Review: Homeschool Library Builder (Fill Your Bookshelves Without Empying your Wallet)

Ok, I’m a self-confessed Book-a-holic, and I have been since I was a kid. (I started my picture book collection with my own money when I was 11 years old…)

Anyway, these days I find it hard to get out to the used book stores to scour their shelves for wonderful Living books, and Library Book Sales are sometimes hard to navigate with a toddler in tow.

Enter Homeschool Library Builder, a joint venture between two homeschooling moms, Gayla Weatherford and Julie Huffman.

Now, this isn’t an ordinary online bookstore (think Amazon), with a huge stock of books. What it IS filled with are treasures unearthed by Julie and Gayla’s experienced eyes, just waiting for you to pick them up. You will want to be fairly quick about completing your purchase if you find a rare book tho’, because there may be only ONE copy of the book that you are looking for.

Bonus…. If you are signed in as a member (it’s free, and no, they don’t send out tons of emails, so your inbox is safe with them..), the books you put in your cart will stay there (unless you don’t return for a period of time), real-time inventory! (Example… I had an out of print Five In A Row book in my cart… when I clicked on it’s title to check something out, it came up as “none available”, which concerned me at first, but I realized shortly that it wasn’t available because it was IN my cart… just like at a Brick and Mortar store… except no one’s husband could accidentally run off with my cart! ☺ )

Major Pros:
The prices are reasonable, BARGAINS in every instance, not price-gouging
The descriptions of the books and their condition (Remember, many are used) are complete and thorough.
You can browse the site in numerous ways
• New Arrivals/New Arrivals within two weeks
• Clearance
• Special Categories (For instance, right now there is a category of books whose proceeds are earmarked to fill up shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child! COOL! Oh, and you will receive free shipping on these items~ A win! win! situation!)
• Curriculum: Five in a Row, Sonlight , Beautiful Feet, Veritas Press, Tapestry of Grace, Ambleside Online
• Age
• Country/Region
• Topic/Category: Activity Books/Crafts, Anthologies/Storybooks, Award Winners, Biographies, Christian Fiction, Classics/Literature, Curriculum/Teacher Helps, Fiction, Gifts, Hard-to-Find/Collectibles, Historical Fiction, Historical Non-Fiction, Holidays/Seasons, Inspirational, Picture Books, Poetry/Art/Music, Readers, Reference, Science
The search function works perfectly, hurrah!
The Customer Service is Fast and Friendly!

Cons... I didn't find any~ I am completely happy with the service and site!

Gayla and Julie run several specials and sales throughout the year. Be sure to sign up for their newsletter so that you hear first what specials are coming up!

Oh, and did I mention that they have “frequent buyer” program? Their “Book Points” program works like this. For every dollar you spend on books, you accrue one point. Every 15 points is worth $1 towards your next purchase. So, say you make a purchase worth $39 in books, the next time you shop, you will have a $2 credit to apply to your purchase, with 9 points left over for next time. So, not only are you saving money by purchasing used/remainders with HSLibraryBuilder, you are also saving money on your future purchases!

Now, if I haven’t convinced you to check them out yet, I don’t know what else I can say, but I will mention that I just scrolled through 33 pages of AWARD winning books, and was amazed at some of the titles I had never seen, and at the very reasonable prices. Check them out, I’m sure you will be pleasantly surprised with their site and service. As homeschoolers, we can all appreciate the opportunity to save a bit of money, and still provide our children with excellent reading material. Thank you, Homeschool Library Builder