Hope: The Anchor That Moves Us Forward is a wonderful bible study of the book of First Peter. For this review, we received the physical copies of both the Student’s Workbook and the Teacher’s Guide. Both books are paperback, spiral bound books. Both are about 100 pages each, with the Student Workbooks being slightly higher in pages then the Teacher’s Guide. And both books have a gorgeous picture of an anchor on their covers.

The Student Workbook is set up by lesson. Each lesson starts off with a short introduction into what we will be talking about for that lesson. After this introduction, we have a verse to go with the lesson. Following that, we have 15 or more questions for the study. These questions pull from First Peter, but they also use many other verses to help your child understand the hope that is being talked about. The lesson ends with a page that allows your child to journal their thoughts and insights over what they just learned. No questions, just blank lines for what they want to write!

The Teacher’s Guide is set up in much the same way as the Student Workbook. It is separated by lesson and all of the questions are listed. The first major difference between the two, was that under the questions that listed a bible verse, you will find that verse written out for you in the NIV translation. Along the sides of each of the pages there are Teacher’s Notes. This section includes a quick review of what was covered in the previous lesson. Along with that, this is where the answers to the questions can be found.

There are 20 lessons total in this bible study. If you are using this in your homeschool, versus that of a church or small group, you have the option to go at the pace which is best for your child. We took the pace of one lesson per week. We would start by reading the whole chapter of First Peter the first week, after that we did our readings on Mondays, following up with a quick read through of the questions. The rest of the week, we would slowly work our way through the questions. This gave us time to focus on the questions.

Each of the questions that are given to us to study are thought provoking questions. They show you the meaning behind the words and help you understand each verse. Slowly, thoughtfully you build on your previous week’s lesson and questions. By the time you have finished this bile study, you will know the true meaning of hope. This is the hope that only a shepherd can give his flock regardless of the external circumstances.

This bible study came at a time when my teenager needed a renewed sense of hope. Taking the time to go through these lessons step by step was just what we needed. These were not hard lessons, but they did require thinking and of course use of the bible. While my son was doing the lessons, I was finding myself closer to God as well, just by following along with him. Hope: The Anchor That Moves Us Forward is a bible study that we loved, one that we learned from and grew closer to God from. If your child needs a little extra hope in their days, I would recommend this study for them!

--Product reviewed by Amanda Hopkins, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, May, 2017