Under Drake’s Flag Review!

Under Drake’s Flag is a 2 disc CD audiobook set produced by Heirloom Audio Productions.  This is an audio theater adaptation of G.A. Henty’s  Under Drake’s Flag. If you are familiar with any of Henty’s work then you know he is a fantastic story teller that has the ability to really pull you into his stories. His  stories focus on strong morals and showing the strength in things like honor and valor.

This is the kind of literature that helps mold young minds into strong in faith and character adults. I love literature like this. It doesn’t have dumbed down words in it or crass jokes all throughout it. It is quality, not twaddle. This is exactly the kind of living books that I look for to use in our schooling, so I was super excited when I was offered to review it for the Old School House Review Crew. I knew my son (8) would love it.

I loved that they took a great work of literature and turned it into an audiobook. We are huge fans of audio books becasue they allow my son to listen and enjoy books that are above his reading level. Plus he is an auditory learner so this was perfect for him.

This story follows along with Ned Hawkshaw on his adventures  which include saving a person from drowning, shipwrecks, pirate fights, sharks, and the Spanish Inquisition. It is filled with adventure that will get your childs (and your) imagination going full steam ahead!

Now that I have told you about the story let me tell you about some of the really neat features that come along with this audio book set.

This is what it looks like when you receive it.

You open it up and you can see the 2 CDs and the study guide for Under Drake’s Flag.

The study guide is filled with clear directions on how to use it. Each chapter has a small section clearly laid out that goes over important characters and themes. It is broken into two sections. Listen Well and Thinking Further.

Listen Well has questions you ask your child about what he has heard and what he remembers. I love that this part helped my son really pay attention to what he was listening to, to really be an active listener (which is a trait I think everyone needs to work on). I noticed after we did this study  when he listened to other audiobooks he seemed to really listen to them better. ( That fact there made me love this audiobook!!)

The Thinking further section is questions you ask that will have them think a little bit more and to draw conclusions from a character’s actions, or to really put themselves in the minds of the character. It really makes your child have to think about things and really start to understand the story and its meaning. I dont know a lot of homeschoolers who wouldn’t want a resource like this to use with any kind of curriculum!

At the very end of the study guide there is are three short Bible Studies. The Bible Studies are designed to help you and your child come to a better understanding of godly character, true manhood, and confessing Christ. I think these short studies are very useful in starting discussions in these topics. One of my favorite parts of homeschooling is getting to have these conversations so I appreciate a curriculum or resource that helps me with those. I especially loved the the talk about what true manhood was with Jayden. I usually leave conversations like that to my husband but I got to really talk to him from a womans perspective about what a true man is and what it means to be a man of honor.

Behind the study guide is The Prayer of Sir Francis Drake. It was written in 1577 and I am completly taken back at how it still rings so true today.

Disturb us, Lord, when We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This prayer alone could start so many great conversations with your kids and even with your self.

A quick note about age recommendations (The age recommendations on this are ages 6 to adult) there are some slightly intense scenes but nothing too bad in my opinion. Just very suspenseful, but as always  you should preview this before your child does to see what you think of it and if its a good fit for your family. My son found he liked to listen to it during the day better than at night.

There is a longer study guide that you can get as well. I am planing on going more in depth and using it with our future unit study so keep your eyes out for that. It looks really good and is a great resource!

I am sure you can tell I am big fan of this audio book and resource. If you have a child who you think would love adventure, and you are a parent or a caregiver who would love to use good literature to teach some morals that are not easily taught in todays self centered society then I recommend you give Under Drake’s Flag a try. There are many purchasing options starting at $20.00 for the download of the story  or $29.95 for the physical set of  CDs. For other purchasing options you should check out Heirloom Audio Productions. 

A great feature of working with The Old School House Review Crew is that you get to check out other reviews from lots of other homeschooling families! Click the link below and go see what they thought of it!