YWAM Publishing Heroes of History Milton Hershey: More Than Chocolate Review

Disclosure:  I received this complimentary product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW.

YWAM Publishing offered us several choices from their Heroes of History series of books and we chose to review Heroes of History Milton Hershey: More Than Chocolate.  YWAM Publishing also sent us a digital Study Guide to go along with our book. 

The Heroes of History biography series brings to life remarkable true stories of fascinating men and women who shaped and changed the course of history!  You may remember our review of YWAM Publishing Heroes of History - Alan Shepard or our review of YWAM Publishing Heroes of History - Ben Carson.

If you don't know much about Milton Hershey, he was born in 1857 to a hard working mother and wandering father.  Even at a young age, he was able to discern the different work ethic between the two of his parents.  He was often compared to his father, especially when faced with failure.  When his now famous Hershey bar debuted in 1905 not many people knew of the hard work, dedication and sacrifice that Milton had endured.  Milton never lost hope and showed true grit and perseverance.  Learning as he went along, Milton spent a lifetime creating and crafting sweet things to eat.  As his company grew, Milton's heart for others really showed!  He used his wealth and success to found a town for his Hershey workers.  He also founded a school for children in need.  I would highly recommend this book if you are wanting to learn more about Milton Hershey.

The Milton Hershey study guide contains guides for using this book in small groups, classroom and homeschool environments.

I want you to know that this study guide is chock-full of ideas for using this book in various curriculum areas including history, geography, essay writing, creative writing, reading comprehension, public speaking, drama, and art.  The hands-on project ideas are super fun!  I also appreciate that the guide reflects a wide range of learning styles.

One of the ideas suggested in the guide is to create a display corner of objects and items related to or representative of Milton Hershey and his life.  We have done this for other Heroes of History books and it's always fun.  The guide gives ideas and suggestions on things you might want to include.  You can see the one that the kids and I have been working on below.

 

Milton Hershey Display Corner

We have several books from the library on Pennsylvania, chocolate, candy and even one on Henry Ford.  We have a photo of the flag of Pennsylvania as well as photos of what the town of Hershey, PA looked like at the beginning of its founding and today.  And of course, we have candy!

And one of the hands-on project ideas is to make your own chocolate or caramels.  The kids enjoyed watching a video on the chocolate making process.

 

Watching how chocolate is made.  This activity is now on our list of things to do soon, probably this summer.

 

We also talked about different candies and had to try them too 😉.  Above are the caramels.

 

And salt water taffy

 

And of course some Hershey options!

 

I also like the worksheets included - fact sheet for Milton Hershey, timeline of the important events from history and Milton's life as well as a few maps.

There are currently 29 biographies in the Heroes of History Complete set including Billy Graham, Clara Barton, and Orville Wright.  I'm super interested in reading their book about Billy Graham or Laura Ingalls Wilder next.

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YWAM Publishing Heroes of History - Alan Shepard Review

YWAM Publishing offered us several choices from their Heroes of History series of books and we chose to review Heroes of History-Alan Shepard.  You know we love space!  YWAM Publishing also sent us a digital Study Guide to go along with our book.  The Heroes of History biography series brings to life remarkable true stories of fascinating men and women who shaped and changed the course of history!

Heroes of History - Alan Shepard Higher and Faster

 A look at the back cover of our book.

I love that these books are extremely flexible!  You can use them as family read-alouds or read alone titles.  You can also integrate them as supplements for numerous subjects or use it as a stand-alone curriculum.  They can be used for both group and individual study.  I had A (9th grade) read this book (18 chapters) on her own and complete the Unity Study 2 part of the Study Guide as well.  She was super engaged and really enjoyed reading about Alan Shepard's life.  She enjoyed reading about his progression in the Navy, how he became a pilot, and ultimately an astronaut.  A filled out a fact sheet about Alan Shepard and made a timeline of important events from history and Alan Shepard's life as directed in the study.

A's fact sheet and timeline

All the kids

I am currently reading this book aloud to the other kiddos at a slower pace.  A likes listening in and participating in the discussion questions (I love that).  It's also great to ask her if there was anything that she missed when she read the book by herself.  We are also taking our time working through activities and ideas suggested in our study guide.  I am picking and choosing ones for our family to complete.

The study guide contains guides for using this book in small groups, classroom and homeschool environments.

I want you to know that this study guide is chock-full of ideas for using this book in various curriculum areas including history, geography, essay writing, creative writing, reading comprehension, public speaking, drama, and art.  I really like that the guide also reflects a wide range of learning styles!

One of the ideas suggested in the guide is to create a display corner.  It gives ideas and suggestions on how to create your own.  Here is the one the kids and I have been working on.

Our Display Corner

The guide also contains chapter questions.  There are six questions for each chapter of the book.  There is a vocabulary question, factual question, two comprehension questions, and two open-ended questions seeking an opinion or interpretation.  The first three questions are geared toward younger students while the last three are geared for older students and considered more challenging.  Answers to the first four questions can be found in the Appendix of your guide.  Since I have a wide range of kids I ask all six questions.  I enjoy hearing what they all think.

We have not been using this for writing but there are great ideas for essay questions if you need them.  I would highly recommend this book if you are wanting to learn more about Alan Shepard or if your family is interested in space history like mine.  We are learning so much about Shepard's life and the journey that led him to be the first American in space (almost the first person in space).

We own several of YWAM Publishing's Christian Heroes: Then Now books and they are fabulous!  There are currently 29 biographies in the Heroes of History Complete set including Ben Carson, Billy Graham, and Louis Zamperini to name a few.  I'm super interested in reading Ben Carson's story next.

Be sure to click on the banner below to visit the Homeschool Review Crew blog to read more reviews of YWAM Publishing.

I am looking forward to finishing this book with all the kids as well as the study guide.  I love hearing their input and thoughts about Alan Shepard's life and the Space Age in general.