TOS Review: Progeny Press Literature Study Guides

The Mission of Progeny Press is to teach children to think clearly, to understand literature, and to rely on the scripture for truth and values, and enjoy themselves while they do it. They are committed to teaching good cultural literature, examined from a Christian perspective.

From the website:

Our purpose is not to bring you only "safe" fiction, but to teach literature that is well-written and that will help students develop and refine how they deal with man's philosophies in relation to God's word. Progeny Press examines literary terminology and technique in good, cultural literature to equip students for understanding the craft of writing and to enhance their joy of reading. With these things in mind, we promise to bring you good literature, provide good literary analysis, and measure it by the light of scripture.

The Progeny Press study guides are designed to help your student better understand and enjoy literature by causing him to notice and understand how authors craft their stories, and to show him how to think through the themes and ideas introduced in the stories. To properly work through a Progeny Press study guide, your student 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 well as a good set of encyclopedias.

Most of the middle grade and high school study guides take from eight to ten weeks to complete, generally by working on one section per week. It’s suggested that it works best if the student completely reads the novel the first week, while also working on a prereading activity chosen by the parent/teacher. Then starting the second week, work on one study guide page per day until the chapter sections are completed. Generally, it takes between eight and ten weeks to complete the study guide. Students should be allowed to complete questions by referring to the book; many questions require some cross-reference between elements of the stories.

Most study guides contain on Overview section that can be used as a final test. Also, most study guides have a final section of essays and postreading activities, which may be assigned at the parent's discretion. It is suggested that students engage in several writing or other extra activities during the study of the novel to complement their reading and strengthen their writing skills.

As for high school credits, you could assign a value of one-fourth credit to each study guide, which seems to be acceptable to colleges assessing homeschool transcripts.

We were blessed with the opportunity to review two study guides, the ones for The Cay (middle school level), and The Screwtape Letters (high school level). They were sent as email attachments. I was pleased to find that the PDF files were interactive, meaning my students could choose to type their responses into the spaces in the study guides...or we could print them off, and they could write their answers in.

Botanist Boy is studying The Cay. Yes, we are still working on it, because we had spring break/a trip out of town interrupt us. He chose the option of typing his answers.

Teen Girl chose The Screwtape Letters, and opted to have the study guide printed off so she could hand write her answers. She will be working on her study guide for a few more weeks yet, as well.

We borrowed The Cay and The Screwtape Letters from the library. I would much prefer to have our own copies, either hard copies, or Kindle editions. Progeny Press also has these books available.

I really like the concept of these study guides. Progeny Press has developed literature study guides for all levels, Kindergarten through high school! I'd like to try one for Little Bit, as well as more for Botanist Boy. With graduation looming in only 7 weeks, I know we can't realistically try another one for Teen Girl this year!

Be sure to check them out for yourself!

Pricing:

The Cay
Paperbound booklet $18.99
PDF file on CD $16.99
CD & Booklet $21.99
PDF file sent as Email Attachment $16.99
All formats include full student text and complete answer key.
Sample

The Screwtape Letters
Paperbound booklet $21.99
PDF file on CD $18.99
CD & Booklet $27.99
PDF file sent as email Attachment $18.99
All formats include full student text and complete answer key.
Sample

Contact Information:

Website
Email

Address:
Progeny Press
PO Box 100
Fall Creek, WI 54742

Phone: 877-776-4369
FAX: 715-877-9953

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Disclaimer: As a review blogger, I am provided a free copy of the book, curriculum or product to test and use in order to write an honest review. I receive no other compensation and the opinions I share are my own and not influenced by the company in question. Pin It Now!