Progeny Press: Literature Guides from a Christian Perspective

     One of my daughters learned, mostly on her own, to read fluently at age 4-1/2.  I didn't even really get to have the satisfaction of teaching her to read! 

     However, she has always preferred picture books or shorter books to lengthy chapter books.  Even at age 12, she would rather be pursuing her hobbies of photography and videography than to sit down with a chapter book to read.  Something about sitting still, reading, hasn't been her cup of tea.

     So, occasionally, I assign reading to her.

     Yup, I do. 

     I'm so mean!

      ;-)

     This time, because I was selected to review a Literature Study Guide from Progeny Press, and because my other daughter was in a very, very busy part of her school year, Brittany was "chosen" by me - Mom - the teacher - to help review this literature guide.

     Of the several literature guides from which I was able to select, Across Five Aprils, The Cay, and The Bronze Bow, I chose The Cay, by Theodore Taylor.  In our history studies, we were currently studying World War II, so this fit in perfectly.  We had already read The Bronze Bow a couple of years prior, and while Across Five Aprils also takes place during a war (the Civil War), I decided to select the Guide that would match our history studies.

     Eleven-year-old Phillip lives with his parents on an island off the coast of Venezuela in 1942, but when the Nazis begin torpedoing ships nearby, Phillip's mother insists that he and she return to the United States. Their ship is torpedoed by a Nazi submarine long before they reach the U.S., however, and Phillip finds himself marooned on an island with an old, but strong, black deckhand named Timothy.  When Phillip goes blind from an injury, he slowly realizes how caring, wise, and resourceful Timothy really is, and the color of their skin is unimportant.

     Since Brittany didn't really love reading chapter books, I chose to "hook" her interest by allowing her to listen to the first chapter online at www.Amazon.com while we both followed along in the downloaded version of The Cay on our Kindle reader.  (The first chapter or so was free to listen.)  I felt it was very important for her to literally "hear" the accent of the characters, because she is not as familiar with Caribbean accents, and it could be tougher to understand some characters' language if she didn't have an introduction to the language by listening to this on audio.

     I also mentioned that when she came across the Caribbean accents in her reading, if she found a sentence she didn't understand, she should read it aloud, a bit quickly.  If she still didn't understand it, she should come ask me or my husband to explain it to her.

     Even though audio format is Brittany's weakest method of learning, we have built up this skill in her over the years so that now she loves to listen to audio books online.  Who would have guessed this five years ago?  !!!

     Progeny Press began their work in writing literature guides with a Christian perspective back when they were homeschooling their own children.  They recommend that junior high and high school students read the entire literature book in one week, and then spend the next 6-10 weeks working through the literature guide, typically one section per week. 

     I had requested the audio version of The Cay from our library on a Thursday evening (online), but because of being out of town the following Saturday, and due to our local library only being open four days per week, it would be five days before I could pick up the audio CD of The Cay.

     Lo and behold, when the audio CD was ready for me to pick up from the library on the following Tuesday, Brittany had already finished reading the entire book!  She definitely got "hooked" from hearing Chapter 1 on audio, so she decided to sneak away into her bedroom a few times that weekend and read The Cay on the Kindle while turning on the "text to speech" function on the Kindle.  I laughed!  The "text to speech" function isn't all that great, but she chose to listen to the entire book while reading along with the text! 

What did we think of the Literature Guide itself?

     We received an emailed PDF version of the Interactive, "type-as-you-go" Literature Guide.

     Here is a sample of The Cay Literature Guide by Progeny Press:

http://www.progenypress.com/pdf/Samples-MiddleSchool/CaySample.pdf     

     If you can take a minute or two to follow that link to the sample, you'll notice that it's designed to be printed out on paper so the student may write his or her answers, or the student may actually type in their answers on the PDF version of the Literature Guide on the computer.  That's especially handy for readers who really don't enjoy writing down their answers or who struggle with handwriting skills or have other fine motor challenges.

     I hadn't decided if I was going to have my 8th grader, Kelsi, read The Cay and work on this Progeny Press Literature Guide for The Cay, so I printed out a booklet for Brittany. 

     For some of her answers, we completed them verbally.  We sat down together, and Brittany told me the answers to the questions.  For some of the questions, especially the Bible devotional questions and tying the Bible in with The Cay, she wrote down her answers so she would have more time to be introspective. 

     The Progeny Press Literature Guides are not filled with activity sheets or "who did this" types of questions. 

     YES!  Finally!  I got so tired of crosswords, word searches, and "who did this" questions in my schoolwork when I was growing up!

     Instead, the Progeny Press Literature Guide we used focused on literary terms, comprehension and analysis, critical thinking skills, vocabulary, and activity suggestions.

     Each Progeny Press Literature Guide contains the following for the teacher/parent, and student:

• a synopsis of the book being read along with the literature guide
  
• Information about the book's author
• background information about the setting and era of the book
• Ideas for pre-reading activities
• literature lessons encompassing all of the chapters in the chosen literature book
• an overview (can be used as a final test, if desired)
  
• essay and project suggestions
• additional resources
• an answer key

The BEST part about Progeny Press' Literature Guides:

    Not only did Brittany and I have some good discussions on literary elements and terms, but she was able to use parts of each section of the Literature Guide during her Bible devotional times! 

     Wow!

     While I've seen some decent literature guides on the market for homeschoolers, I haven't seen any that contain tools for deep Christian thought and discussion.

     Especially at the junior high and high school ages, this is very beneficial!  Students are given a tool that will enable them to evaluate literature and their own lives through a biblical worldview.  This is so important to me! 

A bit more about Progeny Press:

     Progeny Press has developed 106 Literature Guides for student use.  They also continue to develop additional Literature Guides, about 3 to 6 per year.

• 17 Literature Guides for K-3rd graders
• 17 Literature Guides for 3rd-5th graders
• 35 Literature Guides for middle schoolers
• 37 Literature Guides for high schoolers

     Their study guides are available in 3 formats:

• As a printed, paperbound reproducible booklet ($18.99)
  
• PDF interactive file on CD (can be completed on computer or printed out) ($16.99)
  
• PDF interactive file as an e-mail attachment (can be completed on computer or printed out) ($16.99)
  
  *Note:  the literature guides for grades K-3 (Lower Elementary) are not in an interactive, "type-as-you-go" format. 

     The guides may also be purchased in a combination of CD and paperbound book, together, for $21.99.

Are any other materials necessary to use a Progeny Press Literature Guide?

     Students should have easy access to a good dictionary, a thesaurus, a Bible, and sometimes a topical Bible or concordance. Supervised access to the Internet can also be helpful at times, as can a good set of encyclopedias.

How do these Literature Guides work for high school credit?

     Most Christian high schools provide one quarter of a credit for each completed literature guide.  Homeschooling families are able to provide the same type of credit for their high school level children.

May parents and teachers reproduce these literature guides?

     Purchase of a study guide entitles an individual teacher to reproduce pages for use in their own classroom or home. Multiple teachers may not reproduce pages from the same guide.


     And for families who are active military, Progeny Press would like to thank them by offering 15% off all orders for active military personnel. Send a scan of your military ID to progeny@progenypress.com or enter a valid APO address during checkout.  They will happily apply the discount upon order processing.

Final thoughts:

     While Brittany would still prefer to use her camera and edit and produce videos (!), she enjoyed using The Cay Study Guide.  We didn't have use of this guide long enough for her to finish it completely, but she'll be working on it for the rest of the school year.  I'd love to be able to purchase a few more of these every school year, because I know the validity of researching and exploring literature through a biblical worldview.  I think Progeny Press has made a wonderful step in that direction to assist homeschooling families and Christian schools, and I applaud them!

     Members of the TOS Crew have also reviewed Progeny Press' Literature Guides.  Check out what they have to say!

 




Julieanne
Joy In Our Journey.com

Disclosure:  I received one PDF download via email of The Cay Literature Study Guide by Progeny Press, in exchange for my honest review of their product.  No other compensation was provided.

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