Have I got this backwards?

Hi guys quick question about exo and endothermic reactions. Are these explanations okay? I was looking over my older notes and was wondering where i got these from:

"exothermic reactions are reactions that require larger amounts of energy to break the bonds in reactants, then to form bonds in the products. Unneeded energy is released as heat and temperature of surroundings increases. As energy has been released the compounds enthalpy has decreased"

"endothermic reactions are reactions that require more energy to form product bonds, than to break the bonds in reactants. Heat energy is taken in from the surroundings to supply the deficit and the temperature decreases. As energy has been taken in the compounds enthalpy has increased"

My textbook seems to explain this the opposite way "reactions are endo/exo as the energy required to break the bonds is more/less than the energy released when new bonds are formed".

Which way is the better explanation?

But where does the exothermic energy come from?

If we put in 500kj of energy to break the bonds and 1000kj energy is released, Where did the extra 500 come from and why was it released?

I thought that due to the conservation of energy, any exothermic energy was unused energy from the original input, after we had made new bonds, but that isn't correct?

I know this thread is a few weeks old but I've been away and only got back. Not sure if I still understanding this wrong or not even after using the interactive you provided. This is my understanding:

Different bond between atoms have different bond energies and require different amounts energy to break and form. The activation energy is the minimum amount of kinetic energy molecules must collide with to overcome the bonds of the atoms and separate them. To reach the activation energy required for reaction heat energy can be taken in from the surroundings and the molecules gain kinetic energy. Once separated the atoms can be recombined and depending on the bond energies of the new products there will be a chemical enthalpy change of +/-. If the bond energies of products is higher than reactants, heat energy will be taken in to become chemical energy and the reaction is endothermic. If the bond energies of products is lower than the reactants, the kinetic energy taken in by the molecules, to reach activation (?), is released as heat and reaction is exothermic. The change in heat energy is equal to the change in chemical energy due to Hess' law.