and adults, and homeschooling resources. Among the homeschooling resources you will find science and history texts, student and teacher guides, and more to help your day-to-day homeschooling lessons. I am really impressed with the variety of materials available. Some of children's favorite types of books –  Ready to Read and I Can Read! are available for purchase.

I know that we will be looking at Library and Educational Services LLC for future Christmas and birthday gifts. Books have always been one of our favorite items to give to family and friends and I love being able to support a quality company.

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Be sure to check out the other reviews to read about all of the awesome books, CDs, and homeschooling resources they found at Library and Educational Services LLC.