Homeschool Happenings: YWAM ~ Gladys Aylward

I had the privilege of reviewing, Gladys Aylward: The Adventure of a Lifetime, a part of the Christian Heroes: Then and Now Series, by YWAM Publishing. Along with the book I received the Unit Study Curriculum Guide on Gladys Aylward. They are phasing out the CD's but a Downloadable Curriculum Guide is available. The mission of YWAM Publications is to provide individuals with amazing books to further a Christians journey.

How We Used The Material

Wow!! This was our family's first experience reading any of the Christian Hero Books, by YWAM Publishing, and we were not disappointed. The book on Gladys Aylward was

amazing, informative, riveting, deep, encouraging, and an overall great read. After reading the book for myself I was so impressed that I got online and purchased more of the books in the series. I cannot wait to began reading about other heroes of the faith and sharing them with my children. The books are written in a way that both children and adults can be encouraged by.

The Unit Study Curriculum Guide features:

biographical sketch
key Bible verses
chapter questions
project ideas
Social Studies correlations
related themes to explore
book and movies resources
author interviews
and so much more

I found the CD to be an incredible tool to come alongside the book. The following is a sampling of what is included on the companion CD.

My 12 year old daughter really enjoyed the activities that were included on the CD. One activity that she liked was the entitled, Language Examples. She tried her hand at writing Chinese characters. After learning about the MANY Chinese characters my daughter had a greater appreciation of the laborious work that Gladys Aylward faced. The written Chinese language is a very graceful and beautiful language.

One of the essay suggestions was to watch the movie, Inn of the Sixth Happiness, and then compare the similarities and differences between the movie and the book, Gladys Aylward: The Adventure of a Lifetime. My daughter and I watched the movie and were greatly disappointed with the movie. We both thought that the book was so much better.

One creative writing question challenged the student to write a poem. It was not hard at all to put into words what we wanted to say. Here is the poem and my daughter and I wrote:

Black as night,

I sat on a foreign train with fright.

So many unfamiliar sounds,

Faces littered with frowns.

Languages that I did not understand,

Gave way to screaming command.

Smells were all so new,

And I was among the God fearing few.

God will pave the way,

And tomorrow surely will be a better day.

~Written by Karis and Jennifer Ladewig ~

This is what my daughter said about the book:

"Gladys Aylward - The Adventure of a Lifetime is a book about a young woman who is determined to be a missionary in China. Many people doubted her ability. She was determined to do whatever it took to become a missionary and get to China. Her mission was a lot more dangerous than she ever expected it to be.

There was a woman named, Mrs. Lawson. Mrs. Lawson was Gladys's mentor in China. At first they were known as foreign devils. After some time the Chinese villagers learned to trust and respect them.

Gladys had many adventures before she finally went to heaven.

This book was very inspirational. The book can easily make a person fall in love with reading."

My daughter and I spent time tracing Gladys Aylward's journey to China and researched the physical terrain of China. My daughter is looking forward to reading about some of the other Christian Heroes in the YWAM series.

There is a wonderful online reference page of bonus material for many of the books in both the Heroes of History Series and the Christian Heroes: Then and Now Series.

Overall Thoughts

We absolutely loved reading about Gladys Aylward and the many activities suggested on the Unit Study CD. I would highly recommend YWAM Publishers to fellow educators and homeschoolers. We will most definitely be making these books and resources a part of our homeschool education.

YWAM Publishing also had a series on Heroes of History. I will definitely be purchasing titles from this series in the future.