My family had the privilege of trying the C.S. Lewis book and Unit Study Curriculum Guide from the Christian Heroes: Then & Now series by YWAM Publishing for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Schoolhouse Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.
YWAM (YOUTH WITH A MISSION) Publishing is a nonprofit organization that produces and distributes books that help Christians make a difference in the world by giving a portion of every dollar spent to buy books through YWAM Publishing to children and adults in other countries that are in need. Their books focus on evangelism, educational training, prayer, discipleship, and mercy ministries.
YWAM Publishing has two popular book series; one called Heroes of History and the other called Christian Heroes: Then & Now; in which true stories are told of real people that lived in our history. In the Heroes of History series we learn about great men and woman who changed the course of history. In the Christian Heroes: Then & Now series we learn about ordinary people who have put their trust in God and in doing so accomplish extraordinary things. Both of these book series help us as: parents, teachers, and caretakers; give our children wholesome biographies to read or be read to that teach good character traits, values, and virtues.You can read more about them at: http://www.heroesthenandnow.com/.
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| C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller Book |
C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller book by Janet & Geoff Benge is part of a series of 44 biography books called Christian Heroes: Then & Now by YWAM Publishing. This book tells the true life story of C.S. Lewis, the author of many great works, especially Chronicles of Narnia. I loved the Lion Witch and the Wardrobe book from the series growing up. When I had my own children I bought a really nice audio book set that included a physical book as well (had all Chronicles in one volume) of the whole series that was on sale and we listened to all the books in the series together as a family. Then as the newer movies came out, one by one, we also watched those and fell in love with this author once again. I thought it very interesting that there were so many parallels from Christianity with the books I loved from C.S. Lewis. This Christian biography book from YWAM Publishing about C.S. Lewis teaches great character traits, values, and virtues too. It chronicles his life in Belfast, Ireland from the age of 6 to his death in 1963. It is a total of 17 chapters and 189 pages long. I never really knew about his life and what fueled his imagination until I read this biography book.
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| C.S. Lewis Unit Study download page tab. |
The Unit Study Curriculum Guide that is paired with the C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller book that I received was a digital version that was downloadable to my desktop. The digital version is downloadable in a zipped format, so you will have to unzip before you use it. After selecting where it will go on your computer, unzip it, and find the folder it placed it all into. Find the file version you need: __MACOSX for Macintosh and the other for PC. Click on the file that has START HERE in its title and it will open in a new window in your browser. You can then read a very short synopsis of the biography under the C.S. Lewis tab, download the unit study under the Unit Study tab, etc.
The Unit Study downloads in PDF format. It also has a 12 page guide for classroom and homeschool as well as one for a small group that tells you how to best use the unit study. This shows how flexible you can be with the unit study. You can do the whole study or just parts of it. It is all up to you how you use it. The unit study goes in depth to help you go above and beyond the book and explore other areas that pertain to the material like: crafts, cooking, art, and writing assignments; has questions to ask your children to see if they comprehended the reading, and quotes or Bible verses to use as copywork to enhance handwriting or memorization. The unit study is broken into two parts.
Here is the C.S. Lewis Unit Study Contents:
Part 1 -
Introduction (how to use the study)
- Key Bible Verses (Quoted from both King James Version and the New International Version, great for copywork, memorization, theatrical presentation, devotionals, or art display)
- Display Corner (an area designated for hands on display of items relating to the reading)
- Chapter Questions (questions that enhance the reading: vocabulary, factual, 2 comprehension, and 2 open-ended)
- Student Explorations (essay questions, creative writing, hands-on projects, audio/visual projects, arts & crafts)
- Community Links (field trip ideas)
- Social Studies (places, journeys, terms/vocabulary, geographical characteristics: mapping, timeline: plotting historical events, conceptual questions)
- Related Themes to Explore (science, literature, folk culture, geography, history)
- Culminating Event (sort of a show and tell ending, ideas include: literary, clothing, music, food, oral presentations, displays)
Appendix B: Answers to Chapter Questions
Appendix C: Social Studies Reproducibles
Part 2 -
Continuation of Appendix C: Social Studies Reproducibles
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| Delbin, my oldest, reading YWAM Publishing Christian Heroes C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller. |
How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
I read the book to my two youngest girls who are 5 and 8 and my boys who are 13 and 15 read it to themselves. My girls enjoyed listening to me read about C.S. Lewis. After each chapter my girls and I did the first three questions from the study guide which are geared toward the younger students. They include a vocabulary question, a factual question coming from the reading, and the first comprehension question. The study guide is geared toward ages 10+. So I had to help them with the vocabulary because of its advanced nature. We would look up the words in a dictionary and thesaurus as well, for more understanding. My boys, Jaedan and Delbin, who are 13 and 15, had no problem with the reading and vocabulary, but that is because they are voracious readers. I had my boys do all of the chapter questions. Besides the chapter questions I had my girls do copywork from the key bible verses in KJV and I had my boys memorize them and say them back to me. We also read the book that C.S. Lewis wrote, Lion Witch and the Wardrobe, again and watched the 2005 version of the movie. Then we discussed and compared the parallels and differences of the book and movie. I had my sons do an essay as suggested in the study guide under the student explorations and essays. They also did some creative writing. We also learned about Oxford University (where C.S. Lewis went to college) and found a wonderful virtual tour website that we spent hours on just looking at the campus and learning about the buildings and history.
There was so much to learn and explore in this unit study. We were amazed at the very complexity of it all. We didn't even begin to scratch the surface and were still very engaged in the lengthy unit study.
The YWAM Publishing biographies are historical and true. These true stories along with the unit studies are great for homeschooling families. I highly recommend them!
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