Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
YWAM Publishing has an amazing series of books called Heroes of History. We first were able to read some of these wonderful books back in 2017 and 2018. Our youngest has developed an even greater love for history since then and so I was really excited to be able to review another one of these books. I let him pick who he wanted to read about and he chose William Bradford: Plymouth's Rock. These books are amazing because you are learning true stories from history as well as reading how these people grew in their faith and lived through adversity.
One thing I love is that these books come with amazing study guides. The great about homeschooling is that you can tailor your child's learning based on their needs. YWAM Publishing understands this and has given us the basic tools that we can take and adapt how we see fit for our families. These books and study guides can be used as a full unit, you can pick and chose activities or you can just read them for enjoyment. These books are not just for learning history, but they also include activities that can be used for language arts, character development, geography etc. There are comprehension questions for each chapter along, key quotes, vocabulary words, projects recommendations and so much more. You could read through these books following the timeline given in the study guide, you could read them by theme or you could choose the order in which you read them. The options are truly limitless.
I'm not the history buff that my son is, but I do love a great book. We learned so much while reading William Bradford: Plymouth's Rock. One thing that is really cool about these books are that you learn tons of facts and tidbits that you've never heard before. Here are some of the things we learned about William and his adventure:
** When they were first out searching for land it was so wet that the water would hit them and freeze like a glaze.
** William once said it's "Better to face an arrow on land than this wretched cold at sea."
** While he was out scouting for land to call home his wife passed away. She slipped on the icy deck and fell overboard.
** The first cottages built were about 20*20, had dirt floors and thatched roofs.
** William became sick in early 1621, but as he recovered he almost died from the roof catching on fire. The gunpowder and muskets were stored there, but thankfully men were able to get them out before the fire reached them.
** After meeting Squanto William Bradford realized that he, Squanto, had seem more of the world than William had seen.
** April 1621 as the Mayflower left and headed back to England it wasn't loaded with materials to pay down the colonist debt like expected. They had been to weak and were only sending back rocks to be used as ballast.
** William Bradford was surprised when his name was put forward to become governor. He wasn't the oldest or the most educated which were usually things that were looked towards.
** William had to send advisors to ask Massasoit to be please slow down the amount of Indian visitors. They always fed their visitors and it was greatly diminishing their food supply.
** William combined two festivals held in England into a three day celebration for those in the New World.
** William Bradford was remarried in August 1623. His new wife, Alice Southworth, had come to the New World to marry him based on a letter he had written her.
** One of William's assistants and very good friends lied and stole from him and ultimately hurt the colony for his own gain.
** In 1650, at the age of 60, William decided to study Hebrew.
We chose to just read William Bradford: Plymouth's Rock from the Heroes of History series daily as a read-a-loud. Sometimes my son would play with blocks or some similar activity and I would do the reading. There are so many options in the study guide, but for this time in our schooling using it as a read-a-loud was the best fit. There are 26 titles in this series and we've only read three, so we have a good amount still to look forward to reading. YWAM Publishing also has another series called Christian Heroes: Then & Now. There are 6 titles currently in that series. Another great thing is that you can order the physical books, e-books or audio books. They've got you covered in whatever way you prefer to read. New books are always coming, so keep up-to-date with release dates by following their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or their Pinterest. We had 75 reviewers that had a choice between 32 books, so go check out who the other reviewers learned about this last month.
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