Since we are studying World War II this year, I was thrilled when we were given the opportunity to review Heroes of History Douglas MacArthur from YWAM Publishing. I knew this would be a wonderful addition to our lesson about this important war.
YWAM Publishing is a Christian company whose goal is to provided quality, Christian books for families. They offer books about heroes from our past and heroes from today's world. They provide books for parents to help them along with their homeschooling journey and this crazy journey of life.
YWAM Publishing offers families a fantastic collection of biographies about various Christian and historical heroes. Readers can read about Davy Crockett, Ronald Reagan, Harriet Tubman, Corrie Ten Boom, C.S. Lewis, Louis Zamperini, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. These are just a handful of the titles YWAM Publishing has to offer. Click on over to discover more Heroes of History and Christian Heroes. They even offer a wonderful collection of books for those younger readers.
Duty, Honor, Country
For this review, we were given a physical copy of the book, Heroes of History Douglas MacArthur: What Great Honor and a digital down load of the study guide to go along with the book.
Heroes of History Douglas MacArthur is geared for children ages 10 and up. Of course, this is just a suggested guide line. Advanced readers could easily read this book. If you're homeschooling a range of students, this would be a great book to read aloud together. The book was written by Janet and Geoff Benge. It's 204 pages long. In the front of the book, a map is given to help readers know where they are during most of the book. It's a great reference point. At the end of the book, a bibliography is given of various books about Douglas MacArthur. They would be a great place to start in learning more about this amazing man.
"History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster."
~ Douglas MacArthur
After a brief description of MacArthur's evacuation from the Island of Corregidor, the books goes into telling about the young life of Douglas MacArthur. When we meet young Douglas, he is just a five year old boy living in Texas. The book then goes on to tell about the young cadet, his hard work, and his acceptance into West Point Academy located along the beautiful Hudson River Valley. It truly is gorgeous there in the fall when the leaves change colors.
Most of the book deals with MacArthur's life as an adult. We see him advance through the army and make a name for himself....cadet, officer in training, lieutenant, army chief of staff, and supreme commander. We see his genius in battles. We see his determination to win the war with Japan. The book closes with his life after war and his death. This is truly a wonderful read for students learning about World War I and World War II.
To go along with our book, we received the study guide for Heroes of History Douglas MacArthur. The study guide comes with 3 different set of instructions for use. Classroom, Group, and Homeschool Overview allows the guide to be used in a regular classroom setting, a co-op setting, and of course, at home with your eager students. For this review, I will be focusing on the Homeschool Overview.
The Homeschool Overview begins with a table of contents and an introduction. Both of these sections are provided so that families can make the most effective use of the Heroes of History biographies. There are guidelines on how to use the Heroes of History as a core curriculum for your American history class or how to use an individual book in your lessons. If my kids were younger, I would love to use the Heroes of History as our curriculum. They provided a wonderful chart for parents to follow. Begin with Christopher Columbus and end with Doctor Ben Carson. They even offer a suggested timeline to complete the books in one year. This would a fantastic start for American history for upper elementary students.
Douglas MacArthur
source~Wikipedia
"A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent."
~ Douglas MacArthur
The student study guide is amazing.
It adds more depth to the book and the study of Five-Star General, Douglas MacArthur. It is broken up into various sections.
~Introduction~
This explains how to use the study guide and all that it offers. I definitely suggest reading through the entire guide and picking what you would like to do. You can try to do everything suggested, but it might be a little to much for your students.
~Key Quotes~
Here you'll find 10 quotes that can be used with you lessons. In the Douglas MacArthur quotes, I was thrilled to see a quote from Pope Paul VI.
"If you want peace, you must work for justice."
~Display Corner~
This is a suggestion for you classroom (if you have one)
Here they recommend creating a corner and displaying various items pertaining your book.
A family tree, extra books to check out, maps, flags from different countries that are talked about, pictures of the people and battles fought.
~Chapter Questions~
These are a great way to check out your child's reading compression. It can also be a way for you to make sure your child is actually reading the book. There are 6 questions pertaining to vocabulary, factual events, comprehension, and opinion for some deep thinking.
~Student Explorations~
This is were you can really pick and choose what your student completes. There are suggestions for essay writing, creative writing, hands-on projects, visual projects, audio projects, and art projects.
I found some phenomenal ideas for their study of World War II. Make a recruitment poster for West Point Academy, make a relief map of Japan, or write an essay about nuclear bombs.
~Community Links~
This is were you try to find some engaging field trips for further learning. War memorials and museums and talks given by veterans are just a few ideas for General Douglas MacArthur.
~Social Studies~
This section offers suggestions for the maps and timeline provided. It provides a page just of vocabulary words with their location in the book. This is great for spelling!
~Related Themes to Explore~
Related themes, like math current events, military, government, and history, are suggested for this book. Students can research an area that appeals to them. This is a great way to encourage learning bu offering them a topic that want to dig in and explore.
~Culminating Event~
This is the end of the study guide. It offers suggestions for a way for students to bring closure to the topic. Host a theme party or event, act out a certain battle with friends (boys would love this), or prepare an oral report to present. If you have 4-H in your area, students could create a presentation and enter it in the fair.
~Books and Resources~
This final section provides additional books and resources for your study. It's long, so I'd suggest picking a few for your child's appropriate age level.
Each study guide offers students a chance to explore history from the books time period, geography, essay writing, creative writing, reading comprehension, art, drama, and public speaking.
The Study Guide also provides students with a fact sheet for their person and maps. For Douglas MacArthur, we filled in the fact sheet about him. The kid worked on coloring in and filling in important places, battles, etc on the maps. we received maps of Japan, Korea, Philippines, New Guinea, Australia, Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. A timeline is included so students can keep a record of important events that occurred during their person's life. Promotions, relocation, and battles were filled in for General MacArthur.
Be sure to check out the other books that the members were given to review!
Just click the link below.
Till Next Time,
Monique
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