Jim Elliot One Great Purpose {Book & Unit Study Review}

I have a confession to make.  I have a love affair with the Christian Heroes: Then & Now books published by YWAM Publishing.  I was deeply impacted when I read my first book in the series and ever since then one of my personal missions has been to collect the full set. In September YWAM blessed our family with the the biography of Jim Elliot and their new Unit Study Curriculum Guide for the book.

YWAM publishing is a ministry of Youth With A Mission {YWAM} and is a non profit organization. They started in 1972 publishing tracts for the Olympics. YWAM Publishing currently publishes well over 2000 titles, videos and CD's.  Christian Hero's is one division that is committed to sharing international inspiring stories of real people who have and continue to impact the world for Christ today.  They work with Emerald Books to provide quality resources for home school families.

We Received

CHRISTIAN HEROES: THEN & NOW
 Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose 

• Author: Janet & Geoff Benge
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 192
• Ages: 10+
• Publisher YWAM Publishing
• ISBN: 1576581462
• SKU: 81462
• Formats Paperback Nook Kindle 
• Available in:  Spanish
• Cost: US $6.99

This book has met my every expectation of Geoff and Janet. It is a twaddle free LIVING book that will take you into the jungles of South America. It is written on a ten year old reading level but is a perfect read aloud for the whole family. Sir N is eight and he is thoroughly enjoying me read this book to him.  He begs me for one more chapter every time we sit down to read it.
 
It is a story of humility and grace.  It shows how the grace of God goes before us and how He works out all things for the good of those who love Him.  From the beginning you are given a sense of Jim Elliot's deep sense of purpose. You gain an appreciation for the difficulty in learning a new language and how frustrating it can be for new missionaries to gain trust and relationship.  You follow the lives of Jim and Betty from courtship to marriage.  A marriage with the single focused vision of missions. A love so deep for each other and the people to whom they minister.

Janet and Geoff take us deep into the jungle and reveal to us the reality of missionary living. The describe in detail the jungle, the people, the physical, emotional and spiritual reality for both the missionary and the unreached people groups living there.

As you read the book you can His hand in bringing together the families that were impacted that fateful day on the beach for one great purpose: His.

In the epilog we read about how that moment in history changed the world for His glory and opened a door to hearts of a new tribe.

CHRISTIAN HEROES: THEN & NOW
Unit Study Curriculum Guide Jim Elliot

• Author: Janet & Geoff Benge
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 62
• Publisher YWAM Publishing
• ISBN: 1576582043
• SKU: 82043 
• Target: Group and Individual study.
• Ages: Year 1 to Adult.
• Cost: US $7.49

A large amount of thought and careful planning has gone into this outstanding unit study. It is comprehensive and covers all the learning areas, taking into consideration learning styles, personality and the ages of the children for whom this study has been compiled. The activities have not been graded or assigned a particular grade level  but they do however progress from simple to more complex in the layout. This guide covers several curriculum areas and some of the topics are

• Student Explorations - essay writing, creative writing, hands-on projects, audio/visual projects, arts/crafts 
• Social Studies - reproducible maps, geography, terms/vocabulary, journey tracking, critical thinking 
• Bible Study - scripture memorization, devotional application, spiritual concepts 
• Community Links - meaningful field trips, guest speakers, service projects 
• Related Themes to Explore - missions, current events, life skills, math, government, science 
• Bibliography or Related Resources - books, movies, documentaries, magazine articles, websites 
• Culminating Event - project displays, cultural food, music, and activities, oral presentations 

This unit study has been compiled to accompany the book Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose. It contains far too much information to possibly cover.  I like the way it offers multiple ideas so that I may pick and choose what to do that suits my student, and my learning outcome desire for our family. All the work was done for me in this unit study even the notebook pages were supplied. We had a world map, country map and country fact sheet to print off and fill in. The only thing I would change would be the flag for Ecuador as the one in the unit study is not complete.

What we did

We are still in the process of enjoying the read aloud together and are looking forward to enjoying many more of the suggestions provided, such as the meals and recommended documentaries. I have printed off the notebook pages and maps and Sir N has been colouring those in. In the weeks to come we will be doing more in depth country studies on Ecuador and completing the country profile provided in the note book pages.

We have had a look at animals of the jungles in South America in our Usborne World Of Animals book.  I found a great photo essay of a 26 Foot Anaconda and I have also manged to find some of the documentaries that are recommended and some others on YouTube which we are working our way through.  When researching Jim on YouTube I also discovered a channel dedicated to clips about him: Jim Elliot.

Sir N has also enjoyed doing leaf and bark rubbings and trying to make clay pots (out of play dough).  We are really enjoying our journey through this book and unit study.

On a side note we received the unit study as a PDF document.  It is currently only available as a book purchase from YWAM publishing.  I really do hope they bring these studies out in a digital format in the future as they would make an excellent addition to the Christian Hero's Then and Now books I already own. Many of my Australian homeschool friends who own the books would like to purchase them too.
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I will certainly use this unit study again in the future when Sir N is a teen and we work our way through our Christian Missionary biography books again.

Blessings
Chareen