Heroes of History; “Theodore Roosevelt”

Jenny/ March 22, 2020/ Homeschool Reviews

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor compensated in any other way.

Every time I get to review another book by YWAM Publishing I’m always amazed at how little I knew about this person in their Heroes of History series. The book “Theodore Roosevelt, An American Original” certainly did not disappoint me! This book is one of the 26 titles offered in this series.

What’s a Heroes of History book like?

First off, this is a paperback book and the quality is excellent. I used this as a read-a-loud to our children (especially our 9 year old son). It was incredibly interesting and i had a difficult time stopping my reading as he would have been perfectly happy for me to read it all day!

We first meet Teddy as a very young boy and get to see the struggles he went through. He had very bad asthma and often could not breathe without great effort. He was also young during the Civil War which made a large impact on him and his family. His mother was from the South and his father from the North so there were some interesting issues he faced. For example while his father was gone his mother and Grandma prepared and helped smuggle medical supplies to the South. My son thought this was rather strange🐒.

One thing I found fascinating about his childhood was how his father really challenged him to overcome his obstacles and difficulties by persevering. He once told his son, “you have the mind but not the body. But the mind cannot do without the body. So you must make your body!” And that’s exactly what Teddy did. With the help and encouragement of his parents he overcame his weak body and became strong and fit!

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This book is incredibly detailed and goes through all his travels, interests ect… It sparked many questions and we had to look up several things such as why you would buy stricnine to use in taxidermy 🙂

Another thing that amazed us about Teddy Roosevelt was his wide range of jobs. He wasn’t content to stay long in one but he did whatever he was doing extremely well, regardless of the fallout or consequences. This especially showed itself when he was a commissioner appointed to find and root out corruption in the government. He didn’t really care who he made mad, he just did the right thing. I have to wonder to myself, if we had men like him in politics what might out government be like. Of course the real issue is, do we have men like him in everyday life?

Heroes in History Study Guide

YWAM Publishing also provides a downloadable pdf study guide to help enhance your learning experience! Their study guide is FULL of ideas to really get your children involved in learning to love history 🙂 Its best to just browse through it first and pick out several ideas to implement because its packed so full of things to do! The one I focused on learning about was conservation (Teddy was a huge part of the reason we have conservation!) and we went on a wildflower walk and observed and identified different plants. Did you know Teddy wrote a plant identification book? There are ideas for creative writing, tons on discussion questions divided up for each chapter and SO much more! You could probably spend a whole semester just on this book, its that good!

So, did we like this book?

Oh, my goodness, YES! And did we gain a new appreciation and respect for Teddy Roosevelt? YES! He was an incredible man and though of course not perfect, he was dedicated to right, an overcomer and filled with determination and drive! He’s a great hero to hold up to ourselves and our children 🙂

Guess what? I’ve reviewed more YWAM books! If you’d like to read the other reviews click the links! Daniel Boone, Corrie Ten Boom.

Also, we all reviewed different books so don’t forget to read the other reviews at the link below!