Friday, August 23, 2013

Beauty in the Heart - a Crew Review

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Emily has been reviewing a new book from Doorposts titled Beauty in the Heart; A Study of Godly Beauty for Young Women. We were not familiar with Doorposts before the review began, but we had seen their names in homeschooling circles. Emily received a pre-publication copy of Pam Forster's book Beauty in the Heart. Since Emily is 15, I hoped it would be one she could work on daily during her Bible and devotional time. It was. :)

The book will be available for shipping next week, on August 29th, for $14. Doorposts has a pre-order special thru 8/31/13. If you order the print copy for $14 and use the coupon code 'beautystudy' you will receive an instant-download PDF version when you finish checking out.


If the name Pam Forster sounds familiar to you, it probably is. In 2003 Pam wrote the book Beauty and the Pig: A Study of Godly Beauty. The book we received is a complete re-write of that book's studies along with a lot of new additions. I appreciated that Pam includes information about Bible apps, online Bibles, and websites that the girls can use for looking things up during their study. I have the app from BibleGateway.com on my phone, but since Emily's 'technology time' is limited each week, she did the study with her Bible, my Study Bible, and a few commentaries from the library.


Beauty in the Heart includes 10 studies that vary in length from 4 days to 14 days. The types of studies also vary, giving your young woman a chance to experience  Inductive, Verse, Character, Book, Word & Topical, and Chapter studies. The 10th study is 'Beauty in Review' and reminds the reader of what they have studied. The book was designed for ages 12 to adult. If you have a mature 10 or 11 year old, they may also enjoy it. I personally would recommend this for young woman with an 8th grade or higher maturity level. So mostly for ages 14 and up. These are in-depth studies, and younger girls, while they would surely benefit, would probably need a couple things: 1- more than 1 day for each day's assigned section, and 2- a lot of help from Mom, Grandma, or another female mentor.


At 15, Emily only needed me to drive her to the library, and then I helped her find the commentaries. (Yeah, I know, she probably could have found those herself, but it's summer vacation...so I was being nice!) This book also has 6 pages in the back with alternate questions for young men who wish to participate, either in a group (like all the teens in your family or co-op,) or on their own.


If your daughter is getting to the age where she has questions about life after graduation (or boys) then I highly recommend you look into this study. Girls are assaulted by the media with all sorts of images that tell them that outward beauty is all that matters. This study reminds them that TRUE beauty begins in their heart, with Jesus. I love this line in the book's introduction; "The beauty of a heart that loves Jesus is a beauty that doesn't fade. It only grows more and more beautiful."


As you work through the book, you will find a lot of gray sidebars with suggestions, or information to help you study. Emily enjoyed the studies she has done so far, although she did mention several times that she finds it hard to memorize the same passage in more than one translation. We talked about this, and I let her know that I have my favorite version to memorize out of. This reminded her of one of her old Awana leaders, who always quoted KJV after Emily had done her verse in NIV. The book does a good job of helping them understand the How-to study your Bible, so that whichever version they prefer, they can get more out of it.


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Other members of the Crew reviewed both this book, and another title from Doorposts, Because You are Strong (for young men.) Click the banner below to read all the reviews!




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