Counting Pinecones: YWAM Publishing (A Homeschool Crew Review)

Each time that I am given the opportunity to read a book from YWAM Publishing, I'm all over it. They are one of my favorite companies that I enjoy including both in our homeschooling as well as having available for free reading. I always put money aside when we are going to the area homeschool convention knowing that YWAM will have a sales table there so that I can pick up a few more books for our personal library. So when I was given another chance to review a book, I was super excited.

For this particular review, we were given the choice of several different selections both from the Heroes of History series and the Christian Heroes: Then & Now series. Since I was about to have to purchase it as it is a required text for a curriculum that the kids are currently using in our classroom, I selected Heroes of History: Daniel Boone for our review selection. We were also given the downloadable study guide that can be purchased to go along with the book.

About YWAM Publishing

YWAM Publishing is part of the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) Ministries that was founded in 1960

and offers a large selection of quality books written about figures whose lives not only had a huge impact in history but also showcase how their faith helped shaped them and how God used them to make a difference in the world. With books about Presidents such as George Washington and Ronald Reagan, great inventors like Thomas Edison, pioneers such as Davey Crockett or Meriwether Lewis , Civil Rights icons like Harriet Tubman, Sports icons like Lewis Zamperini and Missionaries such as Nate Saint and Corrie Ten Boom and even people like Ben Carson who are making an impact today, there's so many options that are sure to spark interest in any reader.

But these aren't just cut and dry textbooks. YWAM Publishing brings each story to life through engaging biographies written by Janet & Geoff Benge. Each book focuses on extraordinary people whose faith helped them to achieve some of the greatest accomplishments in history.

How We Used It

The kids and I are currently using an All-in-One style curriculum that revolves around 6-week unit studies to teach American History. This particular curriculum focuses using "living books" to tie in the various lessons for language arts, science, and history. One of the reasons I picked this particular curriculum was because of the fact it did use a number of titles by YWAM Publishing.

Over the course of the last 6 weeks, the kids have been reading Daniel Boone, Frontiersman as their daily read aloud as well as working on their reflective writing using the passages from the book to answer questions designed to make them thing. It would be very hard to do these types of assignments from most children's books but YWAM makes it very easy with all the details they weave into the story. The kids learned about the early life of Daniel Boone as he suffered through smallpox and how being confined to bed in his cabin most likely had a huge influence on how Boone because the outdoorsman that he became. We also learned about how to Daniel was able to recognize the character traits he was looking for in his future wife, Rebecca Bryan. We read about the Boone family's moves from place to place and the heartaches that the family experienced. They learned about what made

One of the things I really enjoy about the Heroes of History series is that while historically accurate, it's written in such a way that really pulls the reader into the story as it bridges the gap between non-fiction and fiction. Readers are not subjected to dry textbook style reading as one would find in a typical history book, but instead are immersed in the story, setting and characters like they would be with their favorite novel. Yes, all the pertinent material such as dates and locations are included but they are presented in such a way that they are part of the story. From a parent who follows a more Charlotte Mason style educational format, I really like that these books are easily considered Living Books. The stories are vivid and engaging but highly educational.

The other great thing is that this text provides a platform for so many other "rabbit holes" when it comes to learning, from Native American studies to learning about edible plants, From YWAM also recognizes this and offers a valuable downloadable 76 page guide that includes comprehension questions for each chapter of the book, as well as multi-subject activities such as Language Arts essay questions, arts and craft activities, field trip suggestions, and movie and additional reading suggestions. There are also notebooking pages as well as overview guides for homeschools, small groups and traditional classrooms that provide the historical order in which the books can be read, making incoporating YWAM books into your history lessons easy. .

I really enjoy sharing these books with my family and you can bet that in June, I will be purchasing a few more titles to add to our library. I've had my eye on the Corrie Ten Boom: Keeper of the Angels' Den and Dietrich Bonhoeffer: In the Midst of Wickedness. I also know that we will be using Theodore Roosevelt: An American Original for a later study in our curriculum so that will be on my purchase list as well.

You can find out more about the Heroes of History and the Christian Heroes: Then & Now series on the YWAM Publishing website. You can also find them on the following social media platforms.