Christian Book Notes

Sharman, Charles. Through the Bible with My Child. Cambridge: Anchor-Cross Media, 2009. 366 pp. $21.95. Purchase at Amazon for $16.46 or less.

Introduction

Charles Sharman is “just” a Sunday School teacher. He “just” teaches the Bible to people of all ages. He is “just” a husband and a father seeking to lead his family. These “just’s” do not resonate with many in the academic world, but these “just’s” mean all the world to those whom Charles Sharman, an electrical engineer, has taught. Through the Bible with My Child was written while he and his wife were teaching the Scriptures to their children.

Summary

Through the Bible with My Child is divided into six parts though it is really in three. The first part is an overview of the entire book. I appreciate his philosophy of emphasizing Scripture in teaching: “to know the Lord and to practice righteousness” (6). The second part is really no part at all. Rather, it is simply lined texts for the children to write what they find as they read the Bible. There are categories like God’s Commands, Words/Phrases, Lists, etc. This second part is to be utilized during the entire four year period.

The last four parts are merely the four years of going through the Bible with your child. The years are as follows:
Year One: Genesis-Ruth
Year Two: 1 Samuel-Nehemiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel
Year Three: Esther-Malachi, sans Psalms, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Obadiah
Year Four: Matthew-Revelation

Each school day (about 172 days a year) the child and parent will read roughly one chapter of text and then answer various questions in various forms (fill in the blank, essay, multiple choice, etc.) in order that the child must interact with what was read. Included every so often is a test for the child to take to see how he is doing and what he is remembering.

Review

This is an excellent resource and one I will likely use with my children though I am sure I will adapt it some to what I am trying to accomplish with our family worship/devotionals. However, there are some areas I thought would make this resource better for public consumption.

He really does not go through the entire Bible in the way he has this plan structured. Primarily, this is because there are 1,189 chapters in the Bible and only 172 days in a normal school year. Quick math will show you that if you were to go through every chapter of the Bible it would take you almost 7 years at a chapter a day to actually proceed through the entire Bible. By his system, you do not read the Psalms because he “read these to [his] sons during summer break” (7). He also merged books like 1-2 Kings and 1-2 Chronicles because “studying each individually seemed redundant” (7).

I can understand what he is doing and why he is doing, but since it is now being published for others to use with their children, his subjective method, while it works for his family, may not work for other families. Since the Psalms are so rich for prayer and meditation, I would think a section for reading the Psalms devotionally during the summer months would have been helpful.

Regardless of the above criticism, this resource has far more value in the other areas than what it loses in the areas I mentioned. The questions, from what I have read, do not drive home doctrinal presuppositions as some curriculum’s do. Rather, the questions seek to engage the text for what the text itself says. Their heart is simply to teach their children about who God is and who man is and what Christ came to do for us.

Recommendation

While many homeschooling families are already using a Bible curriculum of some sort, Through the Bible with My Child offers an excellent alternative. This resource would be especially useful for the mom or dad who just came to the Lord and would like to teach their children about God. Because of the emphasis on the Scriptures, I heartily recommend this resource to any family–homeschooling or not. What is more, you can actually download the book for free though I would recommend purchasing at least one copy in support of Anchor-Cross Ministry.  All proceeds are donated to charity.