Every year when I attend our state's homeschool convention I would stop and visit the YWAM Publishing booth. Each year I thought, "Wouldn't it be so wonderful to be able to purchase the full set of books in both the Heroes of History and Christian Heroes: Then and Now series. Taking years to slowly read through each and every book. Well, over the last couple of years I read a few with Grace, but was recently given the opportunity to read, review, and share with my tutoring students Jim Elliott: One Great Purpose and the corresponding Unit Study Curriculum Guide.
Let's start with a little background information about YWAM Publishing, much of which I didn't know until this review. YWAM (Youth With a Mission) began back in 1960 as an outreach for missions work, which now covers 140 different countries with 17,000 volunteers. In the beginning YWAM Publishing had just one small printing press. They published tracts as an outreach during the Olympic Games in 1972. Currently YWAM publishes 150 of their own books. This is a non-profit organization with profits going to their outreach and missions organization. The authors of the book I reviewed are Janet and Geoff Benge. They live in Florida and have many years of writing experience as well as expertise in the fields of history and education.
Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose retails for $7.50 and is recommended for ages 10 and up. This book is also available in the following formats: CD, MP3, Nook, Kindle, and a direct e-book from YWAM. It can also be purchased in a Spanish translation. We received a physical paperback version of the book for review that has 192 pages.
Jim Elliott, along with other men and women, was a missionary to the tribes in the jungles of Ecuador. I don't want to ruin the story for those who are not familiar with Jim Elliot's biography. Needless to say it is a great read that left my student's engaged and more than once asking for more. We used this book as our devotion time and read one chapter a day. The kids did ask if there was a movie available to watch about this story. The most famous movie I felt would be a little too intense so I purchased an animated version to watch this week after finishing the last two chapters of the book.
Along with the book we were also given the corresponding unit study guide to review. The study guide is broken down into the following topic areas:
Key Bible Verses
Display Corner
Chapter Questions
Student Explorations
Community Links
Social Studies
Related Themes to Explore
Culminating Event
In the back of the guide you will find information regarding additional books and resources and answers to chapter questions. The guide is 62 pages and retails for $7.49.
I asked my students to pick two projects from the book to complete and share. These ranged from creative writing, hands-on projects, audio-visual projects, art and crafts, and food from Ecuador.
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| Acrostic Poem and Pottery |
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| Travel Brochure |
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| Ecuadorian Food |
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| Ecuadorian Food - Cold Fruit Soup |
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| River Shark |
We found this book and material educational, engaging, and enlightening. I love the fact that portions of the profits from all their products go to missions to help others around the world. I would not hesitate to use another book from either series for my students. The unit study guide makes it even more attractive, because creating unit studies myself never seems to work out. Using the book and study guide together easily creates a study that would last 4-6 weeks. That would include geography, vocabulary, cultural studies, scripture work, service projects, current events, math, and so much more. This way of learning has always appealed to me.
Please take a trip over the web to YWAM Publishing and check out all the wonderful titles that are available. Also go investigate what the other crew members thought of their books and guides.
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1 comment:
Hi Diane, My girls LOVE these books. They beg for chapter after chapter to be read and literally cry if I have to refuse. Their recall of people and events has surpassed my own to the point where I often ask them details, not to quiz them, just to fulfill my thoughts on one of the books. They are both under 10 and I have read at least 6 of the Christian Heroes Then and Now to them. We had an Evangelist at church last week who asked if anyone new who Corrie Ten Boom was the girls and I were able to respond, as I was putting my hand down I had to wipe the tears from my eyes because her story came flooding back to me. So profound. Not only do these books tell the stories of missionaries lives but when used along side a map and internet you can cover many classes with one book, i.e. geography, history, science, culture, etc. These are a tremendous asset to our family.
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