YWAM Publishing Helps Us Learn History through Literature for Our Christian Homeschool

I’m a firm believer in teaching history through the use of good literature. My oldest is 14, and so far all we’ve used for History and Social Studies are “living” books.

Our family really enjoys the Heroes of History and Christian Heroes: Then and Now biographies published by YWAM Publishing. So far we have every one published. Beginning in 5th or 6th grade, my children start reading these wonderful stories for their history. They’re reading about real people of character who changed the world. Many of the Christian biographies are about people that most textbooks wouldn’t mention, but they are important in contemporary Christian history.

My 14 year old daughter, Emily, likes YWAM biographies “because they don’t just tell about the person’s greatest accomplishments. They actually tell about their lives and that makes you care about the characters more.” They are interesting enough to keep the attention of children young and old alike. They’re easy to read yet are interesting even for teens or adults. Check out the books yourself at YWAM Publishing. BTW, they also have Unit Study guides for many of these biographies. They also have some of them written and illustrated for younger children.

As my children get older, I’m being stretched and my convictions are being tested. It’s very tempting for me to turn to a textbook to teach history. So far, I have resisted. As Emily loves history, I don’t want to do anything to turn her away from it, and I’m sure that a textbook focused on getting in all the facts and dates and major events would do that. While I’m looking for that “perfect” book that is interesting, complete, and Christian in worldview, I will continue to let her get her history in by way of biographies and historical fiction. Since my daughter and son have both read all 46 Heroes biographies that YWAM offers, we will next be purchasing their International Adventures biographies, such as Bruchko and Dayuma and Peace Child which are for teens through adults. Again, you can check these out at YWAM Publishing.

Okay, I know I’m totally on the YWAM bandwagon here. I’ve bought a lot of our best books from them and I just have to give them a plug. I’ll tell you that on the books they carry, they have the best price of anyone. I’m one to shop around to get the best price and I know it’s true. So let me tell about some other books we’ve gotten from them and that they offer, many of which we’ve used for History as well.

My daughter has enjoyed The Daughters of Faith series and she and my son both like The Guardian series, The Reel Kids Adventures series, Wally McDoogle series, Jim Elliot DVD, William Tyndale DVD, and others. Other books we’ve gotten for our homeschooling through YWAM are Annals of the World, Exploring the World Around You, It Couldn’t Just Happen, Men of Science-Men of God, and the Wonders of Creation series. The Wonders of Creation series is a good series which I would recommend for 5th through 7th or 8th grades.

I know there are other books we’ve gotten through YWAM. Guess I’ll tell about those another time. I hope this has helped someone. I’ve spent so much time scouring the internet, catalogs and bookstores for good books for my children, that I’m glad when I can let others know of my discoveries.

--Carmen

Teaching Children about Spiritual Hunger

I shook the milk jug with my fake milk--cornstarch in water--toward the kids at children's church last Sunday. "The Bible is like milk," I declared. "It nourishes you--it feeds you--so you can grow." The children stared at me waiting for more. They're such sweet children and want to know the truth. They were expecting me to explain this mystery of how the Bible feeds us. "It's like food for the spirit," I expounded. I picked up my big Bible and held it up to add clarity to the concept. They continued to stare. Some had heard this concept before and relaxed at the familiarity of it. Others continued to stare blankly. Wonder what they were really thinking. I just can't guess.

Then the idea came to me. "How many have ever been hungry. How many know that feeling in your stomach called hunger pangs." Surprisingly, a few didn't raise their hands. (Ah, America. We're well-fed.) "Well," I continued, "when you were a baby you learned what it feels like to be hungry. You felt that pain in your stomach, you cried, you were fed some milk and felt all full and good inside. You found out that when you had that pain in your stomach that you were hungry and you wanted milk. You don't even remember it, because it was when you were a tiny baby." They like this. Kids like hearing about when they were babies because they can't remember it.

"Well, we don't seem to learn so easily what it feels like when our spirits are hungry and we have to teach ourselves to know. Sometimes you will feel lonely or kind of empty inside. You might feel like something isn't quite right or that something is missing. THAT means your spirit is hungry. You need to spend time reading or hearing the Word of God--the Bible. Or you can remember verses you have learned. You need to spend time with God--praying or worshiping and listening." OH! I could see the look of understanding spreading across many of their tiny faces. Because at five or six or seven or eight years old, most have already felt this spiritual hunger. They didn't know what it was. I hope that they have learned what it is and learn to feed their spirits before they get used to the feeling of being hungry all the time--and think it's normal or inevitable.

Drafting the Holy Spirit

When I was a girl, I remember a few times when my dad would drive closely behind a semi-truck on the highway. He said that it saved on gas because the truck would break the wind in front of us, thus reducing the resistance on the car. I don't remember being scared about it until I got older. I suppose I should have been scared, but I trusted my dad. He knew pretty much everything back then. I did wonder why more people didn't do this, too.

Anyway, I was talking to a writer the other day--okay, I was exchanging messages with him on Facebook. He was sowing a lot of time into building a website for a ministry. In the message, I began to pray for him--that his time would be multiplied back to him. The prayer turned prophetic and I said something like that his pen would flow swift and smooth, following in the wind of the Holy Spirit. I knew that wind wasn't quite the right word. Then the picture came to me. A picture of the Holy Spirit as if He were an airplane-bird-white wind being soaring through the sky. The writer was behind him writing. He was sitting, writing, soaring so closely behind the Holy Spirit that he encountered no resistance. He just wrote freely--swiftly--smoothly.

I love this picture. I was so excited. I called my Dad to find out what the right word is. It's called Drafting (also called Slipstreaming--as per Wikipedia). Bike racers, race cars and geese all use this technique to save on energy. Drafting the Holy Spirit. Slipstreaming. I quickly decided that I wanted this for myself, too. I want to draft the Holy Spirit. I want to follow Him so closely, that the resistance is lessoned as He leads the way. Imagine writing this way, or painting, or singing, or working--at whatever you do. Imagine ministering this way!

A great homeschool cartoon by Jim Erkstine (double click on picture)