What is the YWAM Publishing Heroes of History collection?
The Heroes of History collection is a collection of books about some of the prominent figures in history. There are books available in this Heroes of History collection on such historical figures as George Washington, Christopher Columbus, Clara Barton, Harriett Tubman, and Ben Carson, to name a few.
These books are written in story format so they make them fun and interesting to a variety of ages. I must admit, I was captivated. Davy Crockett: Ever Westward by Janet and Geoff Benge was about 200 pages outlining the story of the life of Davy Crockett. Both my kids were fascinated.
How we used Davy Crockett: Ever Westward
We chose to read Davy Crockett because my son has a fascinating in hunting and this time period and I just knew that both my children, age 10 girl and age 6 boy, would love the story. And I was right.
It is VERY well written and easy to read for an adult. We used it as a read aloud. My 10 year old had no problem taking her turn to read. It was very smooth for her as well and something that she could have easily read on her own. The story was enjoyable and my kids were always asking for “one more chapter.”
The Unit Study Curriculum Guide came on a CD-rom; however, I understand that the company is phasing out the physical CDs and these study guides will be available as digital downloads for most products as the CD supply is depleted. Nevertheless, the CD-Rom was easy to use and chalk-full of usable information to further our study of Davy Crockett.
The Unit Study Curriculum Guide allows you turn their Heroes of History series into a unit study if you wish. This means that you can use the book itself as the “text,” if you will, and then use the CD-Rom to lead you through additional studies related to what you read in the areas of geography, history, critical thinking, writing, vocabulary, and science. The included resource guide provides maps of the area, hands-on projects such as a timeline, and even a ‘fun fact sheet’ to fill out about Davy Crockett.
The Unit Study Curriculum Guide itself discusses uses for homeschool as well as group environments. There are chapter questions for younger and older students (don’t worry, the answers are provided in the back of the guides) as well as extras like famous quotes, ideas for student audio/visual projects pertaining to the books, creative writing topics, and even arts and crafts. There is a section that helps you figure out community links to the story and gives some great field trip ideas. The social studies chapter gives pertinent places to locate on a map or even visit if its plausible. Vocabulary words and geographic locations are provided to further your studies as well. As section of books and resources is provided, which is a great way to give your students more ideas on where to read more about your Hero. (I liked that the book resources even gave an age range on the books it recommended so you would know what might be appropriate or not for your student to search out on a library trip.) There is even a list of movies and documentaries about Davy Crockett in this section as well, also with provided age recommendations.
Overall, between the book itself and the Unit Study Curriculum Guide, you could easily spend a few weeks studying your hero and having a great time doing it. We had a great time learning about Davy Crockett and I would definitely see us using the YWAM Publishing Heroes of History series again in the future. Overall, both the kids loved the book and the activities we chose. What a great product!
You can purchase the Davy Crockett: Ever Westward book for $9.99 and the accompanying Unit Study Guide for $9.99 on the YWAM website.
Check out the whole YWAM Publishing heroes of History series on their website. And visit YWAM Publishing on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
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