Homeschooling with Biographies {TOS Crew Review}

I love homeschooling.  I also love to read.  A big part of our homeschooling includes reading.  Lately we’ve included homeschooling with biographies in our curriculum thanks to a review from the TOS Crew of a YWAM Publishing book and study guide.  We received Christian Heroes- C.S. Lewis in a paperback book as well as a digital download of the digital unit study that goes along with it.

Homeschooling with Biographies is really very easy thanks to this company and with kids who love to read as much as I do it’s enjoyable too!  You’re getting some history, some reading, grammar, spelling and vocab, as well as fostering a love of learning.  Plus the bonus is you’re reading about Christian heroes and increasing the knowledge base of your children.

We received a paperback copy of Christian Heroes- C.S. Lewis for our homeschooling with biographies review.  This retails for $7.50 at this time on the YWAM Publishing website with a regular price of $9.99.  You can also purchase the book on an audiobook CD/MP3 or a kindle/nook/ebook version.  I prefer actual physical books for reading in our home as the kids don’t have an ereader.  We do love audiobooks though for car rides.  Our book is 189 pages long and is recommended for children ages 10 and older.

My main reviewer is my 11 year old daughter for this book.  She read the book and worked through the study guide.  After she finished the book it was immediately hidden away from me by my 9 year old son who is now reading it.  He is also working through the study guide.  Like I said, we love to read in this house!

We chose to do homeschooling with biographies with the biography for C.S. Lewis as the Chronicles of Narnia is a favorite series for our children.  Both of the two reading and reviewing this biography have also read the complete Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis as well as listened to it read aloud to them at least twice.  We love to use that series as our supper time read aloud.  

Janet and Geoff Benge are the creators of the Christian Heroes: Then and Now series and are also the authors of this particular biography we received.  We do have several other YWAM Publishing titles and can honestly tell you they are all wonderfully written and you’re going to enjoy reading them.  They flow well and keep the reader engrossed without embellishing the truth or making it seem dry.  

The digital study guide is broken down into questions pertaining to each chapter.  They include vocabulary, easy questions, and questions that will truly make your student think and delve into who C. S. Lewis was and what he did during what times in history.  Plus there are lots of fun activities to keep your reader engaged and coming back for more!

The study guide will give you a sample schedule and ideas on how to use the information and study it presents, but ultimately it is up to you how you want to use it and at what pace you go.  There are literally tons of different activities to choose from.  We decided to do a chapter a week though sometimes more than one chapter was read.  It allowed time to do several activities as well as make sure that the content of that chapter was fully understood and processed.  

I do want to mention that homeschooling with biographies is lots of fun.  You and your children learn fun history facts as well as fun facts about the person the book is about.  For instance, my daughter was very excited when she learned that C.S. Lewis actually spent his childhood in Ireland and not England and that his coming to England actually was when he went to boarding school(not a pleasant experience).  

YWAM Publishing has lots of titles to choose from and our Crew members were offered a choice of 28 different biographies to include in their homeschool.  We obviously loved homeschooling with biographies but don’t take our word for it.  Check out the Main TOS Crew Blog for other reviews to see what other biographies were offered up.  You can also find YWAM Publishing on their website, facebook, twitter, pinterest, and their blog.