Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose Ebook & Unit Study Review

  

As members of the TOS Review Crew we were privileged to review of YWAM Publshing’s Kindle Ebook Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose and we also received the Jim Elliot Unit Study Curriculum Guide part 1 and part 2 inPDF format. Part 1 includes the actual study guide Ebook and part 2 includes all of the maps that go along with the study. (if you get the physical books the maps are located in the center section of the paperback book). The Ebook is$6.99 and the Unit Study is an additional $7.49 for the Curriculum Guide. The age ranges are 10+, but I will tell you that we were reading these books long before age 10 and enjoying them.

Homeschool Young Man here, Homeschool Momma asked me to write up a bit about this review, so here goes. I liked that this was on my Kindle because I could take it anywhere and even read in the dark car when we traveled.

The book and unit study Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose starts out with Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming on the boat Santa Juana to Ecuador, which is in South America. Jim has some flashbacks to his earlier years. The book moves and goes onto talk about when Jim was living in Ecuador, his marriage of Betty, work at Shandia, and finally his work with Operation Acua. The later half of Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose, deals with his involvement in Operation Acua, which ends in disaster but there is a positive outcome. But I am not going to spoil this for you. You will need to get the book yourself and read. It’s REALLY GOOD! Be sure to read the epilogue for more details.

I’ve read about Jim Elliot before and enjoyed the stories as well as watch a DVD about some of the missionary work that he was involved with.

 YWAM Publishing has some incredible missionary stories, we have a entire library in our home of them and they are read and re-read. We have also used their Unit Study Curriculum Guides for Christian Heroes: Then & Now by Janet & Geoff Benge from YWAM Publishing.

The Curriculum Guides cover so many topics that your child will glean much by doing them. Here is just a sampling of what you can pick and choose from: creative writing, Bible memorization, creating time lines, DVD's, further reading, oral presentations, art projects and much more!

 

I’ve always allowed our son to pick and choose what he wants to study from the guides. A favorite has been the timeline activity, this was one of the projects that he chose to do from the Christian Heroes: Then & Now Jim Elliot Unit Study Curriculum Guide. Get as simple as you want and just follow along in the book for creating the timeline, but with a 13 year old, you can have them dig deeper. Using an Internet search engine my student did some extra research and added more to his timeline than what was in the book, it also helped that he had read a book on Jim Elliot in the past.

 Homeschool Momma make sure to read the introduction of the Unit Study book for an explanation on how to use the book as well. There are sections on learning styles and grade levels. I remember back when my student was in the younger grades, I heard homeschool mom’s talking about unit studies all the time, had no idea what those were. So they always intimidated me. While at a homeschool convention we found the YWAM Publishing booth and I looked over the Unit Study Curriculum Guide by Janet & Geoff Benge, it was so easy to understand! We were sold on it from then on. My son always had some extra pocket $$ at convention to buy the next one or two Christian Heroes, Then & Now books. Now that they available on the Kindle are so inexpensive at just $6.99 each and $7.49 for the PDF's to go along with them.

For the younger students reading Christian Heroes Then Now: Jim Elliot One Great Purpose there some fun activities such as the Student Explorations chapter that includes drawing or painting the effects of flood at Shandia in chronological order. For a bit older student they can have fun writing down language examples, such as writing down the Spanish phrases found in the book and maybe searching online to find a few more. There are fun tasks like bark rubbing with crayons or colored pencils. For high school age there are essay questions, terms and vocabulary too. This would be a great addition to a Spanish class. The neat thing about these ideas in the Unit Study book is that you can go as laid back or as in depth as you want in your learning.

 

I am thinking STOCKING STUFFERS this Christmas on the Kindle! What a great Christmas morning present, turning on the Kindle and finding some new YWAM Publishing Ebooks! As a side note YWAM stands for Youth With A Mission and these books will give your kids a heart for missions as they are exciting to read and captivating.


Some TOS Crew Members got a different YWMA Publishing Ebook to review, so click below to learn more.

 

Homeschoolers & The Law

 

As I ponder the above definition of homeschool, it saddens me to see that our legal rights are being chipped away in this country, in our state, at the county level and in our cities. When my homeschooler was a young lad, I never gave truancy laws a second glance, ya know, you see little kids out and about during the day with Mom. You never think much of it.

Now, as the Mom of a teenage boy, my mind thinks a bit differently.

What is your first thought when you see a group of teenage boys shooting hoops at the local park during the middle of a school day? Or a trio of teen boys walking through the mall, laughing and having a good time on a school day? "What are those hoodlums doing out of school?" What more or less would a truancy officer or police officer think? Think of that police officer alone, walking into a situation with a group of teen boys, he is going to be poised and ready for action if necessary.

Exactly, this is the reason why we need to be thinking about how truancy laws in our state, county and city could effect us.

 

If you don't think this is something to be concerned about in your homeschool, just do a google search for HSLDA truancy and see what you come up with. You will find many, many cases across our nation and you might think, ah, not a big deal, I just tell the police that I'm homeschooling. Read these cases and see the nightmares that these parents and childen have lived through. It may not be as easy as "We homeschool." It's not that easy anymore, an investigation can be opened up and you proceed from there.

Here is our real concern, this is about daytime curfews and truancy, this was a real case that a homeschool family went through, with the kids being arrested. HSLDA Court Report.

As homeschoolers it's easy for us to live in our own nice little bubble, but it's key for us to know what is going on, read the newspaper, find out what the different board meetings have on their agenda. Look for truancy, public school issues, student issues, curfew changes and anything that you can think of that looks child or school related. If you know any board members, ask them that as a homeschooler you want to know if there are any of these issues coming up to be voted on, because it's key that we know about these issues BEFORE a vote goes through.

It's easier to stop a pending law, than to change a law.

 

We must remain on guard, yet not be paranoid. Just in my state alone in less than 60 days we have had 3 truancy laws brought up, 2 of those were passed and are now in effect. We also need to look ahead, asking ourselves where do we want our homeschools to be in 5 years, 10 years, 15 years. You may have little ones that no one will question now, but one day soon they will be teens.

As the mom of a young man, I'm starting to think about my grandchildren, how sad would that be if our children's desire to homeschool their children is not possible because we did nothing to protect homeschooling laws.

We then have failed our children.  

 

 

Zondervan's KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible Review

This review was so timely for me, because every new school year I like to treat myself to a new devotional book for homeschooling Moms. The TOS Review Crew was blessed to review Zondervan's KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible, I got the hardcover King James Version with the dust jacket that retails for $34.99, there is also an Ebook version Ebook version for $14.99 and a cornflower blue Italian Duo-Tone™ that retails for $49.99. The NIV version that can be found by clicking here NIV.

I have never found a homeschool mom's devotional that included the Bible in the text, so this was pretty neat, I could take it anywhere and not have to drag 2 books with me, my Bible & my devotional, it was nice to just bring along my KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible!! Actually I left this Bible in my car a lot, the devotionals were a quick read while waiting on my son at the library, mall, piano practice and other places.

Normally I would not spend $34.99 on a devotional book, but what a bargain the KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible is, you get a Bible too. The Foreword of the book is written by Vickie Farris who is an author and wife of HSLDA's Founder Dr. Michael Farris, I've read several of Mike & Vickie's books over the years so I knew if she endorsed the KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible it was going to be a good read! Vickie's opening lines say it all..."You and I share something incredible. We're called to the very challenging, yet very fulfilling life of a homeschool mom." Just reading those first few lines reminds me of the high calling of motherhood and of a homeschooling mom. WOW, that is so easy to forget when we are bogged down in our daily grind.

    The author of KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible Janet Tatman has homeschooled for more than 25 years with her four children. She has been a copywriter for Alpha Omega Publications in the homeschool division. She also spent 6 years writing the daily Focus, a devotional that comes by email each day. So I am thinking she has it going on, when it comes to knowing just what we homeschool mom's need for encouragement.

  

 

KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible is chock full of daily devotion to choose from, there are 365 in all. That is one devotion for each day of the year to help us busy homeschool moms on a daily basis. The book can be used in two different ways, depending on how you like to study the Bible, and if you have never studied the Bible, the KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible makes it simple for you. You can follow a daily format, (devotions are dated starting on page 3.) or you can use the topical index that you find in the back of the book starting on page 1489. I'm a topical kinda gal, because I don't like to go by the dates since if I get behind, it bums me out :O)

I only had one dislike about the KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible and it's really more of a personal preference. The devotions have nothing to do with the book of the Bible or the chapter of the Bible that they are printed in. For example devotion number 1 is "The Passion of Homeschooling" it's located in the KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible between Genesis 3:1-3:2. However, the verses in that days devotion are Ps 139:3, Rev 3:15-16, 1 Jn 1:9 and John 14:21. My personal preference in daily devotions is to read a passage of scripture and then have a devotional that goes along with the current Bible reading; there again this dislike is personal preference.

I love the topical index, because some days I am just in need of a certain thing, idea, fact or Scripture and I can glance through the index and find just what my soul needs that day. For example, there are listing of things like (some of which I had never come across in a homeschool mom's devotional) birth order, bitterness, deadlines, discouragement, food, freedom, hiding, material possessions, romance, seeds of faith, spiritual warfare and tragedy. Those were just a sampling of the topics; there are many more topics to choose from. It's so exciting to have a troubling day and just glance through the topical index to find the perfect devotional, it soothes the soul.

I also liked the questions in the text of the devotions in the KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible, they are there for you to meditate and think on. They were very revealing to me as I read, a reminder of things that I need to work on in my own life.

I highly recommend Zondervan's KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible for the new homeschooler as well as the veteran homeschool mom. Click here to read more reviews of the book from other TOS Review Crew members or if you enjoy the NIV version of the Bible, you can read the TOS reviews of that book too.

 







Fall Is In The Air!

 

No gluten cheating going on here! Time to make some Pumpkin goodies! I have a week of cooking & baking ahead of me since we are heading out of town for some much needed fun! I'll give you an update on our fun at a later date as I don't have all the plans laid out just yet. I busy getting food cooked and packed for myself for the trip, always a fun job! lol.

 

As for our homeschool we are in full swing and getting ready to take our fall break. Love schooling year round, because we ca take off during our favorite seasons and fall is one of those times.

 

Stop back by for an update our our fall fun!!