Clara Barton from YWAM ~ a TOS review

We have been doing a unit study on Clara Barton using the Digital Unit Study and Heroes of History- Clara Barton book, published by YWAM Publishing. It has been quite the joy to work through this study guide and biography.

The book is Heroes of History- Clara Barton.The authors are Janet & Geoff Benge. The Benges have written a large number of books for the Heroes of History series and Christian Heroes: Then and Now series that YWAM publishes. The Clara Barton book is engaging and interesting. All three of the giggly girls – ages 7, 9, and 12 – have thoroughly enjoyed the book. In fact, every time we came to a stopping place I was greeted by disappointed calls of “don’t stop now!” and “Just one more chapter?!?” What a great problem to have – wanting more and more quality literature that teaches about wonderful role models and tons of history.

The book begins with a scene of Clara later in her life, doing what she does best – serving others on the frontlines of a battlefield. It then flashes back to the beginning of her life and introduces us to her family and her background. We learn about little Clara and the forces that helped shape her into the strong, courageous lady who helped bring the Red Cross to America. Long before the Red Cross, though, Clara was out on the frontlines of many wars and battlefields, finding ways to serve and assist those injured in the fighting. Later, during peacetime, we learn about how Clara helped to increase the ability of the Red Cross to help with natural disasters. Regardless of what she was doing, it is inspiring to read about this little lady who was bigger than all the red tape surrounding what was “right and proper” for a woman in her time. What an inspiration!

In addition to the book on Clara, we received the downloadable study guide. The study guide is the key for making the unit study easier for me. This download contains everything you might possibly need for a complete unit study.

When you purchase the downloadable Digital Unit Study, a file that contains several PDFs. The unit study has an introduction to the book as well as some background information. As the instructor, you then have an amazing number of options for activities to reinforce the book or teach it more in depth. There are also some rabbit trail options to follow for things that are related to the book, but maybe not directly.

Chapters in the unit study include:

• key quotes
• display corner
• chapter questions
• student explorations
• community links
• social studies
• related themes to explore, and
• culminating event.

There are far too many options to use all of them included but there are plenty for everyone to find something that will be of interest to them.

There are also files containing printables to go along with the study. These included a fact sheet, a couple of maps, and a timeline. The girls completed the fact sheet on Clara Barton, one of the maps, and the timeline. Well, Miss J did not write everything on her timeline; we talked through hers and pointed out where everything happened on the timeline.

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We used the quotes to begin our study. The girls each created a beautiful piece of artwork featuring one of the quotes. We then read the book and talked about a lot of the chapter questions as we went along. We also worked through most of the vocabulary as it came up in the book. We had a map that we referenced often in regards to where various battles and wars occurred. For this we needed both a fairly detailed eastern U.S. map and a world map. (I had no idea Clara Barton traveled as far and wide as she did!)

We have had many opportunities to read YWAM biographies before (see our review of the C.S. Lewis book and unit study guide) and to work with their unit study guides. We like them so much that we have sought out the books in a number of different places and we have bought additional study guides for our history studies. YWAM Publishing does a fantastic job with this series and we definitely highly recommend it.

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