This past summer at a homeschool convention I had the opportunity to meet the folks at Friends and Heroes, a company that produces an animated children’s adventure. There was plenty of time to watch their videos and also get a hands on look at their homeschool curriculum. Seeing it brought back memories of shows we watched as children, and I was so impressed with how they have taken an already engaging series and turned it into full unit studies!

Not familiar with the Friends and Heroes series? Here is a little information to help you out {because they say it so much better than I can!}.

Friends and Heroes is an animated children’s adventure based in ancient Egypt, Israel and Rome. The story follows two young friends, Macky and Portia, as they fight for justice against the Roman Empire.  Each episode consists of two Bible Stories in which children can learn about characters from the Old and New Testament. 

Each of the Friends and Heroes award-winning adventures and Bible stories on DVD have go-along homeschool unit studies. The materials are well laid out, full of information for families, and can easily be integrated into your homeschool day. Units can be purchased separately or as part of an entire package {DVDs and unit studies together}. Overall there are thirteen units available for homeschool use.

The homeschool unit studies include:

• Complete parent lesson plans that includes answer keys and certificates of completion along with internet links {printable and reusable}
• Student Workbook of activities to print off
• Full-length Friends and Heroes DVD episode
• CD-ROM printables that can be used with all of your children
• journal opportunities for kids to create their own book

A Look at Friends and Heroes Unit Study 1

{a peek at one of the student pages from Unit Study 1}

There are two to four weeks of learning materials in each Friends and Heroes homeschool unit.  Plans include science experiments, creative writing activities, Bible studies, history and geography lessons, discipleship, hands-on crafts, coloring pages, and all subject areas are taught from a Christian world view.

Unit Study 1 includes:

• Friends and Heroes DVD Episode 1- Long Journey – which serves as stimulus material for cross-curricular studies
• All teacher and student’s materials – included on CD-ROM – printable and reusable {I transferred ours to the iPad for easy reference}
• Learner-centered, self-guided Unit Study manuals
• Teacher’s Guide – with learning goals, background details, answer keys, internet links
• Certificates of Achievement and binder covers

Unit Study 1 covers:

• History/Geography: The Romans; Roman Trade; Roman money; Roman import and exports
• Creative writing: Journal writing; Written expression and narration; Copy writing
• Bible study: Daniel and the lions’ den and Jesus and the miraculous catch of fish; The Early Church
• Science: Silver; Sand and cement; Greek and Roman discoveries
• Crafts: Sculpture; Paper weaving; Pottery
• Discipleship: Trusting others; Pride; Worries

There are quite a few parts that we will be incorporating with our family over the next few months, in addition to what we’ve already worked on together. We’ll be breaking it up a little more instead of doing the focused study and tie it in to our current curriculum. There are several key components, especially the writing assignments and the science tie-ins, that our 11 and 9 year old will benefit from – and they won’t mind a little screen time to watch the videos either {grins}. 

The unit studies would be best for children ages 7 to 11, but they can be easily adjusted to accommodate younger or older children. Note: there are 13 different unit studies in the first level, and we were sent only Unit Study 1 to review.

What Families Will Enjoy

The homeschool units are VERY well laid out and easy to follow along. Here are a few things I appreciated:

Online activities for Friends and Heroes episodes

• The CD-rom with the lesson plans breaks up the unit by lessons and can be printed out or stored on your iPad for quick reference.
• Each lesson lists out what you will need to gather: for science, geography, etc. You don’t need to hunt through the plans to figure it out.
• There are online resources including puzzles, quizzes, and games to go along with each episode {see examples for episode one here}.
• The hands-on tie-ins for the lessons add depth to the lessons and definitely make history come alive.
• Many of the student lessons can be self-guided for the older age range, including writing assignments, some of the science activities, Bible study and more {love this feature!}.
• You do NOT have to do every single activity listed! No need to get overwhelmed at all the fun things there are to to. You can pick and choose and still have a fabulous unit study!

Special Discounts for Purchasing!

Friends and Heroes is offering a special limited time discount on the Friends and Heroes homeschool curriculum! From now until January 31, 2014 save:

• 20% off all Friends and Heroes Homeschool Resources – use code Homeschool20
• 10% off all other Friends and Heroes resources with curriculum – use code Promo10
• 10% off all Friends and Heroes Home and Family DVD Collections – use code Home10

Visit this link to find out more and purchase!