Meriwether Lewis (A REVIEW)

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew

 

Every book and unit study guide we have ever received from YWAM Publishing has been an absolute joy to read. We just love to hear the stories of the people we are reading about, they seem to come alive in each and every book. The biography of Meriwether Lewis was our book of choice to review this time, and we have learned so much over the last few weeks about the Lewis and Clark expedition including some hands-on projects, a field trip, and mapping of the trail.

Heroes of History, Meriwether Lewis: Off the Edge of the Map by Janet & Geoff Benge

What was Meriwether Lewis's life like as a child? Where did he get the big idea to go on an expedition across the United States to discover what lay west? When did Clark join him and why? All of these questions and more are answered in the pages of this book. As we read each chapter aloud together I even discovered things I didn't know. Like how Meriwether Lewis was always seeking adventure, even from his young childhood. He didn't stop and was eventually commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson to make the great journey of discovery and that was just the beginning. There are so many more details!

Meriwether Lewis Unit Study Curriculum Guide

Along with our physical copy of the book about Meriwether Lewis, we received a digital copy of the Unit Study Curriculum Guide. I printed it all up and made it into a booklet for quick reference. There are questions for each chapter as well as many activities, writing prompts, and projects. Our copy got well used each time we read and worked on a project. We always used the chapter questions for discussion after we read. There were some great ideas for projects as well. We used the list of locations Lewis and Clark traveled to and stopped to help us with mapping the route. 

Mapping of Lewis and Clark's trail. This list is found in the Study guide, and tells us exactly which page that location is on in the book.

I love how easy it was to follow the trail in the book and the study guide.

Our dry erase US map to map the locations and trail of Lewis and Clark

In the study guide, there is a whole chapter on creating a Display Corner. This is always something I try to do each time we read a YWAM book. It is an area dedicated to items, pictures, and books all relating to the person or event being studied. Our display corner came together really well this time. Sometimes it's hard to find things to represent your studies that don't cost a fortune. Thankfully we found a lot of items at a little gift shop where we went on a field trip (more on that later), and we had some items already on hand too. 

Our display corner: Books about canoes, animal fur, leather pouch, figurines of Native Americans, a list of all the names of the members of the Corps of Discovery, a map and article about the Lewis and Clark trail, and a coloring book.

There is a very long section in the Unit Study Guide with a list of books and resources. Some of the books and movies/documentaries listed are other biographies about Lewis and Clar, related books, related documentaries, articles, and internet sites. There are so many rabbit holes to go down.

This particular book was not on the list, but it is one we used for a big project that was suggested, making a model of a Keelboat that Lewis and Clark used on the first part of the journey.

A book we checked out from the library to help us in making a Keelboat model.

We embarked on a very fun and difficult project. At first I was thinking of making the leather mocassins that were also suggested in the study guide, but my kiddo was way more interested in the boat.

Directions for building a Keelboat.

Our finished product was definitely not perfect, but we added it to our display corner anyway. Still something to be proud of.

The Keelboat goes on display even though it doesn't look perfect!

The study guide has so many great ideas to go along with the book, and one of them was to get into the community through a field trip. Then it clicked that we are really, really close to the end of the Lewis and Clark trail and there are several places to go explore where they walked. A quick search led me to a national park called Fort Clatsop only about 2 hours away! This is where they wintered over when they finally reached the Pacific Ocean. This was the best field trip and really brought the book to life.

Field trip to Fort Clatsop

So many interesting things to look at like this replica of a canoe...

The inside portion of the field trip to Fort Clatsop. All kinds of neat items on display including this canoe!

We even explored the city around where Fort Clatsop was and found all kinds of fun Lewis and Clark stuff, and we couldn't pass up getting a squished penny with them on it.

A commemorative squished penny from our field trip adventure.

As you can see this turned into a big unit study for us, and we aren't done. We still have to get to the end of the trail! But, these books are great as stand-alone reading too. I love that they come with a study guide just in case you want to do a little bit more without doing a ton of research. Either way, they make an amazing addition to any homeschool history curriculum. Or, if you use each book as a unit study it can be your WHOLE curriculum. There are 29 books in the Heroes of History complete set of books, so if you're not interested in Meriwether Lewis there are other titles like Christopher Columbus and Milton Hershey. If you want to read about what other Crew members had to say about this and other books you can click on the banner below.