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Through the years of our marriage, my husband and I have deplored many of the characteristics of our "Christian" holidays that seem more and more devoid of truly Christian meaning. While researching ways to make our holidays more God-centered, we were referred to a wonderful book. A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays, by Robin Sampson and Linda Peirce, is a wonderful volume, which details the Old Testament feasts and festivals and gives your family the tools to celebrate them. It is so thorough that I was mazed! They propose that by keeping the Biblical holidays we
will teach our children about "the historical events of the Bible, Prophetic events yet to come, God's plan of salvation and the life and ministry of our Saviour Jesus Christ." I found in reading through the book and implementing it that their claims are valid.
The book is organized into seven sections: first an overview of the holidays, then a chapter chock-full of crafts and activities to use in your celebrations, next are chapters divided by seasons with the information for each holiday in that season and finally a section devoted to making the Sabbath a true day of rest, as well a special homeschool section. Our first experience with the manual was to celebrate Passover. The chapter fantastically details how to prepare for Passover, the Christian significance of each of the Passover symbols, and includes a wonderful booklet to be copied and provided for each guest at your Seder. The booklet was so helpful as it gave step by step instructions and a script to make your Passover a truly inspiring time. I was so blessed as we dwelt on God's faithfulness, first to the Israelites and then to all of us through Christ's death and resurrection. Our children were equally thrilled as they helped to make the table special and then laughed with glee as they searched for the Afikomen.
If a family wanted to incorporate the experience into their school day, the homeschool section enables you to do it - it is brimming with interesting ideas and learning opportunities. The unit study on lambs had information on anatomy, ideas for learning about the role of the lamb in history and geography, language arts activities, and a list of resources. Each of the units are equally thorough, providing, through this book, a great family faith-building tool and also a very complete curriculum resource.
-- Product Review by: Jennifer Pepito, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
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