The Christian Mama's Guide to the Grade School Years, by Erin MacPherson

The Christian Mama's Guide to the Grade School Years, by Erin MacPherson, is a humorous account of what it is like to usher a child into the first few years of school.  It is a book geared toward prayerful parenting, and one that many parents would enjoy reading.  It has great ideas, and is certainly written from a meaningful Biblical perspective. 

That being said, it is really less of a guide and more of a parenting memoir.  There are very good ideas in this book, but they are peppered in between lengthy stories about the author's own family.  These stories are cute and can help a parent feel better about not being the only one who is dealing with these kinds of issues, but they can be distracting to a reader who is looking for a more meat-and-potatoes kind of guide.  Even that kind of information skews toward the more humorous side, which can detract from the message.

The author has been a high school teacher and has interviewed people who are experts - the "From the Principal's Office" sections by an experienced principal are the best parts of this book.  But coming from a Christian mother who is also a grade-school teacher, some of the points dealing with school in this book are under covered and even inaccurate (for example, not all private schools give your child access to state-of-the-art techniques - some are so underfunded that students get a substandard education).

The bottom line?  If you're looking for a heavier guide, this isn't the book for you - but you will still get very good parenting tips.  If you're looking for a humorous memoir that will help you get your child ready to enter kindergarten - or help you improve your parenting skills (and can't we all?), then this is the book for you. 

Disclaimer:  I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Four of Five Stars