Maintaining a regular quiet time and staying in the habit of studying the Bible can be a challenge for many busy homeschool moms. Even if we overcome the difficulty of finding time we are often too mentally exhausted to plan out what to study and how to study it. Veteran homeschool mom and mentor, Bonnie Lisech, of Deeper Roots Publications, has provided a wonderful resource to help overcome this struggle—Encouragement for Homeschool Moms (I was privileged to review Book 2).

For $10 (currently on sale for $7.95) you will receive a small spiral-bound booklet containing a 30-day Bible study (or you can choose the PDF ebook version for $5.95).  The book begins with an encouraging letter from Mrs. Lisech and some tips on journaling. Next, you will find the study pages. Every two days of study has a central theme and includes a brief introduction, eight to nine thought-provoking questions, scripture references printed on the pages, a prayer suggestion, and a journaling page including suggested prompts. Topics include important themes for the Christian life and common struggles such as Guard Your Heart, Serve When It’s Not Convenient, and The Way to Contentment.

I loved that this study can be done in small amounts of time and still move you towards a deeper understanding of scripture. While it is laid out as a 30-day study, it is extremely flexible. You can skip to a topic that is of particular interest to you or that you are currently struggling with. You can do the study straight through every day and complete it in a month or you can spread it out a bit by only working on it on weekdays or only doing a couple of questions a day instead of the whole day. However, you decide to use it you will increase your knowledge and understanding of scripture and grow closer to God. With the scripture references right there on the page, you don’t even have to have your Bible out (although I would suggest you still look them up yourself).

One thing I always look for in a Bible study is that the information and questions are closely tied to scripture and don’t ask me to make big assumptions or mental leaps to apply a passage of scripture to the topic or my life. This book does an excellent job of that. Most of the questions ask for an answer that you can draw directly from the scripture reference and those that ask for more application and inference use the passage to draw logical and straightforward connections to your life without any mental gymnastics.

I recommend this book for any homeschool mom looking for a way to stay in the Word, practice the discipline of daily Bible study, and be challenged and refreshed. It is simple, easy to use, and written on the solid foundation of scripture. I recommend the print version so that you can write directly into the book to answer questions and do your journaling. I’m enjoying the format of the study so much that I plan to purchase Book 1 for my own personal continued study.

-Product review by Sabrina Scheerer, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, May, 2018